Healthcare Software 'connecting' with the LGH 10 July 2006
Healthcare Software, a Hobart company specialising in delivering the latest in e-health has been awarded a contract with HealthConnect Tasmania to implement a pilot of its clinical pharmacy software package, PharmCare, in the Launceston General Hospital later this year.
Healthcare Software was one of only three successful Australian companies in the HealthConnect Tasmania application process and CEO, John Elkerton, said "It really is fantastic for us to work with a local, well-renowned hospital. We will benefit enormously from the HealthConnect Tasmania contract, but, more importantly, so will the pharmacists, patients and other care providers in the Launceston General Hospital and wider community."
The primary focus of the pilot will be the provision of a discharge medication summary, which electronically details a patient’s prescribed medicines upon leaving hospital. The summary will provide patients, GPs and other care providers with information that can be used over time and across healthcare facilities. It is this consistency and longevity of personal medication records that can drastically reduce the harm that patients often experience when taking medicines after leaving hospital. With fewer patients reacting adversely to drugs, hospital readmissions will be reduced, resulting in cost savings and an increase in available beds.
The Launceston General Hospital will also have full use of the range of clinical pharmacy features that PharmCare delivers including the generation of patient medication histories, documentation of clinical interventions and a range of reporting functions, which allows care providers to monitor clinical and administrative information over time.
Health Connect is a joint Australian, State and Territory Government initiative. It is a national network that, with the appropriate privacy and security considerations, will allow the electronic exchange of clinical information between health care providers. The main objective of the initiative is to develop common standards that will allow the interconnectivity of health information systems.