privatization of the Canadian healthcare system in general. Private hospitals are being planned all over the country, and this represents a key market opportunity for VisualMED to satisfy the Information Technology needs of this new generation of hospitals.

Quebec Health Minister Dr. Philippe Couillard was quoted in Canada’s leading French daily La Presse saying : “If this provides more accessibility [to healthcare services], we are in agreement. We are in agreement with everything that increases accessibility.

The partners involved in the Metropolitan Medical Center Project are undertaking more than just a local Montreal-area hospital. Talin Inc., a Montreal based hospital management company, is heading a consortium that includes Pageau Morel, a leading firm in the field of hospital engineering, a real estate developer and the faculty of medicine. Talin president Ms. Linda Jurick believes that a complete digital platform that can track patients in real time is the most critical component for a hospital that needs to deliver quality while protecting profit margins.

“We were very heavily solicited,” says Ms. Jurick, “But in the end we chose VisualMED because it was the only system on the market in this price range and the only one that came with digital clinical notes used by physicians in real time.” Ms. Jurick adds that the Montreal site will pave the way for dozens of new hospitals across the country, some of which could model their facilities after the MMC blueprint. The MMC package could also be exportable across national boundaries, to any forward-thinking healthcare authority seeking to modernize and expand on the nature and the quality of the healthcare services they provide.

“The return of the private sector in Canadian healthcare offers serious opportunities for us in Canada,” says VisualMED Chairman Gerard Dab. “It can be expected that the new hospitals that are planned will use the kind of cutting-edge digital technology that we offer.” The Metropolitan Medical Center, with six operating rooms, will handle more surgeries in a year than most major (and larger) hospitals in Montreal currently do.

The MMC will be 100% digital and paperless, with VisualMED providing and implementing the core hospital information system, a fully functional digital clinical information system with complete decision support, including interfaced digital surgery equipment such as laparoscopy, pharmacy management system, drug-dispensing technology, and digital diagnostic machines.

New processes mean greater standardization of care protocols to reduce variation in treatment and consequently increase emphasis on the evolution of seamless services, ambulatory treatments, prevention, self treatment, primary care and telemedicine.

VisualMED will be an integral link, as MMC emphasizes a total evolution toward seamless services, ambulatory treatment, prevention, self-treatment, primary care and tele-medicine. All patient information will be available at all times on digital support, both