This dynamic is already unfolding in the global healthcare sector, says , Partner Head at – and Africa isn’t far behind.

“The emergence of patient-centric healthcare holds immense promise for better patient experiences, greater accessibility, and improved healthcare outcomes,鈥� says Pillay. 鈥淪upported by rapid advances in a range of complementary technologies and driven by a growing need to expand healthcare access, the adoption of patient-centric healthcare models represents the next step in the evolution of healthcare provision.”

Flipping the healthcare model

Until now, healthcare service models have required that patients navigate through often-complex systems to receive diagnoses, treatment and medical advice. Patient-centric healthcare reimagines this dynamic, building systems around the needs and preferences of the patient and prioritising the quality of their experience.

found that 79% of healthcare CEOs believed the sector needed to take a more patient-centric approach in order to better respond to patient needs and preferences. However, only 31% rated their organisation’s ability to do so as ‘excellent’.

“A patient-centric healthcare approach prioritises elements such as patient experience and multi-dimensional team engagement, leading to a more holistic patient engagement, explains , CEO at . 鈥淭his approach also makes healthcare more accessible and affordable as the patient can receive expert services in the comfort of their homes. Home-based patient-centric healthcare also benefits the whole ecosystem as the hospital bed becomes available to patients who require more intensive care, while the overall cost of healthcare delivery can be driven downward.鈥�

He adds that, to achieve this, healthcare providers must consider what might be viewed as non-conventional investments in technology to drive innovation across patient-centric operations. 鈥淭he healthcare system, for valid reasons, is slow to innovate, but we cannot stagnate. The future of healthcare must be different, if we want better patient outcomes and more affordable and accessible healthcare services.”

Healthcare access reaches patients’ homes

Global healthcare providers are increasingly shifting to home-based care models that provide primary, acute and palliative care at the patient’s home.

“Home-based care represents a golden opportunity to improve the quality of care while also lowering healthcare costs,” says Joubert. “The world is not as it was twelve months ago. Rapid advances in a range of enabling technologies such as AI, connectivity and device mobility have already set new thresholds of digital possibilities. What was science fiction two years ago, will be mainstream in the next twenty-four months.鈥�

Joubert adds that, in his view, connected intelligence and microservices is the way of the future. 鈥淭o try and do everything yourself would put you at a disadvantage. Instead, we hand-pick our partners and then combine the expertise of each partner to ensure rapid, relevant, affordable healthcare solutions with tangible value.”

Pillay adds: “Healthcare providers are increasingly adopting powerful new technologies ranging from advanced analytics to cloud capabilities, as well as a range of tools to improve planning, human capital management, financial processes and CRM-based technologies to enable the delivery of personalised healthcare. Over the next few years, the focus is likely to shift slightly to include emerging technologies that enable home-based care and diagnosis, such as AI and machine vision.”

Technology building blocks for improved healthcare

noted the growing impact of several technologies on healthcare systems and services, including Generative AI to boost productivity and content development, applied AI to improve classification, prediction and control within health processes, and digital trust technologies that ensures that trust is maintained throughout patient experiences.

However, to achieve this, healthcare providers will need to lay the technological foundation that will enable the integration of new healthcare innovations.

“The digital transformation of the healthcare industry at a global level is being enabled across a range of patient-centric technologies, spanning from improved healthcare data and analytics to smart healthcare operations and greater empowerment of healthcare workers,” says Pillay. “The outcomes of this transformation can be felt across patient engagement, patient diagnosis and the broader patient experience, as well as providers’ ability to convert health data into health insights to drive improved patient outcomes. And considering the acute skills shortage throughout the continent’s health sector, the use of technology to drive better employee experiences and improve talent retention is immensely valuable.”

