Maori providers hook into new system

By ADAM GIFFORD

A further 56 Maori health providers have been given the Ministry of Health's Profile practice management software from Auckland firm Intrahealth.

"That means every Maori provider who needs and warrants a system has got one," said project manager Teepa Wawatai.

As well as setting up the system for the new providers, the latest stage of the project involved upgrading the systems of the 107 providers already using it.

Wawatai said the ministry helped finance the development of Profile three years ago after it was unable to find a system suitable for community health providers.

It spent $2.2 million on the initial deployment and a further $1.8 million on the latest expansion.

"The project started almost five years ago when a Maori provider in the Central Regional Health Authority area said it needed a system to help it manage its business and deliver services better," Wawatai said.

"The Health Funding Agency took over the project, centralised it and increased its scope to cover providers around the country.

"Responsibility has since passed to the ministry."

Profile integrates management of electronic health records, front-desk administration and speeds up production of the reports required by the ministry.

Wawatai said the Intrahealth system could cope with conventional health practices as well as the non-clinical services many organisations took on to contribute to the overall well being of a community.

"Many non-Maori health providers treat patients on an individual basis, whereas many Maori are more accustomed to a community setting, where the role of whanau links and support play an essential part in their care," Wawatai said.

Intrahealth worked with the project team to create a community-based training programme which followed Maori protocol in a way which increased acceptance of the product among health providers, many of whom had not previously used computerised systems.

Wawatai said providers could now collect accurate and consistent data, and would be in a better position to take part in health planning.

"A lot of community providers do things general practitioners don't do, such as smoking cessation programmes or family-based things.

"They may be contracted to deliver one service but they end up doing a lot more, and there is not the recognition of lot of that community based work.

"This system enables Maori providers to get a picture of the health of their particular client base so they can go to the ministry and say 'here are the numbers, this is what people need'."

The ministry is now planning a trial of Intrahealth's health systems management solution, InSync, so sites can share information from their individual systems to give an overall view of the health of a region.