Integrated Medical Record Management Solution Comes Into
Full Operation - Improving Speed, Quality and Safety

TOKYO, July 12, 2010 — Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. has commenced full-scale operations of an integrated medical record management solution, which centrally manages a variety of record types created across different medical workplaces. Over the next five years, the company aims to introduce the solution to 200 hospitals. This solution realizes a new concept^{Note 1} of document-based medical record management and Osaka University Hospital introduced it and started full-scale operations in January 2010.

Note 1

Document Archiving and Communication System: The system aims to archive, manage and make permanently accessible all the records related with individual patient, regardless of the type of media or system used to create them, achieving complete coverage of all records-without any exceptions.

Fuji Xerox Integrated Medical Record Management Solution

Fuji Xerox has built up the techniques and expertise required for managing office documents during its long history. Applying these skills and knowledge in the medical field, the company spent three years studying medical record management methods that can be utilized in frontline medical workplaces. After a series of field tests, Fuji Xerox developed a solution that efficiently integrates and manages comprehensive medical records as well as offers long-term viewing of these records. According to the law, medical records must be stored for a designated period. The system compiles various records-including electronic medical records, associated system data, and electronically converted paper documents-into a unified generic format that is independent of any specific application. It also centrally manages these records while maintaining the integrity and originality of each record, allowing it to be a centralized information management infrastructure that can be linked with the various systems running at hospitals.

Currently Osaka University Hospital manages more than 2,000 types of documents in an integrated manner under some 40 systems linked through this solution. In addition to the electronic medical records and other documents created in each system, documents created by commercial software, and scanned handwritten documents such as reports and agreements are all archived within this system. The system not only provides staff members with fast access to patient records, but is also used for research and analysis purposes.

"Turning a record into an electronic format is one action, and storing a record in an electronic medium is another," said Dr. Yasushi Matsumura, Associate Professor, Department of Integrated Medicine, Medical Informatics of Osaka University Hospital. "To manage medical records in a paperless manner, both actions must be completed. Fuji Xerox's solution surely meets the latter requirement, and we should be able to view medical records from a variety of sources permanently even when systems are updated. Further, we can view now all the records concerning each patient, which is very helpful for day-to-day treatment. I believe that this robust and flexible solution not only functions as the archive of one hospital but also could serve as a common infrastructure to store the medical records of patients across their lifetime."

This solution will be exhibited at the International Modern Hospital Show 2010, held at Tokyo Big Sight from the 14th to the16th of July.

Current Situation in Medical Workplaces

Demands within medical institutions have been voiced: such as the need to improve medical quality and safety by maintaining a comprehensive archive of each patient's records, covering the patient's past diagnoses, treatment, examinations, operations, post-treatment/operation progress, and respective dates. There is also the desire to improve performances of medical teams by timely sharing such archived information across departments.

Medical records must be legally, securely stored for a set amount of time. Despite recent advances in computerization that have helped archive medical records into electronic recording systems, information categories and the timing of record creation systems being introduced are so varied that it is difficult to manage them uniformly. Also, many paper-based documents that require signatures and stamps still remain. In order to advance paperless documentation while storing and managing the medical records in an electronic format for the designated period, it is necessary to have a system that can; (1) archive all relevant medical records--whether paper or electronic media--regardless of record creation systems' life cycle, and (2) be accessible throughout the long term.

Image of the Medical Record Management Solution

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