Alcidion Group Ltd (ASX:ALC) has signed a contract with New Zealand’s Te Manawa Taki (TMT) region District Health Boards (DHBs) for a pilot implementation of Better’s OPENeP Electronic Medication Management solution.
OPENeP, which was recently renamed Better Meds, supports full closed-loop medication management addressing the five rights – right patient, right drug, right dose, right route and the right time.
Alcidion, which was appointed as a reseller and implementer of the OPENeP solution in April 2019 for the UK, Australia and New Zealand, will provide DHBs with choices when selecting closed-loop medication management solutions to improve care delivery and medication safety.
First in Southern Hemisphere
This implementation represents the first deployment of the OPENeP solution in the Southern Hemisphere.
It builds on the Alcidion and Better relationship in the UK and provides a reference site for further contracts in New Zealand and Australia.
“Excited to extend partnership”
Alcidion managing director Kate Quirke said: “We are excited to extend our partnership with New Zealand DHBs beyond our Miya Precision, Patientrack and Smartpage products to the implementation of electronic medication management at Te Manawa Taki.
“We believe the OPENeP solution will deliver measurable benefits to the DHBs and look forward to extending these benefits across the region, on successful completion of the pilot.”
TMT region pilot project
TMT region is in the middle of the North Island and stretches from Cape Egmont in the west to East Cape. It comprises five DHBs: Hauora Tairāwhiti, Taranaki, Lakes, Bay of Plenty and Waikato.
These boundaries take in the major population centres of Gisborne, New Plymouth, Rotorua, Tauranga and Hamilton.
The integrated workflow addresses reconciliation, prescribing, clinical pharmacy review and medication administration, and has been developed in collaboration with clinical teams to align with their workflows and provides efficiencies, transparency and decision support to the critical care processes associated with medication management.
Hāwera Hospital first
The pilot will begin with a project at Hāwera Hospital, part of Taranaki DHB, and this initial pilot will be undertaken to the value of $600,000 over a 6-7 months period.
Subject to the successful completion of the pilot and the approval of funding for each DHB, the implementation is intended to roll out across all five DHBs.
Taranaki DHB CIO Steven Parrish said: “This project is ground-breaking in that not only is it the first regionally-led e-medicine trial in New Zealand, but it will also be the first instance of OPENeP in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Of all TMT hospitals, Hāwera was the logical location for the pilot due to its size and existing experience with eMedicine.”
Extending Alcidion’s existing footprint
In the UK, Alcidion is implementing OPENeP at Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust and a project with South Tees NHS Foundation Trust is soon to start.
Both the Dartford and South Tees implementations of OpenEP are part of a larger project to roll out
the full capability of Alcidion’s flagship platform, Miya Precision.
This project will extend Alcidion’s existing footprint across New Zealand with their other products Miya Observations, Miya Assessments, Miya Access, Miya Command, Miya Flow and Smart page in use across seven DHBs.
Better’s OPENeP product manager Roko Malkoc said: “At Better, we believe the digitisation of healthcare is a joint human effort: rather than a matter of one country, it is a matter of the whole world.
“The knowledge, collaboration and success stories arising from these projects, are there to be shared.
“With Alcidion, we have proof of this works. It has been a pure pleasure to work with the Alcidion team in the UK, and we are incredibly excited to start the digital transformation on the other side of the globe with them and healthcare professionals across Te Manawa Taki Region.”