Three hospitals in Dubai won awards at a ceremony  held recently to felicitate hospitals that follow best practices in electronic  implementation of medical records.

The ceremony, at Meydan Hotel, was organised by the DHA and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the award was given for two categories: Dubai hospitals that represent best practices in implementation of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and hospitals that have dramatically improved their  Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) score results compared to the previous year (i.e. highest jumpers).

The Saudi-German hospital won the prize in the first category while Belhoul European Hospital and Burjeel Hospital won the prize on the latter category.

The awards are initiative in line with the DHA’s long-term vision to implement the Dubai Smart Healthcare Model that was 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.

John Hoyt, executive vice president, HIMSS Analytics,  said: “ We are excited to see the dramatic improvement of the percentage of Stage 5 hospitals from 0 per cent in 2011 to 22.4 per cent in 2013 which shows clearly the benefits of EMRAM as a benchmark and as planning tool. Additionally, the percentage of hospitals which embarked on their automation journey has increased by 18.1 per cent  since the we implemented the program for hospitals in Dubai."

Dr Mohammad Al Redha, director of health data and information analysis department  at the DHA, said that the adoption of the HIMSS EMRAM plays a beneficial role in Dubai's Smart Government and Smart City plans. “Dubai is keen to offer smart healthcare services to consumers, therefore we need to a test these services against international automation benchmarks. The EMRAM is a global benchmark that aligns not only with the Dubai's domestic mandate to be smart and paper-free city, but also with its global ambitions. We are pleased to see the increase in the number of hospitals that are on track with their automation plans towards a paper-less environment.”- TradeArabia News Service