Orion Health gains success in Japanese market

Published: 07/09

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND  - (HealthTech Wire) - Orion Health, New Zealand's leading health sector software exporter, has made its first entry into the Japanese market with the success of a pilot study with the Japanese Medical Network Association (JMNA).

Orion Health's Rhapsody Integration Engine is to be used as part of JMNA's ‘Super Dolphin' project, which aims to interconnect hospitals throughout Japan with super-efficient data mapping of their patient information.

During the pilot phase, the software tested successfully between the country's prefectures including Tokyo and Kyoto and proved its ability to integrate healthcare information across the many variables in the Japanese system. The next stage will focus on expanding the data mapping formats, speed and versatility for the larger scale system.

Orion Health CEO Ian McCrae says the Rhapsody integration engine, which manages and streamlines message exchange between hospital applications, databases and external systems, is being used in hundreds of sites throughout the world.

He says the company had spent more than a year working on developing the Japanese partnership with NIWS Medical Systems (NMS). Mr McCrae says the success of the pilot could see hundreds of Rhapsody licences sold in Japan as the country grapples with the issue of medical documents, records and external prescriptions being written in different formats, making seamless healthcare information exchange difficult.

Japan's JMNA, established two years ago to integrate healthcare information, says the pilot study showed the software was able to support the goals of building electronic health record systems. “We were particularly happy that we could address and solve the technical issues unique to the Japanese health care sector,” said Dr. Yoshihara, Chairman of JMNA

Orion Health was assisted in its debut into the Japanese market by local knowledge and expertise through NZTE. The market is renowned for being particularly challenging, and NZTE's George Arnold says this is not just because of language and cultural barriers, but also because selecting the right Japanese partner is crucial to success and it can be very difficult to determine which potential partner provides the best strategic fit.

“We helped Orion Health by introducing them to a well-connected partner in the health arena, and this has led directly to their first deal”

Orion Health began in Auckland, New Zealand in 1993, and now has more than 200 employees and supplies technology and services to 1,000 clients in 20 countries.