The Digital Healthcare Week conference in Singapore saw over 1,500 attendees from over 30 countries. There were several keynote speeches and discussion tracks focused on digital health initiatives in areas like electronic health records, analytics, telehealth, and mobile health. Notable awards were given for outstanding IT achievements that improved patient care and outcomes. Emerging areas of focus identified were capturing real-time ground-level data, increased use of analytics, and technologies to improve continuity of care beyond hospitals to homes and communities.

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VITAL SIGNSNatasha Gulati, Industry Manager, Connected Health
Overview of HIMSS AsiaPac 2014
Digital Healthcare Week
9561-48 November 2014

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INTRODUCTION
Following the success of the inaugural event in 2013, the Health Information and Management Systems Society
(HIMSS) AsiaPac organized the Digital Healthcare Week in Singapore from 15th
to 19th
September. HIMSS AsiaPac
has been conducting industry events for the past eight years and the Digital Healthcare Week, a conference series
started in 2013 in Singapore, has been notably dubbed as the largest healthcare information technology (IT)
conference and exhibition across the region.The event brings together healthcare professionals, IT vendors, policy
makers and key opinion leaders from over 30 countries with the goal of sharing industry knowledge, innovations
and implementation best practices in an academically charged commercial forum. Frost & Sullivan attended the
event and now presents key highlights from the conference including notable speeches and exhibits along with our
opinion on the direction of healthcare IT in Asia-Pacific (APAC).
CONFERENCE OVERVIEW AND HIGHLIGHTS
As compared to the HIMSS Annual Conference
and Exhibition in US, the Digital Healthcare
Week is much smaller in scale, particularly, in
terms of the number of attendees. However, it
is given significant importance in the region as
it is attended by leading local and multinational
industry participants from countries within
and beyond APAC. This year’s conference
was attended by more than 1,500 delegates of whom 47% were healthcare providers, 20% were research and
academicians, 19% were health IT vendors, 9% were government officials while the rest included associations and
media professionals. 1
Exhibitors and Attendees
There were over 60 sponsors and exhibitors at the conference this year.The large “anchor” exhibitors included
Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS) and Australian Trade Commission (Austrade). IHiS showcased
innovative solutions deployed at public hospitals in Singapore and allowed delegates to enjoy a hands-on
simulation of the solutions while Austrade represented health IT vendors from Australia.
Allscripts, 3M Health Information Systems, Cadi Scientific, Cerner Asia, Clarity Radiology, Epic, Hewlett Packard
Singapore, Hyland Software, Carestream Health, Carefusion, Infor, Inmarsat, Konica Minolta Business Solution
Asia, MEDITECH, MyDoc, myHealth Sentinel, Napier Healthcare, Pellucid Networks, Philips Healthcare, QLIK,
VMware, Wolter Kluwer Health and many more put up interesting exhibits while GE Healthcare, Cisco, SAP
and T-Systems set up hospitality suites to demonstrate their latest solutions in healthcare in addition to their
exhibition booths.
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D I G I TA L H E A LT H C A R E W E E K
Notable Keynote Speeches
Mr.Gan KimYong,Singapore’s Minister of Health – Mr.Gan Kim
Yong took on the role of the Minister of Health,Singapore in 2011.Prior
to this he was associated with other ministries, namely the Ministry of
Manpower and the Ministry of Education. UnderYong’s leadership the
country launched the Healthcare 2020 Master Plan in 2012 with the
aim of building a higher quality, more inclusive healthcare system. In his
keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the HIMSS AsiaPac 14 –
Digital Healthcare Week Mr.Yong upheld the Healthcare 2020 Master
Plan emphasizing on the rigor with which the country is introducing technology into the healthcare system so
that consumers are empowered to manage their health themselves.The Minister noted that an ageing population,
smaller family units and more number of independently living seniors are creating the need for technology in
healthcare in Singapore. He also pointed out that while other countries may face similar challenges, the depth and
complexity of healthcare issues varies markedly across the region. Mr.Yong stated that data analytics, telehealth
and a national health record repository will be the cornerstones of health technology in the country. From
this perspective, the National Electronic Health Record (NEHR) is the foundation of several e-Health initiatives
currently undertaken and in the pipeline. Recent efforts in expanding the reach of NEHR include extending it to
primary care and intermediate and long-term care (ILTC). Data analytics was noted as an important next step in
helping drive improved population health management and more targeted local healthcare services while several
examples of telehealth were provided that had helped improve patient services and reduce patient load at public
hospitals in Singapore.The speech continued into the HIMSS Analytics EMRAM2
Awards where 3 more Singapore
institutions joined the ranks of Stage 6 hospitals and primary care centers around the world.
