Philips Korea and CKU Intl St. Mary’s Hospital sign a MOU for a patient-centered smart hospital

Seoul, Republic of Korea – Philips Korea, a leader in health technology (Country Leader Nak-hoon Choi, www.philips.co.kr), announced on May 9th that it signed a memorandum of understanding for “the development of patient-centered smart hospital” with Catholic Kwandong University International St. Mary's Hospital (President & CEO Fr. Dong-Hyun Go) to develop patient-centered smart hospital

With rising healthcare demand amid the shortage of healthcare professionals globally, the digital transformation of the healthcare industry, including professional medical services, is a necessity to ensure patients continue to receive timely, high-quality care. According to the Future Health Index (FHI) 2024 report by Philips, healthcare leaders are focusing on improving operational efficiencies through workflow prioritization, data integration, and AI-enabled innovation to improve patient care.

Philips Korea and International St. Mary’s Hospital have set unified objectives to create a patient-centered digital healthcare environment and drive the digital transformation of the hospital system. They are initiating full-scale cooperation to implement objectives such as establishing the strategic direction for a smart hospital, jointly developing a user-centered technology roadmap based on design thinking, and co-developing solutions and designs for the central clinical center.

Philips plans to establish a digital transformation journey for International St. Mary’s Hospital by applying Digital Health Maturity Assessment (DHMA), a tool developed by Philips through in-depth research. The DHMA is a tool designed to quantitatively evaluate the digital transformation journey of hospitals, which includes creating a better understanding of their current digital maturity level and presenting targeted technology strategies and a clear roadmap for implementing a smart hospital over the next three years.

Both organizations also plan to hold a co-create workshop based on design thinking to broadly collect diverse needs of patients and medical staff and derive customized strategies and solutions reflecting their needs. In addition to this, they will jointly participate in space design and selection of an optimal solution for the implementation of a central clinical center to optimize treatment workflows, prioritize patient safety, and further establish a foundation for international medical cooperation.

The ceremony for signing the MOU was held on May 9th at the Policy Conference Room in International St. Mary’s Hospital, attended by Jasper Westerink, Senior Vice President and Representative Director of Philips Japan and Acting Managing Director of Philips APAC; Nak-hoon Choi, Philips Korea Country Leader; Kevin Kim, Philips APAC Head of Solutions; Hyun-ig Ryu, Philips Korea Health Systems Sales Leader; Fr. Dong-hyun Ko, President and CEO of Catholic Kwandong University Medical Center, International St. Mary’s Hospital; Fr. Jong-hoon Park, Vice President of Administration; Prof. Dr. Hye-yun Kim, Head of the International Healthcare Center and Chief of the Department of Neurology; and others.