Dean Koh

The HIMSS Thailand National Digital Healthcare Workforce Development Initiative (WDI) was officially launched on the opening day of the HIMSS AsiaPac 2019 conference on October 7 in Bangkok, Thailand. This Initiative sees the development of a three-year work plan to address the demand of patients for digital healthcare services in light of the Thailand 4.0 digitisation journey, as well as healthcare tourism being one of the key economy drivers. Eight Thai hospitals have agreed to come onboard to be part of the HIMSS Thailand National Digital Healthcare WDI. They are:  Bangpakok Hospital Group Khon Kaen University Hospital Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University Hua Chiew Hospital Vejthani Hospital Principal Healthcare TPP Healthcare Ramathibodi Hospital Through this collaboration, HIMSS will focus on elevating the digital competency in the Thailand Healthcare workforce through the adoption of Healthcare IT certifications like Certified Professional in Healthcare Information & Management Systems (CPHIMS) and Certified Associate in Healthcare Information & Management Systems (CAHIMS) for capacity building in Healthcare Information core competency and Digital Health technology capabilities. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Sukhum Kanchanapimai, was the guest of honour at the conference opening, and he spoke about Thailand’s ongoing efforts in promoting telemedicine, such as the pilot telemedicine project that was implemented in rural areas in eight provinces, which Healthcare IT News reported in March this year. As part of the HIMSS Thailand National Digital Healthcare WDI, HIMSS also announced its intention to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with True Digital Group, a subsidiary of True Corporation, a leading communications conglomerate in Thailand, to create a HIMSS Digital Health Centre @ True Digital Park. Managing Director and Executive Vice President of HIMSS International Bruce Steinberg and Ekaraj Panjavinin, Managing Director of Digital Solutions at True Digital Group, were on-stage to talk about the collaboration during the opening of the conference. A total of five vendor partners have also come aboard: Abbott and GE Healthcare as Knowledge Partners, Elsevier and Philips as Industry Partners and AXA as Supporting Partner. The purpose of the HIMSS Digital Health Centre is threefold: to encourage more collaboration between different stakeholders in the industry, to accelerate the digital health workforce development and to create more exposure for digital health solutions in general. The collaboration of HIMSS together with local stakeholders in the Thailand healthcare ecosystem with a concerted effort to develop the Thai digital healthcare workforce bodes well for the future of digital health in the country.

With this upgrade, Pathology and Diagnostic Imaging Overviews are automatically available from Clinical Information System applications that implemented the My Health Record Document List.

Last week, GE Healthcare officially launched the Edison AI platform in Shanghai, China at its Digital Ecosystem Forum event. GE also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of strategic partnership with five local software development companies: Shukun Technology, Yizhun Medical AI, YITU Technology, 12Sigma Technologies and Biomind.  Under the MoU, GE will cooperate with the five software vendors to develop the platform's applications in China. THE LARGER TREND GE Healthcare’s Edison platform was first introduced at last year’s Radiological Society of North America annual meeting in Chicago in November. The platform is touted as a way to help hospitals derive more value from their technology. Earlier this month, the US FDA gave clearance to the Critical Care Suite platform, which was developed in partnership with UC San Francisco and powered by GE’s Edison AI tech. The suite can help radiologists prioritise cases involving collapsed lungs. ON THE RECORD “I am very excited about GE Healthcare's strategic cooperation with five of China's top digital healthcare companies. Our strategic partners have software products of high maturity, the Edison ecosystem we are building with our partners is an important step in the digital transformation of GE Healthcare,” said Dai Ying, Chief Innovation Officer of GE Healthcare China, in a statement.  Cathy Fang Cong, vice-president of YITU Technology, said: “One company might find it hard to handle the massive data generated during the healthcare process. The integration will innovate applications to better serve people's medical needs.”

An interview with Richard Staynings, Chief Security Strategist, Cylera.

The RTLS will enable the tracking of patients, visitors and staff in an outbreak, for rapid and reliable contact tracing so that necessary actions can be taken quickly to curb onward transmission.

