iSOFT Secures Ten-year Pharmacy Contract with Western Australian Department of Health
December 3, 2008
iSOFT, an IBA Health subsidiary has won a 10-year pharmacy contract worth A$14 million (US$ 9 million) from the Western Australian Department of Health (WA Health), one of iSOFT’s key Australian customers. As per the agreement, iSOFT will license its centrally managed pharmacy management solution and provide support to help streamline pharmacy services for 21 public hospitals operating across Western Australia.
WA Health will leverage iSOFT’s i.Pharmacy solution to streamline the drug prescription process and provide clinical decision support at the point of dispensing to avoid medication errors. i.Pharmacy, which has been deployed at over 250 sites across Australia, is expected to help WA Health bring about a transformation in its pharmacy management, including online processing of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). PBS, administered by Medicare Australia, strives to provide all Australians and eligible overseas visitors with cost-effective, consistent and timely access to prescription medicines.
i.Pharmacy is a single application that includes dispensing, clinical management, manufacturing, inventory control and cost center accounting modules. The solution, which offers scalability, ranging from large regional implementations to a solo PC at a single site, manages the flow of data in a multi-site, multi-store environment. The solution uses a common database for products across sites, enabling effective data sharing and site level data segregation. i.Pharmacy also supports prescription data entry from remote workstations, which could then be processed at the dispensaries. The solution is also customizable to local requirements.
The current agreement is one of WA Health’s several efforts to bring into place a safe, high quality, responsible and sustainable healthcare system for delivering better care and patient safety. In April 2004, Australia agreed on a National Health Reform Agenda to develop safety and quality initiatives for all public hospitals and health services. One of them was to establish a process for pharmaceutical review of medication prescribing, dispensing and administration, and documenting the use of medicines, in order to meet safety and quality related to medication management. All hospitals and health services were required to implement the pharmacy review policy by June 2008. In its review policy, WA has stated several measures including the implementation of a single statewide electronic pharmacy management application (PMA), to gain best practices in pharmaceutical reform and establish compliance with the principles of pharmaceutical review.
iSOFT, a major supplier of advanced software applications that addresses administrative and clinical information management requirements of healthcare organizations, has either solely or in partnership, delivered its technology support to several public healthcare providers across Australia. In 2008, the company signed a A$4.6 million (US $4.3 million) contract with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Tasmania, to provide a statewide patient administration system (PAS). In 2006, through a five-year, multi-million dollar agreement, the vendor was selected by the Victorian Department of Human Services in Australia for its integrated patient and client management solution. The company was also involved in implementing the state-based patient administration solution in New South Wales, Australia. iSOFT technology solutions are installed at more than 13,000 provider organizations in 35 countries and employing more than 3,800 people worldwide.
Please rate this Article:Stay ahead of competition with HealthNEWS.Direct!
To receive the latest updates and news alerts, please register and receive full content access, and also receive more information about our quarterly magazine. Subscription can be done online using a secure payment link. To learn more, please click here
Comments
Stay updated via our Twitter Alerts!
