Fujitsu Builds New Cloud Solution for Regional Hospitals to Share Information

Fujitsu has launched an SaaS-based regional medical network solution that will allow disparate hospitals in a region to have access to each other’s medical information without having to build a new information and communication network (ICT).  

Software as a Service (or SaaS) is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally (typically in the Internet “cloud”) and are accessed by users using a web browser over the Internet.

To expand medical services for local residents, regional healthcare institutions are facing the rising need to quickly build an environment for inexpensively and securely managing patient information, thus allowing seamless regional collaborations.

The SaaS-based solution, HumanBridge, employs Fujitsu's datacenters to relay diagnostic information, test results, medical images, report information, and other patient data that has conventionally been separately maintained by multiple regional healthcare institutions including central hospitals, outpatient clinics, and nursing homes, among all these facilities.

Regional healthcare institutions can now securely access and share patient information using a network within a highly-reliable and secure cloud environment. The system makes it possible to effortlessly refer patients from an outpatient clinic to a central hospital, or transfer inpatients between hospitals.

The new service constantly allows for the secure sharing of medical information regardless of the regional institution a patient receives treatment from, thereby allowing patients to receive high-quality medical services smoothly.

By digitizing documents exchanged between healthcare institutions, such as referral forms, status reports and medical image film, as well as employing a cloud environment, each institution can reduce its annual CO2 emissions by approximately 1 to 9 tons.

Regional healthcare institutions can quickly begin employing the service using Internet-connected PCs (including peripheral devices) and electronic health record systems which are currently being used.

The new service employs a secure system configuration in which patient data stored on electronic medical record systems is saved on servers (gateways) located at each healthcare institution. These servers are linked in real-time to Fujitsu's datacenters.

Fujitsu's datacenters, which serve as relay centers, feature robust facility management and full-scale security provisions,  allowing healthcare institutions to use the service safely.

As the service meets industry standards, such as HL7(2) and DICOM(3), for the exchange of medical information, as well as employs SS-MIX-compliant storage technology(4), healthcare institutions can seamlessly share information even if they employ electronic medical record systems built by different vendors.

Fujitsu also offers a full lineup of electronic medical record systems as well as medical business systems for all healthcare institutions, ranging from small- to large-scale establishments, in the fields of health, medical, and elderly care. Fujitsu is positioning the new service as its first step in developing cloud-based healthcare solutions for enabling electronic health record systems that combine a person's entire range of personal health information, as well as personal life record (PLR) systems that integrate a person's entire range of daily life information.

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