Orion Health partners with all five South Island DHBs

MEDIA RELEASE: 11 February 2015

Orion Health partners with all five South Island DHBs for regional patient information system

eHealth software company Orion Health has signed a commercial agreement with all five South Island District Health Boards (DHBs) for a single South Island-wide shared patient information care system.

The South Island Patient Information Care System (SI PICS) will become the regional solution for patient information management at Canterbury, Nelson Marlborough, Southern, South Canterbury and West Coast DHBs, which are all members of the South Island Alliance.

Orion Health Hospital Solutions Director David Hepburn said the agreement was significant for the New Zealand health sector and globally.

“We are partnering with not just one DHB, but five DHBs that are collaborating with each other to build a more efficient and thereby better quality care model in the South Island. This is partnership on a regional scale, and we are very proud to be part of the South Island Alliance vision for a sustainable South Island health and disability system through innovative technology development and support.”

Mr Hepburn said Orion Health will take the experience from the ground breaking partnership to other health organisations and health alliances globally.

“We can apply the lessons to the work we are doing all around the world in the North America, Asia and Europe to deliver connected solutions for healthcare facilities and regions.”

The single system across the South Island will streamline the administrative functions, making tasks simpler for staff. This new system supports providing more efficient healthcare services to the South Island population.

SI PICS includes patient demographics, master patient index, appointment booking, waiting list management, patient transfers, record of patient activity, reporting, admission and discharges and alerts and allergies.

SI PICS Executive Regional Programme Manager Nick Lanigan said the agreement with Orion Health is an important step toward the improved management of patient information in South Island hospitals.

“It is one of many crucial steps to connecting health workers across the South Island with co-ordinated, consistent access to a single system. SI PICS will result in a more streamlined patient journey through health services and co-ordinate care between different hospitals and care providers throughout the South Island. It will result in improved patient safety and enable better quality health services.”

Mr Lanigan said the SI PICS regional team has members from all the DHBs who have been working together with Orion Health to develop this fit-for-purpose and future thinking patient information care system.

“This contract now widens the commitment from the regional team at the development stages, to the provision of SI PICS and associated implementation services at Canterbury, Nelson Marlborough, Southern, South Canterbury and West Coast DHBs over the next 10 years. It’s not only about DHBs combining resources to jointly solve problems, but about working with the right partners for the benefit of all of us – staff and patients in the South Island.”

The agreement covers governance arrangements at operational, management and strategic levels, transition, escrow arrangements for the software source code and intellectual property.

Mr Lanigan said the agreement was the culmination of several months of negotiation by the regional SI PICS team which included key staff members from all five South Island DHBs and Orion Health.

Orion Health is leveraging its ENTERPRISE Patient Management platform to create the regional system. SI PICS will not only replace seven different patient information management systems currently in use but embed new functionality to meet the changing demands on health care. SI PICS will also integrate with Orion’s clinical workstation, Health Connect South (HCS), which most of the DHBs are already operating, as well as other innovations being rolled out by the South Island Alliance such as eReferrals.

Implementation of regional SI PICS has already begun with the first go-live at Canterbury DHB later this year, followed by Nelson Marlborough in early 2016. The remaining DHBs will follow; with the entire region expected to be using the SI PICS by 2020.

ends

About Orion Health

Orion Health is a global leader in providing world-class healthcare integration software and clinical workflow solutions to organisations. With over 20 years’ experience in developing healthcare solutions, Orion Health has partnered with over 1,000 customers across 20 countries and implemented health information systems for populations of more than 50 million people.

Orion Health software is designed for hospitals and health systems that are looking for smarter, more efficient integration and workflow solutions. Our designers and engineers work alongside clinicians to develop elegant and intuitive products that are designed for ease of use. This clinical know-how ensures swift adoption and minimal disruption, allowing clinicians to focus on patients.

For more information, visit www.orionhealth.com. Connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About South Island Patient Information Care System

The South Island Patient Information Care System (SI PICS) is the regional solution for patient management. It will connect health workers with co-ordinated, consistent access to a region-wide solution, resulting in improved quality and safety systems, and a more streamlined patient journey from the community to the hospital and beyond.

This clinician-driven programme is being developed in close consultation with key people from each of the five South Island DHBs working with the Information Services, Service Level Alliance and system provider Orion Health.

SI PICS will not just replace the existing patient administration systems, but deliver new and sustainable functionality to provide greater integration and quality of health care now and in the future. It will provide access to patient demographics, master patient index, appointment booking, waiting list management, patient transfers, record of patient activity, reporting, admission and discharges and alerts and allergies.

For more information, visit our website at www.sialliance.health.nz/SI-PICS

About the South Island Alliance

The South Island Alliance is the collaboration of the five DHBs to develop more innovative, sustainable and efficient health services, than could be achieved independently. The vision is to provide South Islanders equitable and timely access to safe, effective, high-quality services, as close to their homes as possible.

Priority areas that have been identified are Child Health, Health of Older People, Mental Health, Support Services, Information Services, Regional Sector Training, Quality and Safety, Cancer Services, Public Health, Electives, Stroke and Cardiac Services.

These Service Level Alliances and workstreams are steered and chaired by members of the DHBs and related sector organisation members, providing a truly representational leadership. For more information, visit www.sialliance.health.nz

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