Melbourne's Fred IT Group awarded $23 million contract by Department of Health

Health-focused solutions provider Fred IT Group has been awarded a contract to develop a software system for the Department of Health’s initiative that aims to reduce prescription medicine overdoses.

The $22.8 million contract will see the company, which is 50 percent owned by Telstra, design, build and deliver software for the National Data Exchange (NDE) component of the department’s national real-time prescription monitoring project. The company said it would leverage technologies from its other major partner, Microsoft.

As a whole, the project provides health professionals with accurate and up-to-date clinical data about patient prescriptions, enabling doctors and pharmacists to identify and support patients who are at risk.

“I have seen first-hand the anguish that accidental prescription drug overdose can cause to families who have lost loved ones, and am honoured that Fred can take part in developing eHealth systems to reduce the devastating impact of prescription overdose and misuse throughout the community,” Fred IT chief executive Paul Naismith said.

“Fred is committed to making medication management safer and more effective for all Australians, and we applaud the Australian government for taking a national approach to this problem.”

Fred IT recently came off a contract to develop a real-time prescription monitoring for the Victorian Department of Human Services, which it called SafeScript. The company won the contract in November last year.

The company provides pharmacy-specific software solutions, cloud-based management platforms, point-of-sale solutions, managed IT services, as well as IT support.

In 2013, Telstra Health bought a 50 percent stake of Fred IT, worth $25 million at the time, in an effort to increase the telco’s presence in the health IT market.

“A national prescription safety system is a significant development that will save lives,” Telstra Health managing director Mary Foley said.

“Platforms such as this leverage our rapidly digitising healthcare environment to connect healthcare silos, and will support providers to improve medication safety in the community.”