Over 4000 Patients to Benefit from Extension of Electronic Medical Records Exchange to Community Hospitals

05 Dec 2007

By the first quarter of 2008, over 4000 patients yearly at the community hospitals will be able to enjoy better patient care, improved drug safety, fewer repeat tests and hence lower costs with the extension of the Electronic Medical Records Exchange (EMRX). First off the block is the Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan (AMK-THK) Community Hospital. In Nov 2007, it has linked up tomedical records of patients who visit the public healthcare institutions which include all the public hospitals, specialist centres and polyclinics.

With this extension of the EMRX to the AMK-THK Community Hospital, doctors in the community hospital can now access theelectronic medical recordsof patients who have been referred from any Restructured Hospital (RH). Similarly, when a patient from the AMK-THK Community Hospital is referred back to an RH, the RH doctor will also have access to theelectronic medical records[1] created at the Community Hospital. This means better integrated and seamless care for patients. Diagnosis and treatment also become faster. “The close partnerships that Community Hospitals and Restructured Hospitals already enjoy, now go one step further with the EMRX system in place. Having ready access to the medical information of referred patients enables us to provide our patients with continued, quality care.” said Mr S. Vivakanandan, CEO, Ang Mo Kio – Thye Hua Kwan Hospital.

The extension marks the first step in the Ministry of Health’s plans to extend the EMRX beyond the public sector. The EMRX will be extended to the other Community Hospitals – Bright Vision Hospital, Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital, St Andrew’s Community Hospital and St Luke’s Hospital – by the first quarter of 2008. The extension of the EMRX beyond the public sector will strengthen the integration of care across the healthcare sector.

Patient confidentiality is strictly maintained as only doctors and healthcare professionals who are bound by the law and professional ethics will have access to patients’ electronic medical records.

More information on the EMRX can be found on MOH’s website here.

Background

EMRX was first introduced in Apr 2004, starting with the sharing of Hospital Inpatient Discharge Summaries between the two public healthcare clusters. Since then, the types of EMR being shared have grown to include:

Hospital In-patient Discharge Summary

Laboratory test results (e.g. Blood test results)

X-ray and other radiological test results

Medical operation reports

Drug Allergies

Medicines prescribed

Cardiac reports

Emergency Department reports

[1]For the pilot, information on Hospital In-patient Discharge Summary and Medicines prescribed are shared with EMRX.