Microsoft Customer SolutionHealthcare Industry Case Study

Hospital Deploys Information System with Unified Communications, Improves Services

OverviewCountry or Region: South KoreaIndustry: Healthcare

Customer ProfileEstablished in 2003, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital applies the wealth of medical techniques and traditions it inherited from Seoul National University, a leader in medical advancements in Korea.

Business SituationThe hospital sought to manage, access, and store healthcare information in a more elegant way and to provide staff members with the means to communicate easily—all with one intuitive tool.

SolutionThe hospital built BESTCare 2.0, an integrated information system using Microsoft development tools, Microsoft Lync Server 2013, and Microsoft BizTalk Server 2013.

Benefits Enhances staff efficiency and

communications Improves medical services Boosts organizational reputation

“By using Windows Presentation Foundation as the framework for our UX, we made sure that medical staff members would be able to retrieve data frequently and easily, which is necessary for their work.”

Professor Hwang Hui, CIO, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital

Seoul National University Bundang Hospital sought to implement a hospital information system that offered a highly intuitive user experience and unified communications, and that integrated with existing systems. The hospital engaged ezCaretech, a member of the Microsoft Partner Network, to build BESTCare 2.0, a solution built on the Microsoft .NET Framework. Windows Presentation Foundation was the technological foundation for the design of an intuitive interface. Microsoft BizTalk Server 2013 connected disparate systems into one user interface, and Microsoft Lync Server 2013 enabled single-click communications between staff members. The result is an easy-to-use system that can be customized by staff members to meet their own needs. The organization benefits from improved work standards, streamlined communications, better patient service, and an enhanced reputation.

SituationSeoul National University Bundang Hospital is located Seongnam, South Korea. It has six care centers—including a Geriatric Medical Center and a Lung Center—and 23 departments, including internal medicine, neurosurgery, and pediatrics.

The hospital wanted to find a way to manage healthcare information in more elegant ways. In the early 2000s, large medical institutions began developing Electronic Medical Record (EMR), Order Communication System (OCS), and Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) solutions that provided electronic healthcare tools. By 2010, these institutions—having laid the groundwork with e-healthcare solutions—realized that they were facing significant challenges.

“Working in a hospital environment involves endless cycles of treatments, prescriptions, and observing patients,” says Professor Hwang Hui, CIO of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. “It’s up to the medical staff to record the condition of patients and refer to that information as needed.”

Most hospital information systems had been implemented at high expense. Typically, they had been designed from a developer’s point of view, without input from medical personnel on their needs. As medical staff began using the systems, stakeholders realized what the systems lacked. The more data involved, the more these solutions seemed inadequate. As a result, workers who needed patient-related information—such as vital signs or prescription medication—found it difficult to find critical data in real time, when the patients were being treated.

“We had plenty of data but it became obvious that medical staff had a hard time retrieving the exact information they needed,” says Hui. “This is a task-dependent question. In general, the hospital information system was too complicated and filled with dry and difficult-to-understand characters and numbers.”

The procedures required to use the systems did not match how medical staff worked. For example, staff members found it difficult to understand previously handwritten documents that had been digitized and entered into the electronic forms. Finding information also required clicking through various user interfaces dozens of times. Although the existing systems functioned, the user experience (UX) was so poor that it impeded medical service delivery.

The hospital sought a next-generation system that would deliver a personalized user experience that integrated the various systems into one interface. The solution would have to provide all hospital and medical information-related services and have the ability to take advantage of a variety of communication methods without requiring staff to switch applications. “We wanted to minimize the challenges from a user perspective,” says Hui. “It’s the little things—the details—that count.”

SolutionIn 2010, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital began planning a next-generation hospital information system. After consulting with Microsoft and other advisors, the hospital identified four areas for improvement: the prescription process, the medical record input and search user

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“The importance of data-based decision making in the medical service cannot be overemphasized. With BESTCare 2.0, we’ve improved the day-to-day routine of recording and searching for data while making communication more efficient. Every minute counts and we have freed up precious time to deliver better care.”

Professor Hwang Hui, CIO, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital

interfaces, screen-related user settings, and the personalization of user setup.

