Published on the 20/04/2017 | Written by Newsdesk
Under pressure software vendor lands UK contract…
Countering the run of bad news it has endured since announcing missed sales forecasts and dwindling capital reserves, listed software vendor Orion Health has landed a new international deal. In a statement, the company said it has won a competitive process and signed a five-year license agreement with Dorset County Council in England.
The contract is valued at NZ$9.34 million (£5.2 million) and is to provide a comprehensive care solution to the region’s population of over 765,000 people. In total, Orion software manages the health records of over 100 million people around the world – so make that 101 million now.
But the company is enduring torrid times. When Orion recently downgraded its guidance for the 2017 financial year, it led Forsyth Barr analyst Blair Galpin to warn that the company is not sustainable in its current form (as reported in Stuff).
The reason cited for the shortfalls in operating revenue and a looming cash crunch, which Orion hopes to head off by seeking new capital, was again cited as contracts taking longer to close than anticipated.
Which makes the announcement of the English deal a much-needed fillip for Orion. It said the Dorset Care Council has purchased its Amadeus precision medicine platform with additional applications to create the Dorset Care Record. This will bring together information from hospitals, GPs, community teams and local councils, enabling summary details of a person’s medical or care history to be accessed in one place.
Benefits will include improved coordination of care and communication between different health and care agencies, improving treatments and reducing delays. In addition, patients will be able to access and contribute to their records online.
With contracts taking longer to close – and therefore, money taking longer to make its way into Orion’s bank account – it will come as good news that a portion of the new deal will be recognised in FY2017. However, that’s tempered with the company stating that the majority of revenues are to be earned ‘in the following periods’, that is, over the course of the five years that the contract will run.
