TEL AVIV, Israel and DALLAS, Tex., Feb. 15, 2005 - Just weeks after the Bush administration has challenged the U.S. medical establishment to computerize medical records, Israel’s largest HMO, Clalit Health Services, and 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.
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 has now joined forces with four major independent medical centers to form a true, cross-enterprise, health information network and lead the way toward a national health record in Israel.
Its facilities are now connected to the Sheba and Rambam Medical Centers with the two Hadassa University Hospitals in Jerusalem joining the network in the coming months.
The dbMotion 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. According to Zeev Vurembrand, CEO of Clalit, “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."
Prof. Zeev Rotstein, Director General of Sheba Medical Center adds, "This is a pioneer 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."
According to Mr. Vurembrand, "This constitutes a revolution in patient care management, enabling care providers to maintain a continuity of care across all hospitals and ambulatory clinics. The result is not only a significant improvement in the quality of diagnosis and care but it also shortens the care cycle and results in considerable savings, thus enabling us to redirect precious resources towards further improvements in healthcare services."
Prof. Moshe Revach, Managing Director of Rambam Medical Center added, "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. dbMotion Inc. is headed by General Manager Peter van der Grinten. Mr. van der Grinten has held senior management positions at numerous healthcare software and services companies. He is joined by Mark Gross, Senior Vice President of Strategy & Business Development, who brings to dbMotion 30 years of experience in healthcare information technology in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
“With the rapport we have built with this national scale, cross-enterprise implementation, we are ready to deliver valuable clinical information integration solutions to the U.S. and Canadian healthcare markets. dbMotion has proven that implementing large scale health information networks that serve millions of people is no longer a dream. By providing physicians with real-time information, when and where they need it, this solution improves the quality of care in communities while at the same time enabling a safer and more efficient practice of medicine,” said Mr. van der Grinten.
About dbMotion
dbMotion is an innovative provider of medical informatics. The dbMotion™ Solution enables healthcare organizations to securely share medical information, regardless of the format and geographical location of the data. Healthcare organizations use the dbMotion™ Solution to share clinical data, both internally and externally, with other healthcare organizations across diverse information systems. By sharing clinical information, clinical staff can make clear critical decisions, thus providing safer and more efficient care. The dbMotion™ Solution currently serves one of the world’s largest HMOs as well as other hospitals and medical networks.