Patient care digitised

NETCARE: R600M PROGRAMME TO REDUCE COSTS, IMPROVE NURSE CARE

Patients will have access to records and doctors will have all the information to correctly diagnose and treat them.

Netcare has embarked on an ambitious R600 million digitisation programme set for completion in 2022. Speaking at its results presentation this week, chief executive Dr Richard Friedland said the programme was expected to:

Increase participatory care by the patient, who will have full access to their medical records, enabling them to stay abreast of their medical condition and diagnosis;

Remove service fragmentation, so simple tests and medical procedures don’t need to be repeated, increasing efficiency and reducing patient costs; and

Lead to improved treatment protocols, where specialists and doctors readily have all the information available to correctly diagnose and treat patients.

The system will be piloted at Netcare Milpark Hospital from March 2019 and the rollout to the rest of the Netcare hospitals is scheduled to begin in 2020, with completion by 2022. Netcare has already successfully completed Netcare 911’s digitisation.

Friedland says the group has seen “extraordinary” benefits to date.

“This new system will essentially create an electronic trail of procedures, diagnosis and treatments for patients.

“There’s currently a severe shortage of nursing staff in both the public and private healthcare sectors.

“Too often, we see older, experienced nurses not spending enough time on the practical aspects of patient care because they are tied up in administrative work.

“The digitisation programme will alleviate their admin workload, so they are able to focus on the patients more,” he says.

Apple chosen as partner

Netcare is partnering with Apple and nurses will be able to access the patient’s electronic medical records via iPads. “There will be no breach of confidentiality as ownership of the information rests with the patient and they will have to sign permission for their data to be recorded electronically before being admitted to a hospital,” Friedland says. Netcare chose Apple as it’s a closed ecosystem with a reduced chance of being hacked. “No patient information will be downloaded to individual iPads.” Electus Fund Managers equity analyst and fund manager Neil Brown says SA’s private hospitals are being squeezed by government, regulations and the larger medical schemes.

“In order to just maintain their current [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation], or operating profit margins, companies such as Netcare have to become smarter by adopting efficient measures such as the digitisation programme.

“It is too early to say whether there will be related job losses.”

Netcare employs 22 000 people in SA.

For the year to September 2018, its revenue climbed 8.4% to R20.71 billion while the operating margin crept down 0.5% to 20.3%, with a normalised operating profit of R3.48 billion.

Adjusted headline earnings per share from continuing operations grew 0.6% to 171.6 cents from 170.6 cents a year before.

Netcare shareholders will receive a final dividend of 60 cents per share, up 5.3% over the previous period, and an additional special dividend of 40 cents a share.

Too early to say whether there will be related job losses.