The Raggruppamento Temporaneo di Imprese, a grouping led by Telecom Italia which includes Exprivia SpA and Bertone ICT, has won the call for tenders issued by the Asti Local Health Authority for the outsourced provision and administration of IT systems at the hospitals of Asti and Nizza Monferrato, along with the province’s health clinics and all healthcare facilities.
The eight-year contract signed, worth around €29 million, is for the realization, administration and maintenance of new IT infrastructure incorporating advanced technological solutions. The new system will allow the Asti Local Health Authority to enhance the efficiency of the service it provides to citizens by further streamlining appointments procedures, sharing clinical information on patients between local hospitals and social security offices, increasing overall system reliability, and optimizing the management of internal operating processes.
The winning tender combines leading-edge IT and networking solutions, healthcare and management applications, and is built around customer-centric service. Under the contract, Telecom Italia will supply technology infrastructure to support disaster recovery and business continuity applications solutions and advanced systems, which will be provided from the company’s proprietary data centres over a new fibre-optic network. By duplicating the most important ICT components, system accessibility and service continuity are guaranteed even in the event of unforeseen circumstances occurring. Health care, administration, logistics and local health provision management is the responsibility of Exprivia, the company that will be implementing proprietary application solutions and advanced technologies in which the Group has many years’ experience. To boost management control and efficiency, the solution includes the adoption of SAP ERP software, for which Exprivia is an Alliance Service Partner and VAR. A healthcare solution that has already been widely trialled and rolled out across the nation will be adopted and “natively” integrated into the current RIS-PACS diagnostic imaging storage system. Contractual on-site maintenance will be provided by Bertone ICT, which is also responsible for administering the overarching applications infrastructure.
Luigi Robino, Director-General of the AT Healthcare Authority, stated: “Implementing these new solutions will enable us to finally achieve an objective of key importance to local healthcare: bringing citizens and services together. Medical records will be accessible to doctors and specialists over a network that links up all of our healthcare facilities. Telemedicine will ensure the real-time delivery of diagnostics and check-ups, including x-rays, ultrasound scans and electrocardiograms. Appointments will also be managed via outsourced IT systems to ensure greater reach and efficiency. Healthcare will become easier to access, and there will be no need to shuttle specialists around the area.”
Gianfilippo D’Agostino, Manager of Telecom Italia’s Public Sector unit, says: “Winning this tender confirms Telecom Italia’s status as a tangible and reliable partner for government and healthcare regarding the provision of advanced ICT solutions to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of service provision to citizens. This initiative is a major step forwards in the roll-out of leading-edge technology to local areas and, more generally, as part of Italy’s process of digital transformation.”
Stefano Ferrara, Head of Exprivia’s Healthcare and Local Government Business Unit, declared: “This contract confirms Exprivia’s competitiveness and the highly innovative nature of its offerings. It is another major step in the company’s territorial expansion into the healthcare sector. The project will enable the Piedmont area to benefit from a perfectly-integrated, leading-edge healthcare district, and make it possible to improve the quality of service provision to citizens and local healthcare.”
Marco Filippa, Sole Director of Bertone ICT, stated: “By signing this contract, Bertone ICT emerges as a new player in the world of leading-edge, technology-led healthcare industry solutions to create value and foster progress in a part of Italy where the Bertone Group has been conducting operations for a century.”
Rome, 2 August 2010
