Obamacare a boon for NZ tech firm

Orion Health boss Ian McCrae is looking for experienced software developers. Photo / Kenny Rodger

Orion Health boss Ian McCrae says the Obamacare legislation in the United States is proving to be a boon for the New Zealand technology company.

The Auckland-based firm - whose technology allows medical staff to store and look up patient records online - has secured a deal to supply its Rhapsody Integration Engine software to Carilion Clinic, a network of 195 health facilities serving nearly a million people in the United States state of Virginia.

"This (the Carilion deal) is symptomatic of the huge amount of activity in North America on the back of Obamacare," McCrae said. "Right across the US you have major investments in (health) technology."

The Affordable Healthcare Act, also known as Obamacare, aims to improve the quality and affordability of health insurance.

Orion said Rhapsody would allow Carilion to conduct a "system-wide" integration of its IT infrastructure.

McCrae said Orion - which is looking to hire 300 experienced software developers, half of which would be New Zealand-based positions - had taken on 80 new developers in the past month.

Amid a strong market appetite for software firms there has been much speculation about Orion's potential for a sharemarket listing.

Asked about listing plans, McRae said he could only say "it's one of the options the board is considering".

The firm has annual revenue of over $100 million and more than 750 staff across 18 offices around the world.