Fujifilm’s new COO speaks on the importance of coordination—for both providers and vendors

It’s no secret that healthcare professionals are being asked to do more with less, to coordinate across an enterprise and deliver results greater than the sum of a provider’s parts.

The incoming chief operating officer for FUJIFILM Medical Systems U.S.A., Inc., recognizes this, which is why he thinks vendors should respond with these challenges in mind.

“Take a look at our portfolio,” says Johann Fernando, PhD, who took over the role of COO at Fujifilm in September of last year. “You have medical informatics, modality solutions, ultrasound and endoscopy—it’s a very strong portfolio that we can offer to our customers.”

More than simply touting the individual pieces of the portfolio, Fernando is most excited about the way products can work together for customers. This is especially important when working with large integrated delivery networks. “They require companies such as us to offer them a bundled solution so that they can use those solutions in various parts of the hospital.”

Fernando says a major theme for Fujifilm is celebrating the value of both imaging and informatics. Tapping into the minds of C-level executives is key, as these decision-makers are focused on value-based purchasing. A vendor can’t get too bogged down in the nuts and bolts of product specifications when communicating with these customers, rather, the messaging should reflect the big picture.

This is why Fujifilm is focused on five areas with all of its products: Process of care, efficiency, patient satisfaction, safety and outcomes.

“You can see this thought process with the Synapse platform,” says Fernando, referencing the portfolio of integrated IT solutions that includes PACS, RIS and VNA. “We think about this internally when we develop our value proposition. How does Synapse improve the process of care? How does it improve patient safety? How does it improve efficiency with the blazing speed that it has? And how does it improve outcomes?”

The speed of Synapse referenced by Fernando comes from the system’s open architecture and viewer independent capability, where all caching is done where data resides and only what’s required for display is pulled to the workstation. Customers doing beta testing have had high praise for the speed boost, according to Fernando.

On the imaging modality side, Fujifilm has recently been making a strong marketing push in support of its FDR Go portable x-ray system and latest generation D-EVO II DR panels. FUJIFILM Sonosite, Inc., the bedside and point-of-care ultrasound company, has also made news with a recent FDA 510(k) approval for the iViz portable ultrasound system.

But it is the intersection of imaging and informatics that remains the sweet spot for the company. Fernando explains that his company views the VNA as the backbone for gathering data across the hospital. As such, all other components of the enterprise must seamlessly flow data to the archive.

One example of this is with the iViz system. It is enabled for bi-directional EMR connectivity through the Synapse VNA, meaning iViz can accept patient demographics from the EMR, which saves time by eliminating the need for manual entry. iViz patient reports can then flow back into the EMR.

“What we’ve been trying to do with these products, taken together, is provide our customers the capability to integrate all these different components using the VNA,” says Fernando.

Fernando thinks customers will continue to benefit from working with a large company that can offer all-inclusive solutions. Fujifilm is a $20 billion, multi-national giant in the industry, with innovation centers working on developing new innovative—and highly integrated—products.

“That’s what allows us to partner with customers more effectively and then provide them with a pipeline of products as well as services going forward.”