Self-health management at the population level is only possible if the entire healthy ecosystem integrates its resources and energy, said Benedict Tan, who will At this year’s HIMSS22 Asia Pacific conference in Bali.
Tan is the Group Chief Digital Strategy Officer and Chief Data Officer of SingHealth, Singapore’s largest public healthcare cluster.
He envisions a future where digital technology will allow every patient to take control of their health.
He said that in today’s Healthcare 4.0 era, digital and non-digital technologies will be integrated.
“As big as we’ve seen from how the healthcare industry has adapted quickly and effectively during COVID-19 Pop, I’m optimistic, and to get there we need to pool our efforts and resources together,” he continued.
Passion for Health IT
Tan has been in the healthcare IT business since his first job at the National Computer Council of Singapore, which made him Assigned to a post in the Ministry of Health (MOH).
Tan is passionate about everything about healthy IT, from making sure colleagues’ laptops and IT networks are running well, to implementing An Artificial Intelligence (AI) Solution to Diagnose Patients Quickly and Accurately.
“Some may not see the ordinary The meaning behind seemingly simple IT tasks, but they’re just as important to me because they’re about giving healthcare professionals the right IT tools and solutions so they can treat patients and save lives,” he said.
During his career, Tan has been involved in a number of important health IT projects, including reviewing and simplifying civil service benefit claims system and implementation of an RFID-based bed management system for Singapore General Hospital.
“Both involve collaboration with multiple key stakeholders to thoroughly review and understand processes across agencies and departments with the aim of leveraging Digital technology simplifies and streamlines them. Ultimately, for both projects, the focus is on improving the lives of clients, namely civil servants filing claims and the rehabilitation of patient heirs who need hospital beds.”
He recalls interacting with a young doctor who chose to specialize in medical informatics. “When asked why he chose to work in IT rather than treating patients, he replied, ‘If I practice as a doctor, I have the potential to treat thousands of patients in my lifetime. But if I implement With a successful IT solution, I could potentially save millions of lives. His response inspired me and keeps my passion alive to this day.”
Addressing Rising IT Costs
Public healthcare clusters such as Tan said SingHealth is constantly exploring and implementing new digital technology to transform its services to provide better patient care and experience.
Currently, SingHealth is following up on its successful deployment of SELENA+, an artificial intelligence system for the detection of major eye diseases ), an artificial intelligence/machine learning project that also reads digital images to support clinical diagnosis of other health conditions. It is also exploring the use of artificial intelligence techniques to predict workload and support scheduling to optimize resources and improve patient experience and clinical outcomes.
In addition, the Healthcare Group is working with the Ministry of Health and other public healthcare clusters to leverage Tools to digitally support population health.
However, a growing problem facing healthcare organizations is the increasing cost of implementation compared to organizations in other industries new technology. Tan and his team are very mindful of this.
“While digital technology brings many benefits to patient experience and care outcomes, public healthcare organizations need to manage the cost of introducing digital technology to make healthcare affordable and accessible to patients,” Tan suggested.
Tan will be speaking at the HIMSS22 APAC session during the keynote Speech, Care is not what it used to be: The Need to Elevate Consumer Experience. The conference will be held in Bali, Indonesia from September 26th to 29th. Learn more here .
