Medscheme is to complete the transfer of all its schemes on its mainframe to its new database provided by Oracle by the end of June, says Medscheme`s IT director, Kevin Wright.
Wright says Medscheme has been developing a new software system for the last seven years and chose Oracle to assist it in producing a fully integrated system with maximum flexibility.
"In a world of online real-time claims, it is necessary to have all systems synchronised," he says.
"The other advantages are data integrity, scalability and ease of maintenance. System development is now much faster, giving far greater flexibility for innovative product design," says Wright.
Medscheme began transferring the first of its schemes, Medshield, which has 90 000 families, to the Oracle database in February and transferred its biggest scheme, Bonitas, which has 230 000 families, in April.
Wright says the remainder of the smaller schemes will be transferred before the end of June and the old mainframe will be decommissioned.
Wright says the New Pulse system integrates 14 modules, from the basic administration functionality to e-communication via Web, e-mail and SMS. Workflow, management reporting and interfaces with brokers and loyalty programmes have also been built into New Pulse.
"Gone are the days of medical aids taking several months to pay. Over 95% of all our electronic claims are now received and processed without human intervention within five seconds. Productivity is now improved, even for the paper claims received by Medscheme, as a single assessor can capture 3 400 claim lines in an eight-hour shift," he says.
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