Samsung Medical Center has been validated for the Stage 6 HIMSS Digital Imaging Adoption Model, its third HIMSS maturity model accreditation this year.

The DIAM measures a healthcare organisation's capabilities in medical imaging delivery.

WHY IT MATTERS

SMC underwent the DIAM assessment to ensure it complies with global standards before embarking on an upgrade of its digital imaging system next year and before it offers cloud-based imaging services in the future.

During the validation, SMC was commended for having "excellent" enterprise image governance arrangements in place, along with strong clinical engagement and visible leadership from members of the senior team. It has also made all images available in context from the EMR along with the adjacent reports. 

Its ability to present associated images from different modalities was found to be helpful for clinicians who may want to look at a cardiac CT alongside the cardiac ultrasound, or an image of a soft tissue injury at the same time as a radiograph of the injured joint.

Additionally, SMC was praised for its security capabilities in protecting and printing sensitive images, as well as its ability to measure radiation doses per machine, patient, and body site.

In preparation for further assessments, HIMSS recommended using an Intruder Prevention System to prevent unauthorised access to EMR and other images. It also wanted SMC to consider implementing image-related clinical decision support tools to assist clinicians with requesting the most appropriate examinations or studies.

SMC is also expected to define its external image exchange capabilities as part of its digital imaging strategy. According to HIMSS, this strategy must describe how images can be shared with other care providers, shared for telehealth consultation, shared with patients, and with mobile devices outside the hospital walls.

THE LARGER TREND

SMC's DIAM validation follows its awards for Stage 6 of the Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model in August and Stage 7 of the Infrastructure Adoption Model in April, which was a global first.

It is the third healthcare organisation in the world and second in Asia-Pacific to be validated for Stage 6 DIAM. Apollo Hospitals in India obtained the same award in June this year.

The hospital is now working towards attaining the highest accreditation for DIAM. "Through this, we would like to become a world-class smart hospital," said Jean Hyoung Lee, manager of IT Infrastructure at SMC.

ON THE RECORD

Commenting on the way the SMC team works, Andrew Pearce, HIMSS VP for Analytics and Global Advisory Lead, said: "The team at SMC at all levels has a commitment to the mission and vision 'with state-of-the-art medical technology, we focus on providing personalised treatments with outstanding health outcomes for patients with chronic illnesses.' This is underpinned by a strong governance and workforce foundation with clinician-led digital transformation." 

Dr Rohini Omkar Prasad, Senior Digital Health Advisor at HIMSS who was actively involved in the validation explained: "SMC showcased advanced capabilities in their enterprise imaging with an excellent example of the use of AI in photography to recognise and stage a pressure injury. Further, imaging analytics have been deployed to support clinical decision algorithms to detect hitherto hard-to-diagnose cases of cerebral aneurysms, pneumothoraxes, and early breast cancers. Working with their own, local, and regional data to develop validated models underscores their commitment to improving the quality of clinical care for the population they serve in South Korea." 

"SMC is a hospital with world-class medical IT infrastructure and is the best advanced medical institution in South Korea. We are currently remodelling the hospital with a 10-year plan and fulfilling our seven major innovation tasks to become the hospital of the future. In line with these changes, we plan to upgrade our digital Imaging system in 2023, as well as offer a range of cloud-based Imaging services. We went through the assessments for Stage 6 DIAM to check whether our efforts are being carried out according to global standards and to seek advice and direction from HIMSS," Lee said.