Catholic Medical Center, a hospital network in South Korea, recently conducted digital health assessments to measure the basic maturity of its hospitals.
Widely accepted digital health assessment tools from HIMSS were used, namely the Digital Health Indicator (DHI), Model for the implementation of electronic medical records (EMRAM), and Infrastructure Adoption Model (INFRAM).
The DHI measures an organization’s progress in building digital ecosystem capacity across four dimensions: governance and workforce, predictive analytics, interoperability, and person-enabled health. Meanwhile, the EMRAM and INFRAM measure EMR and IT infrastructure maturity, respectively.
FINDINGS
CMC has eight affiliated hospitals: Seoul St Mary’s, Yeouido St Mary’s, Uijeongbu St Mary’s, Bucheon St Mary’s, Eunpyeong St Mary’s, Incheon St Mary’s, St Vincent and Daejeon St Mary’s. They are all connected through one hospital information system, the CMC nU.
Based on the DHI assessment, the hospitals showed varying baseline levels of digital maturity, with Seoul St Mary’s Hospital in particular achieving a score of 310. As a group, CMC was found to have a solid foundation for digital transformation with strengths in governance and workforce, and interoperability.
WHY IT MATTERS
Despite the varying speed and degree of their digital maturity, all CMC hospitals are moving in the same direction under the same digital strategy, said In-Young Choi, professor and deputy CIO of CMC. Seoul St Mary’s, as the flagship hospital, is leading the implementation of CMC’s seven-year digital transformation. New technology and digital services are first tested and validated here before being replicated in other hospitals.
According to the findings of the DHI assessment, CMC as a group is moving towards a digitally mature ecosystem, with Seoul St Mary’s serving as a benchmark for further improvements in digital healthcare capabilities, particularly in the areas of predictive analytics and person-centred healthcare.
CMC credits its IT coordinators at Seoul St. Mary’s with building a “high-quality” digital health ecosystem. IT coordinators are located in each clinical area and help ensure smooth communication between users and developers through a professional and systematic communication system; enhance the capabilities of hospital staff in delivering digital health; and maintain support and infrastructure.
CMC will also focus on increasing EMR user adoption and strengthening the data center to improve the EMR system and IT infrastructure.
THE BIGGER CONTEXT
CMC first unveiled its vision for its digital transformation in 2019. Its seven-year strategy outlined eight key digital initiatives and actions to achieve this goal. These include a 12-terabyte clinical data warehouse – which it claims is the largest structured medical data platform in South Korea, and a 1,610-TB electronic data processing system, which it says is the first unstructured medical data platform in the country. Also in the pipeline is a big data-based digital pathology platform.
To further promote digital transformation, CMC has Catholic Information Convergence Institute in 2021. The Institute is behind CMC’s IT governance system, which guides the adoption and integration of new technologies across the group.
ON THE RECORD
Dr. Dai-Jin Kim, CEO of Seoul St Mary’s Hospital and CIO of CMC, emphasized the importance of globally recognized digital maturity assessments, saying: “If hospital organizations want to improve process efficiency, patient safety and healthcare quality, they should undergo an objective assessment of the current state of their digital healthcare services and receive professional advice and feedback on further digital improvements.”
“Through such assessments, they can gain cutting-edge knowledge and stay abreast of the latest digital developments globally, which they may need to upgrade their respective HIS and shape their forward-looking institutional policies and strategies. These assessments can also help them avoid unnecessary trials and errors by obtaining evidence and validated trends on digital investments.”
Dr. Dai-Jin Kim, CIO, Catholic Medical Center
Following the digital maturity assessments, CMC also wants to focus on empowering patients to manage their health and wellbeing in the safety of their own home.
“We plan to focus more on developing services that enable patients to participate in their healthcare and treatment. Part of this is an aftercare platform that we are developing that connects different state-of-the-art services to help patients manage their health outside the hospital.”
Professor In-Young Choi, VP for External Relations, Catholic Medical Center
_
Learn more about AI adoption in hospitals from Prof In-Young Choi at the upcoming HIMSS24 APAC Health Conference in Seoul, South Korea from October 1-4. They will speak during the plenary discussion “AI Horizons: Exploring the Future of Innovations.” Secure Your Slots here.