American Hospital Dubai announces major project at Arab Health 2008
27th January 2008 (Dubai, UAE): The American Hospital Dubai has begun work on what it believes is the most advanced integrated healthcare information system in the UAE's private healthcare sector, based on leading technology from the USA, the world's most advanced healthcare market. When completed in 2009, the system will transform the patient experience at the hospital, taking it to a new level. The hospital announced the project at Arab Health 2008.
The multi-million dollar investment is designed to enhance patient care and safety by integrating all the departmental systems and making available online patient medical records, clinical systems, radiology systems, financial and HR management to support the hospital's 800 physicians and staff.
The healthcare information system implementation is planned to go live across all departments and functions in a phased manner by the end of 2009, coinciding with the completion of the hospital's latest expansion phase, the new inpatient Bed Tower, which will more than double the current capacity of the hospital. The system selection process was driven by a multidisciplinary team of over 140 physicians, nurses and support staff from the American Hospital Dubai, who were deeply involved in the selection process. The review and selection process took several months to complete and included site visits across North America and Europe by a team of professional staff.
American Hospital Dubai Medical Director Dr. Persha Nayak comments:
"This investment is another sign of our commitment to the Dubai community and also of our confidence in the future of Dubai as a regional center of excellence for healthcare. We were the first to achieve Joint Commission International Accreditation (JCIA) and we aim to continue to push the standards of the private healthcare sector in Dubai."
The new system is being implemented by a consortium of leading global healthcare IT vendors - (Meditech, Lawson, Siemens, Cisco Systems, and
HP) led by the Director IT at the American Hospital Dubai, and assisted by the project management team from IBM.
"Lawson recognises American Hospital Dubai as a leader in healthcare in the Middle East and we are delighted to be selected as their partner of choice to supply an integrated ERP solution for the management of all hospital financial management, distributed inventory, supply chain and human capital management," adds Dean Hager, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy, Lawson.
"We have looked at some of the best healthcare information systems in the USA and decided to invest in the hospital to create a standard equal to that found within the USA system, "says American Hospital Dubai CFO, Jasper Kateli. He adds: "The investment in software, hardware, networking infrastructure, along with all the development and staff training program, is a significant management undertaking and a major commitment for the hospital."
Research in the USA has proven that effective, paper-lite healthcare information systems dramatically reduce the need for human intervention in the complex systems operated by healthcare institutions; this in turn improves patient safety by reducing human errors, and ensures consistency in delivering a broad range of high quality healthcare services, generating valuable patient medical data to ensure a better patient experience.
Rajan Chadha, Director IT at the American Hospital Dubai, adds: "The Healthcare Information system is not just about internal efficiency and safety; it is about ensuring a very high - and very consistent - standard of service for patients across all the 'touch points' in the hospital, to support and enhance our high American standards of clinical care. The system will allow physicians to concentrate on caring for patients whilst ensuring medical records and real-time support information are always available online. All the tools to provide real time, online information to physicians and caregivers will be available.
With our enthusiastic staff commitment, we have set ourselves an aggressive implementation timeline of two years."
The project is a significant management undertaking. The hospital's internal IT department will more than double in size to meet the demands of the system implementation. A cross section of hospital staff from a number of departments has been selected for initial training and then will lead and cascade the implementation process across the hospital over the next two years.
"Access to patient information and effective communications are critical to the performance of any hospital. At the American Hospital Dubai, we adopt the American model of medicine practice, and our mission is to provide the highest US standards of healthcare to the community. We have therefore selected one of the world's best systems from leading experienced vendors in the most advanced and highly regulated healthcare market in the world (the USA). The timing is right for the hospital to introduce this new system, as we embark on the most ambitious phase of our growth with the construction of the new Bed Tower, which will more than double the number of physicians and patient beds at our Dubai hospital campus by 2009," concludes Dr. Nayak.
"We're proud to be working with the American Hospital Dubai because they're committed to using technology to deliver the finest healthcare in the region," says Howard Messing, president and COO of Meditech, USA.
"As we continue to grow and expand internationally, it is exciting to have the American Hospital Dubai as our first customer in Dubai."
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About American Hospital Dubai
American Hospital Dubai is a 143 beds, acute care, general medical/surgical private hospital with a 60 physician multi-specialty group practice, designed to provide high quality, American standard of healthcare to meet the needs and exceed the expectations of the people of Dubai, the UAE and the surrounding Gulf States. American Hospital Dubai became the first hospital in the Middle East to be awarded JCI accreditation in May 2000 and successfully underwent a further survey by the JCI in 2003 and in 2006 to maintain its accredited status.
The American Hospital Dubai has expanded to meet the demand for more personalized services, comfort and convenience, while broadening the services and deepening the level of expertise and care offered. In response to the strong increase in local and regional demand for its services, the hospital constructed a new state of the art Outpatient Clinic Building. In addition to the new facilities and services, the hospital continues its ongoing physician recruitment plan, which will extend the number of American Board Certified or equivalent practicing physicians at the Hospital from 60 to 110 over the next two years. The hospital's new bed tower currently under construction (due end of 2009) will transform the hospital into a 360 bed hospital.
About American Hospital Dubai
American Hospital Dubai is a 143 bed, acute care, general medical/surgical private hospital with a 60 physician multi-specialty group practice, designed to provide high quality, American standard of healthcare to meet the needs and exceed the expectations of the people of Dubai, the UAE and the surrounding Gulf States. American Hospital Dubai has recently (2006) announced its re-accreditation from Joint Commission International (JCI). American Hospital Dubai became the first hospital in the Middle East to be awarded JCI accreditation in May 2000 and successfully underwent a further survey by the JCI in 2003 to maintain its accredited status. The American Hospital Dubai is the only private hospital in the UAE with JCI accreditation.
The American Hospital Dubai has expanded to meet the demand for more personalized services, comfort and convenience, while broadening the services and deepening the level of expertise and care offered. In response to the strong increase in local and regional demand for its services, the hospital constructed a new state of the art Outpatient Clinic Building. In addition to the new facilities and services, the hospital continues its ongoing physician recruitment plan, which will extend the number of American Board Certified or equivalent practicing physicians at the Hospital from 60 to 110 over the next two years.
Issued on behalf of the American Hospital Dubai by WPR.
Media contacts:
Jonathan Walsh/Beibars Abdi
WPR
Tel: 050 4588610
Email: jon@wprme.com
© Press Release 2008
