The Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) of Singapore has upgraded the EMR system used by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Medical Corps after nearly a decade. It has also implemented a new document management solution. 

MINDEF/SAF's Patient Care Enhancement System (PACES) 3 system allows soldiers to access information on their medical history, as well as manage and book their medical appointments. 

WHY IT MATTERS

PACES 3 is now running the latest versions of both the Sunrise EMR system and the newly implemented Altera Opal by Altera Digital Health. 

Both systems offer enhanced user experience and new features across clinical and financial applications, including enhanced workflows, improved system performance, enabled compliance with regulatory obligations, and improved overall usability. 

Altera's Sunrise system for the military provides functionalities for primary and acute care such as referral management; allied health, pharmacy and medical imaging; patient portals; and tools specifically designed for the military's delivery of healthcare.

According to Altera, MINDEF/SAF's Sunrise EMR upgrade is its first across Asia-Pacific. 

THE LARGER CONTEXT

PACES 3 was launched in 2016. It succeeded two generations which operated independently with no ability to connect to external healthcare infrastructures. Now powered by Altera's Sunrise, it can connect to Singapore's National Electronic Health Record system and other similar health IT infrastructures via the Internet. 

Besides the MINDEF, Altera is also enabling interoperability across SingHealth. Its ongoing contract with the organisation, which was recently extended until 2029, also provides an interface that it can use to build its own healthcare IT solutions.  

ON THE RECORD

"EMRs for military, by their very nature, are associated with the most stringent security requirements…MINDEF's EMR helps support the health and readiness of its personnel to serve its nation, and because war zones, disaster areas and other environments where militaries operate are often far from home, the system has been equipped with advanced mobility features so that clinicians can access the EMR from remote locations," said Todd Haebich, EVP of Altera Digital Health APAC.