HIMSS and Parkville Precinct Celebrate Hospitals with Individual Service Award and Maturity Model Validations

Parkville Precinct, in Melbourne, Australia, celebrated its four health services that utilize Electronic Medical Records, and attaining HIMSS’s maturity models validations. 

At the Dec. 19 ceremony, Parkville Precinct’s Royal Children's Hospital, Royal Women's Hospital, Royal Melbourne Hospital, and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre were recognized for Stage 6 and 7 validations on the HIMSS Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model and the Outpatient Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model. Stage 7 is the highest level of maturity model achievement. HIMSS’s healthcare models provide the standard to follow for measurable improvement, including infrastructure implementation, EMR, analytics, digital imaging and clinical supply chain technologies regardless of market supplier. 

The multistage models (Stage 0-7) provide standards that assist regulatory bodies and healthcare providers in making lasting improvements in efficiency, performance and care outcomes. 

“This is an internationally renowned benchmarking of digital health maturity, and in meeting these benchmarks, we have demonstrated how well our services have adopted to electronic medical records,” said Professor Christine Kilpatrick, chief executive of Royal Melbourne Hospital. The Royal Children's Hospital was revalidated at Stage 7 on O-EMRAM, following its first assessment in 2017. The Royal Women's Hospital, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre all earned Stage 6, their first assessments on a HIMSS maturity model. All four Parkville Precinct hospitals earned EMRAM Stage 6 validations. 

“Naturally, we were very pleased to achieve the Stage 6 and 7 validations we were seeking,” said Professor Mike South, chief medical information officer, Royal Children’s Hospital. “The HIMSS maturity assessment is a lot of work and was particularly challenging as we were doing this concurrently for four separate hospitals and two assessments for each.” 

With eight assessments in total, it was no mean feat that the Precinct successfully operationalized the Parkville EMR in order to prepare for the assessments – all whilst facing additional challenges during the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, he added. 

 “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the EMR was the biggest digital transformation in the history of each of our health services,” said Kilpatrick, who is also a neurologist. “But there is no such thing as perfect timing in healthcare, and going live during a COVID peak, though challenging, also proved rewarding as we were better able to manage and provide care to patients.” 

At the awards ceremony, representatives of the four health services spoke about what came next for Parkville EMR in 2023. 

Andrew Pierce of HIMSS supported the idea of working further with Parkville. “We are looking forward to further collaborations for the assessment of the Parkville group of Health Services,” said Pierce, HIMSS vice president and global analytics lead.  “We can work with Analytics Maturity Adoption Model and the updated EMRAM22, which now includes both the inpatient and outpatient EMR Adoption Model assessments. These assessments will provide further information and insights to drive digital transformation across the Precinct, and as an exemplar in the region.”