Nghe An actively builds smart healthcare sector

Deploying electronic medical records

During 14 years of establishment and development, Nghe An Oncology Hospital has invested in human resources, infrastructure and equipment. Along with that, the Hospital is very interested in investing in developing information technology applications in medical examination and treatment.

In March 2023, Nghe An Oncology Hospital began implementing changes to the HIS-LIS software system (Hospital Information System - Laboratory Information Management System). Next, the Hospital gradually applied electronic payments, digital signatures, deployed the PACS system (image storage and transmission), smart injection carts, etc. By April 2024, the hospital had basically completed the conditions to meet the application of electronic medical records.

Electronic medical records are digital versions of paper medical records, recorded, displayed and stored electronically. Electronic medical records have the same legal basis and function as conventional medical records. All information on professional procedures, medical orders, medical history, and treatment progress of patients are digitized, with standardized, seamless data and procedures that minimize the use of paperwork.

Deploying electronic medical records is a major turning point in the journey of digital transformation of healthcare. Electronic medical records help the medical examination and treatment process become faster, more accurate and more convenient. With electronic medical records, patients can easily monitor the medical examination and treatment process, and doctors can easily access and manage information anytime, anywhere.

On May 15, 2024, Nghe An Oncology Hospital officially deployed Electronic Medical Records. Up to now, after more than 5 months of implementation, the Hospital has reduced more than 95% of paperwork related to medical examination and treatment procedures.

Some types of documents that have not been digitized on the software have been scanned and electronically signed by medical staff, then transferred to the hospital management software. The professional process has been shortened a lot of time, patients as well as doctors can access medical records anywhere with internet...

Ms. Tran Thi Minh, from Vinh city, is a patient at Nghe An Oncology Hospital, said: I find the electronic medical record very good. Patients do not need to wait for results at the clinical examination rooms, but the results are returned on the website. The payment procedures are also very convenient, patients can pay by bank card.

Dr. Pham Vinh Hung - Deputy Director of Nghe An Oncology Hospital shared: Nghe An Oncology Hospital is the first oncology hospital in the country to successfully deploy electronic medical records. The application of information technology in management and professional activities not only contributes to improving the quality of medical services, reducing administrative pressure, meeting patient satisfaction, but also creates a solid foundation to move towards the goal of building a smart hospital with three pillars: smart disease prevention, smart health care and smart medical management.

Since the beginning of 2024, the province has had 6 more hospitals implementing electronic medical records, namely Nghe An Oncology Hospital, Nghe An Endocrinology Hospital, Nghe An Traditional Medicine Hospital, Nghe An Eye Hospital, Cua Dong General Hospital, and Central Ear - Nose - Throat Hospital. In total, the province has had 11 hospitals implementing electronic medical records (8 public units and 3 non-public units). From now until 2028, Nghe An will direct the remaining 38 public and non-public health insurance examination and treatment facilities to complete the implementation of electronic medical records.

Towards smart healthcare development

Implementing Resolution No. 09-NQ/TU on digital transformation of Nghe An province to 2025, orientation to 2030 and Plan No. 586/KH-UBND of the Provincial People's Committee on digital transformation of Nghe An province to 2025, Nghe An Health sector has focused on implementing many solutions to apply information technology,digital transformationhealth, developing smart health to improve efficiency, quality of medical examination and treatment, quality of health care for people.

Accordingly, to build a smart healthcare system, the industryMedicalNghe An has directed 100% of medical examination and treatment facilities from the province, district and commune to deploy software for managing medical examination and treatment and health insurance payment; connecting medical examination and treatment data of health insurance with the data receiving portal of the health insurance appraisal information system. Up to now, most of the medical examination and treatment records have been automatically pushed to the Ministry of Health's data portal and the health insurance appraisal portal in accordance with regulations. According to the report on the results of online appraisal, the average number of records sent on time is over 98%.

Along with that, the industry has directed both public and non-public medical facilities to receive patients with citizen identification cards instead of health insurance cards. Up to now, the whole province has had 529/529 public and non-public medical facilities receiving patients with citizen identification cards instead of health insurance cards.

The implementation of digital transformation is also being strongly implemented by the health sector in electronic prescriptions and connecting with the national information system on prescription management and prescription drug sales. The whole province has 899/941 (95.53%) medical examination and treatment facilities approved by the Department of Health to issue interconnection codes; 119/899 medical examination and treatment facilities have interconnectedly sent prescriptions to the system.

Nghe An Health Department directs units to apply information technology to deploy remote medical examination and treatment through technology connecting with leading experts and connecting training and online consultation with major hospitals to improve the quality of medical examination and treatment and reduce travel of patients and medical staff; directs units to apply information technology to register for online medical examination; deploy the issuance and use of smart medical examination cards to help people register for remote medical examination numbers, reduce waiting time and congestion for patients; integrate non-cash payment solutions into smart medical examination cards. Up to now, 76.3% of medical units in the province have deployed payment of hospital fees through banks.

In the field of prevention, the health sector has deployed information technology applications at medical centers in 21/21 districts, cities and towns; deployed shared software at 460/460 medical stations across the province. The Grassroots Health Information Management System has been officially put into operation since May 2022, with 23 modules to help medical facilities manage 18 books and different types of reports...

Implementing Plan No. 368/KH-UBND dated July 6, 2020 on establishing records, examining and managing people's health in the area, up to now, the health sector has initiated 3,474,783 records on the system, reaching over 97%. Of which, 3,124,908 records have medical examination and treatment data, reaching 89.93%.

According to pharmacist Tran Minh Tue - Deputy Director in charge of Nghe An Department of Health, besides the achievements, the construction of smart healthcare in Nghe An still faces many difficulties and limitations, including: Infrastructure and equipment for implementing information technology applications and digital transformation in the industry are still weak; The work of ensuring information security in the health sector still faces many difficulties; Human resources for implementing information technology applications and digital transformation in the health sector are still lacking; Software serving independent health programs, serving professional management and reporting implementation data to the Ministry of Health, is currently not interconnected and sharing data; Some other important areas of work of the health sector do not have specialized software.

Medical examination and treatment facilities are implementing the roadmap for autonomy. However, the price of technical services has not been calculated correctly and fully, and there are no costs for information technology application activities. This has caused many difficulties for medical examination and treatment facilities in balancing and investing in information technology application and digital transformation.

To continue promoting the application of information technology and digital transformation, Nghe An Department of Health is coordinating with relevant units to draft the Project on smart healthcare development in Nghe An province until 2030, submitting it to the Provincial People's Committee for promulgation, in order to improve capacity, management efficiency, professional activities; improve the quality of medical examination and treatment; contribute to administrative reform, reduce hospital overload; create favorable conditions for people to access timely and effective medical services./.