Jamaica’s health care industry has received a technological boost with the launch of a system that is expected to facilitate the comprehensive management of a doctor’s practice as well as larger medical facilities.

The Provider Access System, Medical Practice Management System (PAS-MD), which was developed by health care technology provider Advanced Integrated Systems (AIS), is the most recent addition to the company’s suite of technological solutions.

Among its features are electronic lab requisition, electronic prescriptions, PAS health apps for both doctors and patients, and patient scheduling.

The PAS-MD will allow for doctors and patients to communicate through what is called telemedicine, which facilitates remote health care and so will allow doctors to do consultations and monitor health conditions remotely. The PAS-MD is reportedly already being used by some medical practices.“Today we are here to witness the official launch of PAS-MD for medical practices. Apart from the many efficiencies it will bring to medical practices… we can tell you that its success would provide the last link Jamaica needs to be in the enviable position of being the country with the access to the largest, up-to-date, real-time database of health information,” chairman and CEO of AIS Doug Halsall said on Tuesday.Halsall, who was speaking at the launch of the management system at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston, stated that with the permission of doctors, non-confidential data can be used by the Ministry of Health as an online database to provide the sort of guidance and information necessary for making proactive decisions.Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton lauded AIS for the development of the system and offered his full endorsement.He said that often, qualitative distinctions are made between the public and private sectors in health care, as if it is okay for the public sector to have less optimal service standards. However, he noted that he doesn’t share that view as both the private and public sectors have an obligation to serve customers well.“In that regard, embracing technology for the future is absolutely critical, moving away from the old, outdated systems, in this instance paper-based systems, to embracing the modern approach to doing things is going to be important for us if we are to transition and benchmark against any private sector entity in serving the clients that we serve…” Dr Tufton said.“I am here because I am embracing, endorsing and supporting this official launch of the medical practice management system, because, based on what we have seen in the presentations, it is modern technology being used in a way to serve people and serve people better,” he continued.The minister noted that a particular challenge in public health is not just lack of resources but the challenge of how to utilise the resources efficiently. He pointed out that one needs to know how to combine the best systems to get the most efficient application to use the available resources.He added that the Government is constantly trying to improve efficiency in public health, which is why they welcome and embrace new approaches in the industry.Citing that the figures in recent years showed that just under three million visits were made to public health institutions and that more than six million lab tests conducted last year, Dr Tufton said this signifies the need for technological advances in order to better serve the sector.Moving forward, the health minister said the Government will be looking at ways to improve the sector through plans such as aiming to implement a national insurance health scheme as well as making technological advances to existing systems. He noted that the Government already has several systems in operation and so it is a matter of pulling them together to create a platform that supports the various health care services that are administered.“I am excited about the prospects, because what I see here on display by AIS is the capacity to live up to expectations and that encourages me, because the extent to which we can utilise local entities to be a part of the process, because they understand the system, understand the process and are already involved in it, is the extent to which I’d like to embrace those possibilities and explore more to ensure we achieve the technological improvements that are necessary,” the minister said.— Javene Skyers