Five hospitals recognized for achieving high standards in technology implementation and innovation to advance patient care at the 6th Asia Pacific HIMSS-Elsevier Digital Healthcare Award 2018

Elsevier, the information analytics business specializing in science and health, and HIMSS Asia Pacific are proud to announce the five winners of the 6^th Asia Pacific HIMSS-Elsevier Digital Healthcare Award 2018. This award recognizes outstanding achievements and innovations globally in the implementation and usage of health information and technology. Winners were recognized at a dinner reception held on November 5, 2018, at the South Bank Rydges Hotel, Brisbane, Australia.

Out of the 22 Asia Pacific submissions received this year, five hospitals from Australia, China and India emerged as winners in the two award categories. Their projects exemplified the excellent usage of technology, from hospital-wide EMR implementation to using AI-enabled clinical decision support systems to improve workflow efficiencies and reduce variability in care.

The Outstanding ICT Achievement Award category recognizes hospitals that leverage technology to achieve substantial improvements in patient care and safety and have addressed major challenges faced by their institution.

Outstanding ICT Achievement Award Winners:

• Metro South Health, Australia – Metro South Health Digital Hospital Project
  Providing acute medical, cancer, surgical, rehabilitation, maternity, cardiology, orthopedics, renal, and other specialty services for both children and adults, the health service embarked on an ambitious project to roll out the integrated EMR across all hospitals and facilities. Metro South Health’s Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH) was selected as the exemplar site for the implementation of the shared integrated EMR solution for Queensland.

• Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH), Australia – The RCH ViCTOR EMR Project
  ViCTOR, short for Victorian Children’s Tool for Observation and Response, helps nursing staff to chart physiological observations of children, recognizing patterns or changes in those observations to prevent the rapid health deterioration among hospitalized children. What began as a paper-based observation chart, with various data value label and colored-shaded zone for normal and abnormal physiological observations, has since become the standard of care for all pediatric hospitals in Victoria. In April 2016, ViCTOR went digital with RCH’s hospital-wide Epic EMR system implementation – the first in Australia to implement a hospital-wide EMR in one day.

• Xuanwu Hospital Capital Medical University, China – To Save Faster and Better: Combine AI and Rebuilding ED Process to Improve Efficiency and Quality of Stroke Emergency Care
  Being one of China’s leading facility for providing stroke emergency care, Xuanwu Hospital devised a new stroke emergency patient fast-track process with the revised emergency department information system, creating a closed loop of the complete stroke emergency care process. They also introduced an AI-enabled clinical decision support system with the Mayo Clinic knowledge base for their care process and checking of physician documentation quality breaches that improved the accuracy of diagnosis recommendations.

The Outstanding ICT Innovation Award recognizes the most innovative and creative ICT solutions that improve patient care and safety.

Outstanding ICT Innovation Award Winners:

• Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Limited, India – A Multifactorial Cardiovascular Risk Prediction Tool Using Machine Learning for Indian Population
  This is the first EMR Integrated heart risk related project and risk model on the Indian population using retrospective and prospective data which can be helpful in better management for cardiovascular disease (CVD) care. The objective of the project was to come up with a CVD risk score prediction model taking into consideration risk factors associated with cardiac disease specifically focused on the Indian population with the ability for the model to be integrated into the organization’s EMR.

• Aravind Eye Hospital-Pondicherry, India – Low Cost Technology Coupled with Electronic Medical Record to Tackle Needless Blindness in Rural India
  Aravind Eye Hospital Pondicherry has devised a way to increase the rate and completion of referrals to the base hospital by creating an innovative EMR-based camp. This technology-intensive model utilizes portable low-cost devices such as the ICare Tonometer (for glaucoma screening), fundus camera (for diabetic retinopathy and optic neuropathies), and hand-held slit lamps (for anterior segment disease) paired with a tablet-based EMR.

“We are extremely delighted to be shortlisted as finalists for both the ICT Achievement and ICT Innovation categories at this year’s HIMSS-Elsevier Awards. As we continue our innovative efforts to reduce needless blindness in India, receiving the innovation award is akin to hitting a significant milestone as we take the next step on this journey to help rural patient populations, said Dr. R. Venkatesh, Chief Medical Officer, Aravind Eye Hospital – Pondicherry, India.

Metro South Health and Xuanwu Hospital Capital Medical University are both first-time recipients of the award, while Royal Children’s Hospital, Aravind Eye Hospital-Pondicherry and Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Limited have been recognized in previous years.

“This year’s winners demonstrated such a high level of innovative thinking and implementation of health ICT, which resulted in a tie within the Outstanding ICT Achievement Award category. I would strongly encourage other organizations to get inspiration and learn from their spirit of excellence,” said Tim Morris, Product and Partnership Director for EMEALA/APAC, Elsevier. “We are continually impressed by the growth and successes of healthcare providers across Asia Pacific.”

The submissions were evaluated by a panel of six judges:

• Bill Le Blanc, Executive Director and Chief Information Officer, SA Health, Australia
• Dr. Aamir Ali, Health Informatics Consultant, Ministry of Health and Prevention, UAE
• Dr. Korpong Rookkapan, Board of Directors, Paknampo Group of Hospitals by Principal Healthcare Group; Director, Principal Healthcare Group; Executive Director, Hospital Management Training and Development Institute, Thailand
• John Daniels, Global Vice President, Healthcare Advisory Services Group, HIMSS Analytics
• John Sutherland, Chief Information Officer, Ramsay Healthcare, Australia
• Robert Nieves, Vice President of Health Informatics for Clinical Solutions, Elsevier

“Congratulations to all winners of the 2018 Asia Pacific HIMSS-Elsevier Digital Healthcare Award. This year’s winning projects showcased the best of cutting-edge achievements and continuous innovations and the award is testament to the vision and efforts of these hospitals to improve care through process reinvention aided by the proper use of information technology,” said John Daniels, Global Vice President, HIMSS Analytics.

Since its inception in 2013, the award has received 218 submissions in six years across 30 countries and 120 unique organizations globally.

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About HIMSS
HIMSS is a global advisor and thought leader supporting the transformation of health through information and technology. As a mission driven non-profit, HIMSS offers a unique depth and breadth of expertise in health innovation, public policy, workforce development, research and analytics to advise global leaders, stakeholders and influencers on best practices in health information and technology. Through our innovation companies, HIMSS delivers key insights, education and engaging events to healthcare providers, governments and market suppliers, ensuring they have the right information at the point of decision. As an association, HIMSS encompasses more than 72,000 individual members and 630 corporate members. We partner with hundreds of providers, academic institutions and health services organizations on strategic initiatives that leverage innovative information and technology. Together, we work to improve health, access and the quality and cost-effectiveness of healthcare. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, HIMSS serves the global health information and technology communities with focused operations across North America, Europe, United Kingdom, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. www.himssasiapac.org

About Elsevier
Elsevier is a global information analytics business that helps institutions and professionals advance healthcare, open science and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support and professional education, including ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, more than 38,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray’s Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professionals and business customers across industries. www.elsevier.com