Israel’s largest HMO, Clalit Health Services, together with four of Israel's major medical centers, have formed a secure health information network serving the majority of the population of the State of Israel.
Clalit's facilities are now connected to the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, and Haifa's Rambam Medical Center, with both Hadassah Hospital campuses in Jerusalem to be connected shortly.
The network, based on dbMotion’s Virtual Patient Record technology, is the first system of its kind in the world. Healthcare providers at 18 hospitals and 1,000 clinics across Israel, serving the majority of the Israeli population, now have on-demand and real-time access to integrated medical records.
Clalit Health Services provides healthcare services to its 3.7 million members at 14 hospitals and 1,000 clinics at disparate geographical locations throughout Israel. The dbMotion Solution has been implemented at Clalit for the past four years, providing caregivers access to integrated patient records across its network of hospitals and clinics.
Clalit Health Services director-general Zeev Warmbrand stated, “Now that the dbMotion Solution is implemented in more than half of Israel's hospitals, it can constitute the basis for a National Health Record, thus saving millions of dollars in the development of additional systems."
dbMotion stated that its solution creates secured virtual patient records by logically connecting a group of care providers and organizations without centralizing their data. The solution puts integrated patient information at caregivers’ fingertips, enabling clinical staff to make better care decisions, shorten care cycles and improve the quality of care. It enables authorized medical staff to retrieve medical information on demand, subject to the appropriate access authorizations; and its deployment is achieved without the necessity of replacing existing information systems.
The government of Israel is in the advanced stages of initiating a national health record program that will make patients’ medical records available to caregivers throughout the country.
Sheba Medical Center director general Prof. Zeev Rotstein said, "This is a pioneering project worldwide. While countries such as the US and the UK have placed health data sharing at the top of their national agendas, this has become a living reality in Israel."
Rambam Medical Center managing director Prof. Moshe Revach said, "One of the greatest advantages of the dbMotion Solution is that clinical data collected during each organization’s care cycle remains only within its own data systems. Patients’ medical information can only be viewed by caregivers when it is in the best interest of their patients, on-demand and in real-time. It cannot be used for statistical and other purposes and is only delivered to the point of care after we are sure that our patient’s medical information is completely protected according to the highest standards of patient privacy.”
Last month, dbMotion announced the establishment of its North American subsidiary dbMotion Inc., registered in Delaware, and headed by general manager Peter van der Grinten.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on Tuesday, February 22, 2005