eHealth Competency: An Essential Element in Patient Care and Improving Care Quality in Israel Case Study

Assuta Medical Centers is the largest private hospital system in Israel with eight facilities across the country, including four private hospitals, specialization in elective surgery, high technology diagnostics, and oncology treatment. The system includes a day surgery center, a stand-alone imaging and gastroenterology center, an Ambulatory Care Center with multiple outpatient clinics, and a new public not-for-profit hospital which opened its doors in June 2017. Assuta also operates three mobile services, mobile resonance imaging and two mobile mammography units. Assuta places a great deal of emphasis on quality of care and service and is Joint Commission International (JCI) accredited.

The main motivators at Assuta for process changes and associated skills and capabilities, including eHealth competencies, is the drive to improve the quality of care (as shared previously, Assuta has already achieved JCI accreditation). This drive requires ongoing improvement in all areas including increasingly sophisticated use of digital systems and the drive for integrated care. Both of these, but particularly the latter, require improved communication and sharing of information—not only within each hospital and between the hospitals in the network, but with outside health and social care organizations as well. While all people working in the Assuta system are skilled EMR users, without which they are unable to function, as well as other relevant operating systems used to improve quality and integrated care. These systems demand new workforce skills, including data analytics and health information exchange.

The following case study assesses eHealth competencies within Assuta.