At Samsung Medical Center in South Korea, an HIE infrastructure is promoting medical care efficiency while improving both patient and clinician experiences. 

Called DARWIN (Data Analytics and Research Window for Integrated Knowledge), this HIS is able to share medical records safely and electronically in real time with external institutions.

Through this system, SMC is exchanging documents, such as medical requests, medical referrals, medical record summaries, and radiology reading opinions, complying with HL7 CDA standards. This allows clinicians to find patients' histories quickly, reducing the risk of overprescribing or duplicating prescriptions.

In a presentation at HIMSS22 APAC, Sang-Seob Lee, head of IT Operation at SMC, shared that DARWIN was developed to solve pressing issues, such as disconnected medical services, rising medical costs for senior folks, and unnecessary use of medical services.

"The biggest benefit of using this system from patients' point of view is [convenience]. Prior to the HIS, patients had to bring their paper records and pass through cities when they need to report to large hospitals for their treatment," he said.

Aside from patient convenience, the DARWIN HIS also enables collaboration between SMC and its partner institutions through seamless information exchange.

Two months ago, SMC obtained a Stage 6 EMRAM accreditation. In a comment, Andrew Pearce, HIMSS Vice President for Analytics and Global Advisory Lead, noted the hospital's "impressive" HIE capabilities, being able to exchange data across a number of external and national databases, such as the Korea Diseases Control and Prevention Agency and Korea Institute of Drug Safety and Risk Management, "in near-real time for most." 

"This allows for care to be timely and appropriate and reduces the risk of overprescribing or repeating interventions," he mentioned.

DARWIN also features EMR and CPOE, which have a 100% user adoption rate among SMC clinicians, a recent assessment found.

"Since HIE is an infrastructure that electronically links medical information of patients scattered in individual medical institutions, it can promote the efficiency of the medical delivery system, the establishment of medical big data, and the introduction of new healthcare services," Lee said.

"In the future, [SMC] plans to strengthen its care network in a way that focuses on severely ill patients and returning mild patients, which will further boost the use of the HIE," he added.