IQ Health, a joint venture company owned by Fedsure Health and the IQ Business Group, has successfully clinched a major software deal worth US$1million for the roll out of its Renaissance General Practice Management system to medical clinics in Western Australia.
The initial agreement covers roll out of the system to 15 clinics, with the first phase of implementation at three clinics in Perth already completed. However, a further provisional agreement is also in place for the eventual roll out of Renaissance to a total 3000 doctors right across the country, confirms IQ Health Technologies MD, Wim Booyse.
"We are delighted to have entered the Australian market on such a strong ticket," he adds. "This is the first time ever that South African developed Doctor practice management healthcare software has been sold into Australia, so we consider it a particularly weighty endorsement."
The deal follows on the sale of a non-transferable copy of the source code recently negotiated by IQ Health with Western Australian based healthcare company, HealthIT, giving it exclusive rights based on performance, of Renaissance in Australia.
The company oversaw installation of the package at the initial three clinics in Perth and will continue to manage its roll out to remaining clinics in the state.
"The deal is exceptionally well timed," he continues. "The Australian government is currently campaigning strongly to get local medical practitioners to look to IT solutions for better, more integrated management of all aspects of general practise, in that country.
"Renaissance offers exceptional integration and is the first package to also integrate electronic billing within the total patient healthcare management cycle, from bookings to referrals to prescription management and patient records.
"Previously, these were all managed under separate systems.
"It is also easily integrated into thin client environments which makes it ideal for clinic situations running off of a central server," he adds.
Leading by example, Renaissance has also been customised for easy integration into Australia`s national Health Insurance Commission (HIC) systems responsible for administering Government health, private insurance and veteran healthcare cover. This has enabled the first electronic communications infrastructure between it, state clinics and private practitioners which is expected to contribute to a further improvement in the healthcare delivery process.
According to Booyse, the success of the implementation opens up important potential for other IQ Health developed software solutions such as Optimax system for optometrist practices in Australia.
"We certainly see our current roll out of Renaissance as the building block to much greater future involvement in the Australian marketplace," he stresses.
The only Windows based 4GL package for general practice management in South Africa, IQ Health is co-ordinating a controlled roll out of the product here by targeting mainly healthcare Independent Practitioner Associations (IPAs) such as SOIPA, TSHWANE and, more recently, VIPA.
"The intention is to first empower previously disadvantaged GPs with technology before marketing Renaissance more extensively to other practices," says Booyse.
This would eventually give the package a potential 8 500 sites in South Africa, and IQ Health even greater dominance of the local healthcare IT market.
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The IQ Business Group
The IQ Business Group was formally launched in August 1998, with the aim of becoming the premier provider of technology-enabled business process solutions to the South African corporate market. These solutions (many of which involve outsourcing or co-sourcing) are targeted essentially at the Financial Services, Healthcare and Logistics sectors.
In January 1999, the company formed a joint venture with Fedsure Health to provide solutions to South Africa`s healthcare market. In March of the same year, IQ announced People Human Resources and Payroll Management Services (Pty) Ltd, (p.e.o.p.l.e), an outsourcing company focused on providing a range of HR and related services. An acronym for Professional Employer Organisation, Payroll, Legal, Equity, p.e.o.p.le is the result of the recent joint venture between NMG, actuarial and employee benefits consultants, and the IQ Business Group itself. In December the company announced a R1,5-billion merger with Spicer Technologies.
Headed by a team of former Arthur Andersen alumni under Johan Roets, the IQ Business Group has attracted investment from Mettle! (formerly Boland Financial Services (BFS)) which has a 22,2% shareholding, Black Empowerment Group Hoskens Consolidated Investments Limited with 22,2% and Supergroup Limited, which has a 27,7% shareholding. The balance of the shares are held by management.
IQ`s management team emphasises a creative and dynamic approach to finding solutions - one that is capable of leveraging available competencies in order to achieve sustainable improvement to their clients` businesses. Many of these will be outsourced to and managed by the IQ Business Group.