Auckland – Cutting-edge, lifechanging e-health companies Celo, Vensa and Orion Health have been named finalists in the New Zealand Health IT (NZHIT) annual innovation awards.
The winner will be announced at the HiNZ conference awards in Rotorua on November 5.
“For the second year in a row we received extremely strong entries and the judging panel found it difficult to determine the final three entries,” NZ Health IT chief executive Scott Arrol says.
“All three finalists are providing systems and solutions that will help to save lives, produce better results for Kiwis with mild to serious health problems – at home or in the hospital. This is an exciting time to be in health IT.
“NZHIT members represent custodianship of nearly 100 percent of all health-related data in the country and the three finalists are outstanding examples of the innovation that’s happening to enable a healthier New Zealand.”
Celo uses healthcare grade and industry compliant encrypted technology to provide secure and real time mobile and desktop messaging for healthcare. It has been developed by healthcare professionals from the ground up and has been specially designed to ensure ease of use in a clinical setting.
The Celo solution makes referrals more efficient, authenticates all users and enables all patient related communication to be added to electronic medical records. Celo is available on Android and iOS and allows users to chat, consent and capture clinical images from their smartphones.
By connecting healthcare professionals in all aspects of care, Celo builds a community network that can freely exchange patient information and ultimately improve patient outcomes.
Vensa Health is one of New Zealand’s leading mobile health solutions companies, focusing on information technology solutions for improved health information flow and communication between medical providers and their patients.
It is disrupting primary health care communication making the delivery of integrated healthcare more convenient and accessible to improve patient wellbeing.
For large parts of New Zealand’s remote and rural population Vensa services ensure people get better access to their GP. More than 70 percent of GP clinics around the country use Vensa’s solutions for more than three million Kiwis a year.
“This is having a dramatic impact on the health status of New Zealanders by supporting the primary care strategy to help improve health outcomes such as child immunisation rates, early cancer detection and supporting smokers to quit,” Arrol says.
Orion Health has developed an innovative interface solution and partnered with Canterbury Health to enable a number of technology solutions that support the delivery of care closer to home and integrate health services for better outcomes.
Integrating services in this way would not be possible without the connected interface as it enables clinicians from across the health system to access a shared medical record in such a way that it can be viewed, contributed to and edited within a safe and secure environment.
The multi-faceted interface has dramatically changed the way clinicians from across a number of services can engage with their patients and shifts the point of care closer to the community and into patient’s homes.
It is Orion’s ability to partner effectively with Canterbury Health, by understanding their needs and collaboratively develop IT solutions to truly enable improved models of care, that differentiates Orion in the marketplace.
Arrol says that these finalists represent only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the upsurge of innovative IT solutions by NZHIT members being developed to enable the delivery of care to New Zealanders right across the country.
For further information contact Make Lemonade editor-in-chief Kip Brook on 0275 030188.
