Tags: asia/pacific, security, health
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Tags: asia/pacific, health, healthcare reforms
If you are living in Singapore it would be hard to avoid the buzz around healthcare reforms. The rising costs of healthcare due to a fast ageing population and the change in disease burden are issues being faced by many developed nations in the world. The Singapore government seems to be tackling it through a many-pronged approach.
Singapore's public healthcare system is organized in clusters, each cluster anchored by a regional hospital working with a variety of primary providers, the intermediate and long-term care sector and support services to create an ecosystem for patient-centric care delivery. The Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) makes the transition of patients from one care setting to another smoother.
Prevention of diseases, especially chronic diseases has evolved as another key focus for the Ministry of Health. The Health Promotion Board is implementing a S$116 million program aimed at chronic disease management. GPs and Polyclinics are being empowered to provide this care.
The National Electronic Healthcare Records (NEHR) rolled out earlier this year has the capability of supporting these strategies. The NEHR is a key enabler of Singapore’s vision of “one patient, one record” which allows patients to move seamlessly within the entire healthcare ecosystem. It is targeted to be used, not only within the walls of the hospital but also over the entire care continuum. It aims to collect all medical data on a person and use it to support clinical decision making, at all points of care.Phase 1 aimed to compile key medical information including patient demographics, allergies, clinical diagnoses, medication history, X-ray reports, laboratory investigations and discharge summaries, which will be fully exchangeable. The foundations have been laid to enable leverage to implement advanced functionalities like clinical analytics. As the system evolves to its full potential, it should have the capacity to perform a wide range of other functions like clinical analytics, quality assurance, and research.
Singapore has clearly envisaged this as a business and clinical transformation project, and not merely an ICT project. If you wish to learn more about Singapore's healthcare revolution, please contact me on smukherjee@idc.com
Tags: asia/pacific, ehr, health, mobility, patient centricity
Tags: health, patient centricity
In the first Singapore IDC Health Insights roundtable held on 20th October, participants from seven healthcare provider organizations were actively engaged on the topic of 'Patient Centricity'. One participant, interestingly, drew an analogy of healthcare services to the airline industry. No doubt customer centricity is the major focus for the airline industry. What can the healthcare providers learn from airlines, and does every consumer require 'business class' healthcare service?
The business model of the airline industry has transformed in the past decade with the introduction of personalized services made available via technology. Travelers are provided with basic flight information and services which allows meals and seats selections to be customized based on personal preferences.
In similar ways, the healthcare industry is on the same path as the airline industry in the journey towards patient centricity. The vision for healthcare providers is to be able to provide valued services to the patients beyond basic meal and ward stay preferences. Essential guidance and directions on treatments options could be provided and further engagement with patients' family on potential treatment outcomes will drastically improve quality of care to the patients.
Economics, however, warrants a discussion on the balance of cost and value. Do all patients require business class healthcare services and can they afford them? We cannot assume so, and need to be mindful of the costs overheads in the bid to improve the healthcare services to the masses. Whilst it may be not a straightforward matter segregating frill and no-frills services, the healthcare industry, both care and technology providers, will need to jointly study the cost and viable business models for patient–centric healthcare.
Personal Health Management (PHM) is an area that Singapore's healthcare sector is actively looking into right now, and that is just one aspect of patient centricity. We will expect more activities lining up for hospitals and care providers in this area in 2011. Do you have any stories on patient centricity/personal health management to share?
We've received overwhelming interest from you regarding the proceedings report of the roundtable. The report is now available from IDC Health Insights! Contact me at jchiew@idc.com for more information.
Tags: healthcare reforms, asia/pacific
Recent developments in eHealth are moving in several key fronts — toward an evidence-based practice of medicine in a connected environment, the digitization of health information for interoperable electronic health records (EHRs), web-based communications solutions for a seamless transfer of patient information from one institution in one region to another in a different region, integration of existing systems for a cost-effective way of implementing eHealth, and increased consumer participation in healthcare.
According to IDC Health Insights, the following are the key drivers of eHealth in the Asia/Pacific region:
At the IDC Health Insights’ first Singapore eHealth roundtable last Wednesday, the topic of eHealth transformation was high on the agenda for the delegates. Analysts from IDC Health Insights Asia/Pacific actively engaged with invited C-level healthcare IT practitioners in in-depth discussions relating to strengthening business-IT alignment strategies and shared anecdotal best practices in ICT implementations for the Asia/Pacific healthcare sector.
We will be publishing the event's proceedings in our IDC Health Insights report series, the “Asia/Pacific Healthcare Country Profile Service” soon. If you would like to get hold of this report, please contact me at geraldwang@idc.com or my colleague Janet Chiew at jchiew@idc.com.
An overview of the Asia/Pacific healthcare landscape
Tags: public policy, health, healthcare reforms, ehr, asia/pacific, china, australia
Healthcare reform across Asia/Pacific will gain a much-needed infusion of cash, catching the spirit of the U.S. ARRA stimulus funding.
Australia's New South Wales (NSW) government finally committed electronic medical record (EMR) funding of $100 million over the next two years to cover 188 hospitals across the state. Earlier in April, the NSW government promised $485 million over four years to deliver better healthcare, including the creation of a Bureau of Health Information to collect, analyze and report on the safety and quality of patient care in public hospitals. At the federal level, we expect much more. The anticipated June 2009 report from last year's established National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) should outline Australia's reform plan, including its concerted plans for EHR. However, security issues around patient data will be a key concern.
China, months after announcing a commitment of $124 billion over three years to provide affordable health, finally issued an implementation guideline on fixing the ailing health care system, including setting up diversified medical insurance systems in the next three years to better cover at-risk urban and rural residents with the goal of covering 90% of the population and also creating new hospitals and clinics.
What is your organization doing to support the government's healthcare reform initiatives in Asia Pacific and what are some of your concerns? I will be in Australia on May 15-19th for a provider CIO forum, New Zealand May 20-23rd for a Health Provider Executive Roundtable with the New Zealand Ministry of Health to discuss EHR and digital hospital, and Singapore May 25-26th. I look forward to hearing from you. Please look for our Health Industry Insights, Asia/Pacific Country Profile report series; Australia and New Zealand reports will be available by the end of May.
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