An initiative by the Malaysian private medical sector, represented by the Malaysian Medical Association and the Association of Private Hospitals in Malaysia has been officially launched. The objective of the initiative is to further the vision presented in the Eighth Malaysian Plan and Vision 2020 and to assist the government in providing a seamless integration between the public and private sectors, thus achieving "Health For All".

Participants in this initiative

1. MALAYSIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, (MMA) is a duly registered association having its principal address at 4^th Floor, MMA House, 124 Jalan Pahang, 53000 Kuala Lumpur; MMA is the national association of medical doctors that serves to represent medical doctors and promote and maintain the honour and interest of the profession of medicine.

2. ASSOCIATION OF PRIVATE HOSPITALS IN MALAYSIA, (APHM) is a registered association having its principal address at Suite 50, 4th Floor Pantai Medical Centre 8 Jalan Bukit Pantai 59100 Kuala Lumpur; APHM is the national association of private hospitals that serves to represent private hospitals and promote and maintain the honour and interest of private hospitals in Malaysia.

3. OPENMENU PLUS SDN BHD (OMP) (Company No. 522838-H) a company incorporated in Malaysia under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1965 and having its registered address at Suite 11.1A, Level 11, Menara Weld, 76, Jalan Raja Chulan, 50200 Kuala Lumpur; OMP is a joint venture company formed by a consortium of companies and partners who have expertise and experience in information technology and software solutions for the health industry.

4. MIMOS BERHAD, (MIMOS) (Company No. 336183-H) is a Malaysian incorporated company having its principal address at Technology Park Malaysia, 57000 Kuala Lumpur; MIMOS is a government-owned company carrying out research and development in information and communication technology specialising in information technology and microelectronics.

5. MICROSOFT (MALAYSIA) SDN BHD, (Microsoft) is a Malaysian incorporated company having its registered address at Level 15, Menara Amcorp, 18, Persiaran Barat, 46050 Petaling Jaya; Microsoft develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for a multitude of computing devices. Microsoft software includes operating systems, server applications, productivity applications, and software development tools. The Companys online efforts include the MSN network of Internet products and services and alliances with companies involved with broadband access and various forms for digital interactivity.

OMP will implement a secure infrastructure that will enable the private medical sector  hospitals, clinics and laboratories - to securely transact with their patients, clients and partners. It will also provide general resources for doctors, including Continuing Medical Education, directory of medical facilities and doctors, drug information.

Services to be provided by OMP

Over the next two years, the following services will be rolled out:

• Highly Secure Communications Infrastructure

This facility promotes the use of smart card technology in the health care provider and payer sectors (government, corporate and insurance) to provide legally binding, secure and auditable communications infrastructure thus giving users confidence and instilling trust.

• Online Directory for Doctors and Medical facilities and Services

This facility provides a means for doctors and hospitals to market themselves within agreed ethical guidelines in a regulated environment that is controllable and facilitates oversight.

• Introduce Continuous Medical Education (CME) for doctors

This facility will automate existing CME initiatives and deliver them in a convenient format with 24X7 access, thus attracting doctors to the web site and encouraging their use of the resource. This is of particular assistance to doctors practicing in remote areas.

• Support both rural and urban medical practices

Providing for yesterdays technologies and ensuring that no-one is left out. Provide infrastructure that will support both rural and city medical practices, where doctors may have access through PCs, hand held devices, credit card, phones.

• Doctors / Nurse / Administrative desktop

Offer a standard system that will permit a seamless integration between CME software, billing, appointments and third parties at both hospital and clinics, thus eliminating the need for double data entry.

• Corporate desktop

This facility will permit hospitals, specialists, clinics, insurers and other medical product providers to market their services to the private sector, and to the Human Resources manager in particular.

In future this will facilitate the collection of employer contributions to the National Health Finance Authority.

• Employee desktop

This facility will permit access by individuals and is in-line with the telemedicine principles contained in the Eighth Malaysian National Plan.

Update personal and family records, authorize emergency medical data for participating panels, access to personalised Lifetime Health Plan data (developed by Medical Online).

• Auto settlement, inter-bank and credit card

This facility will permit hospitals, specialists and clinics to bill their clients via credit card or other e-payment services using iVEST technology.

• Provide statistical health information

Through centralized collection of statistics, after private information has been removed from the records, a countrywide aggregated database will be built up over time providing important information both to government and non-government organizations.

This information is required for the Health Finance Authority to accurately set pricing based on the utilization of various services.

System Benefits

• Greater transparency and trust between participants
• Considerable cost savings and service benefits
• Narrowing the gap between urban and provincial medical services
• Promote Malaysias healthcare industry regionally

Health for all

Next Steps

Following the signing ceremony, the MMA and APHM will publicise the initiative amongst members. A three month pilot will then take place amongst selected participants in the medical provider, payer and corporate communities. Participants views will then be collected before full nationwide implementation commences in 2002.

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