Jurong Health Services (JurongHealth) is one of Singapores six public healthcare clusters. JurongHealth primarily manages the 700-bed Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, the 400-bed Jurong Community Hospital, and the Jurong Medical Center, all of which are located in western Singapore. JurongHealth has integrated more than 50 healthcare IT systems as part of the Project OneCare initiative. The systems implementation and integration took four years and has enabled the hospital to become paperless, chartless, and filmless.

For instance, self-service kiosks now enable patients to register themselves merely by scanning their national identification cards and obtaining a queue number generated by the Enterprise Queue Management System. This unique number is used throughout the patients visit for all service itineraries in the hospital. Patients refer to live screens located in the waiting areas that display a real-time queue status showing their turn. Patients do not need different numbers for different services.

Similarly, the Visitor Management System self-service kiosks enable visitors to scan their identification cards and register themselves to gain access to hospital wards. Visitors can also register themselves and obtain an e-pass from the Visitor Registration counters. The identification card or e-pass is scanned at the gantry when entering and leaving the ward. The gantry not only logs visitor information but also tracks staff, who must also use the same gantries to enter the wards. The Visitor Management System enables the hospital to both control access to the wards and track or contact visitors and staff if necessary.

Another IT system implemented is the Warehouse Management System, which eliminates the tedious process of manually counting inventory. The system uses passive radio frequency identification (RFID)technology and a two-bin shelving system to automate inventory top-up requests and improve inventory management. Once the primary compartment of the storage bin is empty, the clinical staff transfers the relevant RFID tag into a drop-box, where the reader automatically sends a request for drug replenishment, thus avoiding stock-outs.

JurongHealth has also implemented a Real-Time Location Tracking System to automatically track patients and medical equipment using Wi-Fi triangulation, low frequency exciters, and about 6,000 active RFID tags attached to patients or medical equipment. These tags continuously communicate with the low frequency exciters to transmit data to the backend system for processing, allowing hospital staff to precisely locate patients and equipment, thus eliminating the need for tedious manual searching.

In September 2020, the hospital introduced a series of measures to make the facilities more secure and infection-free. For instance, they deployed a security robot to patrol the grounds and a second Kenobi (a security and concierge robot) to carry out thermal scanning of visitors.

Drones have also been deployed to carry out inspections and surveillance. In addition, as an immediate response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and as a longer-term solution to infection control, new touch-free technology has been introduced to operate patient and visitor lifts.

QUESTIONS:

a) Why are information systems important for JurongHealth?

b) By applying the Value Chain Model, evaluate the value created by information systems implementation at JurongHealth.

c) In your opinion, is the implementation of information systems is a competitive advantage for JurongHealth?

Why or why not?