australian it, page-3

system in tests Font Size: Decrease Increase Print Page: Print Karen Dearne | June 27, 2008
THE long-awaited Lorenzo clinical software suite by IBA Health will be launched in Australia within three to four months and will be available for general release in early 2009.

Despite continuing political sniping over missed deadlines, Lorenzo has been installed in three British National Health Service hospital trusts - Morecambe Bay, Bradford and South Birmingham, and are undergoing final testing ahead of go-live next month, Gary Cohen, IBA Health Group executive chairman said.

Two early adopter sites, in Germany and Holland, have already proven Lorenzo's real-world capabilities and reliability.

"We're starting with these three trusts with Lorenzo release one, and after three to four months' actual operation it will be rolled out to a larger number of hospitals," Mr Cohen said. "The intention is to use these as a staggered and stepped approach, so it will probably take two years to roll it out to all trusts in the three regions.

"So a delay of a few weeks in going live is nothing. The reality is, significant progress has been made in the past 12 months, there are no major issues and we're just getting on with delivering."

Australia's largest healthcare IT company, IBA, had been working alongside the NHS program on a clinical version to be launched in the Australian market in the coming financial year.

"It will be truly transformational in the local market given the paucity of good clinical systems that are designed for the way we practice health care," he said. "We've spent probably $300 million to $400 million in the past few years developing Lorenzo, and we would never have been able to recoup that in the small Australian market.

"So we have to be a global player."

Mr Cohen said this was a great opportunity for the federal and state governments "to take advantage of the substantial investment that's been made elsewhere" in the system.

Lorenzo - an open platform built on Microsoft's .NET - has had a rocky journey to completion.

IBA bought the developer, iSoft, after a spectacular crash in 2006. ISoft had originally promised to deliver Lorenzo to the NHS in 2004 as part of the Britain's $25 billion IT systems overhaul, and was considered part of upgrade paths in several state contracts locally.

But rapid growth through large acquisitions and a massive financial collapse - which is still under investigation by British authorities - took the high-flying company down in flames. To make matters worse, the long-promised patient record system was exposed as "foilware", with iSoft having "no believable plan" for completing development to meet the NHS contracts, according to iSoft's partner, CSC.

IBA's software developers in Chennai and Bangalore have been working overtime to meet its commitments. The company has partnered with CSC for Lorenzo installations in Britain, and plans to retain the iSoft brand.

Yesterday, Mr Cohen said the Group was on track to meet its 2008 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of between $85 million and $90 million.

He said iSoft expected to achieve more than $700 million over the lifetime of the NHS contracts, with $170 million earned to date.

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