Guest Columnist
The Digital Hospital: Leading the Transformation to Integrated Health Management (HIMSS Convention Related News)
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Feb 26, 2010 - 9:44:54 AM

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Today’s health care providers are faced with the need to respond to increasing patient numbers, a growing demand for services, and new regulatory requirements, all while simultaneously controlling operational costs and delivering better care. The hospital is at the forefront of these challenges as they also deal with the rising costs of healthcare, limited budgets and constant incentives to embrace technology.

While the health care industry has been slow to adopt technology and reap the benefits that other major industries have achieved, many health care organizations, including hospitals, are finally turning to advances in technology and the growing trend toward “digital transformation” and adoption of “e-health” solutions to tackle these challenges.

As many are learning and if done correctly, technology convergence and integration bring new opportunities for automating many day-to-day hospital processes, increasing efficiency, reducing costs, improving the quality of care, and increasing patient satisfaction – which is the vision of the digital hospital – a healthcare transformation that goes beyond advanced clinical systems and leverages the convergence between information, medical, communication and building technologies through technology integration.

In a digital hospital, nurses equipped with wireless devices collect and transmit patient vital signs to an electronic medical record in real time as opposed to paper charting which is prone to error. Location-based services reduce the time spent looking for equipment. Lab results and patient information are automatically pushed to physicians using mobile devices.

However, implementing a digital hospital and truly benefiting from it can be difficult and requires leadership, innovation, courage and patience from all parties involved.

To start, healthcare organizations must overcome management challenges created by a fractured approach to technology implementation, and lay a foundation that brings people, processes, and technology together. Organizations must begin viewing technology strategically and the opportunity it brings for change.

HP and its partners have identified three phases on the path to a digital hospital, whether transforming an existing site or building a new one from the ground up. The first phase is the introduction of a highly available network to support the core technology infrastructure and remove barriers to innovation, meaning it needs to available all the time so physicians and staff will actually use it.

The second phase is referred to as Internet Protocol (IP) enablement: the convergence of disparate systems onto one network. To enable all of the different touch points of a true digital hospital, everything needs to be on one IP-based network.

The final phase is integration. This is where an integration engine is brought in to tie disparate technologies like medical devices, building control systems, clinical information systems, communications systems, elevators and door openers into one cohesive middleware layer that facilitates information sharing and workflow change.

HP’s Solution to Integrated Health Management

HP has developed a digital hospital solution that has been helping hospitals all over the world improve finances, streamline operations, enhance patient care, and improve the work experience for staff no matter where a hospital begins its digital transformation.

HP’s Digital Hospital Initiative takes a holistic approach to managing technology and using it to improve processes, enhance safety, better the quality of care and enable customized healthcare, creating a true real-time health information environment.

In an HP Digital Hospital, various advanced technologies – such as critical medical devices, intelligent information systems, facility control systems and communication tools – are integrated to improve hospital operations and process. People, processes and technology are united in a coherent whole – creating a more productive, secure and safe environment for both patients and staff.

The HP Digital Hospital Initiative enables healthcare organizations to:

Use hospital resources more efficiently via better access to information, less duplication of effort and shorter patient stays
Optimize internal processes by reducing information bottlenecks and enabling the ongoing development of workflows through process automation and simplification
Improve quality and safety of care through real-time reliable communication

The components of a comprehensive HP Digital Hospital solution spans from handheld devices to backend infrastructure and all of the expert services to bring their full value to light and all depends on each individual organization’s needs.

HP will be showcasing its Digital Hospital Initiative and providing a hands-on demonstration at HIMSS Booth #7761 at this year’s HIMSS show in Atlanta March 1-4, 2010.

JARED WALKER

Lead Industry Technologist

Jared is the Lead Industry Technologist for the Healthcare Provider Segment within HP Worldwide Industries, bringing a broad technology background to the development of Hewlett-Packard’s vision for healthcare. He has been with HP since December 2000 and has 18 years of experience in the technology industry. His focus is on developing and delivering solutions to address the needs of the Healthcare industry by combining the best of HP with technologies and services from select HP partners. He is currently focused heavily on HP’s Digital Hospital Initiative while also contributing to a variety of internal research initiatives. Jared also works extensively with HP’s business and product groups to advise on portfolio development, go-to-market strategy, and various other Healthcare-related initiatives. Jared is a published author through his contributions to Special Edition Using Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server, by Robert Ferguson.

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