“The new system had to be oriented toward users, rather than forcing users to adapt to the system,” says Hui. “Our goal was to integrate systems to allow users to look up information on one screen, rather than having to go to different sections and search.”

User experience and system integration were the highest development priorities for the new hospital information system, which the organization named BESTCare 2.0. To add value, the organization decided to include unified communications capabilities so that staff could communicate through text, voice, and video from one screen. Working with ezCaretech, a member of the Microsoft Partner Network, the hospital commenced development in 2012.

“We believed that a better user experience would meet the needs of medical workers when checking on patients on a regular basis and responding to emergencies of all kinds,” says Hui. “Our user experience would be outstanding in every way and surpass in quality anything we’ve done in the past.”

The E-Healthcare FrameworkFor its e-healthcare framework, which would serve as the backbone of BESTCare 2.0, the hospital chose the Microsoft .NET Framework, which includes easy-to-use tools for building applications on the Microsoft operating system. “The .NET environment offers us many benefits in terms of the technical support and availability of developers, all from a global company—Microsoft,” says Hui.

To create a visually stunning user experience, the hospital used the Windows Presentation Foundation, which provides a unified programming model for building Windows client applications that incorporate user interfaces, media, and documents.

The BESTCare 2.0 solution also includes EMR, OCS, and PACS functionalities and links those tools through Microsoft BizTalk Server 2013, software that helps organizations more easily connect disparate systems and provide connectivity between core systems.

For unified communications capabilities, the hospital incorporated Microsoft Lync Server 2013 communications software. Lync provides instant messaging, presence, conferencing, and telephony tools to support enterprise-level collaboration. With Lync, the organization’s staff members can communicate and collaborate remotely. For example, if a patient’s doctor is out of town, staff members can contact him through the unified communications tools available with Lync.

The Next-Generation UXSeoul National University Bundang Hospital consulted UX experts and drafted a blueprint for a solution that would be a good experience for medical staff. “What we wanted to achieve through BESTCare 2.0 was not a system but a new user experience,” says Hui.

Before deciding on the Windows Presentation Foundation, the hospital considered several other frameworks that could serve as the graphical engine, including two other Microsoft technologies, the Microsoft Health Common User Interface (MSCUI), which is a toolkit that

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provides controls for a new generation of safer, more usable, and compelling health applications that can be quickly and easily created, and Microsoft Amalga, a unified health enterprise platform designed to retrieve and display patient information from many sources. In the end, the hospital determined that Windows Presentation Foundation offered the most advantages in terms of both client–server applications and the web.

The hospital worked with ezCaretech to develop the user interface. To ensure that the user experience would be intuitive and meet the high standards set by the hospital, the organization decided to enroll 30 medical staff members to participate full time in the project. It organized project teams by category including user experience, unified communications, and standardization.

The solution, BESTCare 2.0, features a user interface that is similar to those employed by smartphones and easy to learn without special training. Medical staff members can log on and design the screen with the apps and information they want, just as they could with a smartphone or tablet. They can add more than 2,000 different kinds of applications to their Favorites in AppDock, an interface tool located at the bottom of the screen. The startup screen can be changed as needed. “Medical staff members can now change settings and use their own user interface environment,” says Hui.

The hospital also hosts 52-inch touchscreens in each ward, so medical staff can have ready access to BESTCare 2.0 as they make their rounds. “When a doctor makes her rounds, she can get data about patients, including their vital signs, at a

glance—simply by placing her ID card on the screen,” says Hui. “Plus, doctors can get patient information even if they are outside the hospital.”

Patient-Oriented ServiceThe improved visual and communications capabilities of the integrated system help support patient-oriented service. An easier-to-use and intuitive user interface, coupled with data visualization capabilities, can now display vital signs in a way that enables staff to see at a glance when someone needs attention. For example, The Seoul National University Bundang Hospital Rapid Response Team is one group that has made good use of BESTCare 2.0 and its improved UX and data visualization capabilities. It’s their job to serve patients in intensive care and to help in the case of emergencies. “Because BESTCare 2.0 recognizes abnormal vital signs if they exceed a certain threshold, medical staff members can reach out to the Rapid Response Team by using the Lync tools integrated into the hospital information system,” says Hui. “The solution is making a huge impact.”

