Cloud service providers that help hospitals manage electronic medical records (EMR) in the cloud will gain attention amid the rising demand for such service this year, an analyst report said Monday.
Since Aug. 6, 2016, the Ministry of Health and Welfare allowed hospitals to store and manage patient records outside of the institution under the rules and regulations of the Medical Service Act, related to the standards for facilities and equipment necessary for the management and preservation of EMRs.
However, small and medium hospitals have not been able to introduce the cloud system due to lack of human resources, infrastructure, and budget to maintain and operate the system, industry sources said.
Unlike other costly cloud systems, BITcomputer’s CLEMR (Cloud Electronic Medical Record) is drawing attention because it does not require additional workforce for management and security, according to a report by Lee Sang-heon and Cho Kyeong-jin, analysts at Hi Investment & Securities.
“CLEMR is service-oriented software that transformed the existing structured medical information system into a cloud-based one. Hospitals can use the system by connecting through the internet, without any separate server,” the report said. “There is no need for additional personnel for computerization. The billing is simple. The more you use it, the more you pay.”
The analyst report went on to say that CLEMR could secure the healthcare cloud market first, as new demand for such service would be created with the arrival of the Fourth Industrial Revolution era. “BITcomputer is expected to generate cloud-related revenues in earnest this year. Its growth potential will become bigger,” the report added.
According to BITcomputer, CLEMR is an integrated Hospital Information System (HIS) that includes Order Communication System (OCS), EMR, and Electronic Resources Planning (ERP).
Depending on the hospital size and different needs in different treatment areas, hospitals can selectively choose the essential and additional services.
“Most of the small and medium-sized hospitals do not have the workforce for the computerized system. Even if they do, such workers are in charge of both computer administration and administrative assistant. Hospitals do not hire computer-related workers because they can’t make money," a hospital official said.
He went on to say, “As the firewall and encryption related to the Personal Information Protection Act are already costly, small hospitals did not try to introduce the cloud system.”