Seoul National University Bundang Hospital has been exporting its globally validated hospital information system to support other hospitals in their digital transformation journey.
In 2010, the Korean hospital became the first hospital outside the United States to be validated at Stage 7 or the highest stage of the HIMSS Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM). Since then, it has maintained that status following three revalidations, the most recent of which was in late 2023.
Underpinning its EMR system is its hospital information system dubbed BestCARE, which it has already exported to 30 hospitals in the US, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
"[These include] two large Saudi hospitals that have been validated at Stage 7 of the EMRAM for using this system, demonstrating the highest digital level of our HIS," claimed Dr Seyoung Jung, director of the SNUBH Office of Hospital Information.
SNUBH began developing BestCARE, the "backbone" of its digital transformation, in 2008.
In his keynote presentation at HIMSS25 APAC, Dr Jung explained that the HIS was designed as an evidence-based patient care system that integrates four key features: clinical decision support system (CDSS), closed-loop medication administration, clinical pathways, and clinical and business intelligence indicators.
Dr Jung, who effectively serves as the hospital's CIO, shared that BestCARE – now in its second iteration – runs around 300 clinical pathways across 21 departments. These pathways, it was observed, have delivered significant outcomes, such as a 45% reduction in the average length of patient stay following endoscopic surgery and 22% after gastrectomy procedures.
It also helped reduce the use of second-generation cephalosporins for 5.14 days to just using first-generation cephalosporins for 2.12 days. Through these pathways, Dr Jung said, "we can provide [clinicians] very strict and standardised protocols, which can reduce unnecessary antibiotic use."
"When clinicians need guidance for a specific disease, they can just order it, and then the EMR system provides them with the overall treatment plan, daily checklist, and nursing list," he explained.
Dr Jung also highlighted how its closed-loop medication administration cut potential medication error by 1.2%. The system, he said, helps staff administer the correct medication and dose to the right patient at the right place and time, with the exact administration automatically recorded in the EMR.
Meanwhile, SNUBH automatically extracts clinical and business intelligence indicators daily from its clinical data warehouse. Now, it tracks over 500 indicators from less than 10 that were previously extracted manually by nurses each month. The hospital also publicly reports its annual review of these indicators via its website.
Throughout SNUBH's digital transformation journey, according to Dr Jung, HIMSS' digital maturity validation models have "served as a benchmark and a guiding framework for us."
"This digital transformation journey with HIMSS has been very helpful for us to evolve as a digital leader."
Besides the EMRAM, SNUBH was also validated at Stage 6 of the HIMSS Analytics Maturity Assessment Model (AMAM). Dr Jung shared that they are currently being assessed for the modernised version of the AMAM, which was released last year.
HIMSS is the parent company of Healthcare IT News.
