Russian Hospitals Digitize Medical Information, Improve Access to Patient Data With IBM Technology

ARMONK, N.Y., Jan. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today that multiple hospitals throughout Russia have switched from paper-based medical systems to a new solution from IBM and Complex Medical Information Systems (C-MIS) to provide fast electronic medical record exchange and unified access to many types of healthcare data, allowing doctors and medical staff to share information and access tests and lab results instantly to improve decision making.

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Designed to help hospitals use all their information more effectively and provide patients higher quality care, the system was first used at the Municipal S.Z. Fisher Hospital No. 1 in Volzhsky in the Volgograd region of Russia. Similar projects are now underway at other public hospitals throughout Russia including Leningrad, Kirov, Pskov and Vladimir regions, Republics of Khakassia and Udmurtia, Perm Territory and Moscow.  

The need for new health information technology throughout Russia was driven by stricter medical information requirements, the need for more secure access to patient information, and growing paperwork that takes doctors away from caring for patients. In addition, concerns about data reliability and the need to consistently share information throughout hospitals has made the new hospital automation system built on the IBM Lotus Notes Domino platform an important requirement for these hospitals.

"The solution developed by IBM and C-MIS helps solve numerous problems," said Roman Novitsky, CEO of Complex Medical Information Systems. "First, it provides a single electronic tool for control, accounting and planning which leads to improved operation and higher quality of service. Second, the solution consolidates all medical, administrative and financial processes, thus creating a unified information space at the hospital."

In addition to digitizing and providing access to electronic patient records, it also helps automate many business processes throughout the hospital such as work scheduling for doctors, nurses and staff, scheduling medical exams and house calls, as well as automating temporary disability registrations. Document exchange automation enables performance monitoring and helps prevent submission of inaccurate information about healthcare institutions to Russia's Healthcare Committee. It also ensures secure data exchange and enhances interaction among medical workers to help improve quality and effectiveness of medical service.

"To develop this medical record exchange system we considered IBM, Oracle and Microsoft platforms and chose IBM Lotus Domino," said Roman Nowitskiy, CEO of Complex Medical Information Systems. " We selected Lotus Domino because it is a multiplatform solution and it can be implemented with various operating systems to ensure flexibility in addressing the IT challenges faced by medical institutions."

"Advantages of this software include fast and low-cost electronic document exchange implementation," said Alexandre Kotov, IBM Russia healthcare industry. "In addition, it helps improve communication among hospital staff and external users such as pharmacists, additional nursing staff or hospital contractors while providing mobile access to the information system via IBM Lotus Domino applications."

The IBM Health Integration Framework helps clients build an integrated platform for all of their healthcare operations based on industry standards. This framework utilizes elements of IBM's entire software portfolio including WebSphere, Rational, Tivoli, Lotus and Information Management products while using the full range of IBM Systems and Storage technologies and the industry-specific offerings and consulting expertise of IBM Global Business Services.

For more information about the Health Integration Industry Framework certification model, visit http://www-01.ibm.com/software/industry/healthcare/framework.html.  

About Fisher Hospital

Municipal S.Z. Fisher Hospital No. 1 (Volzhsky, Volgograd region) visit http://www.gb1.ru/

About C-MIS

Complex Medical Information Systems is a specialized IT company offering a full range of software and hardware solutions and automation systems development and implementation services to healthcare institutions. The company performs a wide range of automation-related tasks of any complexity and scale in the healthcare industry, from preliminary evaluations to custom software development or standard software implementation to turnkey solutions.

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SOURCE IBM