Mar 16, 2012

Thailand - Overbrook Hospital Chiang Rai Selects IBM for Smarter Healthcare Services



IBM solution expected to increase efficiency and improve patient care

Overbrook Hospital Chiang Rai has opted for IBM solutions to help streamline and upgrade its IT infrastructure. IBM's solutions are expected to increase the efficiency of the hospital's internal operations, while improving patient care by allowing doctors to make the best possible decisions.

Overbrook Hospital is one of the largest private hospitals in Northern Thailand. Overbrook has been in the medical service business for more than 100 years and is popular amongst locals and foreigners. Like other organizations in the region, this renowned private hospital outside of the capital is experiencing growth in terms of an annual increase in the number of its patients.

IBM is consistently supportive of organizations in these smaller cities that are experiencing continued growth. IBM is committed to assisting local businesses and organizations in smaller provinces outside the capital, such as Chiang Rai, to develop skills and advance new and more efficient processes with the use of information technology. Geographic expansion is one of IBM's core growth strategies and Thailand is one of IBM's focus countries in ASEAN.

Previously, Overbrook stored patient information, medical treatment records and other related data in standalone PCs (personal computer) without the backup support of a centralized data management system. But with the volume and velocity of patient information increasing and becoming more complex, Overbrook needed a more effective and secure system to better process their daily activities and data. In the case of referrals, they would be able to easily share diagnostic records with any partner hospitals in Pacs files, instead of sending traditional X-ray films.

"We have selected IBM because it offers a range of products and services widely recognized in diverse industries including the healthcare industry. Thanks to an expanded network of after-sales IBM services from its branch in Chiang Mai, we are confident the hospital will receive good maintenance services and useful advice on a regular basis. The latest enhancement in our IT operations will make retrieving and forwarding essential patient information to partner hospitals faster and more accurately, eliminating complexity and duplications from our data filing and retrieval from PCs previously experienced. With the solution in place, we hope to provide better and more efficient 24/7 service to patients, and drive our strategic plan for future business developments," said Dr. Witoon Yongmethawut, Director of Overbrook Hospital Chiang Rai.

Overbrook currently serves an average of xx outpatients and admission cases per day. In addition to continuous professional development and skills of their medical practitioners and supporting staff as well, thay have also invested considerably in medical IT development.

The IBM solution for this infrastructure upgrade at Overbrook includes:

IBM Storwize V7000, a powerful storage with high-performance, user-friendly virtualization software. It enables the hospital's IT organization to manage and process a large amount of data flowing into the system, and helps save disc space needed for hardware installation. This will allow Overbrook Hospital to manage their increasing number of patients on its existing servers. It will also allow for the digitization of xray films, meaning they are kept safe and secure for future reference as well as saving expensive film costs as printing will only be done when absolutely necessary. Moreover, it helps reduce the need for unnecessary hardware acquisitions - saving hardware costs in the long run.

IBM System Storage Easy Tier, a software that facilitates proper data categorization for easy retrieval and helps system administrators store it accordingly so that the data can be transferred to other storage safely by using IBM's integrated migration software, specially engineered for high-efficiency data migration. This means Overbrook's doctors will be able to access medical records from any location at any time, and important patient data can be safely be transferred from one hospital to another if the need arises.

Blade Centre H, which is an innovative blade technology that provides 10 times faster data migration than any other systems. This is made possible through consolidating server, storage, network architecture and safety appliance into a single platform in the data centre. The hospital's IT organisation can now use the new system to run analysis software and storage applications smoothly. Overbrook Hospital will also benefit as space needed for hardware installation, hours of work and energy can see significant savings, and the installation is scalable, thereby supporting future growth and digital transformation.

These solutions are part of an overall IBM strategy called Smarter Computing which refers to smarter architecture that can help clients gain actionable insights from data, increase IT capacity and deliver new services faster to create profitable business opportunities. IBM introduced its Smarter Computing approach to information technology earlier this year as a way for organizations to realize greater efficiencies, improved reliability, and better performance, and all, at lower costs. The strategy centers around three fundamental aspects: leveraging analytics to exploit vast amounts of data for business goals; utilizing optimized systems that are designed for specific tasks; and managing as much of the IT as possible with cloud-computing technologies.

Kittipong Asawapichayon, Country Manager, General Business, IBM Thailand Company Limited, said, "Data storage and data communications within a hospital's IT system is an integral part of today's healthcare efficiency. IBM's expertise has always been about managing vast amounts of information, and we have the knowledge and skill to create smarter solutions to address the challenges of healthcare. That includes integrating information across secure and standards-based systems. IBM will soon launch the next iteration of IBM’s Smarter Computing initiative, where the next generation of expert integated IT systems will automatically recognize the attributes of multiple classes of software and seamlessly distribute workloads based on these attributes. The addition of these expert system technologies will not only reduce the total cost of IT by making it possible for fewer administrators to manage a greater number of physical and virtual servers, but also make it possible for IT organizations to "right-size" their IT investments by utilizing shared cloud resources to process peak application workloads.

In this area of expertise IBM has been trusted by leading hospitals and medical institutes, domestically and internationally. We are delighted to see a big step forward for Overbrook Hospital in its investment in IBM solutions. With our smart solutions with proven track record and experienced people with outstanding expertise, we believe the hospital's goal to be a trusted and smarter healthcare provider would be achieved. IBM is doing what it has always done: bringing innovative solutions to the world’s most vexing problems -- and, in the case of healthcare, with literally life-saving results. With the deployment of the solutions, Overbrook would be a key contributing factor to further reinforce Thailand's position as the Medical Hub of Asia."

The Nation



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