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Swipe to pay your hospital bill, access medical information

By Standard Digital Reporter

Nairobi, Kenya: As Information Communication Technology (ICT) continues to reinvigorate and revolutionize services in various sectors, a medical institution has embraced the technology and is out to change service provision in the health care sector.

Patients visiting Pathologists Lancet Kenya, an independent laboratory institution, will soon start using electronic cards to access and pay for treatment, just as it is done in the banking, shopping and travelling sectors.

Lancet has come up with ICT solutions that reduce the time you need to spend completing the required paper work, through a healthcare card, encoded with patients unique identifications number that links to patients’ details, insurance or medical scheme information and any payment data.

The ICT solutions include a mobile application for doctors to access patient results on mobile devices; Care Card with customizations geared for non-communicable chronic disease patients to have continuity in care and direct credit and an SMS alert platform for patients when test results are completed.

Other solutions include enhanced Online Portal system (Path Portal) for results delivery to doctors;  Electronic verification of membership validity and limits for insurance patients; and a revamped  new look website with customer-centric features including online booking, live feeds and newsletters

The care card known as the Lancet Kenya Care Card is a new system that may revolutionize healthcare in Kenya and is a means of eliminating the frustrating documentation process generally required prior to having a medical test.

The occasion which officially launched by Director of Vision 2030 Mugo Kabati who lauded the innovation and added that it was only through such ideas that the country would achieve its objectives as outlined in the vision.

The country’s organization Chief Executive Officer Dr Yakub Kalebi noted that the innovation had the capability for seamless Electronic Medical Records (EMR) integration, which cuts waste and ensures patients’ records can be retrieved at will through the Path Portal and Mobile pps systems.

“The Care Card benefits chronic disease and non-communicable illness patients who require regular frequent testing and follow-up of their results regardless of which doctor they visit. It also boosts the integration to healthcare micro-financing,” said Kalebi.

The innovation by Lancet, in the electronic Laboratory Information Systems (LIS) ensure permanent record of test results as well as promptness in report delivery therefore cutting wastes in terms of re-ordering of tests when paper reports can't be traced or get misplaced, tracking and monitoring of changes in test results and elimination of frustrations experienced by medical personnel and patients.

“Seamless access to medical test results have definite benefits particularly for chronic disease patients on long term follow-up such as those with diabetes, kidney ailments, cancer, coagulation disorders and HIV/AIDS,” says Kalebi.

Lancet’s IT manager Patrick Were explains that with the lancet care card, paper work is eliminated as the patient simply need to hand his or her personalized card to a medical staff, who will scan on the system and upload the patients details securely and confidentially.

Were explains that the organization has ensured the safety of the information as the Part Portal is not hosted in a secured mode.

The innovation, according to Were has a mobile application for doctors to access patients results on mobile devices and also has an sms alert platform to notify doctors if the results are ready and they are delivered through an enhanced Online Portal System (Path Portal).

The organization’s Business Development Manager Mr Pithon Mbogo noted that Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems are increasingly being adopted in Kenya to improve medical record management, health program management, and the quality of patient care. 

Mbogo says the organization was determined to initiate a new paradigm shift in the world of medicine, by improving the way patients’ access education, reduce paper work and bureaucracies that affect service delivery.

“We are targeting the 47 counting in the country to ensure that medical care can be accessed by just the click of a button. The innovation is world class and it’s a unique way of doing business,” said Mbogo.

He explained that the organization was concentrating on the brand awareness and had a well-established distribution channel for the service through Lancet’s 16 branches across the country.

The Ministry of Health through the Division of Health Information Systems (DHIS) has recognized the need to improve the use of ICT in health. Lancet will be launching the technology today (Thursday).

Under Strategic Objective Five of the HIS Strategic Plan 2009-2014, DHIS aims to strengthen the use and application of information and communication technology, in data management across the health sector.

The Ministry of Health has issued a Policy that EMR systems that have been developed and implemented for varying objectives and functionality, should have the ability to share patient information with other systems, programs, and the Government.

The mandate of the Ministries of Health is the provision of quality health services, promotion of equity in access, financial risk protection and overall governance and stewardship of the health sector.

Lancet has taken the lead in the development and implementation of multiple systems that  are capable of interfacing with other platforms including through the internet and mobile phones.

It is such innovative solutions that have propelled the integration of Lancet Kenya as a referral laboratory serving hospitals, clinics and other laboratories across the country and across a wide spectrum from public to private sector in different socioeconomic levels.

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