Rob Morton, Asia-Pacific Site Leader at Disney Institute – Mr. Rob Morton has over 30 years of
experience in developing content and processes that help organizations improve the way they do business. He
has been the Asia-Pacific Site Leader at the Disney Institute since 2004 and has since worked with several small
and large companies across telecommunications, healthcare, financial services, transportation and manufacturing.
His keynote at the Digital Healthcare Week focused on technologies and processes required to improve patient
experience. Mr. Morton touched upon the importance of leveraging technology that improves interactions with
patients as well as internal interactions within administration, IT and clinical departments. Beyond technology, he
also emphasized on the need to promote positive service behaviors within the organization in order to achieve
excellence in healthcare services for patients. In the end, the speech was summed up with examples and insights
on how healthcare employees can be motivated towards the common goal of providing high quality clinical care
and patient experience through improvements in personal interactions.
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EMRAM – EMR Adoption Model Source: HIMSS AsiaPac, Frost & Sullivan
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ConferenceTracks
Healthcare ITTracks – Digital Healthcare Week was the most important conference in APAC for healthcare
IT vendors. The Healthcare IT (HIT) tracks included discussions on numerous aspects of digitization in the
healthcare environment including national and regional eHealth implementations, electronic health record
(EHR) programs, patient safety, e-medication, clinical decision support, analytics and intelligence, applications
of real-world data, mobile health (mHealth), chronic disease management, internet of things (IoT), non-clinical
information systems and the role of IT in healthcare financing. Thought leading perspectives as well as case
studies were shared by government policy makers, health IT vendors, healthcare providers and industry experts.
The track included award presentations from recipients of the HIMSS-Elsevier Digital Healthcare 2014 Awards
for Outstanding ICTAchievement and Outstanding ROIAchievement.As part of the HITTrack,Integrated Health
Information Systems (IHiS), Singapore’s leading health IT systems management company for public healthcare,
organized parallel presentations on key health IT implementations across the country to support medication
management,long term care,Cloud adoption,laboratory automation,digital pathology,electronic medical record
(EMR) adoption, mHealth apps and radiology information systems (RIS). In a nutshell, the HIT track focused on
how data and technology can be leveraged to address various healthcare issues faced by countries across APAC.
Physician’s IT Leadership – Persistent barriers to healthcare IT adoption in APAC are apprehensions, and
lack of training and skills amongst healthcare providers. Physicians in APAC are still not technology-savvy and
need all kinds of incentives and motivations to adopt new IT solutions, a factor which plays an important role
in the success of an IT implementation.The Physician’s IT Leadership track helped key opinion leaders from the
industry share their experience and insights in driving IT adoption amongst clinicians. Unlike past conversations,
which have been largely centered around leveraging IT to ease the burden on clinicians, most presentations
in this track shared case studies and solutions that aim to enhance patient experience and make healthcare
service more patient-centric. Most speakers were senior members of healthcare institutions and shared their
experience with various IT solutions, although, there were a few presentations from vendors as well.
