New solution to lower health care costs
LOCAL medical professionals stand to benefit significantly from the introduction of a new electronic health care solution designed to improve operational efficiencies.
The solution, branded ‘Cellma’, was launched by software development company RioMed and information technology (IT) provider Fujitsu on Thursday at the Mona Visitor’s Lodge in Kingston.
Cellma is geared at increasing the safety, quality and profitability of patient care. It allows its users to effectively monitor patient administration, records and scheduling as well as manage supplies, inventory and billing requirements.
The system reduces costs, investment risks and, being mobile, it allows for the services to be provided from multiple locations, said RioMed marketing manager Hal Mohammed.
RioMed is an international software development company that provides healthcare applications to Europe and the Americas.
Costs are reduced to users as Fujitsu Caribbean hosts the system on its “cloud”. Cloud computing allows for IT services to be retrieved via the Internet through web-based tools, without a client being in direct connection to a server storing the information. This means users will not have to bear costs associated with purchasing and maintaining servers and other equipment and technologies needed to maintain services.
Cellma is priced at a standard US$250 ($21,532) per month, with additional fees being incurred with the use of other services. The system is “pay as you go”, giving users the opportunity to customise the services they want and to pay only for what they use, said Sandra Jones, vice-president of Marketing and Communications at Fujitsu Caribbean.
It’s important that the entire cost of providing these services yourself be considered for the true value of Cellma to be realised for users, said Mervyn Eyre, Fujitsu Caribbean’s president and CEO.
Cellma has been in the Caribbean since 2007, used by the Health Ministry in Trinidad and Tobago to manage its HIV service, but is only now coming to Jamaica after reviews of how the service was to be offered to make it affordable here.