Growing evidence for patient-centric model

According to Joubert, the evidence for a more patient-centric healthcare model is clear. 鈥淲e survey more than fifty thousand patients every month and their feedback confirms that patients want more curated information, more medical worker engagement and rapid responses to questions. It is not only about the patient though. Healthcare is a collective effort and as much as our focus is on patient outcomes, this means we need to take the nursing community on the journey with us. Informed and knowledgeable collaboration is critical.鈥�

Joubert points to the rapid recent advances in AI as an opportunity for the healthcare sector, with Generative AI becoming 鈥榤ainstream鈥� just more than a year ago. 鈥淎t the moment there are multiple schools of thought. Some argue that we are entering a 鈥榯rough of disillusionment鈥�, where we will realise AI is not the answer to every problem. Others argue that we are only now at very advent of the exponential AI explosion that will erupt over the next twelve to twenty-four months. I believe both views hold merit. AI is certainly not the answer to every problem. As in the case of IoT over the last couple of years, we will get smarter in how we apply the technology and, most importantly, how we do so in an ethical manner.鈥�

He adds that the healthcare sector must embrace digital capabilities or risk becoming irrelevant in the next five years. 鈥淭he healthcare industry, by virtue of erring on the side of caution and being highly regulated, typically steers away from disruption or transformation. But unless the healthcare providers embrace digital capabilities and explore the best applications of technology to improve healthcare outcomes, they won鈥檛 survive the years ahead.鈥�

materially differ. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties may be found in our filings

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According to World Economic Forum data, , with telehealth and mental health leading the pack.

, Partner Head at , says new technology capabilities can transform healthcare operations and improve the overall patient experience while driving higher-quality patient outcomes. “Leading healthcare providers are enhancing their data strategies and leveraging advanced technologies to deliver quality, personalised healthcare to patients, whether at healthcare facilities or at home.”

End of an era

The global healthcare sector is in a state of flux amid growing digitalisation, new scientific advancements, heightened expectations for positive patient experiences and skills constraints.

According to , CEO at , African healthcare organisations have a golden opportunity to invest in technology capabilities today that will drive their success and growth for years to come. “The healthcare sector is faced with unique challenges as growing digitalisation drives greater operational efficiency while unlocking new forms of patient care. Amid a shift to more personalised healthcare engagements and the need to improve the overall patient experience, healthcare providers will increasingly seek innovative technologies and solutions to facilitate the delivery of high-quality health outcomes.”

One of the forces driving change in the African healthcare sector is that support for the widely-used 麻豆原创 i.s.h. and聽聽healthcare technology platforms will end in four years. 麻豆原创 technologies support more than 7 000 healthcare providers across 88 countries.

Best-practices drive operational efficiency

“Healthcare providers need to ensure that all systems and patient records are retained, are reliable and are providing actionable, real-time intelligence that support better quality and predictable outcomes,” explains Joubert. “This also creates an opportunity that healthcare providers simply should not miss. By looking beyond their immediate business-as-usual needs and investing in platforms that enable rapid innovation, healthcare providers could completely transform the quality of care, the patient experience, and their business models. The sustainable healthcare enterprise of the future needs to rethink their value proposition, underpinned with platforms that support differentiation, not just at process level, but also in the way that hospitals generate revenue.”

To support the digital transformation efforts of healthcare providers, Converge Solutions has developed a fully-integrated end-to-end technology platform covering the entire healthcare value chain. Built to integrate seamlessly with 麻豆原创 S/4HANA and leveraging the scalability and flexibility of the cloud, Maisha is designed to make it easier for providers to deliver high-quality, affordable and repeatable healthcare outcomes.

“Hospitals are under pressure to substantially reduce their operational costs while making better use of their resources to deliver benefits to shareholders, patients and internal stakeholders,” says Joubert. “By adopting best practices and leveraging the power of the cloud, providers can streamline their operations and achieve significant cost savings. The scalability of the cloud also allows providers to develop new capabilities at their own pace, enabling extended or diversified revenue streams into domains such as home-based care, while improving the quality of health outcomes for patients.”

Digital capabilities protect against disruption

One of the risks associated with the growing digitalisation in the sector is that healthcare providers are prime targets for cyberattacks. One report found that healthcare organisations experienced more than 1 400 attacks every week in 2022, increase. And in part due to the wealth of personal information stored in patient records, the sector also has the highest data breach cost of any industry at .