Nursing Informatics – The Nursing Informatics Track was symbolic of the perceivable shift in healthcare
services away from the hospital and closer to the home and consumers.The track identified technologies that
support nursing and primary care as a first line of defense, including nursing informatics solutions, telehealth
solutions and mobile health IT solutions. It included the launch of the Singapore Nurse Association (SNA)
Nursing Informatics Chapter.
Personal Connected Health – Increasing penetration of connected devices combined with growing awareness
amongst consumers is encouraging and enabling them to take ownership of their health and health data.The
Personal Connected Health (PCH) track discussed technologies which allow consumers to take charge of their
health and wellness and support healthcare providers in achieving this goal.A key point of discussion here was
the development of low-resource technologies. Other topics of discussion included telehealth technologies,
mHealth, tools for chronic disease management, population health management, solutions for aged care and IoT.
Big Data and Standards – Owing to the rapid digitization of healthcare across APAC we have seen an
explosion of health and wellness-related data in the region. Big Data has emerged as an important next frontier
for both healthcare providers and technology vendors. The Big Data and Standards track largely focused on
Big Data Analytics and predictive analytics using various types of health data. Simultaneously, the associated
challenges of standardizing health data from various sources and ensuring interoperability amongst various levels
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D I G I TA L H E A LT H C A R E W E E K
of care were also addressed through presentations from vendors and the notable global not-for-profit agency,
International Health Terminology Standards Organization (IHTSDO).
HIMSS-ELSEVIER DIGITAL HEALTHCARE AWARD 2014
Healthcare organizations are constantly investing in new and innovative technologies that not only improve
the quality and efficiency of care but also impact care delivery models paving way for industry transformation.
However, ground-breaking initiatives across the region go unnoticed as there is little or no industry recognition
for such efforts.HIMSS-Elsevier Digital HealthcareAward is a unique platform that identifies and highlights leading
healthcare IT initiatives in APAC with the end goal of being able to share best practices amongst healthcare
providers.
In its second year of running the HIMSS-Elsevier Digital Healthcare Award for 2014 was presented
to 6 healthcare providers.Award recipients were selected after a rigorous analysis of numerous open submissions
by an expert panel comprising members from HIMSS and Elsevier. Below are details of the award categories that
were presented.
Outstanding ICT Achievement Award
The Outstanding ICT Achievement Award is presented to a healthcare provider that has effectively used an
ICT solution to improve patient care, improve one or more outcomes or addressed a key challenge faced by
the institution.The solution need not be new or unique but it should have had a strong impact on quality and
efficiency of care.The award was presented to the following hospitals: Excerpts from the 25th Annual HIMSS
Leadership Survey
• Changi General Hospital,Singapore (CGH) and IHiS for the Enterprise Management Dashboard
(EMD) system.Launched in 2013,the EMD system helped reduce waiting time in theAccident & Emergency
(A&E) department by 40% and increase patient satisfaction score by over 10% by increasing staff productivity
and helping manage A&E queues and bed shortage.
• Tseung Kwan O Hospital, Hong Kong for the Inpatient Medication Order Entry (IPMOE)
Implementation project. IPMOE has helped the hospital completely digitize prescription ordering,
dispensing and administration.
Outstanding ICT Innovation Award
The Outstanding ICT Innovation Award recognizes creative,“out-of-the-box” solutions deployed by healthcare
providers.The award can be presented to a unique application of an existing solution or to a completely novel
solution but the end result should be a tangible positive impact on patient care and outcomes.The award was
presented to the following hospitals: Key Findings
• National Cancer Center,Singapore and IHiS for the Real-timeAmbulatory Patient Information
Deployment Enabler (RAPIDE) system. RAPIDE involves the use of radio frequency identification
(RFID) technology to track patient location, drug status and staff mobilization in real-time.The system helped
ensure that 56% of pre-registered patients receive treatment within 30 minutes of registration as compared
to the pre-implementation figure of 38%.
