In South Africa, the healthcare sector stands at a critical crossroads; we need to leverage today’s technologies to revolutionise patient care. Yet challenges abound, from policy issues and environmental factors to workforce limitations and a general need for more awareness around data integrity. These hurdles contribute to a fragmented healthcare data system and complicate creating a unified view of patient data.

South Africa must adopt the future of healthcare by implementing electronic medical records (EMRs) to improve clinical outcomes, streamline administrative processes and significantly mitigate legal risks.

Understanding the role of electronic records

An EMR, sometimes called an electronic patient record (EPR), consolidates the information about a patient, their health and care needs, and the plans to address them. More specifically, the EMR is where a clinician can see the digital representation of a patient’s medical chart, offering a detailed medical history overview, including diagnoses, treatments, immunisations, allergies and test results.

EMRs support effective decision-making and care coordination and are the cornerstone for predicting patient needs and facilitating patient consent. This digital record provides instant, secure access to integrated patient data, enhancing the quality of care and system efficiency by eliminating data redundancies and errors.

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A core benefit of using patient data in this way is that it can help address the costs associated with duplicate medical testing, such as blood tests. Cutting unnecessary repeat tests by just 10% accounts for considerable savings, which can help pay off the cost of a system in no time.

An EMR is also vital in an era of significant legal accountability, especially regarding accurate data for patient care and legal recourse. For funders or South African medical aids, we could challenge their current practice of passing costs onto premiums using electronic systems to provide visibility and control over costs.

The requirements for us to adopt EMR

Adopting modern systems and data acquisition models in healthcare is crucial; otherwise, we’re metaphorically trying to fight the war of improving healthcare delivery with sticks and stones. A prime South African example of modern efficiency is the National Health Laboratory Service’s (NHLS’s) approach to HIV reporting, which has established a standardised, nationwide platform that processes every blood test nationally.

Further, in the context of HIV treatment, the long-term use of ARV medications can lead to side effects such as skin and hearing problems. Effective data collection can give clinicians insight into how to manage these better. Occasionally, efforts are made to collect data via physical visits to clinics and discussions with academic institutions and NGOs like Right to Care, funded by grants from the Bill Clinton Foundation. Unfortunately, it’s still manual.

EMRs, a cornerstone of modern medicine

To fully adopt EMR, the first step is to ensure that captured patient data extends beyond basic demographics to include comprehensive clinical data, recorded as closely to the point of care as possible, rather than retroactively from paper documents. There’s notable progress in the private sector with substantial investments in EMR systems by some of the larger hospital groups, contrasting sharply with the public sector’s slower adoption rate, hindered by systemic challenges and reliance on internally developed solutions.

EMRs are a step towards broader digital transformation in healthcare, but we must rely on public-private partnerships using digital tools and platforms for this transformation to take hold. These partnerships will simplify processes, improve payment methods based on socioeconomic data, and enhance healthcare delivery, much like South Africa’s pioneering CareConnect e-health exchange.

The author, InterSystems South Africa’s Henry Adams

However, clear government policies and definitions around EMRs in the public health sector are needed. Suppose an EHR is to succeed in making measurable differences in the quality of citizens’ lives and cutting the costs of care. In that case, we must consider leveraging South Africa’s district-based healthcare structure and develop district-specific EMR solutions connected to a centralised server.

In South Africa, there can be a tendency to reinvent the wheel by pursuing novel (open-source) creations despite the existence of globally pervasive solutions. This is fine, but to be successful in the long term, healthcare systems must be made up of robust, proven systems that integrate with existing organisational structures and provincial and district-level data and prioritise the deployment of digital solutions. Whatever the route forward, interoperability between different systems will remain crucial, and software procurement needs to align with global best practices to avoid risks like those experienced by Eskom.

Revolutionising healthcare in South Africa

Adopting EMRs represents a critical pivot towards an integrated, data-driven healthcare system. Success hinges on collaboration across the healthcare ecosystem, engaging all stakeholders from management to frontline healthcare workers, including trade unions and charities, and aligning with South Africa’s unique organisational and legal frameworks. By prioritising the long-term collection and integration of clinical and administrative patient data through digital innovation, we can steer South Africa towards a future where healthcare is more efficient, cost-effective, and patient-centred.

About InterSystems
InterSystems, a creative data technology provider, delivers a unified foundation for next-generation applications for customers in more than 80 countries. Our approach revolves around a cloud-first data platform that integrates high-performance database management, smart data services, and analytics capabilities. For 46 years, InterSystems has delivered the healthcare data integration engine for the world’s most proven electronic medical record used by health systems and governments. Our mission is to ensure that people have reliable, real-time access to data for drawing insights and perceiving data in imaginative ways. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, InterSystems has a global presence, with 39 offices in 28 countries worldwide. Contact InterSystems at www.intersystems.com/za or follow them on LinkedIn.