Orion secures Canadian deal for healthcare software

By RICHARD PAMATATAU


Orion Systems International has landed another North American sale for its healthcare industry software.

The deal, with Canada's Calgary Health Region, is expected to be worth several million dollars.

A week ago, Orion announced a similar deal with Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System.

Orion chief executive Ian McCrae said the company was on a small roll and several years of very hard work was paying off.

The company was finally gaining boat speed, he said, and this deal, combined with previous ones, gave it a population base of more than three million to manage.

Calgary Health Region (CHR) is the major public health provider for over one million people in southern Alberta. It will implement Orion's chronic disease management "infostructure" system in partnership with America's Sierra Systems, a specialist systems integrator.

The system uses Concerto and Soprano products which were developed in Auckland.

McCrae said chronic disease management was the key focus in the CHR electronic health record system and the new project would give doctors and nurses access to a wide range of important patient data.

Peter Sargious, the doctor leading the CHR initiative, said healthcare providers needed convenient and secure access to patient records to be proactive and responsive.

"Care team members should promptly update one another with new patient information and new clinical decisions in order that care plans remain co-ordinated. These elements of high-quality care must be supported by information technology," said Sargious.

Calgary's electronic chronic disease management system will be one of the first in the world to make use of sharing common minimum data sets for chronic conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol problems and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and anticoagulation management services.

Sargious said it was estimated that almost half of the region's population had at least one chronic disease and the data collection would help to smooth the transition from hospital to community care, as well as offer other proactive services so hospital costs decreased.