The K-Hospital Fair has completed its three-day event, introducing various sustainable, innovative digital healthcare solutions amid the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic and accelerating the digitization of the healthcare industry.
Many Korean and foreign biotech companies developing digital healthcare solutions showcased their latest technologies and products to serve better patients and medical professionals with advanced technologies marked by a swift transition to digital technology.
This year’s event was held from Thursday to Saturday at COEX in southern Seoul, organized by the Korean Hospital Association with the government's support.
It drew interest from experts seeking to improve their institutions’ operations.
For instance, MediBloc, a company providing blockchain-based electronic health record (EHR) solutions, has introduced a next-generation EHR product. The company upgraded its previous solution and began supplying the EHR service, Dr. palette 2.0, by improving the user convenience with new links to the EHR web, state agency’s database, and automatic updates adjusted to changes by the government.
Dr. Palette is a web-based cloud EHR that does not require excess efforts to construct a base server, download, or update for separate installations. Healthcare providers and patients can use mobile applications and computers to provide a flexible medical environment to quickly check and write medical records.
The new-generation EHR solution supports real-time search for health insurance and qualifications for reimbursement. It provides a service to check for inappropriate drugs in advance with the system linked for drug utilization review (DUR).
MediBloc officials emphasized that one of the new solution’s outstanding qualities comes from the neat interface provided to users in all operating systems, including iMac, Linux, and Windows.
"Dr. Palette is a web-based cloud EHR solution with high accessibility to mobile applications that do not require separate installation, and we have maximized utility based on various feedbacks from medical experts," MediBloc CEO Lee Eun-sol said.
Also, LG Electronics, a giant tech company that also develops digital healthcare products, presented medical monitors for clinical, surgical, and diagnostic purposes optimized for the healthcare industry.
The 27-inch Ultra HD 4K surgical monitor presented by LG Electronics meets sRGB, a standard red, blue, green, color space, and clearly distinguish red colors, which could confuse examiners from blood or affected areas.
"Most domestic medical institutions have used medical monitors developed by global biotech companies, but now the country is facing a new era to switch and upgrade the equipment," an LG Electronics official said. "Our products have the same performance and meet global standards with a lower price. However, we believe there is still some space for improvements as doctors often choose to remain with the existing global products as they might be used to the familiar interface or systems."
Another domestic company, ezCareTech, introduced successful cases of its cloud-based EMR Edge and Next solution after a year-long launch and the differentiated service of EMR for hospitals.
The company demonstrated the main functions of its Edge and Next solution to those operating medical institutes and others who plan to open new clinics.
ezCareTech will supply its EMR service to nine national hospitals and healthcare institutions. The company recently won the business for establishing the next-generation hospital information system projected by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
"The K-Hospital Fair was an opportunity to show our Edge and Next's superior technology and the efficiency of cloud-based EMR solutions. We believe the event was meaningful as EMR has received significantly increased attention," CEO Wee Won-ryang said.
GE Healthcare Korea, for its part, introduced its remote monitoring solution Mural and portable ultrasound Vscan Air and other magnetic resonance (MR) and computed tomography (CT) imaging solutions using intelligently efficient AI.
GE Healthcare's MR scan AIR Recon DL is software that reads faster and provides more explicit images using deep-learned image construction technology. The company designed it to upgrade an existing MR system or to be supported as an option.
The company's CT solution, Revolution CT Maxima, allows remote CT imaging between health providers and patients in response to the Covid-19. It can also apply AI-based technology to the existing CT equipment.
GE Healthcare has been preparing for improved service by collaborating with Microsoft and SK Telecom.
"We are leading the transformation of healthcare technology and digital solutions by collaborating with various related organizations for the common purpose to speed up the development of healthcare technology to form an ecosystem of digital healthcare solutions," said Jang Kwang-hee, director of the digital solution unit at GE Healthcare Korea.
Most other corporate participants prepared new technologies and products to show to health professionals during the fair. According to organizers and business officials, a fly in the ointment was the relatively reduced number of visitors because of the protracted Covid-19 pandemic.