Medihelp, one of SA`s largest medical aid administrators, is providing 24 hour on-line claims information via the Internet to its 15 000 suppliers - including medical professionals, hospitals and pharmacists - around the country.
Medihelp, which serves 760 000 "lives" on its medical schemes, is using a secure Intranet solution to offer its suppliers access to its database via the Internet.
Medihelp`s nation-wide Intranet allows doctors, hospitals or pharmacists to obtain instant information about the status of any Medihelp claim from receipt, assessment to payment.
The solution was managed and implemented by solutions provider Datacentrix, part of the Pinnacle Holdings Group, working jointly with database development specialist Logical Network Services, a member of the Datatec Group.
Medihelp administers Medihelp, its own independent medical aid scheme; Medcor, the SA prison services medical aid, and Polmed, the SA Police service.
Medihelp`s IT director Eugene K"uhn explained that the organisation already has one of the shortest periods for processing claims - 12 days from receipt to payment, on average.
"What we then needed to do was to effectively communicate, within our existing IT infrastructure, with all our suppliers and provide them with information that would make their administration more efficient and effective," he said.
"We had to find a solution that would keep the costs of healthcare down, including administration. We needed a uniform technology that all suppliers could have access to, and wasn`t too expensive."
He explained that the Internet met all Medihelp`s requirements, and through Datacentrix it set out purchasing and developing the right technology platform for its needs.
Within the fist week of going live with the Intranet, Medihelp received on-line applications from some 2000 of its suppliers.
"Besides the Intranet - accessible only to our suppliers - our home page has been a huge marketing advantage already, with Medihelp receiving numerous enquiries about membership and new applications," said K"uhn.
"This technology solution has made Medihelp a leader in its market."
Commenting on the future of Medihelp`s Internet/Intranet strategy, K"uhn stated that the next step for Medihelp is to make claims accessible to all its members, not just the medical professionals. "In addition, we plan to offer on-line verification of membership and patient identification for medical professionals," he said.
"The Internet is a flexible solution and Medihelp, together with our suppliers and members, will explore other services using this medium."
K"uhn added that Datacentrix was chosen for its ability to integrate and manage the entire project, and for its in-depth understanding of Medihelp`s needs.
"The key element for us was that the infrastructure recommended by Datacentrix was the right platform and suited our needs exactly."
Klaas Lammers, sales and marketing director at Datacentrix said that the technology infrastructure at Medihelp, in addition to existing mainframe technology, now consists of four Hewlett Packard servers, a Microsoft SQL server, and an Internet Proxy server.
"In addition, we have installed a Novell fileserver running NetWare for SAA, and a Novell communications Server running GroupWise 5.1 for Internet mail," said Lammers.
Medihelp`s head office is in Pretoria, and it has regional offices in Cape Town, Pietermaritzburg, Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein all connected via an X.25 WAN network.
"For its Internet access Medihelp started off with a 64 Kbps leased line, and to cater for demand has quadrupled its bandwidth to 256 Kbps, via Internet Service Provider UUNET Internet Africa," said Lammers. Datacentrix can be visited on the World Wide Web at www.datacentrix.co.za
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