In an exclusive conversation with CXO News & APAC News Network, Praveen Bist, CIO, Amrita Hospitals outlines the digital initiatives at the hospital leveraging analytics, GenAI, robotics, and cybersecurity among others.
What are the major IT deployments done at Amrita Hospitals that you would like to highlight?
Our focus on EMR was the objective with which we have invested heavily, this includes hardware as well as software. Also, most of the medical devices and equipment are integrated into the EMR. We have also ensured that we are keeping pace with the advancements in technology especially in the field of AI, IoT, and Data analytics.
We have also invested in having a seasoned Informatics team, where the team can work with clinicians in a collaborative fashion to achieve the best results in an efficient and effective manner.
What are the unique differentiators of Amrita Medical Solutions over other hospitals?
The key differentiator is the seamlessly integrated HIS, which not only has EMR but also Supply Chain Management as well as other back-office functions. So the complete patient journey (from admission to discharge), as well as the employee lifecycle, is using our comprehensive software solution for Digital Transformation as well as leveraging the advancement in technology.
With the scale of operations so huge (we are the largest Healthcare facility), we are left with no choice but to implement solutions in place so that the workflows are not person-dependent but instead defined by the process. Also, data collection at source as well as capturing at point-of-care is part of the strategy, which is taken very seriously.
What is the status update on the current digital infrastructure at Amrita Hospitals?
We are ensuring the complete campus is Wi-fi enabled so that we have full access to patient EMR when the clinicians are on the move. Also, we have provided the clinicians with Mobility devices, either Tablets or Phones, based on their needs. These devices are protected with MDM solutions so that patient data is secure and protected. We have our data center on-prim along with the DR site, but also maintain backup over cloud for redundancy.
How is Amrita Hospitals leveraging data and analytics to improve operational efficiency?
The data collected by the Integrated HIS is able to cater to the needs of management, clinicians as well as department heads. The management team is provided with the dashboards which allow them to quickly have a birds-eye view of the performance. Clinicians are able to use the data for their research and development projects, while the departmental heads can use it for operational reports.
State-of-the-art Business Intelligence tool is also used for monitoring the performance as well as doing what-if-analysis. RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is also deployed for the automation of repetitive tasks to improve its efficiency.
How significant are the concerns towards cybersecurity and data privacy for Amrita Hospitals? What are the measures that you have undertaken to mitigate these challenges?
Cybersecurity and data privacy are both taken very seriously by Amrita Hospital and therefore multi-fold measures are implemented to safeguard the data. We have done the complete strategy with the 5 Ps framework – Planning, Protection, Validation, Awareness, and Collaboration. And, in order to mitigate these challenges, we have implemented the 4 layers of Physical, Network, Application, and finally Data security.
How do you manage the operational skill sets of the IT team at Amrita Hospitals and how do you bring other stakeholders like doctors, nurses, and admins into the tech ecosystem?
We encourage collaborative learning and therefore the various stakeholders starting from Management to Administrative staff, and Doctors to Nurses, are required to go through the basics of Computer and cyber security – their responsibility as users, since it is a well-known fact that the majority of the cyber-attacks are initiated from internal users itself.
On top, we not only provide classroom-based training on HIS but also have an IT team to assist with hands-on training.
How are you looking at leveraging new-gen technologies like generative AI, robotics, and IoT among others to optimize hospital productivity at Amrita Hospitals?
We acknowledge that advancements in AI and IoT-related technology will redefine the future of healthcare. And therefore have incorporated them as part of strategic initiative. Multiple AI projects are being piloted where we have seen the need based on the inputs from our experienced doctors, for example, a Body-scan application for Dermatology, a ChatBot for Hospitality & patient services, Personalized tutor App for our Medical and Nursing college.
IoT devices are installed and also interfaced with our EMR solution so that the data is captured at the point of care resulting in accurate data without any manual intervention. Surgical Robots are already in action but we are soon trying to expand its scope of usage.
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