Y3 develops Asia’s first open source hospital bed management solution
ConvergenceAsia staff
12/10/2009

Y3 Technologies, a Singapore-based software development company, has developed Asia’s first open source hospital bed management system. The solution, which is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and JBoss Enterprise Middleware, is the result of a collaborative initiative for open source software development initiated by Red Hat under the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore’s (IDA’s) Infocomm Local Industry Upgrading (iLIUP) programme.

“The hospital provided the healthcare domain knowledge while Y3 and Red Hat provided the technology expertise. Together, we created a flexible, efficient solution that breaks new ground in the healthcare industry,” said James Loo, Chief Operating Officer of Y3 Technologies.

The Bed Efficiency, Administration and Management (BEAM) system which has been deployed in Mount Alvernia Hospital, uses wireless and mobile technologies to track patient admissions and bed occupancy status. The system provides real-time information on patient admissions, housekeeping status and bed allocations for the front office, admissions department and nursing wards. The system also proactively notifies the housekeeping department of patients who will be discharged throughout the day.

With the BEAM system, Mount Alvernia Hospital has cut bed turnaround time to less than 30 minutes, and increased the efficiency of this critical function by 30 per cent. Bed capacity, bed demand forecasting and resource planning information are made available via an easy-to-use dashboard. From the dashboard, Mount Alvernia's management team can monitor key performance indicators, such as hospital bed occupancy rates, average length of hospital stay, bed demand projections, and time spent on housekeeping duties.

Mount Alvernia Hospital selected the BEAM solution because it is based on affordable open source technologies, and it integrated easily with the hospital’s existing IT infrastructure and resources and ensured vendor independence.

“Implementing an open source solution is low risk as open source is now well-supported by major IT vendors. Open source technology today is stable and mature, and also very cost-effective,” said Fong Yong Choi, MIS Manager of Mount Alvernia Hospital.

In addition, the solution has a rich interface architecture and uses the JBoss Enterprise Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) platform which allows for the design of an intuitive user interface that utilises Web 2.0 technologies, which gives users quick access to the information that they need to perform their jobs more efficiently. The SOA platform enables reusable code, faster application development, and an IT infrastructure that can react quickly to business changes.

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