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Altera Digital Health signs new agreement with SingHealth to enhance healthcare delivery through technology

  • Written by The Southern Cross

The partnership is an extension of an agreement signed with Allscripts in 2017, and will continue through to 2029 and provide SingHealth with ongoing support of Altera Digital Health's electronic medical record (EMR) platform. SingHealth, supported by the national HealthTech agency Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS), has used the SunriseTM Clinical Manager System since 1998, and the comprehensive EMR platform suite will continue to elevate SingHealth's multi-disciplinary and integrated care approach for more than 20,000 healthcare professionals in its network of acute hospitals, national specialty centres, community hospitals and polyclinics, which serves more than half of Singapore's population.

"We are very excited to continue our partnership with SingHealth, which marks the first step of our Altera journey in Singapore and the region," said Marcus Perez, President of Altera Digital Health. "Altera Digital Health is committed to driving a new era of healthcare powered by the Platform of Health; one with greater interoperability and lessened information burden that drives value-based care for improved health outcomes."

Anna Grammare, General Manager of Altera Digital Health Singapore, added, "Our partnership with SingHealth to deliver our SunriseTM suite is a strong representation of how we can support healthcare ecosystems with the foundation for the Platform of Health. Through our platform approach, we hope to enhance the way healthcare is delivered while alleviating healthcare workers' workloads and inspiring healthier communities."

The SunriseTM solution suite is a comprehensive, open platform that connects all aspects of care across multiple healthcare disciplines. Equipped with application programming interfaces (APIs), the highly configurable platform will continue to be implemented by IHiS to adapt to SingHealth's clinical workflows and integrate with its suite of systems for seamless interoperability. The use of SunriseTM will also serve as an interface which SingHealth and IHiS can use to build their own healthcare IT solutions on, enabling greater expandability, flexibility and scalability of its clinician-specific workflows that can lead to more seamless patient care.

Professor Ivy Ng, Group Chief Executive Officer, SingHealth, said, "As healthcare needs of Singaporeans continue to evolve, SingHealth is committed to leveraging technology and digital solutions as key enablers to improve care delivery and clinical outcomes, optimise resources and enhance the patient experience. We are heartened to partner with Altera Digital Health, with support from the Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS), to strengthen our healthcare technological capabilities. To this end, we hope to galvanise technological advances and develop more innovative solutions to address healthcare challenges now and for the future."

Human-centred design creating enhanced interoperability for the healthcare sector

The SunriseTM platform will support SingHealth in strengthening its care management processes and advancing its continued delivery of reliable, quality healthcare to Singaporeans. As part of the partnership, SingHealth will also gain dedicated access to Altera Digital Health's specialised technical consulting team, which will provide guidance on enabling additional functionalities and efficiencies in the future that are in line with the healthcare group's strategic direction.

The system's scalable technology to digitise the complex processes of clinical care on the EMR platform allows clinicians at SingHealth to manage patients' health records more effectively and focus on delivering more value-based care for their patients. Through the platform's sophisticated features that act as an information hub, clinicians can also holistically review patients' health records and care plans with a view to improve population health outcomes. Additionally, SunriseTM is integrated with internationally-accepted healthcare terminology that clinicians can utilise to identify patterns of care and to gain additional insights for optimised healthcare delivery.

Innovations that are developed for and empowers clinicians

Altera Digital Health's partnership with SingHealth demonstrates the company's commitment and investment in healthcare in the Asia region, following its recent acquisition into the N. Harris Computer Corporation family and rebranding. It also represents a significant milestone in the healthcare IT company's path towards delivering the Platform of Health, as it will also leverage any learnings and best practices to achieve further scalability in its tech infrastructure for future digital acceleration of healthcare institutions.

Amidst the changing needs in the healthcare industry, Altera Digital Health is focused on delivering innovation across the entire care continuum and strengthening optimization for hospital systems, creating long-term interoperability and revolutionising how healthcare can be delivered.

Hashtag: #AlteraDigitalHealth

About Altera Digital Health

A global healthcare IT innovator, Altera Digital Health develops and elevates technology to connect and inspire healthier communities. Our platform approach to our solutions is changing the way healthcare is delivered. By keeping the human user at the center of our design methodology, we are supporting caregivers and helping patients meet and exceed their wellness goals. Together, with our clients, we're driving a new era of healthcare. To learn more, visit www.alterahealth.com

About Singapore Health Services (SingHealth)

SingHealth, Singapore's largest public healthcare cluster, is committed to providing affordable, accessible and quality healthcare to patients. With a network of acute hospitals, national specialty centres, polyclinics and community hospitals offering over 40 clinical specialties, it delivers comprehensive, multi-disciplinary and integrated care. Beyond hospital walls, SingHealth partners community care providers to enable the population to keep well, get well and live well. As part of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre, SingHealth also focuses on advancing education and research to continuously improve care outcomes for patients. For more information, please visit:

Members of the SingHealth group

Hospitals (Tertiary Specialty Care):
Singapore General Hospital, Changi General Hospital, Sengkang General Hospital and KK Women's and Children's Hospital

National Specialty Centres (Tertiary Specialty Care):
National Cancer Centre Singapore, National Dental Centre Singapore, National Heart Centre Singapore, National Neuroscience Institute, and Singapore National Eye Centre

SingHealth Polyclinics (Primary Care):
Bedok, Bukit Merah, Marine Parade, Outram, Pasir Ris, Punggol, Sengkang, Tampines, Eunos, Tampines North (expected completion: 2023) and Kaki Bukit (expected completion: 2025)

SingHealth Community Hospitals (Intermediate and Long-term Care):
Bright Vision Hospital, Sengkang Community Hospital, and Outram Community Hospital

About Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS)

IHiS is a multi-award-winning healthcare IT leader that digitises, connects, and analyses Singapore's health ecosystem. Its ultimate aim is to improve the Singapore population's health and health administration by integrating intelligent, highly resilient and cost effective technologies with process and people.

IHiS played a key role in helping all major public healthcare institutions become amongst the first in Asia Pacific to achieve HIMSS EMRAM Stage 6 and 7, international benchmarks for advanced technology used in patient care.

Transforming healthcare through smart technology, IHiS has garnered more than 150 awards for its innovations. It supports more than 50,000 healthcare users in Singapore's health ecosystem through the application of clinical informatics, computer science, data science, mechatronics, standards based IT that enables information exchange and cross boundary workflows, analysis, statistical and machine learning techniques to discover insights.

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