Asian Hospital and Medical Center is one of the largest and fastest growing premiere hospitals among the close to 30 hospitals in the Metro Pacific Health Group. It is pioneering an integrated healthcare network in the Philippines.
Frank Vibar, CITO at Asian Hospital and the former Group CIO of the MPH Group, reveals the IT strategic roadmap that will deliver a true regional hospital. “AHMC’s vision is to become the centre of global expertise in caring for the unique needs of our patients and the communities we serve.”
Delivering a strategic roadmap for technology
For Vibar, reinforcing the connection between strategy and delivery was at the heart of his recent career advancement. AHMC is one the largest and fastest growing hospitals under the Metro Pacific Health (MPH) Group. Frank served there as Group CIO and spearheaded the IT strategic roadmap and standardisation initiatives for the hospital group. The rare opportunity to personally lead and deliver the strategic roadmap that he designed arose…
“I strongly believe in this roadmap and wanted to be involved and see this through actual implementation,” explains Frank. “I wanted to ensure the implementation is effectively carried out by the hospitals in the group. What better way to do exactly that than continue to lead by example and pioneer this at Asian Hospital. There have been two key motivating factors for me. The first is the opportunity to demonstrate the roadmap will work. That there is standardisation across process, data, and technology. And the implementation of new solutions will significantly enhance hospital operations. Thus elevating patient care and experience, which will eventually deliver for the business. And second, but most importantly, this perfect opportunity will happen in a premiere hospital. One that comes with the leadership and aspirations tI share with Dr. Beaver Tamesis, the trailblazing CEO of AHMC. Asian Hospital is close to my heart.”
Building a nationwide hospital network
MPH has close to 30 hospitals across the Group. The standardisation of data and technology across this vast hospital network aims to deliver a premium level of patient care. Meanwhile, ensuring continuity and consistency across the network. It once had distinct systems and operations before Frank spearheaded and rolled out an extensive strategic roadmap.
“There is a lot of potential for new business across these once-siloed systems,” says Frank. “For example, let’s follow the process of patient care. If you’re not feeling well, you’ll visit a doctor for consultation. Doctors across the Philippines have their own patient data systems that aren’t typically integrated with the hospital. So, that becomes one potential for the business: Now, when a patient’s doctor goes for a consultation, it is logged in the hospital system. If the doctor prescribes medicine or a test, the patient can take that prescription or test recommendation and go through the network’s system instead of going elsewhere.
“Technology will mitigate this by integrating systems into a unified one. When a doctor sees a patient, other parts of the hospital will be informed or alerted automatically, and the patient will be automatically endorsed to the hospital’s service. Establishing that continuity of service through an integrated patient information system helps keep our patients’ relationships embraced within our network.”