Pacific Edge and MKM Health win NZ Healthcare Awards

Pacific Edge and MKM Health win NZ Healthcare Innovation Awards

A non-invasive diagnostic system that checks urine samples for signs of bladder cancer and enables patients to get a fast, accurate diagnosis has won the Medical Technology Association of New Zealand (MTANZ) Innovation Award for 2016.

Dunedin-based Pacific Edge received the award for its CxbladderTM technology at last night’s Healthcare Congress Dinner event in Auckland in front of healthcare sector leaders.

The inaugural New Zealand Health Information Technology (NZHIT) Awards were also presented at the dinner ceremony last night and the winner was MKM Health for its Patientrack bedside monitoring system.

The MTANZ award judging panel said Cxbladder TM was “excellent disruptive technology that was personalised to the patient… and will contribute to the precision medicine wave coming at us.”

Cxbladder TM technology is a suite of tests (Cxbladder Triage TM, Detect TM, and Monitor TM) that use a proprietary system of accurate molecular testing of gene markers from a small volume of the patient’s urine along with clinical characteristics of the patient to detect bladder and other urinary tract cancers without the need for invasive procedures. The system enables patients and doctors to quickly understand if they are dealing with a case of cancer or not so that unnecessary procedures and anxiety are avoided.

The system is innovative in its combination of a robust diagnostic platform coupled with smart, predictive algorithms which provide accurate information and high sensitivity. Pacific Edge is developing export markets and already has a presence in the United States, Australia and Europe.

“Our organisation believes these awards, which are open to both imported and locally developed medical technology, highlight the tremendous innovation in the NZ health technology market. Such innovation delivers better outcomes for patients, better value for our health system and opportunities for export income for NZ,” explains MTANZ chief executive Faye Sumner.

Meanwhile, Patientrack is a clinically-proven “track and trigger” system that uses the latest in mobile technologies to deliver measureable improvements to the quality of patient care and patient outcomes. It supports efficient processes in acute care delivery generating substantial savings and improvements to patient throughput.

Patientrack tackles some of the most important quality and safety challenges facing acute hospitals, including the effective management of deteriorating patients, sepsis, venous thromboembolism and acute kidney injury.

“This smart and innovative technology gives all providers of clinical care access to information on a mobile device anytime, anywhere so more time can be spent with patients,” explains NZHIT’s chief executive Scott Arrol.

Patientrack is currently being used by Canterbury District Health Board and recently went live at Waitemata District Health Board.

Patientrack was the brain-child of New Zealand-trained Intensive Care Specialist – Professor Michael Buist. Internationally-recognised for his research into issues impacting patient safety, Prof Buist was also involved in the early development of Medical Emergency Teams (MET).

The MTANZ and NZHIT awards were judged on the basis of the product’s significant contribution to improving patient outcomes by enhancing quality of life; as well as evidence of technical excellence and innovation.

The awards are an annual event. The full list of finalists is:

MTANZ Innovation Award FINALISTS

Device Technologies - Arthrex Synergy UHD4TM 4K Imaging Platform

NSK Oceania- Ti-Max Z45L

Pacific Edge - Cxbladder

St Jude Medical - CardioMEMS Heart Failure Monitoring System

NZHIT Innovation Award FINALISTS

Atlantis Healthcare - myMeds

MKM Health - Patientrack

Orion Health - National Child Health Information Programme (NCHIP)

Pathway Navigator - Nexxt Dynamic Clinical Pathway Platform

www.mtanz.org.nz

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