The magnitude of COVID-19 has challenged us to reflect on what the hospital of the future will be. It has brought us the concept of a networked healthcare system where care is delivered at various settings based on severity: ICUs, health hubs in the community, and remote monitoring at home.

Dr Peter Ziese, MD, PhD, Head of Medical Strategy and Innovation, Philips, together with Dr Quek Sin Lat, Chief Executive Officer, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, and Dr Ronnie Ptasznik, Program Director, Monash Health Imaging Monash Hospital, expanded on this at a recent HIMSS APAC 2021 keynote session ‘Inside the hospital of the future’, moderated by Ivy Lai, Country Manager, Philips Singapore.

Three key points discussed at the keynote session:

Virtual care and the role of hospitals in the future

Digital transformation towards a networked healthcare system can alleviate healthcare challenges. The panelists shared that future-proof hospitals should recognise that healthcare delivery will not be centred within hospitals, but in the community. Hospitals will be but one of many nodes of care in the community, and therefore needs to have technological infrastructure to share information within the ecosystem for meaningful patient care.

Digital health training and adoption

The expectation for clinicians to be data experts would take their time away from patients. Therefore, healthcare leaders should be encouraged to reexamine the current processes and expectations to implement safe and effective digital health transformation. Hospitals need to invest in technologically savvy talent that can grow the hospital’s digital capabilities while technology such as EMRs should be designed simple and manageable enough for most clinicians in public service.

Enhancing data integration and management  

Data integration is essential for effective virtual care delivery outside the hospital. We must address the importance of data standardisation and sensible data aggregation to allow clinicians to access patient data in a timely manner as well as combining AI technology and eICU to provide more predictive and effective care, and better patient outcomes.

Aside from the keynote session, Philips' Vice President, Business Leader Clinical Data Services, Elad Benjamin also shared his view on the topic ‘Healthcare informatics: Illuminate a new path through the care continuum’ with HIMSS TV. During this interview, Elad mentioned that lack of integrated, interoperable, and secure harmonised systems are the main challenges in digital transformation. He has also witnessed a tremendous uptick in remote patient management, home care, remote surveillance. All of these are undergoing significant changes in the last couple of years, especially during the pandemic. Therefore, Philips' role is to elevate the overall care through its large portfolio of end-to-end solutions that empower our healthcare partners using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the future of healthcare will depend on ecosystems that deliver improved patient outcomes and experiences at lower cost.

To find out more of how Philips can partner with you to create an ecosystem of care from hospital to home, visit us at Philips.co