Another feature of BESTCare 2.0 is the Journey Map, which shows the past, present, and future of medical service provided for a particular patient. “When it comes to patient-oriented service at our hospital, the role of the Journey Map is critical,” says Hui. “Anyone—not just the doctor in charge—can understand the condition of a patient within 10 seconds.”

BenefitsWith a Microsoft development environment, Lync communication capabilities, and BizTalk Server to integrate various healthcare tools into BESTCare 2.0, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital has achieved its goals to integrate the

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various healthcare technology systems in use and simplify the user experience for medical staff. The organization improved the work standards for staff members, enabled various means of communication through one interface, developed a more patient-centric medical service, and won recognition for its implementation of this next-generation healthcare tool.

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Enhances Staff Efficiency and CommunicationsMedical staff members at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital can now get information anytime, from anywhere, on any device. With BESTCare 2.0, they can check medical records, orders, test results, and even radiology images through one simple interface.

“Our medical staff members no longer have to scour seemingly everything to find the information that they need,” says Hui. “By using Windows Presentation Foundation as the framework for our UX, we made sure that medical staff members would be able to retrieve data frequently and easily, which is necessary for their work.”

By using the processes and data visualization tools in BESTCare 2.0, staff members can make the best and most efficient use of information stored in the hospital’s databases. “What BESTCare 2.0 does is present visual data from various points of view,” says Hui. “This has really helped medical staff understand the information they need in an immediate way.”

With the integration of BESTCare 2.0 with Lync, staff members can easily communicate with colleagues to get second opinions. “Medical personnel can take advantage of one-click messaging, and make voice and video calls without having to switch to a different application,” says Hui.

Improves Medical ServicesBecause Seoul National University Bundang Hospital specifically consulted with medical staff in designing the UX for BESTCare 2.0, the hospital information system encourages patient-oriented medical

service. “Tools such as the Journey Map serve as a communication channel between patients and doctors,” says Hui. “It provides doctors with the information they need in an instant so they can understand their patients without having to search through data bit by bit.”

With the new hospital information system in place, medical staff members have been able to respond much more quickly to urgent and emergency care needs. In the months since the implementation of BESTCare 2.0, the hospital has seen zero cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) cases because BESTCare 2.0 provides real-time information that enables rapid response.

Boosts Organizational ReputationBESTCare 2.0 has become a focal point in the Korean healthcare industry because it delivers a best-practices platform that solves common problems found in medical facilities. Healthcare industry professionals have praised the solution for its capabilities tailored for the medical community. In particular, BESTCare 2.0 has received accolades for features including information recording, search, and sharing as well as for its communication and collaboration tools.

“The importance of data-based decision making in the medical service cannot be overemphasized,” says Hui. “With BESTCare 2.0, we’ve improved the day-to-day routine of recording and searching for data while making communication more efficient. Every minute counts and we have freed up precious time to deliver better care.”

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“Medical personnel can take advantage of one-click messaging, and make voice and video calls without having to switch to a different application.”

Professor Hwang Hui, CIO, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital

Microsoft Solutions for the Healthcare IndustryHealthcare and life sciences organizations are under tremendous pressure to meet regulatory requirements, improve patient care, and reduce the time it takes to develop drugs and take them to market. To meet this challenge, Microsoft and its partners have developed cost-effective solutions that enable healthcare organizations to streamline and automate daily processes that improve productivity and deliver information whenever and wherever it is needed. The result is enhanced productivity, safety, and quality.

For more information about Microsoft solutions for the healthcare industry, go to:www.microsoft.com/healthcare

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For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about ezCaretech products and services, call 82-2-747-8640 or visit the website at: www.ezcaretech.com

For more information about Seoul National University Bundang Hospital products and services, call 82-2-1588-336 or visit the website at:www.snuh.org

Software and Services Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Microsoft BizTalk Server 2013− Microsoft Lync Server 2013

Technologies− Microsoft .NET Framework

− Windows Presentation Foundation

Partners ezCaretech

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published April 2014