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JAMAICAN MINISTRY OF HEALTH

PATIENT ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM - OVERVIEW

The Jamaican Ministry of Health (JMOH) several years ago was approved by the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) for a $150 million (U.S.) Hospital Service Rationalization Programme, presently underway in that country.

A part of the overall Hospital Service Rationalization Programme relates to hospital management information systems, and in May of 1995 the JMOH went to tender to select a system for five (5) hospitals. This project is referred to as the Patient Administration System, and the five (5) hospitals represent Phase I. The application software modules in this PAS system include the following: Central Patient Index (CPI); Community Central Patient Index (CCPI); Admit/Discharge/Transfer (ADT); Health Records Abstracting; Outpatients Booking; Accounts Receivable/Billing; and Report Writer.

Heron Technology Corp. (HTC) was invited to respond to this tender, as were several other Canadian and US firms who specialize in Hospital Information Systems. HTC came to the attention of the Jamaican MOH as a result of their inquiry to the Canadian High Commission in Kingston, Jamaica, for a list of Canadian firms providing software solutions to the health care industry. HTC was listed in the database as a result of data gathered by Industry Canada through their annual survey of Canadian High-Technology companies.

HTC then established a business relationship with a local Jamaican firm, Interface Consultants Limited (ICL), of Kingston, and a joint bid on behalf of HTC/ICL was submitted on June 15, 1995 by Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), wholly owned by the Government of Canada. CCC represents Canadian firms, particularly smaller ones, in the International marketplace and has some 2,000 active contracts outstanding representing some $765 million in the most recent fiscal year.

The CCC bid was selected by the Jamaican MOH, and a letter from Mrs. Marcia Gibson, Health Reform Unit Systems Specialist, confirming this was issued on July 31, 1995 to HTC's local business partner, Trevor Blair, President of Interface Consultants Limited. Approval from the IDB was required and documents were prepared under the guidance of Mrs. Gibson and issued to the IDB in this regard.

The communiqué from the Jamaican MOH, namely from Anthony Gibson, Chairman, Government Contracts Committee, dated May 10, 1996, confirms approval of the CCC RFP response in the amount of $306,110 (U.S.). This was subsequently approved at the government cabinet meeting on November 18, 1996, and the contract was signed by the Minister of Health, Dr. the Honourable Peter Phillips, on April 23, 1997.

The first five implementations were carried out in the fall of 1997 at: Cornwall Regional Hospital (282 beds), Montego Bay; Mandeville Hospital (163 beds), Mandeville; St. Ann's Bay Hospital (150 beds), St. Ann's Bay; May Pen Hospital (70 beds), May Pen, and the Kingston Public Hospital (408 beds), Kingston. These hospitals went live with the PAS in February/March, 1998. Phase II, covering an additional fifteen (15) hospitals is anticipated to get underway in the 1998/99 timeframe.

More information on the JMOH Implementation