China Medical University Hospital in Taichung, Taiwan has been recently validated for three HIMSS Digital Maturity Models: Stage 7 for the Infrastructure Adoption Model (INFRAM), revalidation of Stage 7 for the Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM), and Stage 6 for the Adoption Model for Analytics Maturity (AMAM). 

The INFRAM measures an organisation's maturity in infrastructure and associated technology capabilities. The EMRAM measures their clinical outcomes, patient engagement, and clinician use of EMR technology, while the AMAM gauges their analytics capabilities.

WHY IT MATTERS

CMUH is the first hospital in Taiwan to be validated for Stage 7 INFRAM. It was able to achieve this feat in just four months after achieving Stage 6. It attributed its achievement to its infrastructure strategy which took inspiration from the Chinese Zodiac. 

The hospital is also the first in the country to be validated for Stage 6 AMAM. It was able to demonstrate some mature applications of analytics, including the analysis of medication expenses that helped it realise an annual cost savings of approximately NT$ 200 million ($6.2 million). Another example is its ARDiTeX (ARDS Technology System) visualisation panel that is used in the Respiratory ICU. It enabled the reduction in 28-day mortality among diagnosed patients with ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome).

Additionally, CMUH was revalidated for Stage 7 of the EMRAM. To meet the requirements of this stage, the hospital introduced major changes in its EMR system. These include the implementation of the Electronic Medication Administration Record, integration of records across multidisciplinary teams, and establishing interoperability with the Med-cloud database of Taiwan's National Health Insurance. 

HIMSS also recognised its antimicrobial AI platform, the Intelligent Anti-Microbial System (i.A.M.S.), as a noteworthy use of the EMR. It is a four-in-one AI-driven platform that identifies drug-resistant strains and predicts and monitors the risk of infectious sepsis and mortality. It also makes smart drug dosage recommendations and automatic comparisons of drug-drug interactions and allergy history. In just three months after its implementation in June 2021, i.A.M.S. helped cut the mortality rate due to sepsis by 7.1%, compared to 13.4% in the same period in the previous year.

To date, CMUH has developed 16 AI-driven services and 50 dashboards based on the Microsoft Power Business Intelligence platform, which are all implemented broadly across clinical and operational areas. 

THE LARGER TREND

CMUH joins a growing group of Taiwanese healthcare providers that have been validated for the EMRAM. Its revalidation follows Changhua Christian Hospital which was also validated for Stage 7 EMRAM a few months ago. The Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital is the latest hospital in Taiwan to be validated at Stage 6, followed by Far Eastern Memorial Hospital last year. Taichung Veterans General Hospital and Tungs' Taichung MetroHarbor Hospital have also achieved Stage 6 for this model.

CMUH’s AMAM and INFRAM validations also follow those of Samsung Medical Center, the first healthcare provider in Asia-Pacific to achieve Stage 6 AMAM and Stage 7 INFRAM. 

ON THE RECORD

Dr Wei-Cheng Chen, chief secretary of CMUH, shared that they turned to international standards and models for inspiration and validation in their efforts towards digital transformation.

"During these years – without any role models of smart hospitals in Taiwan – we observed and learned to figure out what a smart AI hospital is. We found that HIMSS provides a systematic approach and clear criteria to achieve this goal. That’s why CMUH strongly endorses HIMSS to guide our directions and find out our weaknesses," Dr Chen shared.

Further explaining their vision of becoming a smart AI hospital, CMUH Superintendent Dr Der-Yang Cho said: "At CMUH, our smart healthcare vision is anchored in a patient-centred approach, aiming to refine clinical processes and elevate care quality through data analytics and AI. This approach, continuously evolving with our digital transformation journey, integrates advanced AI and BI to deliver more precise, efficient, and reliable medical solutions like the i.A.M.S."

"Superintendent Dr. Cho underscores our commitment to 'useful, practical, and favoured' tools and projects that enhance patient care and quality of life. Through these efforts, we aspire to make our healthcare services not only effective and efficient but also preferred and valued by our patients," Vice Superintendent and CMUH professor Oscar K. Lee added.