After a resounding success in August last year, SRIT and IBM have again joined forces to co-host a seminar on “Choosing the best IT solutions for hospitals”. SRIT-IBM duo facilitated a conference with an intent to discuss issues related to the use of IT in hospitals in the form of hardware and its procurement, HIS, Patient Relationship Management system, PACS, etc.

Synopsis  
Indian healthcare industry is awakening to the benefits of IT revolution. With technology changing its position from being a support crutch to a business driver, healthcare has a lot to gain. The success of most healthcare providers hinges on the appropriate and effective use of IT. Therefore, the hospitals need to choose, with utmost care, hardware and software applications for automation. Speakers from IBM, SRIT and other players from the sector addressed these issues at the seminar held on 13th of June 2008 at The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata.

A diverse group of top management executives from reputed hospitals representing both public and private sectors, attended the event. The speeches by SRIT and IBM on ‘Choosing the Right HIS Vendor and PIM Advantages’ and ‘Choosing the Right Hardware and Infrastructure Components' respectively, addressed issues related to Healthcare Informatics. An integral part of the event was panel discussion where all the participants participated proactively on the topic ‘Applicability of HIS, its benefits and major challenges encountered’. The seminar concluded with a strategic, yet cheerful networking lunch giving participants opportunities to explore synergistic possibilities amongst themselves. 

Excerpts

• Speeches
  Mr. Manish Sharma from SRIT elucidated the criticality of choosing the right HIS vendor and the importance of the Hospital information management system in functioning of a hospital. The choice of a HIS vendor depends upon various factors like requirements, costs involved, predictability, applicability etc. Each factor needs to be taken into consideration while carefully evaluating different vendors. Mr. Sharma concluded his speech with a brief on SRIT’s HIS product, RCare Magnum^TM.

  Mr. Partha Dey of IBM India spoke on the aspects affecting the automation of healthcare units; the primary being choice of hardware and infrastructure components. He concluded by emphasizing on choosing, planning and implementing the right IT solutions.

• Discussion
  Post tea break, the attendees gathered to participate in a panel discussion. The panelists for the discussion included:

  • Dr. Alok Roy  - Chairman, Medica Synergie
  • Mr. P.L Mehta - CEO, NeoElbit Hospital
  • Mr. Amit De  - CEO, West Bank Hospital, President of Association of Hospitals in Kolkata
  • Mr. Partha Dey  - Healthcare, IBM (Moderator)
  • Mr. Manish Sharma -  Healthcare, SRIT

The main topics of discussion were:

• What should a HIS contain?
• Phase-wise approach vs Big Bang
• Which modules are more important – Revenue, administrative or Clinical?
• How to get the staff to use the HIS efficiently?
• What are the parameters for choosing an HIS?
• Few formulas for RoI
• Major challenges faced during implementation

• Networking Lunch
  The session was followed by a networking lunch, where all the participants exchanged ideas and viewpoints. The meet enabled an exploration of future synergistic possibilities amongst various participants.  

The SRIT-IBM team


Panel Discussion in progress


First talk : Mr. Partha Dey (IBM India)


Second Talk : Mr. Manish Sharma (SRIT)