MEDITECH has proudly provided healthcare information technology systems to hospitals in the province of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa since 1999. Building on its long-term partnership, the KwaZulu Natal Department of Health (KZNDoH) recently awarded a contract to MEDITECH to further enhance the systems used throughout the region. Learn more about how and where these healthcare systems will be expanded, below.
Improving Billing and Coding Processes
Currently, there are 11 hospitals running the MEDITECH billing solution. To streamline billing and workflow processes, additional modules and features are scheduled to go LIVE during the later part of 2017. These include: Registration and Health Information Management, Order Management and Coding, interfacing to the National Health Laboratory, and the ability to automate billing claims across multiple facilities.
Grey’s Hospital
Grey's Hospital, located in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, which falls in the Umgungundlovu health district in KwaZulu Natal, has been a MEDITECH client since 1999. This referral hospital provides 100 percent tertiary services to the Western half of KwaZulu-Natal, including five health districts with a total population of 3.5 million. The 530-bed hospital offers regional services to the Umgungundlovu district which has an approximate population of one million.
The modules and functionality previously mentioned will be added to enhance the hospital’s information system. In addition to billing claims automation, an electronic data interface (EDI) pilot will be implemented for patient eligibility checking and claims submission to Medical Aids. The hospital is expected to go LIVE with the new functionality in the last quarter of 2017.
KwaMashu CHC and Ntuzuma PHC
As part of the contract, functionality to run a Community Health Center (CHC) and a Primary Healthcare Center (PHC), and demonstrate the referral process from a PHC through a CHC to a Hospital, was requested. MEDITECH was awarded the contract to implement a system at the KwaMashu CHC and the Ntuzuma (PHC). A 2018 Go-LIVE date is expected.
Addington Hospital
Addington Hospital has been a client of MEDITECH since 1990. In 2008 they upgraded to the MEDITECH 6.x platform, making it the first hospital outside of the USA to implement this version of the MEDITECH information system. In August 2016 they signed a contract to upgrade to MEDITECH’s 6.15 technology, considered one of the most intuitive and clinically sophisticated platforms in the industry. This upgrade is expected to go LIVE in the first half of 2018.
King Dinizulu Hospital Complex
King Dinizulu Hospital Complex has been a client of MEDITECH since 2012. In August 2016, KZNDOH also signed a contract to upgrade KDHC from 6.x to the 6.15 solution. This upgrade is also expected to go LIVE in the first half of 2018.
Inkhosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital
Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) hospital situated in Durban, KwaZulu Natal. It is a tertiary and quaternary hospital, and patients are referred from other hospitals via an electronic/telephonic booking system.
The PPP is between KwaZulu Natal Department of Health (KZNDOH) and the Impilo Consortium. AME Africa, an independent integrator for health care technology projects, is part of the Impilo Consortium which entered into a PPP with KZNDOH to manage the running of IALCH. AME Africa is responsible for the information management and technology (IM&T) at this hospital including the management of all hospital computer servers, desktops, mobile units, printers and all the systems including software and networking.
In April 2015, MEDITECH was selected to replace the legacy Healthcare Information System (HCIS). The MEDITECH functionality implemented included:
- Registration, Health Information Management
- Scanning & Archiving
- Patient Scheduling
- Order Management and Coding
- Interface to the National Health Laboratory Services (Order out / Results In)
- Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
- Management of the Emergency Department and the Operating Theatres
- Delivery of high quality, patient-centric bedside care
- Management of the Pharmacy — Clinical & Dispensing
IALCH went LIVE with the MEDITECH 6.15 system on the 15th of August 2016, the first hospital in South Africa to use this advanced platform.
MEDITECH’s Commitment to Improving Care Delivery
To learn firsthand how healthcare leaders are using their MEDITECH solutions to improve care delivery, MEDITECH’s Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Michelle O’Connor, recently visited Southern Africa.
“I’m very grateful for the opportunity to see how different cultures with vastly different skill sets can use their MEDITECH systems, to directly impact patient care and healthcare processes,” O’Connor says.