Royal Philips announced yesterday that it has embarked on a $300 million, 18-year partnership with a regional health care provider in Ontario, Canada, Mackenzie Health, to bring the idea of a “smart hospital” to life.

Philips will work to advance medical technology procurement and maintenance programs at the current Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital and the Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital, which will be completed in 2019.

“The new hospital will include systems and devices to ensure patients receive the best care,” Altaf Stationwala, president and CEO of Mackenzie Health, told HCB News. “Devices will be automated and will speak to each other, provide intelligence for informed decision making and recognize the presence of humans.”
In addition, the health care team will have immediate access to patient care information in any location and in any format depending on individual health care team access through the use of mobile devices, she added.

The partnership is based on the managed equipment services model in which Mackenzie Health will have access to advanced equipment from Philips and other manufacturers and services for a multi-year term under a single payment structure.

Mackenzie Health will have access to Philips’ expertise in areas including systems interoperability, diagnostic imaging equipment utilization, radiology practice management, patient-centric design and alarm management. Together, Philips and Mackenzie Health will find ways that patient informatics can be displayed as actionable data that fosters predictive, preventative and population health interventions.

The existing Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital has 350 acute, complex and rehabilitation beds and cares for over 500,000 residents in the Southwest York Region. The new Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital will also have 350 beds and will include a state-of-the-art emergency department, specialized ambulatory clinics, advanced surgical services and operating rooms, and more.

A 34-bed Innovation Unit at the Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital is currently being piloted. It’s a medical unit that has been transformed into a laboratory that will foster innovations resulting in the implementation of evidence-based practices and a positive patient experience.

Mackenzie Health also recently announced its ICAT Healthcare strategy, which will push its information, communications and automation technology systems to a leadership position within the health care industry within four years.

“Through its Innovation Unit, Mackenzie Health is leveraging experience with continuous quality improvement,” said Stationwala. “Successful implementation of technologies in the Innovation Unit can be modeled, spread, and adopted in other areas across Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital and into the future ‘smart’ Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital.”

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