“Modern healthcare technology platforms such as Maisha integrate best-practice cybersecurity standards to protect sensitive patient data and critical healthcare systems from compromise and attack,” explains Joubert. “Inventory management and finance data will typically reside in , while all POPIA-sensitive data will be stored in Maisha in a secure data centre within the specific country, accessible only through multi-factor authentication and ensuring data sovereignty at all times.鈥�

Pillay says the introduction of also gives healthcare providers a clear path to migrating their core ERP and business processes to the cloud. “Healthcare providers can leverage an extensive set of industry best-practices, automation tools, AI-powered business processes and managed cloud infrastructure to accelerate their digital transformation efforts and achieve a future-fit state more quickly. By prioritising the development of new tech-enabled capabilities, healthcare providers can build future-fit business models that deliver benefits throughout the healthcare value chain while maintaining cost-efficiency and profitability throughout.鈥�

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For leading private hospital group Lenmed, the acquisition of a new hospital sparked a rapid and highly-effective process of onboarding the new facility to its core 麻豆原创 system that was recognised as the best-in-class at the recent 麻豆原创 Quality Awards for Customer Success.

鈥淲e had acquired the Howick Private Hospital, but their users were not familiar with the 麻豆原创 environment,鈥� says Ashley Strydom,聽. 鈥淲e worked with our implementation partner Gijima to complete a full implementation and onboarding in under twelve weeks.鈥�

The Lenmed Group was established in 1984 with a focus on providing exceptional private care to the communities in which its hospitals operate.

It employs more than 1850 people across its twelve hospitals, and is operational in South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique, with its headquarters in Roodepoort west of Johannesburg.

Strydom and his team worked with Gijima with a clear view of their core business goals, including a fast, accurate and clean implementation, a focus on reduced complexity and cost control, and standardising hospital processes across the group.

鈥淚t was essential that there was no disruption to any of our business processes during the implementation,鈥� says Strydom. 鈥淲e used our standard Lenmed 麻豆原创 template and relied on best practices to ensure there were no customisations and scope creep. This resulted in faster implementation time and reduced costs.鈥�

With visible executive support, clear communication plans and well-defined roles and responsibilities, supported by a strict governance program, Lenmed was able to execute a fast, accurate and clean 麻豆原创 implementation.

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While public efforts at hygiene and social distancing have certainly contributed greatly to the decline in daily case numbers, it鈥檚 undoubtedly the tireless work of the healthcare sector that has helped the country get through the greatest public health challenge in a century.

Efforts to treat infected patients were complicated by a prevailing shortage of medical staff. The World Bank estimates South Africa has ,聽Kenya has聽, and聽in . Compare this to the UK, where the rate jumps to 2.8, or Switzerland where the rate is nearly 4.3 doctors per 1000 people.

Africa鈥檚 doctors and nurses often have to work longer hours treating more patients and with fewer resources than their peers in more developed markets. Overworked doctors are more prone to make mistakes, and the long-term effects of working under such conditions .

With pressure on the healthcare sector now easing slightly, it鈥檚 vital that we consider what measures we can take to support the healthcare sector as it prepares for the next wave of COVID-19 infections – or a new, as-yet-unknown health emergency.

To help them prepare for the next major challenge, healthcare providers should design and implement digital transformation initiatives that help them with three key aspects, namely:

One: Understanding operations

The old saying 鈥測ou can鈥檛 manage what you can鈥檛 measure鈥� applies to healthcare too. Modern hospitals, for example, operate more like a business than a public service, with complex operational intricacies that make outdated paper-based processes completely ineffective.

Healthcare organisations should look at investing in new technology tools that allow for greater visibility across all operations and provides real-time insights into the performance of every aspect of the organisation (including the workforce and patients).

The ultimate goal is to create an intelligent healthcare enterprise that blends operational data and experience data (from patients and employees) and leverages new technologies such as AI and advanced analytics to improve decision-making and operational performance.

Using a cloud platform also equips the provider with greater agility – consider for example the impact of COVID-19 on a healthcare organisation that still relies entirely on on-premise technology. Adopting cloud platforms and cloud software is as much about the tools as it is about the mindset 鈥� being open to rapidly adopt new and relevant applications that cater for a specific need will allow organisations to react promptly and appropriately. For the organisation stuck in on-premise thinking, chances are that organisation鈥檚 response to the pandemic was not as effective as their nimbler, cloud-enabled peers.

Two: Understanding patients

While it鈥檚 true that the main purpose of healthcare organisations is to provide care for their patients, many patients today expect more than just care: they want a positive and personalised experience too. In fact, a PwC study found that .

