Antoine Geissbuhler, MD, FACMI

Abstract: Continuing education of healthcare professionals is a key element for the quality and efficiency of a health system. In many countries, this activity is usually limited to capitals, and delocalized professionals do not have access to such opportunities, or to didactic material adapted to their needs. This limits the interest of such professionals to remain active in the periphery, where they are most needed to implement effective strategies for prevention and first-line healthcare. Telemedicine tools enable the communication and sharing of medical information in electronic form, and thus facilitate access to remote expertise.

Since 2000, the Geneva University Hospitals have been developing a network for e-Health in Africa (the RAFT, Réseau en Afrique Francophone pour la Télémédecine), first in Mali, and now extending to 14 French-speaking African countries and connecting thousands of healthcare professionals. The core activity of the RAFT is the webcasting of interactive courses. These sessions put the emphasis on knowledge sharing amongst care professionals, usually in the form of presentations and dialogs between experts in different countries. The technology used for the webcasting works with a slow (25 kbits/s) internet connection, enabling the participation of isolated care professionals with limited access to the internet.

Other activities of the RAFT network include teleconsultations, collaborative knowledge bases development, support for medical laboratories quality control, collection and aggregation of health and healthcare indicators, and training for hospital managers. A strong emphasis is also put on the development of capacities for the creation, maintenance, and publication of local, quality medical didactic contents.

Professor Peter R Croll PhD, FACS, FBCS CITP, CEng.

Abstract: The need for confidentiality with patient’s personal data can be traced back over 2000 years to the ‘Hippocratic Oath’, i.e.: “What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about.” Medics encapsulate these values by only permitting discussion about an individual’s condition to be confined within a practice or department for the primary purpose of helping the patient concerned. Any secondary use of this information that could, for example, advance our medical knowledge would not normally identify the individual concerned (unless they consented to this).

The more recent advancement of digital technology and e-Health is providing a revolution in both medical know-how and healthcare provision. But with this advance the traditional boundaries are being breached. The concept of confining information in written form to a physical location, such as a surgery, is gradually disappearing. The remote and high speed access that today’s digital technology brings presents new challenges and not only with healthcare providers but for governments, the ICT industries, lawyers and individuals. The individuals as patients have a right to privacy over any personal and sensitive health data. They traditionally would talk to a doctor in confidence and assume that the associated healthcare organisation would be able to adequately protect their privacy. The knowledge required to keep a contemporary computer system secure is extensive and often beyond that of the healthcare practitioner with the majority of personal computers in use not being specifically designed with security in mind.

What makes Health any different? Why not simply regard this as an IT security problem and leave it to the experts? ‘Security’ is focussed on keeping unauthorised people out, whereas ‘Privacy’ is ensuring that only those that ‘need to know’ can access information. Hence, privacy technologies have to operate both within and outside any secure firewalls that have been established. Within an organisation, barriers are often in place to prevent unauthorised viewing but these are often only at the application level. Is this sufficient considering that any privacy violation can have lifelong consequences? The fact is that the integrity of contemporary computer systems is more suited to the financial industries where the consequences of revealed data can be insured against and subsequently compensated for. More research and development work is needed before we can trust that our IT systems are sufficiently tuned to the specific requirements of healthcare and the many different people associated with that care. This presentation is based on Prof Croll’s experiences with national and international programs that have evaluated the risks and challenges with the Security and Privacy of Health IT.

Hiroshi Takeda, MD, PhD

Abstract: The most remarkable gains for patient safety and clinical quality improvement will come from efforts we now start to develop by using knowledge and technology of medical informatics. In this paper, multiple examples of computerized patient records, clinical data warehouse, and web-based applications for medical risk and quality management will be elucidated. Core methodology of the management will build up a system-oriented feed back mechanism such as PDCA (plan-Do-Check-Act) cycles in clinical settings. A practical model in Osaka University Hospital will be also presented.

Ed Percy

Saeed Abdullah Bin Ishaq, MD, MPH, PhD

Abstract: e-Health implementation and the need for a road map and cultural changes The United Arab Emirates has witnessed development in the field of e-government. According to Center of Public Policy Brown University, the United Arab Emirates was rated in 2005 to achieve 0.5718 in the e-government readiness index. Also it ranked the second amongst Arab countries. On the other hand, it appears that e-Health did not witness the same progress as a component of UAE e-government. This presentation is a tentative to analyze the reasons of this drawback. e-Health was seen by Ministry of Health (MOH) a clinical tool that can impact the physical health of the whole community; as well as a business tool that can impact the financial health of the organization. Although the Ministry of Health has adopted an e-Health program as a part of the federal e-government plan, several reasons slowed the processes: 1) lack of a detailed road map 2) being e-Health a component of the federal e-government. Reforming administrative process within and between agencies often called “cutting red tape and breaking down the silos” was not seen as a main concern.

