Auckland, New Zealand – Orion Health™ (OHE:NZX/ASX) is contributing to the transformation of the French healthcare sector as it embarks on two major projects in France, the company announced today.

Orion Health CEO Ian McCrae says the contracts represent a significant milestone for the company, as it is the first time it will deliver its solutions in France.

“These are landmark contracts for Orion Health. We are entering the French market with our strategic solutions and are in a great position to leverage our experience and platform for other projects as France transforms its health system,” says Mr McCrae.

Jonathan Selby, Orion Health Executive Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa, says the company is playing an integral role in France’s shift from a hospital-centric model of care to a patient-centric model.

In order to find the right model of care, the French Ministry of Health is funding a nationwide program called TSN (Territoires de Soins Numériques – Digital Care Regions). The TSN has pilot projects in five regions and Orion Health is participating in two projects – the TerriSanté project in Paris and the eTICSS project in the Burgundy region.

In both contracts, the Orion Health solutions chosen have been built on an open data platform that scales to aggregate and manage different types of health-related data.

“They will enable coordinated and personalised information to be shared across different groups of healthcare professionals and organisations that are involved in these ground-breaking projects,” says Mr Selby.

TerriSanté project in Paris

As part of a consortium led by Accenture, the TerriSanté project will see Orion Health provide solutions that enable better, more coordinated health treatment for residents in the Ile-de-France region, which includes Paris and its surrounding urban area.

The five-year contract is with Groupement de Coopération Sanitaire pour le Développement des Systèmes d’Information en Santé partagés en Ile-de-France (GCS D-SISIF). The build phase for the contract is currently scheduled to run until March 2017 in an initial territory covering 350,000 residents, after which the GCS D-SISIF will look to extend the pilot across the Ile-de-France region, potentially reaching a population of over 12 million people.

Professor Eric Lepage, Director of the Innovation Program and head of the TerriSanté project for GCS D-SISIF, says the Accenture/Orion Health proposal was chosen because it most closely met the region’s vision of healthcare, and for the ability of the platform to incorporate care pathways that allow for improved communication between health professionals.

Orion Health’s solutions will be used as part of a platform to provide services that include care coordination via pathways, patient scheduling, lab and radiology results, pre-admission administration, online payments for patients, e-orders, e-referrals and e-prescription.

eTICSS project in Burgundy

In partnership with CSC, the eTICSS project will see Orion Health deliver the solution platform to develop shared services for patients, hospitals, primary care and social care in the south of Burgundy.

The 15-month contract is with Groupement de Coopération Sanitaire e-Santé Bourgogne (GCS). The build phase is currently scheduled to run until March 2017 in an initial territory covering 300,000 residents, after which there will be a generalisation phase aimed at covering the full population of Burgundy and Franche-Comté – a population of three million people.

José Godfroy, director of GCS says the CSC/Orion Health proposal was selected based on the ability of the Orion Health platform to be deployed rapidly, and its extensive flexibility.

“Orion Health’s experience with similar territory-wide solutions throughout the world, provides the experience necessary for the project’s successful adoption,” says Mr Godfroy.

Orion Health’s solutions will be used in the roll out of eight main services, including the Information and Orientation Centre for patients and healthcare professionals, care coordination, e-prescription and immunization, patient education and e-learning, and administration of the Regional Information System.