Technology can play a key role here by removing friction in various stages of the customer journey and delivering personalised care at each step. This requires a deep understanding of each patient at an individual level. Healthcare organisations require the ability to collect patient data, identify risks, understand trends and communicate in a transparent and accurate way at scale, while balancing their focus on driving profitability without jeopardising patient experience.

A report on 55 studies . Using an experience management tool, healthcare organisations can develop a deeper understanding of each individual patient鈥檚 experience. This empowers them with insights that can guide the design of personalised interventions at each step and help healthcare providers build a consistently positive overall experience.

Three: Understanding healthcare workers

Considering the shortage of healthcare talent, healthcare providers should prioritise their workforce management efforts to ensure available talent is managed sustainably and with positive patient outcomes in mind.

found that nearly three in every four (74%) healthcare workers would stay with an employer that offered training in new technologies that would help them meet future work demands. Seventy-five percent said the same would be important to them when considering an employer.

Improving the workplace experience for healthcare practitioners should therefore be a top priority for talent attraction and retention. Constant feedback is essential: an IBM study found that , while 81% said they felt positive about their work when they receive regular feedback on their performance.

Employee experience management tools such as Qualtrics can give healthcare organisations a real-time view into the experience of healthcare workers and deliver insights into trends and other factors influencing that experience. Using these insights, healthcare providers can develop appropriate interventions and support measures to ensure workers can focus on the core mandate of improving patient outcomes.

These three aspects all centre around understanding operations, patients and staff. Only once the holistic picture of a healthcare organisation鈥檚 financial and operating stance, its brand affinity and the associated shortfalls are truly understood can leaders of these organisations acknowledge what their starting point is.

Once this has been identified, healthcare organisations can begin to paint a realistic future for their businesses and adopt data-led transformation initiatives that will drive resilience and futureproof them against further health sector emergencies.

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T-Systems South Africa (TSSA) has a proud 23-year history in South Africa, having first invested in the country in 1997. As a level one B-BBEE contributor, our competitive advantage is through delivering world-class services and standards while adapting to the unique needs, priorities and expectations of our clients and partners in South Africa.

Since 2010, T-Systems South Africa has deployed innovative end-to-end solutions that manage every aspect of the healthcare business while meeting local and international regulations, standards and best practice. The T-Systems Healthcare Digital Solutions Footprint is underpinned by the company鈥檚 four key focus areas to deliver customer value, namely: Connectivity, digital, cloud and infrastructure, and security.

Through a combination of technology expertise, experience, know-how and industry knowledge, T-Systems is propelling the healthcare industry into a new digital era that introduces unprecedented innovations and ground-breaking efficiencies. Take just three examples: a patient monitoring their own vital signs using a smartphone; a physician having access to medical records via a tablet on their 鈥榬ounds鈥�; and the exchange of information and insights between medical experts during a videoconference. IT systems can be employed to digitally model medical, nursing and administrative processes 鈥� not just as an end in itself but to also cut costs, accelerate workflows and improve patient care.

T-Systems鈥� global healthcare experience

T-Systems International has implemented many successful instances of healthcare-specific solutions in countries across the world. For decades, the company has been successfully running healthcare facility functions, end-to-end, using robust, fully integrated solutions. While we can all appreciate that healthcare is a critically important industry sector, T-Systems is committed to facilitating modernisation and innovation through the roll-out of comprehensive Hospital Information Systems (HIS) and has a number of聽聽to support its success in this sector.

T-Systems South Africa leading 麻豆原创 healthcare solution implementation

In South Africa, T-Systems is a leader in rolling out solutions addressing the need for digital health transformation in both the public and private sector. By the end of 2019, T-Systems reached a milestone of successfully launching 麻豆原创 healthcare solutions at over 33 hospitals across South Africa. Fifteen out of the top 20 hospitals in South Africa run its 麻豆原创 healthcare suite and more than 55 healthcare companies run 麻豆原创 in Africa. These solutions cover every aspect from financials, logistics, clinical information systems to human capital management and ancillary solutions that complete automation of every business process in healthcare operations.