Following the successful trialling of the co-designed standards to improve the secure exchange of healthcare information in 2018, the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) has announced that it is partnering with 42 organisations to ensure they are able to easily share information when using different secure messaging platforms across 56 separate software products. WHY IT MATTERS Most clinicians can only correspond electronically with healthcare providers who use the same secure messaging software. These enhancements will allow clinicians to more easily address messages to healthcare providers who are on other secure messaging platforms and will ensure messages and acknowledgements are sent in standard formats. Breaking down these silos will allow clinicians to achieve the full potential of secure messaging and will support the move to axe both the fax and the scanner. General Manager of eHealth Solutions at Telstra Health, Tania Oldaker, said this is a great example of collaboration between software organisations and the Agency to support the work of general practitioners, specialists, allied health practitioners and other providers across Australia. “We’ve worked closely with the Agency and our colleagues in the software industry to develop these new secure messaging standards and test them in a proof-of-concept implementation,” Ms Oldaker said. “Now it’s time to scale this work nationally, and we’re excited to be implementing these changes across our product suite.” RECENT DEVELOPMENTS In July, ADHA partnered with nine specialist software vendors and provided them with A$40,000 each to complete designs that seamlessly and securely integrate the My Health Record (MHR) into their current systems. ADHA’s Chief Clinical Information Officer, Angela Ryan said that the Agency is leading a national consultation which will recommend the appropriate data and digital standards for connected healthcare by the end of 2019, according to a recent interview with Healthcare IT News.  ON THE RECORD “We have made significant progress on secure messaging by working with industry on a provider directory model that breaks down barriers between clinicians, while still leveraging the investment that the secure messaging industry has made to date,” said Bettina McMahon, Chief Operating Officer, ADHA in a statement.  “This is the next step that will ensure those new standards are adopted quickly so GPs, hospitals, specialists and other health practitioners can reap the full benefits of secure messaging, which include timelier receipt of clinical information and not having to chase or resend referrals.” “It also means we are one step closer to retiring fax machines, which is a priority of the National Digital Health Strategy agreed to by all Australian governments through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Health Council,” Ms McMahon concluded. 

As of September 1, over 5500 service providers and their online clinics in hospitals, medical centres and GP practices across Australia have been seamlessly migrated across to the new Coviu-powered healthdirect Video Call.

A chat with Dr Ian Chuang, Chief Medical Officer, Elsevier.

In his 16 years with Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Dr Rong-Min Baek served in key executive roles in both clinical and managerial areas, from department chairman to Chief Medical Officer and Chief Science Officer.

Taipei Veterans General Hospital, a national first-class medical centre and a teaching hospital located in Beitou, Taipei, will utilise the Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution to transform its pathology tissue examination to digital diagnostics, the Dutch health technology giant announced yesterday. The Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution allows tissue samples to be remotely viewed within a virtual pathology network across hospital locations, thereby helping TPVGH to establish Taiwan’s first fully digitalised pathology department. WHY IT MATTERS Using the Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution with the Ultra-Fast Scanner, TPVGH will now be able to digitise tissue samples so that pathologists can review, interpret, analyse, and share digital images. The Image Management System that is part of the Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution allows them to instantly consult colleagues or conveniently present images during multi-disciplinary team meetings, without the need to physically transport pathology slides or tissue samples. In addition to clinical use, the digital images will be stored in image repositories and used to teach pathology students, or used for medical research, including cancer research. THE LARGER TREND Last month, South Korea’s Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital introduced a digital pathology system that aids in the diagnosis of cancer, also utilising the Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution, Healthcare IT News reported.  ON THE RECORD “Philips Taiwan continues to help Taiwan in realising intelligent and advanced healthcare solutions,” said Richard Hu, General Manager of Philips Taiwan in a statement. “Digitalising pathology so that tissue samples can be viewed remotely, wherever they are needed, will not only enhance laboratory efficiency and quality but also improve patient safety.”