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By Karen Pallarito
NEW YORK, Mar 27 (Reuters Health) - HealthSouth Corp, an outpatient surgery and rehabilitation chain, said on Monday it is teaming up with software giant Oracle Corp. to build the world's first ``all-digital hospital.''
The digital hospital will feature inpatient beds with display screens connected to the Internet, electronic medical records storage, digital imaging and a wireless communications network permitting doctors and other caregivers to access patients' medical records from anywhere--inside or outside of the hospital.
"I think what you'll see come out of this hospital is the elimination of medical errors," said Richard M. Scrushy, chairman and CEO of Birmingham, Alabama-based HealthSouth. "What we're talking about is resolution through innovation."
Scrushy's vision is to create a "prototype for the world" that will demonstrate how technology can lower costs and improve patient care.
Scrushy said the company would spend $120 million to $125 million to build and equip the hospital, replacing a 100-year-old facility in Birmingham, Alabama. The project will be "fast tracked" for completion in 2003, he said.
From the moment a patient registers at the hospital, every blood test and MRI will be recorded in a central patient record, and pharmacy visits will be tracked. All charting will be done at the patient's bedside, "getting the nurses' back to the patient's side" and making doctors more efficient, he said.
He said his development team has already identified 10 other sites at which to duplicate the model.
Oracle will provide the technology that will allow HealthSouth to improve record-keeping and patient care, officials of the two companies said in a briefing on Monday. Ultimately, they said, the improvements will reduce the overall cost of care.
A number of major manufacturers, including makers of hospital beds, surgical equipment, laboratory equipment and pharmacy systems, have agreed to work with HealthSouth on the project to ensure their technology is compatible with the Oracle software.
Participants include optics firm Carl Zeiss; diagnostic firm Dade Behring; device makers Datascope and Smith and Nephew; General Electric Medical Systems; healthcare products firm Hill-Rom; Pyxis, a maker of medication dispensing systems; infection control firm Steris; and guided imagery firm Visualization Technology.
Oracle, he added "is going to be in a great position to market its healthcare system to providers around the country," he added.
Scrushy said the profit margins at this type of hospital will be 5% to 10% higher than the profit margins at a traditional hospital, which could be 18% to 22%.
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