Following a competitive tender process, iMedX has been awarded the contract to provide an enterprise digital dictation and clinical documentation workflow solution for the MidCentral district of Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand. iMedX will also be providing associated transcription support services.
The tender, which reviewed a range of available market options, focused on the need for digital technologies to improve the speed of clinical communication, enhance efficiency for clinicians, and support the future transition to digital outpatient communication strategies and platforms.
Te Whatu Ora – MidCentral Planned Care and Administration Services Manager, Robyn Shaw, said that creating and distributing clinical letters are critical components of the organisation’s communication with patients and health professionals. She adds that there will be real process improvement through implementing the software, leading to efficiency gains.
“We had some very manual systems and processes in place and it could be slow – we wanted to make sure we were meeting our target of letters being sent within ten days after a clinic,” says Shaw. “Having the right tools helps us better support our patients and their health outcomes. We were pleased with what iMedX’s solution could offer.”
The iMedX solution is an end-to-end clinical documentation solution, powered by industry leading secure-cloud and speech-recognition technology.
It will move MidCentral from a legacy, on-premise solution to a SaaS cloud solution which delivers scalability, security, and cost-effective adoption. It also provides the latest in AI speech technology, which will enhance productivity alongside custom workflows that will create efficiency and automation, and smartphone dictation solutions that offer clinician mobility and flexibility.
Alex Zacher, Managing Director of iMedX Australia says that the solution has been specifically designed for growing enterprise-level health services such as Te Whatu Ora, who often have multi-site and multi-user based workflow dependencies.
“These dependencies, coupled with challenges of large volumes of dictation and transcription, mean there is a need to leverage outsource providers to manage growth and a need to leverage technology to automate and increase efficiency.”
MidCentral’s choice of iMedX as a partner follows the roll out of the eScription one platform to the former Southern District Health Board during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Te Whatu Ora – Southland now has over 900 dictators and 155 typists utilising their platform.
iMedX partners with a number of Te Whatu Ora districts throughout the country to support them with their transcription services. They also have a successful pilot project running in the Te Manawa Taki region for the eScription one platform, including outsource transcription.
Alex Zacher, Managing Director of iMedX Australia says, “We’re absolutely thrilled to be able to offer the iMedX solution to MidCentral and look forward to the long-term partnership. The iMedX solution will equip MidCentral with the technology and the resources to maximise the patient outcomes a clinical documentation partner should provide.”
About Te Whatu Ora Health NZ – MidCentral
Te Pae Hauora o Ruahine O Tararua | MidCentral is a district within Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand. It helps support the health outcomes of its wide ranging rohe (region), and it’s communities include Tararua, Ōtaki, Horowhenua, Palmerston North and Manawatū.
The base regional hospital in Palmerston North is a 350-bed secondary care hospital, which services a total population around 190,000 people, increasing to 500,000 for the delivery of some tertiary services. In addition, the hospital is a teaching hospital, and is associated with both Auckland and Otago medical schools, has a dedicated Intensive Care Unit, Coronary Care Unit and Neonatal Unit, amongst other services, and provides one of the largest trauma centres in New Zealand.