EMPOWERING THE PATIENT EXPERIENCE THROUGH DIGITISATION
DIGITISING THE PATIENT EXPERIENCE
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With the main hospital accredited by Joint Commission International for its high-quality healthcare, Group Chief Information Officer, Brett Medel, discusses how digitisation will prepare TMC for the future
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ealthcare leader in the Philippines and the owner of the first private hospital in Guam, The Medical City (TMC) provides cutting-edge health services, housing centres of excellence in wellness and aesthetics, cardiovascular, cancer and regenerative medicine. The company has recently embarked on launching seven new institutes, which will cover a number of common health problems within the country. With one flagship healthcare complex in Manila, four provincial hospitals, 50 clinic sties in Metro Manila and in select provinces in the Philippines, a clinic in Dubai and a hospital in Guam with a total bed capacity of almost 2,000 beds, TMC has looked to fully digitise its operations to adhere to its philosophy – ‘Where patients are partners.’ With over 30 years expertise in the IT space, Group Chief Information Officer, Brett Medel is set to take the organisation to new heights. Through its digital transformation, Medel will establish best practices and ensure TMC retains its position as the healthcare provider of choice. “TMC has been serving the Filipino community for 50 years, and it is considered a legacy institution. However, it has been saddled with a traditional front and back office system. It needs to transform to cater to the needs of the
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The Medical City Critical Care experts Dr. Jose Emmanuel Palo and Dr. Jude Erric Cinco go over a patient’s X-ray while discussing his current condition.
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new generation so it has invested heavily across its digital journey to significantly improve the patient experience,” he says. “My charter is to make TMC closer to the Filipino community as much as possible; to positively impact the patient experience and improve on efficiency by building an intercon-
A TMC vascular technician and a consultant perform a Carotid Doppler test on a male patient. A Carotid Doppler test is a safe and painless procedure that uses sound waves to examine the blood flow through the carotid arteries.
nected ecosystem of stakeholders into a single platform.” GIVING PATIENTS CONTROL
Empowering individuals is something which TMC will strive to achieve through open communication and the use of new digital tools. “From finding out the treatment for a parw w w. t h e m e d i c a l c i t y. c o m
ticular disease, setting an appointment with a
awareness to ultimately improv-
doctor of choice, to being informed of the
ing the health of every individual.”
choices available for the type of wellness required is aligned with our value proposition
DIGITAL ROADMAP
of ‘Patients as Partners,’” adds Medel.
Providing a digital roadmap, TMC
“We see every individual not as merely
will partner with like-minded
as a clinical patient, but a partner who
companies to drive essential
belongs to the ecosystem of wellness and
change across its operations.
health management.”
“I always tell my people and
“TMC looks after the welfare of every
my partners, ‘implementing a
individual even before they set foot in the hos-
system is not the end result,’”
pital or clinic, as we believe that
reflects Medel. “However, to me,
healthcare is all about providing premium
the criteria of success of any
quality of health; starting from prevention and
technology project is getting
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Laboratory technicians at The Medical City’s Regenerative Medicine Laboratory perform the engineering of cells and other biomaterials for the purpose of preserving, restoring, or enhancing organ function.
