eOrder initiatives remain high on DHBs’ priorities

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In 2010, Auckland became the first New Zealand district health board to use Eclair to electronically order radiology tests. Since then, Sysmex has been involved in a growing number of eOrder initiatives for radiology services (eRad) and laboratory services (eLab) across New Zealand.

Sysmex Eclair eRad is now used by four of the largest DHBs in the country (by population) – Auckland, Counties Manukau, Waitemata and Canterbury – covering just over half of the country’s population.

Sysmex Eclair eLab has been implemented throughout New Zealand in both hospital and community settings. The three main private providers, Medlab Central, Pathology Associates and Healthscope, all offer electronic lab orders as part of their service and are gradually rolling it out to the DHBs they cover.

The increase in eOrder projects and move to paperless digital workflows aligns with the Ministry of Health’s decision to assess public hospitals against the HIMSS EMR Adoption Model (EMRAM).

EMRAM was created to track a healthcare organisation’s progress towards achieving a paperless patient record environment and involves facilities being assessed and scored based on their level of EMR adoption from Stage 0 through Stage 7.

Electronic orders with clinical decision support are a major component in Stage 4 of the EMRAM model.

The implementation of electronic ordering also brings other benefits, including a reduction in duplicate ordering, accurate information and cost savings.

The number of ongoing Sysmex eOrder projects continues to grow with the announcement of two new projects with Counties Manukau Health and South Island Alliance.

Counties Manukau Health are expanding their successful electronic hospital lab orders pilot to include HL7 lab order messages between Eclair and Delphic LIS and the implementation of the Eclair Collection Management module.

The South Island Alliance is now looking to leverage Canterbury DHB’s eRad solution and experience to extend electronic ordering of hospital radiology requests to three other DHBs – Nelson Marlborough, West Coast and South Canterbury.

The roll-out of eOrders for radiology will mean four out of five DHBs in the South Island will utilise a single instance of Eclair eRad along with a single shared instance of the RIS, and will also see the implementation of electronic sign-off at Nelson Marlborough DHB and possibly South Canterbury DHB. 

Source: Sysmex, 27 August 2018

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