Using the i.s.h.med template approach (a clinical information system that is fully integrated with 麻豆原创 healthcare software), T-Systems has rolled out 麻豆原创 ERP; 麻豆原创 HCM; 麻豆原创 ISH (Industry Specific for HealthCare Patient Management and Patient Accounting) as well as Cerner i.s.h.Med to 33 hospitals in South Africa as well as one hospital in Botswana. These hospitals belong to different hospital groups.

T-Systems鈥� healthcare solution has streamlined processes and enhanced the efficiency of fundamental hospital operations. These include patient admission and scheduling; ordering of medical products and pharmaceuticals; staffing; financial and cost accounting; as well as data recording and sharing. The solution helps providers integrate end-to-end processes across the entire organisation, simplifying and coordinating everything from admission planning to analytics.

An overview of T-Systems Healthcare Management System (HMS) offering.

麻豆原创 ERP聽鈥� proficiently handles functions in finance, material management and plant maintenance. This solution addresses the challenge of revenue leakage and ensures accurate and reliable billing and monitoring of debtors age analysis. 麻豆原创 ERP interfaces with association price files to provide correct and accurate billing of materials used, and importantly, it also supports the submission of high-quality medical aid claims. 麻豆原创 ERP also enables the effective management of stock to lower warehousing and procurement costs with support and integration of replenishment processes. With increased transparency into requirements and consumption, it also has the potential to reduce process costs.

麻豆原创 HCM聽鈥�helps hospitals with 鈥渉uman capital management鈥� covering HR and payroll functions. 麻豆原创 HCM accurately manages employee data and identification. It also helps to track employee benefits and payroll costs with a single, comprehensive view of all employee records. 麻豆原创 HCM also utilises enhanced resource optimisation through intelligent shift planning, which supports resource decisions for daily and long-term planning and budgeting.

Cerner i.s.h.med聽鈥� handles the increasingly large amount of clinical documentation. I.s.h.med, as it鈥檚 known, not only maps the patient鈥檚 entire clinical experience, but also leads seamlessly into administrative and business transactions. It does this securely, directly and efficiently as it is fully integrated with 麻豆原创 ERP and IS-H while provided a robust electronic health record at its core.

滨.蝉.丑.惭别诲听鈥撀燼ssists practitioners through its rapid comprehensibility, practice-oriented presentation of information, and is an attractive interface to other medical systems such as radiology. These benefits allow for quick access to user-friendly patient information dashboards that assist with faster decision-making for quality patient care. Tablets and smartphones have made it possible to react immediately, from almost everywhere, adding an ever-increasing level of mobility to the daily routines within the hospital.

麻豆原创 IS-H聽鈥� is the industry-specific software built for the healthcare industry that involves day-to-day aspects such as patient management and accounting. Since 2008, the IS-H approach was implemented as a high-performance IT solution that accelerates and simplifies administrative tasks throughout the healthcare industry. In South Africa alone, there are over 20 hospitals across multiple hospital groups that have digitised their operations with T-Systems and 麻豆原创 IS-H.

The co-ordination of patient appointments, handling of waiting lists, and the allocation of beds is all handled within the resource planning and scheduling function of 麻豆原创 IS-H. Through it, we鈥檙e able to optimise the utilisation of outpatient clinics and inpatient areas effectively. 麻豆原创 IS-H also allows for more efficient and accurate entry of diagnoses, activities and services rendered to ensure a reliable basis for all internal costing, thus improving the accuracy of invoices and related revenues.

Similarly, improved quality and accuracy of coding verification control and price calculations for basic medical service data ensure regulatory compliance. Invoicing and payment handling enable improved accounting processes, decreased communication expenses and reduced service and transaction costs. The integrated contract management, billing and automated claims processing ensure accurate billing between private and medical aid submissions.

Healthcare as a service

Over recent years, against the backdrop of rapid advances in cloud computing, efforts were made to migrate these same functions to the T-Systems Dynamic Computing hosted environment, creating a 鈥榟ealthcare as a service鈥� solution. Now, with minimal infrastructure upgrades, hosting, support, project services, software and maintenance, functions can be rapidly implemented. Healthcare as a service incorporates the end-to-end healthcare value chain, including the three critical domains of a hospital 鈥� the patient, the enterprise and the employee.

