SINGAPORE, Oct. 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Attended by over 450 healthcare professionals and 40 speakers, the inaugural Singapore eHealth Innovations Summit kicked off with the opening address by A/Prof. Benjamin Ong, Director of Medical Services, Ministry of Health and the event's Guest of Honour. A/Prof. Ong discussed Singapore's aim to balance quality and accessibility with sustainability in its Healthcare goals for 2020 and beyond.
He said: "One advantage we have in Singapore is that we have an increasingly digitally savvy and enabled population. In addition, a larger percentage of patients and caregivers have the desire to and are taking greater ownership in their own and their loved ones' health and disease management. This enables us to increasingly leverage technology to deliver Smart Health, so that care can be more personalised, integrated, proactive, and empowering." A/Prof. Ong also shared about eHealth projects in Singapore, including the National Electronic Health Record system, tele-rehabilitation, HealthHub and the increasing application of analytics to personalise and improve care delivery.
A key highlight of the Summit was the announcement of Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH) as the first HIMSS Analytics EMRAM Stage 7 hospital in Singapore, ASEAN and Australasia. Having attained this highest stage of digital maturity, NTFGH is paperless, chartless, scriptless and filmless.
Presenting the Award with A/Prof. Ong, HIMSS President and CEO Stephen Lieber said: "At the highest level of the EMRAM -- Stage 7 -- the care environment demonstrates a quantum leap from Stage 6 in terms of improvements in quality, safety, performance and profits. With this milestone, Singapore is again illuminating its position as the regional role model in healthcare. Singapore also continues to have the highest number of public hospitals with HIMSS Stage 6 in Asia Pacific. We look forward to more Stage 7 achievements as you journey towards your SMART Nation vision."
The Singapore eHealth Innovations Summit was developed by HIMSS Asia Pacific in partnership with key associations in Singapore and the USA to deliver specialized and localized thought leadership content. Partner associations include the Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore, Singapore Medical Association, Singapore Radiological Society and more.
"Technology has the transformative power to help all healthcare professionals make more accurate diagnosis, prescribe, dispense and administer the correct medications as well as be more cost-efficient in doing examinations. For example, a pathologist can now -- with the aid of technology -- run multiple tests simultaneously on one biopsy sample instead of requiring one sample per test. This also reduces incidents of patients undergoing repeat procedures to retrieve new samples. To successfully transform care, providers must leverage technology for all care teams and departments including diagnostic laboratories and pharmacies, and not only reserve technology for traditional users like doctors and nurses," said Dr. Nipit Piravej, Chair of the HIMSS Asia Pacific Governing Council.
Apart from specialty symposiums, the Singapore eHealth Innovations Summit also featured the CHIME Healthcare Leadership Academy, AHIMA Workforce Development Workshop and Networking Receptions. View the post-event report and photos here.
