High-level healthcare professionals from public and private hospitals in Dubai took part in a forum organised by the Dubai Healthcare Authority and IBM to discuss ways to implement smart healthcare opportunities.

The forum titled ‘DHA CiO forum: Smarter Healthcare,’ is one of the initiatives of the DHA to advocate the importance of smart healthcare in line with its long-term vision to implement the Dubai Smart Healthcare Model that was recently launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, at Gitex 2013.

The model includes three components: smart operations, smart applications and smart hospitals.

Dr Mohammed Al Redha,  director of health data and information analysis department, health policy and strategy sector at the DHA, said : “In line with the vision of our leaders, the DHA is moving towards implementing total IT solutions that will enhance the manner in which healthcare is delivered and managed.

“Our eventual aim is to have electronic connectivity for all hospitals in Dubai- public and private as well as a single electronic file per patient. This will not only ensure better healthcare delivery but also provide better data which leads to better decision-making.”

He said electronic integration will also benefit patients  because their file will not only be available to doctors in the emirate but can also be made available to doctors abroad through a secured password and username.

Moreover, smart hospitals provide patients with access to health information through their smartphones and enhances patient experience from the time he or she enters the hospital until they are discharged: this includes the whole process, that is:  e-registration to e-dirham, that is, from registration to payment.

“High level healthcare professionals from all hospitals in Dubai (26 private and four government) took part in this forum to discuss benefits of electronic integration. We provided information on the latest IT solutions so that hospitals can be aware of the importance of moving towards smart healthcare.”

It also discussed several topics including the latest smart hospital initiatives adopted by countries the world over and its benefits and ways to move towards a smart hospital model.

Al Redha also highlighted that the DHA will announce the results of the Emram (Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model) survey in February 2014.

It is an eight-step process to analyse an organisation’s level of EMR adoption as well as track their progress against other healthcare organisations across the country.

The DHA and HiMSS Analytics are currently tabulating the results to determine the level of electronic medical record model adopted by hospitals in Dubai.

The results will help ascertain the hospital with the highest and lowest integration level in Dubai. - TradeArabia News Service