Fuji Xerox Launches Software to Allow Integrated Management of Diverse Types of Medical Records
TOKYO, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. has today released Apeos PEMaster ProRecord Medical, software that centrally manages various types of medical records created across different medical workplaces.
Outline of Apeos PEMaster ProRecord Medical
This product serves as the platform software for the Integrated Medical Record Management Solution that Fuji Xerox has been rolling out since last year to realize Document Archiving and Communication System (DACS) (Note1) the document-based medical record management concept. The software converts paper-based and diverse electronic medical records into unified generic formats, then integrates and manages them while maintaining their originality. Previously, a document creation system had to be customized for each medical institution. Leveraging its past experiences to introduce such systems, Fuji Xerox has commercialized the common platform as package software, which allows customers to efficiently develop a system knowing the introduction cost. This integrated management system is expected to provide patients with assurance that their healthcare provider has an integral grasp on the present treatment status and past treatment history.
Current Situation in Medical Institutions
With the rapid advances in computerization, medical institutions must handle a diverse range of electronic records created by various systems introduced at different times. Meanwhile, medical records must be legally stored for a set period of time, but there are many paper-based documents that require signatures and stamps still remain, making their storage and management a chronic challenge. Given the situation, the medical institutions require a system that integrally stores and manages all medical records and makes them accessible for a long term, while also addressing the needs to improve the quality of medical care so that healthcare workers can easily gain an overview of patients' past medical history for quick/accurate diagnosis and treatment, or swiftly share information across departmental boundaries to deliver medical services efficiently.
Main Features of Apeos PEMaster ProRecord Medical
1. Electronic Storage and Viewing of Medical Records for a Long Term
This software converts medical records into generic document formats such as PDF and DocuWorks, and stores them in a way that meets the requirement - securing authenticity, readability and conservation - of the electronic storage guidelines by the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare(Note2). Therefore, stored records are independent of any specific applications' proprietary formats and shielded from future loss of readability due to system changes or version upgrades. Each record is given an electronic signature and time stamp to indentify who/when created, which offers secure storage and viewing over an extended period of time while maintaining integrity and originality of the document.
2. Compatibility with Various Systems to Reduce Record Management Workload
Since this software is compatible with diverse application systems and mission-critical systems used at hospitals, users can maintain existing infrastructures and workflows while building a system to centrally manage records that are currently managed separately. This reduces associated workload of healthcare workers for record management, thereby allowing them to focus on their main duties.
To provide comprehensive support for integrated medical records management, upon customers request, Fuji Xerox separately (Note3) offers a viewer that easily searches and views a patient's complete medical history recorded in this software in chronological order, as well as solutions to electronically save paper-based documents.
Note 1: Document Archiving and Communication System: The system aims to archive, manage and make permanently accessible all the records related with individual patient, regardless of the type of media or system used to create them, achieving complete coverage of all records - without any exceptions. The system is based on the concept advocated by the Department of Integrated Medicine, Medical Informatics at Osaka University Hospital.
Note 2: Guidelines on the safe management of medical information systems (Ver. 4.1)
Note 3: Requires individual contracts.
Availability: Currently Japan only
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