Brandix i3 signs deal with Mayo Clinic to launch Mortality Review System

Tuesday, 30 September 2014 01:11 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Brandix i3 in collaboration with Mayo Clinic yesterday officially announced the commercialisation of the Mortality Review System – a web based computer application that aggregates hospital process of care and system failures identified during a review process and analyses the causes of death among hospital patients. Inpatient mortality is receiving increasing scrutiny. A US Senate hearing in July 2014, noted that the sheer number of deaths in US hospitals is often overlooked. Per the Senate hearing, hospitalisations complicated by medical errors result in more than 400,000 deaths per year and is the number 3 killer in the US – third only to cancer and heart disease. Improving health care system performance is a mandate in the US today supported by Institute of Medicine reports and aspects of the Affordable Health Care act through initiatives such as Value Based Purchasing. The article ‘Learning from Every Death’ published in the Journal of Patient Safety earlier this year, defined a Mortality Review System that healthcare institutions could use to improve their care delivery and minimise unnecessary deaths. This Mortality Review System (MRS) is a mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) approach to review the care provided preceding patients’ hospital deaths. The MRS combines both process improvement methodologies and software. The software component manages the workflow associated with interdisciplinary review of care delivered preceding death. MRS reconciles reviewers’ differing findings, compiles root process of care failures as key quantitative indicators and trends findings to identify opportunities for prevention of future unwarranted deaths. According to the Journal of Patient Safety publication, by using this tool, Mayo Clinic was able to identify some process and system failures that contribute to hospital mortality.

Brandix deploys VMware Technologies to accelerate cloud journey

Sri Lankan apparel giant anticipates annual savings on CapEx and OpEx, while substantially reducing its time to deployment for IT solutions

VMware, Inc., the global leader in virtualisation and cloud infrastructure, yesterday announced that Brandix Lanka has chosen VMware’s virtualisation and cloud infrastructure technology to further its cloud strategy. Brandix anticipates this deployment to help the company reduce capital and operational costs annually while reducing the time to deployment for IT related services from weeks to minutes, and accelerate the group’s journey to the cloud. Brandix is a leading apparel solutions provider and Sri Lanka’s single largest apparel exporter to global brands. It also becomes the first company to sign an Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) with VMware in Sri Lanka. Brandix has chosen to implement additional licenses of VMware vSphere for growing its virtualisation environment, and VMware vCenterTMSite Recovery Manager for disaster recovery. VMware partner, KBSL Information Technologies Ltd (KBSL), a leading Enterprise Systems Integrator in Sri Lanka, played a pivotal role in this project. “As a leading apparel exporter in the region, Brandix is very clear in its vision, and to achieve that we have identified IT as a key enabler of the business. We strive to optimise our processes, infrastructure and services to enable our IT services and operations to be on par with the world’s best,” said Brandix Head of Group Information and Communication Technology Manoj Pilimatalawwe. Brandix first partnered with VMware to virtualise its infrastructure over five years ago and they have seen good results over this time period. Brandix saw a sharp reduction in the total cost of delivering IT services in the organisation. It has also found that the services are now much more reliable with the high availability options offered by virtualisation. The time taken to deploy infrastructure has also been reduced, and the administration processes are now much simplified. “We’re confident that VMware will continue to be an enabler of growth for our business,” Pilimatalawwe added. Organisations in Sri Lanka are aggressively looking at transforming their business to compete globally, and they are looking at adopting the latest cloud computing technologies to enable them to do so,” said KBSL Chief Operating Officer Silmy Ahamed. “We’re proud to partner with VMware to facilitate and be a part of this exciting phase in the region,” he added. “The globally competitive apparel industry in Sri Lanka requires organisations like Brandix to be agile and able to quickly respond to changing market dynamics globally, while saving costs and meeting business objectives,” said VMware India Director of Sales Sangeeta Giri. “We are pleased to grow our engagement with Brandix as they continue to drive their business priorities through IT transformation into the cloud and delivering IT-as-a-service.” VMware’s technologies have empowered large, mid-sized and small enterprises in Sri Lanka to realise the benefits of increased agility, performance and scalability of their IT environments. VMware is the leader in virtualisation and cloud infrastructure solutions that enable businesses to thrive in the Cloud Era. Customers rely on VMware to help them transform the way they build, deliver and consume Information Technology resources in a manner that is evolutionary and based on their specific needs. With 2013 revenues of $ 5.21 billion, VMware has more than 500,000 customers and 75,000 partners. The Brandix Group employs more than 47,000 people at manufacturing facilities in Sri Lanka, a 1,000-acre industrial park in India and a large operation in Bangladesh. A preferred supplier to many global apparel labels, Brandix is credited with many firsts, among them, the first apparel manufacturer in the world to build a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum rated Green factory certified by the US Green Building Council (USGBC); the first apparel manufacturer in the world to be ISO 50001 certified; and the builder of the first Supply Chain City in South Asia – the 1,000-acre Brandix India Apparel City (BIAC).

In the article Mayo Clinic explained how they learned from their findings from more than 7,500 consecutive deaths, implemented hospital policies and procedures to mitigate these failures and decreased their mortality rate. Brandix i3 has licensed the Mortality Review System from Mayo Clinic, which has been using the software component successfully since 2007 to document and learn from their 100% mortality review. Commenting on the commercialisation of the Mortality Review System, Brandix i3 Chief Executive Officer Arjuna Sirinanda said, “We have worked in collaboration with Mayo Clinic to offer MRS – a web based tool that has been successfully internalised at Mayo Clinic with proven results. MRS is an effective way for healthcare providers to significantly reduce mortality rates and provide better patient care services.” “Brandix i3 will make the product available to other healthcare institutions,” said the Associate Vice President – Healthcare at Brandix i3, Aaron Epps. Further he added, “These are exciting times for the healthcare industry in the US and as a company, we will continue to bring healthcare informatics solutions to providers in order to facilitate meaningful change in the industry.” Mayo Clinic has a financial interest in this technology. Revenue Mayo receives is used to support its not-for-profit mission in patient care, education and research. Recognising 150 years of serving humanity in 2014, Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. At Mayo Clinic, a team of specialists is assembled to take the time to listen, understand and care for patients’ health issues and concerns. These teams draw from more than 3,700 physicians and scientists and 50,000 allied staff that work at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, Florida and Arizona. Mayo Clinic reinvests everything we earn into improving medical practice, research and education. A fully-owned subsidiary of Brandix, the ISO 9001:2008 certified Brandix i3 was launched in April 2012 to provide services in ERP Consulting, Enterprise Software Development and Business Improvement Consulting. Brandix i3 has customers in the United States, Russia, Australia, South Asia and South East Asia, and currently has offices in Sri Lanka, USA and Australia. The company has a team of over 200 extensively qualified, multi-skilled professionals, with global experience across diverse industries including healthcare, fashion, manufacturing and food and beverage.