Korean operator KT has signed a joint venture agreement with Yonsei University Medical Center (also known as Severance Hospital) to offer healthcare services "from cradle to grave."
The new company, H∞H Healthcare, plans to build a 'smart health ecosystem’ that would develop hospital information systems for small and medium-sized hospitals, as well as a regular health check system called U-Wellness. By 2016, the management hopes to generate cumulative sales of up to 1 trillion son ($881 million.)
Lee Chul, president of Yonsei University Medical Center, said demand for convergence between healthcare services and technology is increasing and H∞H Healthcare will take a leading role in the evolution of next-generation global healthcare services.
"Medical technology converged with ICT which enables a paradigm shift from disease treatment to the prevention and care of disease in advance, will help people to reduce social costs and improve the quality of their lives,” added Shin, Gyu-Ho, CEO of H∞H Healthcare.
KT said in a news release that the next generation hospital information system it envisions will offer upgraded medical services by combining NFC, cloud and big data analyses/processing, as well as existing solution functions including e-diagnosis and treatment records and medical image storage and transmission.
By adopting a cloud-based integrated platform, linkage between services or solution extension can be easily conducted. The primary and secondary medical institutions can also share various types of information that are possessed by large hospitals.
Meanwhile, management support service would consist of management-related work, including HR management and financing and purchasing that targets large scale networks or small and medium-sized private medical centers. The goal is to reduce the business management burden on hospitals and enhance the medical service quality.
KT said the new company is already eyeing the overseas market, with the initial plan of assisting developing countries in their own paths to medicine-IT convergence.