Interior Health Authority and Care Anywhere: a Winning Combination at 2004 CIPA Awards
November 5, 2004
British Columbia's Interior Health Authority (IHA) was awarded a Gold Award of Excellence at the 2004 Canadian Information Productivity Awards (CIPA), held on November 2. For more than 12 years, CIPA has been celebrating Canadians and Canadian organizations that have achieved excellence in productivity through innovative adoption of information technology.
IHA won the Gold award in the Mobile Solutions category for their implementation of GoldCare's Care Anywhere—a mobile community care application developed by Campana Systems Inc. in Waterloo, Ontario. Care Anywhere enables the 275 IHA community case managers, many of whom work in remote areas of BC's interior, to perform a variety of clinical assessments, including interRAI MDS assessments, on laptops while in a client's home. The information is then synchronized between the laptop and the head-office server. Because case managers need only enter patient information once, electronically, collected information is accurate and up-to-date. The reduction in administrative time means caregivers are able spend more time with their patients, resulting in better-quality care and improved patient/family support.
On-hand to accept the award for IHA were Penny Lane, Executive Director, Home and Community Care Planning and Development, Norma Malanowich, Director Electronic Health Records Development, and Melanie Abedrabo, Manager Community Health Systems. "Receiving such recognition from CIPA for our Care Anywhere system reaffirms our belief that investing in technology is essential to ensuring the continued development of our home and community care programs," says Malanowich.
Also on-hand for the award were GoldCare's Vice President, Brad Bell and Director of Marketing, Wes Radulski. "We work in partnership with our clients to find innovative solutions that meet their organizational directives and improve their productivity. CIPA's recognition of IHA's system demonstrates that we're doing exactly that," added Radulski.
Using Care Anywhere, IHA now has the technology to provide home and community care to support its mission of helping seniors stay healthy and living independently in their own homes for as long as possible.
Interior Health Authority
Interior Health Authority formed on December 12, 2001 from 19 pre-existing health organizations. All combined, the authority provides care to 690,000 people—16.5% of the population of BC, and covers 233,000 km2, comprising of mostly rural communities. Before amalgamating, each of the former health regions used their own clinical systems. With the implementation of Care Anywhere and AIM—GoldCare's interRAI-licensed MDS-HC Assessment tool, the new organization now operates on a single, integrated, efficient system.
Campana Systems Inc.
Established in 1988, Campana Systems Inc. develops and supports GoldCare software. GoldCare's suite of care-management applications integrates clinical, administrative, financial and reporting requirements for single or multi-site health-services providers. For continuity of care, GoldCare offers business, resident and community support management, scheduling, payroll and fully-integrated Health Records that includes MDS with QI, RUGS, Outcomes and Care Plan Builder. For more information, visit www.takebettercare.com
Canadian Information Productivity Awards
The Canadian Information Productivity Awards (C.I.P.A.) program is the premier showcase for Canadian IT and innovation. For the past 12 years, its mission has been to find visionary organizations that have developed innovative results-based technology solutions in the areas of mobile solutions, efficiency and operational improvements, customer care, and organization transformation. For more information, visit www.cipa.com