TRIART Inc. (Headquarters: Iizuka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, CEO: Kentaro Imazu) has announced the “Non-Contact Medical Information Collaboration Solution” based on the technology of its telemedicine system XMIX *1, and then has started experimental operation in collaboration with Kumamoto University Hospital. This enables the realization of a more agile and secure information collaboration environment that connects inside and outside the hospital in the medical field, which is subject to various restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the beginning of 2020, the medical field, which has been continuously confronting the fierceness of COVID-19, has always been forced to respond fluidly to various sudden situations during this period. They are involved in daily medical treatment while accepting changes in the flow of people and goods that we have never experienced before, from changes in staff composition, activity lines, bed setup and relocation, to the refraining of outpatient visits. In such circumstances, it can be said that continuing to provide medical services without accidents requires a new approach to information collaboration that is not simply an extension of conventional methods.
This system provides an online consultation and in-hospital smart internal line environment that addresses these challenges. A feature of this system is that it enables “information containment” where there is no risk of information leakage to outside the hospital or outside parties, without the need for special infrastructure or dedicated applications. This environment meets the conditions for eliminating “impersonation,” “eavesdropping and tampering,” and “intrusion and obstruction” as defined by the medical information guidelines *2, and is realized through the following configuration.
- Small IoT devices are installed within the hospital, and everything from user management by administrators to communication among hospital staff (smart internal lines via video calls) is completed within the hospital without going through the internet (as shown in part ① of the diagram).
- In online consultations with patients outside the hospital, an inquiry to an external server occurs before the call starts, but after the connection is established, it switches to direct communication between devices, so the content of the call does not go through servers or other computers (as shown in part ② of the diagram).
- Communication can be initiated with a general web browser both inside and outside the hospital, allowing for immediate participation in communication without depending on the type of device, such as PCs or mobiles, the operating system, and without any special preparations.
The appearance of online medical consultations with patients outside the hospital.
The implementation of this system demonstrates mobility in sharing information with spaces where contact is restricted, such as infectious disease wards, and in providing medical treatment to remote patients.Vaccines will become more widespread in the future, although COVID-19 is expected to subside in the near future, the need for non-contact communication revealed through a series of infectious disease measures will not diminish, and its further generalization will be required. Taking into account such circumstances, this system plans to expand the range of information that can be shared while maintaining and enhancing “information containment,” including by integrating the secure camera technology *3 owned by TRIART in the future. Furthermore, it is considered effective to utilize the system, which has accumulated a track record in the medical field, to solve challenges in sites handle a lot of confidential information in a similar manner such as manufacturing and local governments.
＊1 The remote medical system XMIX：A remote medical system that has contributed to Eliminate disparities in emergency medical diagnosis by enabling real-time secure information sharing. It has been achieving results in Kumamoto Prefecture since 2010.
＊2 Medical Information Guidelines：This system complies with section 6.11 “Safe Management of Exchanging Medical Information Including Personal Information with External Parties” in the “Guidelines for the Safe Management of Medical Information Systems, 5.1th Edition, January 2021, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.”
＊3 Secure Camera Technology：A secure camera solution jointly announced by TRIART and TOYOTA MOTOR KYUSHU, INC. in 2017. Eliminates the risk of leakage of video and still image information through secret sharing and non-Internet communication. It is utilized in various fields, mainly in manufacturing, under the name “XCOA-CAM”.
