Samsung Medical Center in South Korea automates various processes to improve the patient’s experience.
Tasks such as visiting and processing insurance claims have been automated mainly through the hospital’s internal information system, Darwin. Several digital solutions have also been developed, including patients’ platform to determine the visit, Admission to the hospital, treatment, nursing, hospital administration, pharmacy and radiology.
Demonstrating the operate of HIS at high level, the hospital was approved Stage 7 Himss Model for adoption of electronic medical records in 2023
Over the past five years, he has gradually worked on an unmanned and fully automated system for issuing medical records to patients.
Problem
In an interview with Dr Poong-Lyul Rhee, EVP and Chief Data Officer and Digital SMC described the existing emission process of medical records in Korean hospitals.
“[E]Xisting medical documentation systems supported by Korean hospitals offer limited availability for patients and are inefficient for hospitals. Patients who need a copy of medical records for various reasons, such as private insurance claims, consultations in other hospitals, reporting to public institutions to obtain proof of the disease and personal registration, must personally visit the hospital. This increased the time and physical loads. ”
“It was particularly difficult for patients with difficulties with mobility or people living in distant areas. In addition, when the patient’s representative asked for entries, they had to take a return trip over long distances, if the required documents, such as the patient’s consent and proof of representation, were incomplete to protect sensitive personal information,” added Dr. Rhee.
He also noticed how suppliers were arduous to deal with the high demand for personal emission of medical records, taking into account operational ineffectiveness, such as additional staffing, extension of physical spaces, delays in processing and clients’ complaints.
APPLICATION
In 2019, SMC implemented the first online system to issue medical records in South Korea to satisfy the growing demand for brisk and sheltered access to medical records.
However, the hospital met with challenges. Waiting times lasted up to two hours, when the staff manually processed them during hospital working hours, and applications were only obtained via personal computers. Patients even had to plan separate visits only to obtain their entries. In addition, there were additional steps to protect confidential personal data.
“If the patient asked for an incomplete register, he had to repeatedly undergo the cancellation process, which seemed to be unnecessary with an additional burden on both patients and hospital staff,” noted Dr. Rhee.
Fulfillment of the challenge
To solve these restrictions, SMC applied a gradual approach to improving the online medical documentation emission system. First of all, he introduced the possibilities of generating mobile and PDF to reduce the average waiting time from 50 minutes to 10 minutes.
Sophisticated and various manual processes have been integrated, reclassified and improved to standardize work flows. The data fields were also mapped to a coherent structure.
Then, in 2023, he achieved another domestic milestone; He became the first hospital in South Korea that used the automation of robotic processes (South Africa) in the issue of online medical records.
During the year, updates were introduced to fully automate the system from verifying the online application to issue PDF files, send and final confirmation of the patient’s identity by matching the patient with AI.
“Tasks such as checking the period and details of the application, the selection of hospital records qualifying for issuing on the basis of a request and generating appropriate PDF files were fully automated. This significantly improved the processing speed and minimized the likelihood of errors caused by manual work,” explained Dr. Rhee.
As part of the acceleration of issuing medical records, SMC also contained the function of automatic tracking cycle in the system to automatically notify employees of incomplete entries.
RESULTS
The average waiting time was significantly shortened to about five minutes. He also showed 0% error indicator.
In addition, SMC recorded 40 million wins (USD 27,000) annual paper and toner savings, and 50 million wins (USD 34,000) more for redistribution of the workforce. He also received less complaints and “predominantly positive opinions”; The patient’s satisfaction has further improved thanks to the fresh discount policy, which encourages you to operate online services.
In addition, by reducing the consumption of paper and patients’ travel, the online system helped reduce about 4,056 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, which corresponds to planting 610,000 trees.
“This development of South Africa powered by artificial intelligence is not only about adopting a new technology. This is a significant step towards real digital innovations focused on the patient. We will continue to use the latest technology to increase patients and staff experience, conducting further digital transformation in healthcare.”
Dr. Poong-Lyul Rhee
Professor, Faculty of Gastroenterology
Executive Vice President and Director for Data and Numbers
Samsung Medical Center
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