This dedication to innovation speaks to how T-Systems continues to offer patient-centric solutions explicitly designed to meet the challenges of hospitals and healthcare providers in the modern era. These supporting collaborative activities empower clinicians to quickly and reliably share information that results in accurate, rapid decision-making. In an administrative capacity, they鈥檝e allowed hospital administrators to work co-operatively with payers, suppliers, other healthcare providers and public authorities.

Conclusion

Evidenced by having contributed to the successful administration of approximately a third of all private hospitals in South Africa today, T-Systems South Africa continues to deliver healthcare solutions that create world-class healthcare facilities. By integrating end-to-end processes across the entire organisation, simplifying and co-ordinating all aspects from admission planning to analytics, healthcare facilities are able to significantly improve patient care, drive efficiencies, attract and retain medical professionals while improving profitability.

Refer to 鈥�T-Systems Healthcare Portfolio 2020鈥� to understand the comprehensive services and solutions offering for healthcare operations.

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Companies in the healthcare sector are usually insulated from economic disruption due to the steady demand for medical products and procedures, but the impact of the coronavirus is different, because of its medical nature. As a result, this has had numerous short, medium and long-term impacts on the healthcare industry.

It鈥檚 imperative for the healthcare industry to streamline internal information flow and communications to provide accurate patient management from admission to discharge. This information should allow for correct and focused care for patients and should automatically build a comprehensive database of patient history. The challenge, especially now, is to keep the administrative business process as seamless as possible so that the focus is on day-to-day patient care rather administration and data capture. That鈥檚 where enterprise resource planning (ERP)聽technology comes into play.

Harnessing the proven processes of 麻豆原创 Business One, Seidor Africa provides the expertise required to provide medical, patient care and hospital management companies with a powerful integrated ERP system that allows them to manage their healthcare business optimally, even in the face of a crisis. By automating key business functions in financials, operations and human resources, management and employees are empowered to make intelligent data-driven decisions and are freed up to focus on the important parts of their job rather than running the admin.

For patient care and hospital management, the Seidor Africa healthcare solution is customisable and specifically designed for medium-sized organisations. The technology allows for management of the organisational structure of groups with anything from three to 26 clinic or hospital entities. What this means is a single integrated system that enables reporting, alerts and statistics in real-time.

The most compelling part of the system is a powerful billing engine that defines and applies payer and medical aid rules and benefits. The system ensures the correct NAPPI code is provided, which not only enables the electronic transfer of information throughout the healthcare delivery chain, but also eliminates costly errors and delays. It also means the correct governance and financial control is put in place automatically.

This comprehensive billing solution takes out human error from processes, enabling clients to make live cashflow forecasts by handling patient administration and billing more effectively, which is vital for hospitals and hospital groups.

For the warehousing and distribution arm of the healthcare sector, solutions are designed to automate processes and improve profitability in an industry where the pressure is high and the competition tough. Efficient and accurate data is critical for inventory control, appropriate storage of pharmaceuticals, and material replenishment planning (MRP), which moves inventory from product storage locations to storage, picking and shipment locations. This keeps inventory flowing through the supply chain by maintaining efficient order and line item fill rates. The systems also monitor expiration dates and ensure a first-in-first-out approach.

Accurate data in the medical sector is vital and, no matter what part of the industry clients are in, there is a need for an intuitive and easy-to-use system that is built around the industry鈥檚 specific business rules. The need is for an affordable solution that helps the organisation run a smart, fast, interactive system that easily assists with all the business processes. The aim for all users is a continuous improvement, moving towards growing their bottom line.

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鈥淗ealthcare providers are under increasing pressure to deliver improved patient experiences and streamline their operations with mounting financial constraints,鈥� says Johann Joubert, CEO at Converge Solutions. 鈥淭he answer to affordable, improved patient care is not always more staff, controls or administrative processes, but greater adoption of technology that aids automates and simplifies, allowing more effective use of available resources. Modern healthcare organisations simply cannot function optimally without applying technology as a key enabler of their operations. In light of this, we co-developed an innovative, modern 麻豆原创 IS-H and Cerner i.s.h.med offering to create a fit-for-purpose solution for the African healthcare market.鈥�

Converge Solutions is an 麻豆原创 partner organisation that develops innovative solutions for African organisations in the healthcare and financial services industries. The healthcare solution was developed partly through a co-innovation exercise held in collaboration with the 麻豆原创 Co-Innovation Lab, a global network of 麻豆原创 product and innovation labs found in 16 locations worldwide, including Johannesburg. The 麻豆原创 Co-Innovation Lab creates a platform for local 麻豆原创 partners and customers to minimise the risk associated with large-scale innovation projects built on 麻豆原创 technologies and solutions.

