Coasters to get mobile reminders from doctors

Media Release

Coasters to get mobile reminders from doctors

Greymouth, 12 November 2012 – Coasters are set to receive mobile messages from their General Practice for appointment, screening and immunisation reminders in an initiative designed to better connect General Practioners and their patients and improve population health.

The West Coast PHO, in collaboration with the Canterbury District Health Board and Pegasus Health in Christchurch, will be offering Vensa Health’s TXT2Remind practice-patient messaging system, to General Practices in South Westland, Greymouth and the Buller region.

Anthony Cooke, CEO of the West Coast PHO is excited by opportunities this initiative can provide. “TXT2Remind is a great tool for engaging with a geographically spread enrolled population, and will help to improve health outcomes by maximizing patient/doctor time and reducing the level of missed appointments. A more targeted approach to specific health needs, such as diabetes, smoking cessation and heart health can also be achieved. I would like to thank Pegasus Health and CDHB for their help, and support in this project.”
General Practioner Dr. Carol Atmore the Medical Director for the West Coast PHO and Chief Medical Officer for the West Coast District Health Boards says, “TXT2Remind helps ensure more patients attend the appointments they need at the right time to stay well in their community. Using the system GPs can be very proactive and effectively target priority health areas such as immunisations for 8 month olds or better diabetes services. When sending screening or immunisation reminders, they can also include information about why these appointments are important.”

The system will be free of charge across General Practices in the South Westland, Greymouth and Buller regions that provide primary health services to over 31,000 enrolled patients.

Ahmad Jubbawey, Chief Executive of Vensa Health says, “TXT2Remind helps ensure more patients attend the appointments they need at the right time. Seeing patients in their community in a primary healthcare setting means less people will end up in hospital beds due to not getting early intervention. mHealth initiatives like this are vital for service integration, they also deliver real savings to the healthcare system and peoples wellness, so everybody wins.”

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About Vensa Health
Vensa Health’s mission is to close the gap for people and their health, one by one. Vensa Health is the leading mobile health (mHealth) solutions provider in New Zealand focusing on delivering mobile health innovations worldwide. If you have received an SMS from your doctor, hospital or physio almost certainly Vensa Health was responsible for its delivery. Vensa Health is focused on offering solutions and innovations, which add value to their clients, and it’s the fundamental philosophy underpinning all of their services and technology offerings. With nearly 80% adoption of mobile health in New Zealand and a solid customer base, Vensa Health is focusing on Australasia and Middle East regions in its expansion. www.vensahealth.com

About the West Coast PHO

The West Coast PHO is a not-for-profit community trust that plans, co-ordinates, funds and provides primary health care for West Coasters. It is also the network of health practitioners who work out of general practices, rural clinics or medical centres up and down the West Coast.
www.westcoastpho.org.nz

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