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A digital transformation roadmap for BB Hospital that leverages AI, RFID, and telemetry to boost efficiency, reduce staff burnout, and enhance patient safety.
Context
Note: This is a simulated academic project created as a conceptual case study, not an actual BB Hospital initiative.
Healthcare in Singapore is undergoing an Industry Transformation Programme (ITP) to become future-ready amidst an ageing population, rising chronic diseases, and manpower constraints.
BB Hospital (BBH), a private hospital with 870 beds and 400+ specialists, faced stagnation in profits and productivity due to workforce strain, outdated IT infrastructure, and growing competition from more technologically advanced hospitals.
Problem
BBH was challenged by four critical business issues:
High staff turnover from burnout due to heavy workloads.
Patient safety risks with limited real-time monitoring of patient movement and vital signs.
Inefficient logistics in linen tracking and medical supply management.
Food wastage due to manual meal ordering and poor demand prediction.
On top of this, IT issues surfaced: poor infrastructure, misalignment between IT and business strategy, and a slow, under-prioritized IT department.
Goals
To transform BBH into a future-ready, digitally enabled hospital by:
Aligning IT and business strategy with leadership support.
Enhancing patient safety through real-time monitoring.
Reducing staff workload and turnover.
Analysed competitor hospitals adopting telemetry systems, RFID, AI-driven meal systems, and cloud-based infrastructure.
Benchmarked best practices in healthcare digitalisation (e.g., Changi General Hospital’s ecoDigester, IHIS H-Cloud) to reduce inefficiencies and improve patient experience.
Defined key pain points: staff overload, patient risks, wasted resources, and weak IT governance.
Aligned solutions to BBH’s business goals: raising productivity, improving patient-centric care, and cutting costs.
Secured management buy-in through workshops while addressing resistance from finance and IT departments by showcasing tangible ROI and intangible staff morale improvements
Proposed a Digital Transformation Roadmap comprising:
Upgraded IT Infrastructure – migration to H-Cloud and replacing legacy EHR with integrated EMR.
E-meal Ordering System – AI-based meal prediction, robotic food delivery, and ecoDigester waste reduction.
RFID Linen Management – automated real-time tracking to reduce manual stocktaking.
Inventory Management System (DeRoyal) – RFID-enabled supply tracking with predictive ordering.
Patient Telemetry System – wearable devices for ECG and movement monitoring with real-time alerts.
New CIO Role – to ensure IT is strategically aligned to business growth
Pilot rollouts planned for E-meal ordering and RFID systems, with success metrics including:
Reduction of food waste by up to 98%.
Weekly savings of 200+ man-hours from linen management.
Improved patient safety by reducing cases of lost or unattended patients.
Change management plan implemented via leadership workshops, IT upskilling, and phased adoption.
Defined a comprehensive digital transformation roadmap for BBH.
Introduced new governance with portfolio management and a CIO role.
Reframed IT as a strategic driver of business outcomes, not just an operational necessity.
Positioned BBH to achieve higher efficiency, staff satisfaction, and patient-centric care
Strategic IT leadership is critical in healthcare transformation.
Change management is as important as technology – overcoming resistance requires a clear ROI demonstration.
Future-ready hospitals require IT-business alignment, not just infrastructure upgrades.
