IT solutions emerging as cure to health care woes

While there is a Philippine eHealth Strategic Framework and Program (PeHSFP) already in place, thanks to the efforts of the Departments of Health and Science and Technology, as the roadmap on maximizing information technology for the country’s health care industry, a Manila-based IT solutions company is calling on both public and private sector healthcare facilities to focus more on going digital, starting with their medical records, to provide better care to patients.

At the first IT in Healthcare Summit held recently in Mandaluyong City, Xplore Philippines, Inc. gathered local and international experts to discuss with hospital heads the advantages of digital transformation for the whole health care industry.

“It’s about time that IT [be highlighted] in an industry where there is a great need for technology. All industries are already using IT to make things more efficient, and health care seems to be lagging behind, particularly here in the Philippines. Now is the right time,” said Xplore president Leonardo Riingen.

Dr. Raymond Sarmiento, director of the National Telehealth Center of the University of the Philippines, spoke about the state of IT health care in the country and noted that based on the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Analytics’ Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model, or Emram, many of our hospitals are only at level 1.

HIMSS is a global nonprofit organization that is “focused on better health through information and technology.” Its Analytics division’s Emram has eight stages (O-7) which measure how a health care facility adopts and uses EMR functions.

At level 1, a hospital would basically have installed the three ancillary systems: the laboratory, pharmacy and radiology departments. With an EMR system in place, these departments, as well as medical practitioners, can seamlessly access patient records. On the patient’s side, he or she need not worry about compiling these records and lugging them around during every visit to the doctor.

Sarmiento added that while the majority of Philippine hospitals are still at this stage, some are already at level 3 or 4, such as Asian Hospital and Medical Center, St. Luke’s Medical Center, and The Medical City.

“The ultimate [level] is 7, which [means a hospital is already] paperless. But paperless is a big step, so we would hope that you aim for level 5 or 6,” said another summit speaker, Andy David, SAP Asia Pte Ltd.’s education director for value engineering in Southeast Asia. SAP also provides enterprise IT solutions such as cloud and analytics.

What’s good about the Philippines, however, is that while we are still low on the HIMSS Emram scale, the awareness on digitalization is high, especially in government, Arkadiusz Czopor, T-Systems Singapore Pte Ltd.’s managing director for South Asia. T-Systems is also an IT systems provider of multinational corporations.

“The current situation is actually great for the Philippines because of the high awareness on the government level, and the key direction where they want to go, compared to countries which are more advanced but don’t have that high level [of awareness],” said Czopor. “[Here], it will be much easier to go to the higher level of digitalization of hospitals directly.”

Sarmiento added: “In terms of the whole Philippine landscape, the country is actually a regional leader in terms of setting up its e-health governance and project office. The Philippines is the first to establish a national e-health program management office.”

He noted, however, that much of the work on e-health had been focused on the public sector, with Philhealth as one of the major drivers, and that a “solid representative” from the private sector is still lacking.

“I think there is much to be said when it comes to having the private sector on the table, in terms of how we can have a better way of collaborating and sharing information. A lot of the work that has been discussed over the years with certain private entities, but there isn’t, say, one solid representative from the private sector, which is something, I think, that is critically needed in the whole integrated ecosystem,” Sarmiento said.

Such an ecosystem would mean all health care facilities nationwide would have the ability to access and share information, making diagnosis and treatment more efficient while also reducing medical costs.

“The government has already crafted a strategic solution; it’s just a matter of having that business solution and piecing them together,” said Riingen. “If you have a solid database of what’s happening to the population, government would channel the resources properly and save a lot of money—and technology will be the one to enable them to do that.”

“The government has already crafted a strategic solution; it’s just a matter of having that business solution and piecing them together,” said Riingen. “If you have a solid database of what’s happening to the population, government would channel the resources properly and save a lot of money—and technology will be the one to enable them to do that.”