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• Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation (ATNF), a subsidiary of the
Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd., India for its “I-SEE-U” solution. I-SEE-U allows friends and
relatives of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients to interact with their loved ones over the internet while also
enabling nurses and doctors to communicate with the patients across a distance.
Outstanding ROI Achievement Award
Securing budgets for IT is a major challenge for healthcare providers both in the public and private sector.
Often, vendors and providers are unable to show a return on IT investment either due to gaps and failures in
implementation or due to inadequate monitoring, data collection and impact quantification.The Outstanding
ROI Achievement Award recognizes providers that have successfully demonstrated a compelling return on IT
investment. On the one hand it enables knowledge sharing on how providers can capture and showcase ROI;
on the other hand, it presents business cases for C-suite members, government bodies and funding agencies to
invest in technology.The award was presented to the following hospitals:
• Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH), South Korea for its enterprise-wide
desktop virtualization. The hospital planned its investment well by developing a five-year cost-benefit
analysis which stated that investment break-even was achieved in the fourth year. The project included
deployment of 400 virtual machines which allowed the staff desktop access any time and on any device. ROI
due to reduced errors, reduced IT challenges, improved update times and improved account management
times was estimated at 122.6%.
• Peking University People’s Hospital, China for its hospital operations transformation using an
enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The ERP system allowed the hospital to increase service
volume for outpatient, emergency and discharged patients; reduce average length of stay from 12 to 9 days,
and achieve operational efficiencies.
KEYTAKEAWAYS FROMTHE CONFERENCE
The HIMSS-AsiaPac 2014 – Digital Healthcare Week was a very effective platform for all stakeholders within
the APAC Connected Health value chain to share their needs as well as their innovations. A lot of emphasis
was placed on ensuring that technologies that truly have the potential to transform healthcare delivery were
showcased. Based on the various exhibits, presentations and discussions we identified the following as emerging
areas of focus for the industry:
• Capturing on-the-ground information – various departments within healthcare operate along varying
workflows and have different key performance indicators (KPIs).Add to this complexity the time crunch as
well as the need for accurate and precise procedures. Under these circumstances, it becomes important to
obtain real-time data from the point of care. Healthcare providers are beginning to see the need for niche
departmental workflow solutions that capture ground-level details and integrate them with other sources of
information.Primary use of such ground-level data is to improve efficiency of care but it also helps to capture
more in-depth information about patients and procedures.
• Increasing need for analytics – Tools and technologies that help make sense out of the data are the
next big thing in APAC. Governments, providers and vendors are seeking analytics and intelligence tools
that help make better clinical and operational decisions.While the Singapore Minister of Health confirmed
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that the government will explore improvements in data
capture and analytics as the next step for the Healthcare
IT Master Plan, IBM presented on howWatson can support
clinicians in helping better decisions. A number of other
presentations and exhibits showcased innovative analytics
tools to support healthcare.
• The Need for Continuity of Care – While
hospital IT is achieving commendable heights in APAC,
technology adoption across primary care has not been
equally aggressive.A number of presentations and exhibits
at the conference focused on care continuity in the home
and community setting. To this end, ambulatory solutions,
nursing IT and telehealth solutions were hailed as an important next step for the industry to consider. Care
coordination and population health management solutions to support chronic and aged care are being considered
by physicians but there is no clarity on how these will be paid for unless government authorities intervene.
The Cerner booth had organized a tour every hour that walked delegates through a live demonstration of
various clinical IT solutions from the company that support a patient’s journey all the way from hospital admission
long-term care in the home, an example of how continuity needs to be maintained across various episodes
and levels of care. Peking University People’s Hospital, China for its hospital operations transformation using
an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.The ERP system allowed the hospital to increase service volume
for outpatient, emergency and discharged patients; reduce average length of stay from 12 to 9 days, and achieve
operational efficiencies.
Source: HIMSS AsiaPac, Frost & Sullivan
Images Credits: HIMSS AsiaPac
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