The TTSH management team
visiting Ren Ci Community
Hospital following its go-live.
TRANSFORMING CARE WITH THE NEXT GENERATION ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD (NGEMR) SYSTEM
A key initiative in the National Healthcare Group (NHG)’s digital transformation journey is the Next Generation Electronic Medical Record (NGEMR) System. It is an advanced, integrated medical record system put in place by the Ministry of Health (MOH) for the Singapore population. NGEMR harmonises sub-systems and functions across participating institutions, enabling patient care details to be captured cohesively and efficiently. The system gives care teams quick and secured access to up-to-date medical information such as clinic appointments, health plans, and self-care resource materials.
Welcoming NGEMR (from left): Asst Prof Eric Wong, Group Chief Data & Strategy Officer,
NHG; Dr Tang Kong Choong, Deputy CEO, TTSH & Central Health (CH); Prof Eugene
Fidelis Soh, Deputy Group CEO (Integrated Care), NHG, and CEO, TTSH & CH;
A/Prof Kenneth Mak, Director of Medical Services, Ministry of Health, Prof Chin
Jing Jih, Chairman Medical Board, TTSH & CH; and Dr Jamie Mervyn Lim, Chief
Operating Officer, TTSH & CH
NGEMR ‘GO-LIVE’ IN NHG
Since 2021, NGEMR has gone ‘live’ progressively across NHG Institutions, beginning with the National Healthcare Group Polyclinics (NHGP). On 30 July 2022, Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) became the first public hospital under NHG to ‘go-live’ with NGEMR, together with its partners — National Neuroscience Institute (NNI), Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital, and Ren Ci Community Hospital. The roll-out has brought about more seamless access to information by this community of carers, as well as better coordinated care and an enhanced patient experience.
NEXT STEPS FOR NGEMR
In the coming years, other NHG Institutions will be ‘going-live’ with NGEMR to bolster the centralised system with more comprehensive clinical data to drive better health for our population. Preparations are underway to on-board other Institutions to NGEMR, including the building and testing of system readiness and security, the development of Business Continuity Plans (BCP), as well as the engagement and training of staff users.
Benefits to the healthcare community are multi-fold. Integrated patient data is available at a click. Workflows are paperless, reducing our carbon footprint. There is ease in updating each patient’s health plan, and timely dispensing of interventions and treatments, in addition to cost and time savings. All these encourage Singaporeans to be more connected, be better engaged, and to take ownership of their health and well-being.
MORE ABOUT NGEMR ‘GO-LIVE’ FOR TTSH AND PARTNERS
It has been an exciting transformation journey towards Better Care as ONE for TTSH and its partners with NGEMR.
From porters, and patient care associates, to Allied Health Professionals, nurses and doctors, more than 10,000 healthcare staff from the four healthcare institutions diligently learned, upskilled and practised to familiarise themselves with the new system.
NGEMR is more than just an IT upgrade, it is a foundation to transform care for patients. Besides providing access to patients’ medical information, NGEMR strengthens the hospitals’ ability to collate data and analyse trends, patterns and behaviours. This will help to design and drive sustainable models of care that will more effectively improve health, care and services for patients, their caregivers, and the community.
THE TEAM BEHIND NGEMR
As a cross-cluster initiative, NGEMR brought together various job families across the National University Health System (NUHS), NHG, and Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS) to closely collaborate and unify workflows and functional modules, guided by the Functional Group (FG) Leads, and Chief Medical Informatics Officers/Chief Clinical Informatics Officers (CMIOs/CCIOs) of the Institutions.
“The roll-out of NGEMR involves continuing strategic leadership from the NHG Board, dedication and sacrifice from Management and staff, and critical support from our valued partners. NGEMR has paved the way for greater possibilities of digital and future-ready engagement of our patients in their healthcare journey, aligned to the NHG River of Life framework, which is geared towards the Healthier SG landscape,” said Assistant Professor Eric Wong, Group Chief Data & Strategy Officer, NHG.
