The partnership of Makati City and the consortium of Life Nurture Inc. (LNI) brings public healthcare to the digital age with the recent inauguration of Makati Life Medical Center’s 24/7 out-patient department (OPD).
Makati Life president and CEO Dr. Dennis Sta. Ana said the P9.7-billion private-public partnership is pioneering as it incentivizes the modernization of public healthcare in the country.
“When we say modern, we mean a very smart and digitally integrated healthcare that focuses on both patient experience and patient outcome,” he said.
Sta. Ana said Makati Life features fully integrated imaging systems, smart operating rooms, fully digital patient medical records, almost paperless transactions, and 100 percent ASHRAE 170 air filtration standards to minimize airborne infection including COVID-19.
ASHRAE, or the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, is the authority on developing technical standards for indoor air quality and related areas. ASHRAE 170 is the highest standard for healthcare.
Under the private-public partnership, LNI financed the hospital’s redesign, construction and retrofitting, and acquisition of all equipment and machines at no cost to Makati City. In turn, the city shared the land and unfinished building structure.
LNI founders include Sta. Ana, Engr. William Scheirman, Dr. Randy Talamayan, and entrepreneur Johnny Uy.
Sta. Ana said the joint venture would modernize public health care by using data to drive the design of its systems.
“A data-driven system makes for more efficient use of resources that in turn makes for affordable health care. Operationally, that means we’re able to increase capacity without increasing the number of rooms,” he said.
Patient-centric, Makati Life takes patients’ records and stores digitally, allowing for easy retrieval and non-redundant tests, Sta. Ana also said.
When patients enter the hospital, patients’ name, age, address, phone number, medical request, and HMO/insurance availability are stored in a secure electronic medical record (EMR).
As patients go through their checkup, the doctor’s diagnosis and prescriptions, tests and test results are added to the EMR.
“With this system, patients will not take tests that they already took, especially if these were made very recently and are still valid. Patients can even access their records and show them to another doctor in another facility,” he explained.
Conveniently located along Metropolitan Avenue in Barangay Bel-Air, Makati life can also be accessed via Malugay Street, near the corner of Ayala Avenue Extension.
“When fully operational, Makati Life will have 360 beds and 196 doctors’ clinics that can house 800-900 doctors in addition to the 24/7 urgent care facility,” Sta. Ana said.
As a private hospital, Makati Life caters to privately paying patients and will soon accommodate HMO members.
Makatizens with Yellow Cards, meanwhile, will be fully subsidized by the city government including medicines.
The hospital’s Medical Arts Section will house specialists from different fields such as anesthesiology, dentistry, dermatology, internal medicine, cardiology, emergency medicine, endocrinology, family medicine, gastroenterology, infectious disease, nephrology and many others.
Sta. Ana said patients are central to the hospital’s design and the systems that run the facility.
“Our goal is to make the patient experience pleasing and gratifying. We want our patients to leave the facility feeling a sense of well-being, of getting healthier, of being cared for,” he says.
But its slogan “Better care, better here” is not limited to patients. Sta. Ana said that aside from becoming the preferred place to receive healthcare, Makati Life aims to make it the happiest workplace for employees and the best place to practice medicine.