The Vensa.com innovation by New Zealand health software company Vensa Health was one of three finalists in contention for the award announced at HiNZ with the other finalists Celo and Orion Health.

The platform allows patients to book appointments with their doctor, nurse or clinic on their computer, tablet or smartphone but other innovations were to follow for the patient portal platform.

New Zealand Health IT chief executive Scott Arrol said the judges selected Vensa Health as it was focused on the clinician using the platform and also, more importantly, on patients using the platform to access their records, book appointments and have ‘virtual consultations’.

“The judges felt that Vensa.com is a paradigm shift from the patient portals available currently and is an innovative approach that has the potential to disrupt the market, support new business models and enable models of care delivered at the primary, community and individual levels of our society.”

Vensa chief executive and founder Ahmad Jubbawey said he was “over the moon” at being named the NZHIT Innovation Award 2017 winner. He said currently more than 70 per cent of general practices used Vensa Health to deliver health messages, appointment, screening and medication reminder texts to more than 3 million Kiwis a year.  The newly released Vensa.com platform now also allowed people to book appointments online in real time.

Finalist Celo uses healthcare grade and industry compliant encrypted technology to provide secure and real time mobile and desktop messaging for healthcare. While Orion Health developed an innovative interface solution and partnered with Canterbury Health to support the delivery of care closer to home.

Arrol the award finalists represented “only the tip of the iceberg” when it came to the upsurge of innovative IT solutions being developed by NZHIT members.