EHI’s industry news roundup 18.01.08

E-Health Insider’s industry news round up for the week ending 18 January 2008 featuring supplier news, acquisitions and events.

Supplier news

Broomwell research says telemedicine ECGs could save NHS £250m

Research from Broomwell Healthwatch has found that providing cardiac patients with a telemedical cardiac monitoring to enable them to manage their condition in surgeries or at home, will cut tens of thousands of unnecessary emergency admissions and referrals to outpatient clinics per year, and could save the NHS around £250m each year.

Edinburgh City Council use bed clocking software from OLM Group

The City of Edinburgh Council has implemented a new online booking and management system from the OLM Group, which is helping to ensure that suitable care is now located and allocated much faster, cancelled beds are rebooked and detailed market intelligence is gleaned to inform future commissioning strategies. OLM say this has led to significant efficiencies, with £137,000 worth of care beds that were previously being lost through cancellation now being rebooked and further efficiencies being made in staff time and communication.

Caring Homes use finance system from COA Solutions

Caring Homes, a privately-owned care home groups, is implementing an OpenAccounts finance system and web-based purchase order (PO) processing system from COA Solutions. OpenAccounts will replace three separate finance systems currently used by Caring Homes whilst the PO system will replace the company’s current paper-based PO processes. By consolidating its financial systems into just one company-wide and scalable system, Caring Homes will have a single, holistic view of its finances and will also be well-prepared for future growth, COA says.

Gateshead use Patient Risk Management Software from Datix

Quality and safety specialists Datix, has announced that Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust has chosen and implemented its Patient Risk Management software. The aim is to give the trust the latest in fully integrated reporting systems to meet compliance needs.

Great Ormond Street use DataFlux to manage donations database

Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity – the fundraising arm of Great Ormond Street Hospital – has chosen DataFlux, a specialist in data quality and data integration solutions, to help it gain a unified view of its donations database. DataFlux dfPower Studio will enable the charity to investigate, standardise, de-duplicate, cleanse and verify data residing within its Blackbaud database at the point of capture.

Acquisitions 

Health Dialog and BUPA to Join Forces

Care management specialists Health Dialog has announced thatBUPA, its largest shareholder, will purchase for cash the equity in the company it does not already own. The transaction values Health Dialog at $775m. The new relationship will strengthen Health Dialog’s current client offerings and give BUPA more direct access to Health Dialog’s content, analytics, and IT.

Events 

Enabling better care through sustainable satellite-based Telemedicine Solutions – 5 March 2008, Cannes, France

This workshop will showcase the most successful pilot applications within the Healthware project and thereby connect telemedicine user communities across Europe. Teleconsultation and remote expertise demonstrations will be run together with project partners at hospitals and universities in Cyprus, France, Poland and the United Kingdom. The selected scenarios and practical examples will highlight the state of the art of deploying satellite telecommunications in support of healthcare and medical teaching. For further information see http://ec.europa.eu/information_society.

Joe Fernandez