Mobile health IT specialist gets govt funding boost

Auckland mobile health IT vendor Vensa Health has been granted $252,000 by the recently-formed Ministy of Science and Innovation to carry out further research and development relating to its technology that enables interactive mobile communications between health providers and patients.

The ministry was formed in June last year, from the merger of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology.

Vensa Health flagship product is the Txt2Remind practice-patient messaging system, which enables healthcare providers to send mobile text message health appointment reminders and health promotion messages for breast and cervical screening, diabetes and cardiac checks, immunisations, medication reminders, and more, directly to patients.

The company's chief executive, Ahmad Jubbawey, says in a statement announcing the grant: "Currently around one in ten appointments are missed, and each missed appointment represents a lost opportunity for early intervention. Our system can be used in a very targeted way to more effectively deliver on the government's priority health targets such as immunisations for under 2's, better diabetes and cardiovascular services, and improved access to elective surgery. "

According to Jubbawey, a recent 'Global Mobile Health Market Report', published by mobile research firm research2guidance, predicts around five hundred million people will be using mobile health apps by 2015.

"The mobile revolution in healthcare that everyone has been talking about is happening. Our new technology will help us be part of that as governments and health providers look for innovative ways to achieve the best health outcomes and consumers demand better access," he says.

Vensa Health's General Manager of ICT Anossis Oliveira says, "Vensa is now recognised as a key player in the mobile health sector (mHealth). Our new generation scalable SOA platform interfaces easily with all major patient management systems, and is compliant to all key national and international health message formats and standards. We have multi-lingual message capabilities, and a complete end-to-end audit trail of all outgoing and incoming messages. We also have close to real-time message delivery capabilities through leveraging established relationships with major Telco gateways."

The $252,000 grant builds on an earlier one of $30,000 from the MinistryVensa Health received an earlier investment of $30,000 from the Ministry.