Samsung Medical Center (SMC) and its partner institutions have become the first healthcare network globally to achieve Stage 6 certification under the HIMSS Continuity of Care Maturity Model (CCMM) . This historic milestone establishes a new international benchmark for integrated, patient-centered digital healthcare delivery across multiple medical institutions.
Understanding HIMSS CCMM Stage 6 Certification
The HIMSS Continuity of Care Maturity Model represents an eight-stage framework that evaluates how effectively multiple healthcare providers within a community collaborate to deliver seamless, integrated patient care. The model assesses how effectively multiple providers within a community collaborate as a team to deliver integrated, patient-centered continuity of care . Stage 6 certification demonstrates the highest level of operational excellence in coordinated care delivery, requiring sophisticated digital infrastructure and standardized processes across all participating institutions.
The SMC Best Co-Caring Partners network comprises seven healthcare institutions, including community hospital Incheon Medical Center (IMC) and Samsung Seoul U Surgery Clinic, a specialist clinic, led by the tertiary hospital, Samsung Medical Center (SMC) . Additional validated facilities include Seoul Samsung Internal Medicine Clinic and Chamden Internal Medicine Clinic, creating a comprehensive care ecosystem.
Digital Infrastructure Driving Success
The achievement stems from robust technological integration across multiple platforms. The Samsung Partners Portal serves as the central coordination hub, managing referrals and inter-institutional collaboration. The network standardised referral, return, and follow-up processes, with the Samsung Partners Portal, Korea’s Health Information Exchange System, and the country’s Health Insurance Review and Assessment (HIRA) Service as the core framework
PRISM: Comprehensive Patient Management
HIMSS recognised the strength of the bidirectional care delivery system and highlighted the advanced implementation of PRISM, which unifies clinical data across pre-visit, intra-visit, and post-visit phases This comprehensive patient reporting system ensures medical professionals access complete patient journeys, eliminating information gaps that traditionally fragment care delivery.
Wearable Technology Integration
The network demonstrates cutting-edge innovation through seamless wearable device integration. The ability to integrate continuous glucose monitors, smartwatches, and other wearable data directly into the EMR, enabling real-time insight into patients’ daily health represents a significant advancement in remote patient monitoring. Medical staff can now track patient health metrics continuously, even outside clinical settings.
Clinical Impact and Patient Benefits
The capabilities significantly reduced care fragmentation and enhanced patient safety across institutions Patients experience reduced anxiety about care transitions, knowing their complete medical history follows them seamlessly across different healthcare facilities. The standardized information exchange ensures that regardless of which network facility patients visit, their providers access comprehensive, up-to-date medical records.
Challenges in Implementation
Despite the technological sophistication, human factors presented unique challenges. The most challenging aspect of the CCMM validation preparation involved monitoring the continuity-of-care flow for breast cancer patients who were referred but did not follow through with their appointments Balancing patient privacy rights with comprehensive care coordination required careful protocol development and cultural sensitivity.
SMC’s Digital Excellence Legacy
This CCMM Stage 6 certification adds to Samsung Medical Center’s impressive portfolio of digital health achievements. SMC has been validated at the highest stages of the HIMSS Digital Imaging, Electronic Medical Record, and Infrastructure Adoption Models, and ranked first in the 2022 global HIMSS Digital Health Indicator The hospital demonstrates comprehensive digital maturity across all healthcare information technology domains.
Global Implications for Healthcare
The CCMM is primarily developed to provide insights for central and local governments in their policy-making for coordinated care within a particular community and across multiple care settings The Australian Digital Health Agency and the Government of Jersey have already adopted this framework for national healthcare system assessments. The Korean network’s success provides a practical roadmap for other healthcare systems pursuing similar digital transformation initiatives.
Achieving CCMM Stage 6 as the world’s first multi-institution validation proves that multiple healthcare providers can function as a single, integrated ecosystem to deliver truly continuous, patient-centered care This milestone establishes Korea as a global leader in coordinated digital healthcare delivery, demonstrating that technology-enabled care coordination can overcome traditional barriers of institutional fragmentation while maintaining patient privacy and choice.