The process of implementing the project did not involve a shift to a different way of working and thinking, with total project timeframes of no more than six months, technical simplicity, modest ambitions for business change, and teamwork driven by business goals. The need for assessment of the current process of our programs and elimination of those inefficiencies was part of the reality that appeared during the implantation. A need for change in the organizational culture as well as adapting a better approach in implanting e-Health was imposed by the reality. This included the following:

• Strategic and tactical objectives definition
• Restructure and reorganize the institutions processes
• Imbed change management into core functions
• Inclusion not exclusion of stakeholders
• Think big but start small

Dr. Tariq Abduallah Alsheddi

Abstract: Information and communication technology (ICT) and e-Health are growing rapidly in both developing and developed countries. Current literature on the deployment of ICT in the healthcare industry has shown that healthcare organizations still lag behind other industries in adopting ICT due to many reasons such as limited budgeting and complexity of healthcare systems.

Efforts are now underway in Saudi Arabia to establish responsive ICT infrastructures that provide secure, ubiquitous access to complete health care information and shift towards the development of integrated care. Therefore it is important that Saudi healthcare organizations assess their preparedness for implementing e-Health to enhance their chances of success for the expected change brought by ICT. The purpose of this presentation to present the preliminary results of ICT readiness in Saudi Arabian healthcare organizations in related areas such as health information systems, network and hardware, people, policies and procedures, and e-Health strategic planning.

Walid Gomaa

Abstract: In today's challenging business environment; managing information represents a major challenge for many organizations. Information is consumed by employees and between the organization and its partners & customers. Enterprise Content Management Documentum solutions can be used to manage content across the entire healthcare enterprise. Enterprise Content Management Documentum provides a single source for the integration of business-critical Enterprise Content Management technologies. During the session we will cover in brief what are the key Enterprise Content Management Documentum solutions that can be used in the Healthcare industry.

Bryan Bergeron, MD

Abstract: Delivering quality, affordable healthcare in a timely manner is possible with appropriate human processes, leveraged with appropriate enabling technologies. Of the emerging technologies in healthcare, business intelligence, knowledge management, and data warehousing hold the greatest promise as enabling agents. However, working with these technologies requires an understanding of the potential implementation perils, costs, and reasonable expectations of return on investment.

Lukas Cudrigh

Abstract: Today’s healthcare system is defined by both great achievement and great challenges. Breakthroughs in medical research and practice are improving and saving people’s lives. At the same time, people’s health information is decentralized and isolated, existing only in filing cabinets and a multitude of disconnected servers. It is difficult for individuals and their families to manage and share health information productively, or to navigate online and offline health resources efficiently and accurately. Technology can play a key role in helping solve healthcare fragmentation, by delivering on the promise of an internet based, consumer-centric health platform that will place people in control of their healthcare, while enabling seamless exchange of information among hundreds of health services and devices.

Khaldoun Hassib Ashkar

Abstract: Many Factors are playing a Role in Healthcare Today Healthcare Workers Challenges:

• Many Health Care Mission Critical Systems
• Manual administrative work added to Medical
• Inefficient collaboration and communication
• Lots of Applications, to use without  Information
• Multiple Medical devices to deal with

HealthCare State is Changing from:

• Process oriented to Patient oriented
• Centralized Hospitals and medical facilities to Decentralized, home care and remote care
• Discontinuous measurement of satisfaction to Continuous measurement Measuring actual experiences
• Curative care for Patients to Preventive Care for Society

Information Systems are playing a big Role. Decision making is based on Information. More Precise decision, eventually more qualitative decisions Increase Patient confidence/Satisfaction of Quality of Service The stakeholders in healthcare delivery are supposed to cooperate using the technology as key enabler to bypass these issues

Saleh N. Al Omair

Abstract: This presentation shall overview the impact of implementing the Saudi Cooperative Health Insurance Laws on the Health Insurance Industry, and the implications of Standard, and a developed National Health Information Systems infrastructure on Health Insurance in Saudi Arabia.

Gary Behenna

Abstract: As a proponent of real-time healthcare messaging and its associated processes, Gary will provide an overview of the history of electronic claiming within South Africa. This overview will highlight the challenges and tribulations which the industry battled though in the early stages, and will bring us to the present where the industry has evolved into a mature industry designed to providing the user with up to date, comprehensive informative related to patient treatment and associated benefit coverage. Gary will explain how the inclusion of coding structures and their standardization have assisted in this electronic messaging process, to the point where real-time messaging relies on this as a primary component to its success.

Mario Ibrahim, P.Eng

Ahmad Alhoraibi, BAMS, CPHHA, DIC, MSc

Abstract: Clinical Coding systems are essential for financial, administrative, research and quality purposes in healthcare settings. At the macro level, governments encourage organizations to adopt and utilize a unified clinical coding system to achieve several goals. However, organizations, at the micro level, face some challenges and have to overcome several obstacles for a successful implementation.

The presentation will highlight the decision of Saudi Arabia to adopt the ICD-10-AM coding system, its implications and challenges at national and organizational basis. Training, implementation plans, roles of stakeholders are among the addressed concerns.