Government signs $20m healthcare IT contract

The Ministry of Health, the Elderly and Community Care and Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS) yesterday signed a formal agreement that will improve the delivery of healthcare to patients and ensure more accurate and safe digitally stored medical records, the government said.

Through this agreement, ACS will provide the hardware, software and expertise needed to maintain laboratory information systems, radiology information systems, picture archiving, and communications systems.

ACS Healthcare Solutions will be vital in helping professionals to make more precise and faster diagnoses of patients' conditions that will facilitate more rapid interventions, the government said.

Additionally, the agreement supplies doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals with the latest in healthcare technology, meeting and exceeding standards existing anywhere else in the world.

The agreement is the first phase of the government's Integrated Health Information System (IHIS) programme, that will improve the management of healthcare records and to integrate state-of-the-art digital medical equipment in Malta's Mater Dei Hospital.

The seven-year, $20.9 million contract was signed by Frank Mifsud, permanent secretary, and by Charles O. Bracken, managing director and Arvind P. Kumar, senior vice president and managing partner, of ACS Healthcare Solutions.

ACS is a leading provider of healthcare IT services to clients around the world. It has more than 4,000 healthcare clients and 2,300 dedicated IT-healthcare employees.

It is a fully-owned subsidiary of US-based Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., a global provider of business process outsourcing and information technology solutions to world-class commercial and government clients.