According to Rudi de Louw, Head of the 麻豆原创 Co-Innovation Lab at 麻豆原创 Africa, the healthcare solution developed by Converge fills a very clear gap in the local healthcare industry鈥檚 digital transformation efforts. 鈥淲orking with Johann and his team, we identified a clear opportunity to offer a fit-for-purpose solution for the African healthcare market, with an initial focus on South African organisations. Thanks to the scalability of the solution through 麻豆原创鈥檚 infrastructure, and the Converge team鈥檚 expert knowledge of the African healthcare industry, it comes as no surprise to see Converge鈥檚 enhanced versions of the solution already being adopted by healthcare organisations in other African markets.鈥�

The most recent client that implemented Converge鈥檚 麻豆原创 solution, is Fresenius Medical Care, as a key building block in enabling their World Class Patient Experience vision. The solution is centrally deployed in a private cloud environment, and used across Fresenius鈥� 67 clinics in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Swaziland.

Joubert says healthcare is an inherently complex industry, and private healthcare in particular. 鈥淚n the South African private healthcare context, doctors are not employed by the hospital and outpatient services are independent legal entities, with the hospital acting in many ways, as a real estate business that rents space to different healthcare professionals in addition to the hospital鈥檚 own services. During the course of their stay, one patient may interact with multiple external healthcare professionals and/or entities, who deliver independent yet interrelated services to the patient.鈥�

He adds that patients also have a range of benefit structures from different medical aid schemes, with different pricing mechanism, which adds layers of complexity. 鈥淭he key is to deploy a solution that simplifies all of this complexity, allowing a single view of the patient, with high levels of automation and sophistication, freeing up healthcare professionals to spend more time with the patient. There are a range of offerings in the market that are very simple to deploy and simple to use, but without the sophistication to address all of these elements effectively, forcing hospitals to throw people towards a system deficiency. Our solution doesn鈥檛 ignore these complexities, it simplifies them, with an appropriate level of control, flexibility and ease of use.鈥�

According to government data, South Africa has 80 medical schemes with more than 8 million beneficiaries. Submitting medical aid claims and checking the eligibility of patient benefits for certain procedures or care can be a time-consuming administrative burden without the appropriate solutions in place. 鈥淲e integrate to Medikredit, a switching company for medical aid claims that has enabled real-time eligibility checking, amongst other rich functionality. Healthcare organisations using our solution can quickly check that patient benefits are still intact and that the medical aid will cover the costs. Once the service is billed, the claim can be submitted to the medical aid scheme immediately and with minimal rejections since the eligibility of the claim was performed beforehand. This integrated approach ensures a dramatically lower claim rejection rate.鈥�

Joubert adds that a large part of the co-innovation project focused on reducing the operational complexity inherent within healthcare organisations. 鈥淲e made use of best practices, but also ensured the system is localised to serve the specific operational needs of African private sector hospitals. This was achieved through more than a decade of working side by side with healthcare entities to understand their pains and architect solutions, along with an active inclusion of industry thought leaders through the system enhancement process. We also extended the standard 麻豆原创 solution by integrating our own solutions to augment what is already offered, including Patient Myth (a digital patient survey and intervention platform), Impi (a clinical incident management platform), Virtual Forms (a form digitalisation platform) and Triton (an advanced acuity based nursing planning and optimisation solution).鈥�

鈥淲e have partnered and/or integrated with a number of other leading entities including, but not limited to, Cerner, Elsevier and Medikredit,鈥� says Joubert. 鈥淲e are constantly evaluating and integrating other products and partners into our ecosystem to ensure that healthcare providers can source all IT related products and services from one point of accountability. Our solutions offer simplification and predictability, extending to timeline, budget, appropriate levels of sophistication and standardised levels of care, to cover all permutations of healthcare in Africa.鈥�

The post 麻豆原创 and Converge Solutions Co-Innovation Project Delivers Powerful Healthcare Solution for African Hospitals appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.