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users to adopt the system.” With the aim to bring the entire the network of hospitals and clinics under one platform, TMC has implemented a robust cloud infrastructure that can not only cope with the demands of the business, but deliver resilience across its disaster recovery strategy. It will also work to ensure scalability. “By getting all areas interconnected, we can maximise synergies across the hospital network, without placing increased investment at each site,” says Medel. By appointing Orion Health Inc, TMC has
“ By getting all areas interconnected, we can maximise synergies across the hospital network, without placing increased investment at each site” — Brett Medel, Group Chief Information Officer
also invested in a world-class hospital information and consultation system, which will w w w. t h e m e d i c a l c i t y. c o m
BIO
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Brett Medel has been in the IT profession for the past 30 years where 17 years were spent as CIO of various companies in the private sector. Prior to joining The Medical City, Brett served as Group CIO of ePLDT. As Group CIO of ePLDT, he wore two hats “Internal facing” where he drives the digital transformation journey of the ePLDT, and “External facing” where he engages with the clients to help them in their strategic IT initiatives. He used
to be the Chairman of the CIO Council of the MVP Group of companies with 30 CIO/ IT Heads of member companies worked with him to bring about synergy through various IT initiatives of the MVP Group. Prior to joining ePLDT his experience cuts across various industries like mining, manufacturing, government, retail, and insurance. He used to be the Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Philex Mining Corporation (a member of the MVP group of companies) since 2012. He spearheads major business transformation initiatives in Philex to improve opera-
integrate with its other ancillary subsystems. Nonetheless, the organisation is facing a
tional efficiency. Prior to joining Philex, he was the VP and CIO of Prudential UK and PNB Life. His IT exposure started way back in 1987 where he joined Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) as a management consultant where he held projects here and abroad for both the financial and manufacturing industry. Brett holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Engineering (Honors Program), Ateneo de Manila University.
number of regional challenges. “We have server-based and networkbased applications, but capability is always complex,” comments Medel. “To bring all of this into the cloud is the start of our transformation. At the end of the day, it’s all about bringing different players into an interconnected ecosystem.” PROMOTING ACCESSIBILITY
With so many hospitals and clinics situated over a vast geography, connectivity will also present fresh challenges. Strengthening the wi-fi within its hospitals and clinics will become fundamental for TMC to capture data across a number of platforms, particularly mobile, in order to draw insights, trends, associations, sentiments, psychographics and more, in order to develop new programmes and services. “Our digital transformation is not just about automation, but a shift in mindset by introducing new business models to raise the bar of the customer experience. It is about strengthening the company’s value proposition to the next level,” adds Medel. With this in mind, TMC is undergoing a significant initiative to build on its strong digital marketing strategy to bring the brand into the w w w. t h e m e d i c a l c i t y. c o m
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digital space. This will not only boost the organisation’s foot traffic, but further its digital footprint across a number of touchpoints, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. “We have shifted our marketing resources to put equal emphasis on digital marketing as to that of traditional marketing. This is a strategy that has never been before done in the entire history of TMC,” says Medel. “TMC aims to top the charts 12
on customer awareness across its products and services. We would also like to get the pulse of the digital community by conducting social listening and see how we are performing as a healthcare provider in the eyes of the digital community. “Social media and mobile apps are sources of information that we can immediately collate and process, where either immediate feedback is given or immediate action is taken. This way, customers feel that they are valued and their feedback is taken on board.”
“ We see every individual not as merely as a clinical patient, but a partner who belongs to the ecosystem of wellness and health management” — Brett Medel, Group Chief Information Officer
A Wellness doctor checks on a patient inside an Executive Suite at the Wellness and Aesthetics Institute.
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ENGAGING ALL PARTIES
Moving forward, Medel remains
By deploying IT account managers across
keen to explore new avenues and
the organisation, TMC has built a culture of
unlock further potential which has
innovation among its employees and medical
yet to be explored.
staff, where it has gained a greater under-
“TMC will be on this digital
standing from various teams on what is
journey for the next couple of
required from a digital perspective to
years,” he concludes.
enhance the quality of patient care.
“We will be on top of AI, chatbots
“We need to make everyone aware of the
and of course, cloud. However, the
benefits and the value of digital, of being a part
most important aspect is having a
of the digital economy,” acknowledges Medel.
robust community drive. This will
“Not only medical staff or users, but also
remain the focal point for TMC.”
our stakeholders. Education is essential while we undertake our digital journey.” w w w. t h e m e d i c a l c i t y. c o m
Ortigas Avenue | Pasig City Metro Manila | Philippines (632) 988-1000 | (632)988-7000 mail@themedicalcity.com www.themedicalcity.com