By Luciano Brustia, Regional Managing Director, Asia Pacific for InterSystems

Digital engagement is part of life in almost every industry. Consumers expect to interact with their suppliers digitally, and healthcare is now catching up.

But healthcare is different. The “customer” data we collect is far more complex and difficult to interpret. While hospitals want to move quickly to engage patients digitally, they must also do no harm clinically.

Many Asian hospitals are well advanced in digital engagement focused on patient communications. This has been vital in maintaining relationships with patients making fewer hospital visits because of the pandemic.

But healthcare providers also need to think about their brand. Are they an organization that promotes medical treatments, or do they provide the best care for each patient? To be known for patient-centered care, clinical data has to be part of the equation.

You also must consider issues like clinical safety, social safety, security, and privacy. How are you going to verify the identity of the patient? How will you protect against medical information being stolen or misused?

You also need a solid data management strategy. Clinical data must be “clean” and flow seamlessly where and when it is needed. And you need to keep up with the exponential growth of new data types and sources, like medical devices.

InterSystems has large clinical safety and information security departments to keep abreast of these issues. We pour millions of dollars into the things that make up a complete solution and work with our customers in a true partnership to succeed.

Many leading Southeast Asian hospitals rely on our technology for data-driven innovation and patient engagement.

Bumrungrad International Hospital in Thailand recently implemented InterSystems TrakCare Personal Community. This enables reviewing care records, uploading medical device data, scheduling appointments, completing forms, receiving alerts, and accessing third-party apps.

Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care Indonesia (RSDHI) is upgrading its InterSystems TrakCare® unified healthcare information system with the InterSystems IRIS for Health™ data platform. One of the main expected benefits is digital patient engagement.

RSDHI is looking to ease integration with third parties, including insurance companies, and innovations such as smart wards where patients use smart TVs to order food, learn about treatment programs, access results, and check ongoing bills. Patient information would be held in TrakCare, with IRIS for Health enabling integration with supporting applications.

Another leading Indonesian hospital group, Rumah Sakit Pondok Indah (RSPI), is looking at TrakCare’s ability to integrate medical data with mobile apps for patient engagement.

That may mean patients booking appointments and accessing lab results from the TrakCare electronic medical record (EMR). Longer term, it might include reminders for vaccinations or regular appointments to manage chronic health conditions.

And Srisawan Hospital recently selected TrakCare to support excellence in patient experience and digital engagement at its new private hospital in Bangkok. Srisawan will use TrakCare and IRIS for Health’s interoperability to integrate patient engagement applications.

Southeast Asian hospitals have long seen EMR systems as desirable to support world-class levels of care. Now, digital engagement is driving the need for technologies like interoperability and data analytics.

Rapid advances in interoperability are being driven by standards like FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) and SMART on FHIR. These offer a standard way to integrate mobile apps, for example, with healthcare information systems.

Organizations can use a healthcare data platform like IRIS for Health to develop FHIR apps, provide advanced interoperability, and orchestrate digital services. Data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning will also be essential capabilities in the future.

Currently, however, Asian hospitals need to develop a digital patient engagement strategy, go after the low-hanging fruit, achieve some wins, and build from there.