Microsoft Corp. announced that its Microsoft Amalga Unified Intelligence System (UIS) 2009 has been selected by Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to transform its approach to hospital management and patient care.
Microsoft Amalga UIS is Microsoft's enterprise data aggregation platform for healthcare, enabling hospitals and health professionals to unlock the patient data stored in a wide range of existing systems and make it easily accessible to every authorised member of the team inside and beyond the hospital. The solution collects data from disparate sources, empowering clinical staff with relevant patient information to help them make more informed decisions in relation to patient care - thereby increasing patient safety and service.
The solution allows hospitals and health professionals to build on existing systems to improve quality of care and deliver performance management and reporting that can lead to maximising payments and improved cost efficiencies within the hospital.
Milton Keynes Hospital will use Microsoft Amalga UIS to bring together clinical and operational data from 10 disparate core business applications and connect key staff to the information needed to carry out vital tasks, from providing patient advice and care through to financial planning and better management of care and performance. This will in turn allow hospital staff to make more informed and effective decisions based on comprehensive evidence. Microsoft Amalga UIS will also make reporting much more efficient and flexible, helping Milton Keynes Hospital to achieve its desire for better performance and reporting, while meeting government mandates, such as 18-week referral to treatment requirements and care pathways.
"The Microsoft solution complements and enhances both our nationally provided systems and other legacy systems already in place, providing a comprehensive view of clinical information from multiple sources within the Hospital," said David Powell, Head of IM&T at Milton Keynes Hospital.
The Trust's Finance Director Wayne Preston added: "Making major service improvements while reducing costs looks like a tough proposition at first glance, but we already have the means to achieve this at our disposal. We are now much better positioned to leverage the solutions available through NPfIT. Most hospitals have all the data they need within their underlying systems to make significant service improvements - it is just locked up in data silos."
Dr Sandro Lanzon-Miller, the Trust's Medical Director, commented: "Microsoft Amalga UIS is a central component of our strategy as it makes our data much more accessible, particularly for clinicians. It also aggregates information, meaning we can gain a full picture of what is happening both historically and in real time. We believe this will not only help us to operate much more efficiently but, more importantly, increase patient safety and quality of care."
"Microsoft Amalga UIS is already in use at over 115 hospitals globally, where it helps improve patient care and organisational efficiency by turning data into meaningful information. At the same time, it helps reduce costs, accelerate processes and deliver superior levels of patient care," said Steve Shihadeh, VP Health Solutions Group at Microsoft. "Many hospitals really are sitting on a gold mine of patient and hospital data in the UK, but we have proved in every hospital we have worked with that the data already held can be made to work better for patients, clinicians and hospital managers. With greater accessibility and aggregation, healthcare professionals can deliver the insights and analysis that health providers need to make huge progress."
The Amalga solution was procured through technology solutions provider, SCC, as prime contractor under the Buying Solutions IT Goods and Associated Services Framework - A217833/L1. This simplified, auditable procurement route with pre-agreed terms and conditions, allowed the Trust to both meet its tight project deadlines and reduce its procurement costs.
Milton Keynes Hospital is committed to leading the way in NHS best practice, better utilising CfH solutions and recognises that a joined-up approach to data is central to this. From delivering a 360-degree view of the hospital's operational activity to mapping the progress of an individual patient's care, Microsoft Amalga UIS will ensure that data supports operational and treatment goals and helps Milton Keynes Hospital remain at the forefront of healthcare innovation and service delivery.
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Microsoft is committed to improving health around the world through software innovation. Over the past 13 years, Microsoft has steadily increased its investments in health, with a focus on addressing the challenges of health providers, health and social services organizations, payers, consumers and life sciences companies worldwide. Microsoft closely collaborates with a broad ecosystem of partners and develops its own powerful health solutions, such as Amalga and HealthVault. Together, Microsoft and its industry partners are working to advance a vision of unifying health information and making it more readily available, ensuring the best quality of life and affordable care for everyone.
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