Extract:
After a long search, South African coal miner, Eyesizwe Coal, selected Mitrais' K-MS hospital management information system to help them to fully comply with South African occupational Safety, Health, Workplace Environment and Quality, (SHEQ) regulations for its two medical facilities servicing Eyesizwe's four coal mines.

Working in close collaboration with Eyesizwe, Mitrais added the Industrial Modules to K-MS delivering extensive occupational health and workplace environment (hygiene) capabilities. K-MS was also integrated with Eyesizwe's existing ERP system to lift efficiencies and improve knowledge sharing.

Within months of implementation a delighted Eyesizwe reported significant improvements in medical service delivery and staff efficiency and reductions in sundry office costs.

The Problem:
Various pieces of legislation, regulation and protocol fell under the SHEQ umbrella including South Africa's own strict Compensation of Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COID Act) and definitions drawn from International Labour Organization Standards. Eyesizwe management was committed to fully meeting these obligations; their existing systems failed to achieve this goal.

Management of medical processes was separated from the supporting business processes. Key systems were not integrated and decision makers and medical service providers did not have access to real time data.

This led to unnecessary risk for Eyesizwe from increased compensation claims and financial penalties under the Acts where reporting milestones are missed, or full compliance cannot be demonstrated. In addition, a risk of fraudulent manipulation existed with the then-current pre-employment procedures for new employees or contractors which could lead to employment of inappropriate personnel.

The Client Brief:
To deliver a system enabling Eyesizwe to fully comply with South African SHEQ legislation and regulations by providing Medical and HR staff with real-time information across their medical facilities and business processes to comprehensively monitor, manage and support employees and patients through standard employment related procedures, accident related health care or any claims or penalty processes.

The Mitrais Solution:
Mitrais' existing K-MS system provided primary health care management within an industrial hospital and clinic environment and formed the platform upon which the new occupation and environmental health features were built.

The new K-MS Industrial modules capture all medical treatment data for an injured worker in real time correlated with background administration information and provide time critical reporting and auditable event-tracking / data recording to demonstrate full compliance with the COID Act and provide highest quality health care to aid in patient recovery.

The delivered K-MS solution facilitates Eyesizwe's goal of providing the highest degree of physical and mental wellbeing for workers in all occupations by preventing departure from health, controlling risks and adaptation of work to people, and people to their jobs. The K-MS system, integrated with Eyesizwe's human resources system, supports the full employment lifecycle including pre-employment health checks for contractors and employees, routine medical examinations scheduled and linked to an individual's occupational risk exposure, primary health care for sick or injured workers, contractors or approved dependents and end-of-employment medical checks.

K-MS supports improved health outcomes by providing medical staff with the latest occupational risk exposure profiling (OREP) at the time of scheduled medical examinations, monitoring health indicators over time and providing automatic triggers for follow up should observations exceed acceptable levels.

K-MS also assists line managers in many ways, for example by providing automatic emails to alert supervisors when one of their employees is placed on sick leave, or emails to warn production management of increased health risks applicable to individual employees or contractors.

K-MS is also used to manage pharmaceutical and medical inventories assisting to minimize wastage and out of date stock. Medical action charges are tracked for efficient cost recording across departments and, where appropriate, cost recovery from medical aid arrangements, billing to contractors or staff payroll deductions.

The benefits:
The bottom line for Eyesizwe Coal is enhanced ability to manage compliance with SHEQ while reducing the risk of financial costs through penalties and unjustifiable compensation claims. Opportunities for fraud have been significantly reduced by moving to the auditable, real-time paperless environment of K-MS Industrial.

Where previously it might have taken required several days for clinical staff to compile the information to meet their requirements for claim filing, the task can now be successfully completed in less than one hour. These efficiencies ensure on-time filing of reports and claims to meet legislated deadlines and release staff back to their "real" jobs.

Direct financial savings have been identified from improved stock control and better cost allocation and /or recovery.