Cerner Millennium® system will improve the patient experience in SEHA healthsystem facilities

14th January 2010: Al Ain, Abu Dhabi - UAE: The Division of Information Technology in the Al Ain Hospital in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates under the management of Vamed and Medical University of Vienna has gone live with a new Health Information System (HIS) that will not only improve a number of hospital business functions, it will eventually eliminate paper medical records, improve patient safety, enhance patient confidentiality and reduce the need for additional testing when if an Al Ain patient is referred to another SEHA facility anywhere in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Al Ain Hospital adopted the Cerner Millennium® healthcare information system computing platform launched last year by SEHA as part of a SEHA system-wide HIS upgrade. By the end of 2009, the system will be deployed across all SEHA hospitals and clinics in the Emirate making SEHA the only fully electronic healthcare system in the region. Cerner is a leading worldwide provider of health information systems and technologies.

"We adopted the Cerner Millennium healthcare information system computing platform. The system is created and designed to help health organizations improve financial and clinical outcomes by driving error, variance and waste from the care process.  Soon, all our SEHA facilities will be linked by this system.  It helps us achieve the goal of "One Patient, One Record" with added convenience and safety for our patients" said Carl Stanifer, CEO of SEHA.

 George Jepson CEO of Al Ain Hospital, added, "These technology solutions allow clinicians to run tests, make diagnoses, place orders, fill medications, document care and remit bills using a single information system. By accelerating the flow of information and enhancing the communication stream, the Cerner Millennium solutions will help make the healthcare process safer and more efficient for our patients here at Al Ain Hospital and for the population of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi who use SEHA's network of facilities".

"It is very important when treating a patient to have access to their medical history, especially in emergency cases when time is of the essence," said Robert Pickton, SEHA Chief Information Officer. "By implementing this system, SEHA hospitals and healthcare-providers will have access to the same patient-data. This gives all the providers the information they need to treat the patients and it will eliminate the duplication of tests as well as chances of giving inappropriate medication."

"Implementing the Cerner Millennium solution has several benefits for our patients as well as our employees. Duplicate, and possibly conflicting, patient records will be eliminated due to a single source of accurate, up-to-date patient information," said, Mr. Elmar Heilig, Chief Information Officer at Al Ain Hospital. "The system will be accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Healthcare information will be stored and updated electronically with important safeguards to protect patient confidentiality."

Dr. Gerhard Schwab, Al Ain Hospital Medical Director added, "The aim of this Information Technology Tool is to ultimately support our staff and clinicians in providing the best healthcare to our patients. We strive to offer the best medical care in the country and look forward to serving our patients with superior care with the latest implementation of this new state-of-the-art health information system."

A number of registration & admissions seniors and staff agreed that the Cerner solutions will eventually save them time and will help reduce missing charts and inaccurate information. It will improve communication between care providers and patients, which facilitates quicker and more effective patient treatment.

Mr. Elmar Heilig, Chief Information Officer at Al Ain Hospital added that, "health records will be accessed easily and opportunity to share health care information efficiently, securely and confidentially between linked SEHA Hospitals and AHCs. It will also reduce 'repeated' patient questioning due to access to updated patient demographic data in all SEHA clinics and hospitals.

"The new system will tremendously enhance patient care at Al Ain Hospital and along with the implementation process, more than 450 employees of different departments of the hospital were trained to operate the system. By deploying Cerner Millennium, Al Ain Hospital has taken a great leap forward in leveraging world-class information management technology to the benefit of the community," said Karine Bachongy, Chief Operating Officer of the healthcare entity.

The implementation of the new application will be deployed in phases. The first phase was successfully launched on the 5th of November 2009. It involved the outpatient clinics, Emergency Room and all hospital departments. It improves several functions within Al Ain Hospital, such as registration, scheduling, medical records, radiology, outpatient pharmacies and physician order entry. The second phase will include additional clinical functionality and cover the pharmacy and clinical notes.

"Cerner commends Al Ain Hospital and SEHA for advancing their vision of providing the best care possible for patients through the use of healthcare information technology, including their goal of compliance with the Joint Commission International accreditation standards," said Trace Devanny, Cerner president. "We are proud to provide the technology that is helping these organizations set the standard for safe and efficient care in the United Arab Emirates."

Patients are asked to bring all pertinent identification information such as Health cards, Daman cards, ID cards or passports, during their next visit to assist the hospital with updating the data in the new system.

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About Al Ain Hospital
Al Ain Hospital is a 412 -bed acute care hospital with more than 250 physicians on staff, 35+ medical departments and three Family Medicine Centers. The hospital's emergency room serves the Al Ain community by operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year round. Al Ain Hospital is committed to providing the community with high-quality healthcare in a safe, caring, confidential environment in line with European world class standards and the expectations of the Al Ain community and the UAE.  

Each day, an average of 350 patients is seen in the Emergency Room. With more than 320,000 outpatients seen in the Specialty Outpatient Clinics and Family Medicine Centers, the hospital is a key competency centre for multidisciplinary, specialist, ambulatory and outpatient diagnostics and treatment services. Al Ain Hospital is managed under an exclusive partnership between VAMED (a leading European Hospital Management company) and, Medical University of Vienna. In addition to this, Al Ain Hospital has a long established prestigious collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University in Al Ain. Al Ain Hospital is owned and operated by an Abu Dhabi Health Services company (SEHA) which is responsible for all curative activities of the public hospitals and clinics of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.  

For more information please visit; www.alain-hospital.ae

About SEHA
SEHA is health in Arabic.  The Abu Dhabi Health Services Company - whose corporate identity is SEHA - is an independent, public joint stock company created to manage and develop the curative activities of the public hospitals and clinics of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.  SEHA is committed to maintaining a leadership role in consistently providing superior, accessible, affordable and comprehensive healthcare services for our community and region in a socially responsible and cost effective manner that is on par with world-class standards.  SEHA owns and operates 12 hospitals with 2,644 beds, 62 ambulatory care, family care and urgent care centers, 2 blood banks and an autism education center. SEHA is one of the largest integrated healthcare providers in the Middle East with 15,500 doctors, nurses, ancillary care and administrative personnel in its employ.  For further information, please contact James Stuart Ferrier, Corporate Marketing Manager at jferrier@seha.ae or Salama Al Mazrouei, Sr. Corporate Marketing Specialist at smazrouei@seha.ae.  Or visit us on the web at www.seha.ae.

About Cerner
Cerner is taking the paper chart out of healthcare, eliminating error, variance and waste in the care process. With more than 6,000 clients worldwide, Cerner is the leading supplier of healthcare information technology. The following are trademarks of Cerner: Cerner and Cerner Millennium. NASDAQ: CERN. www.cerner.com.

© Press Release 2010