Technology provider, Advanced Integrated Systems celebrated 30 years of business on February 23.
The company, which has grown from the mere dream of founder/CEO, Doug Halsall, to the leading transaction processing service provider in the Health Insurance and Financial Services Industries, recently celebrated the momentous occasion in Norbrook at the Halsall home.
Last week, I attended the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, which showcases the best of breed in health and supporting technology.
New, improved and emerging technology was on show and it was good to know that my vision for health technology is safely imbued in what is out there to support it.
There were hundreds of booths and I strategically made my way around those I thought could bring the most value to what we are doing, and plan to do, in Jamaica.
Jamaica is far ahead of the United States (US) in certain areas of healthcare. About 20 years ago, Jamaica started the process of digitising the health insurance industry, allowing providers to submit claims online in real time.
Two weeks ago, my company, Advanced Integrated Systems, participated in the 16th annual Caribbean Neurosciences Symposium in Montego Bay, St James.
I was happy to be a part of this event, given its history of facilitating inventiveness and new methods of operation. It also helped that it was led by the always-forward-thinking Dr Carl Bruce and cosigned by the University of the West Indies (UWI).
The state of emergency in the parish did not deter attendance as participants hailed from all over the world and gathered at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.
I have been paying close attention to the reports of the effects of the flu season in the United States, understanding that although we may not get the figures locally as steadfastly as the US reports them, we generally face similar issues during this period.
The flu season normally begins in October and goes until about March, so we are now in the middle of it, and the United States Centre for Disease Control reported that it hasn't even peaked yet despite reports of at least 30 children dead and many adults affected.
The transformative role of technology is boundless as long as we are willing to open our minds to the possibilities.
Health technology can be applied to almost every aspect of healthcare to improve efficiency and access.
Traditionally, we think of going to a brick-and-mortar establishment when we want to visit a health professional either in a private practice or at a public facility.
But times are changing as access becomes more open with the development, implementation, and acceptance of health technology creating several options to remotely access healthcare.
Health sectors across developed and developing countries have long struggled with making improvements to infant and maternal health.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) for example, indicates that approximately 830 women die each day from preventable illnesses related to pregnancy and childbirth with 99 per cent of these being in developing countries.
Worldwide these two indices are very high. For many lower socio-economic groups the problem is access to health care services.
The proposed National Identification System (NIDS) has been the source of contentious debate for the last few weeks.
Jamaica is actually late in the game in providing some sort of system of this type to ensure a proper database of its citizens, which will improve the country's ability to put in place effective structures and programmes that will adequately capture the needs of the population.
The United States, for example, can track and manage its welfare services through the social-security number issued to every citizen at birth and kept until death.
October was celebrated as breast cancer awareness month and it brought into focus the very long-standing and urgent matter of the effect of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on the Jamaican, Caribbean and world population.
Although most deaths each year are from these diseases, I do not get the feeling that people generally take the issue serious enough.
At a recent event, Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton indicated that it will cost the country more than $70 billion in the next 15 years to treat persons with NCDs.
