Karo looking to ensure no one misses out on health
Karo Data Management are aiming to do their bit for the health of New Zealanders and have been recognised for their approach by receiving an ACC Innovation Fund grant.
In basic terms, Karo Data Management produce software that serves to make life easier for health providers. But there is a loftier goal at the heart of the Wellington-based company.
CEO Kyle Forde has a dream to improve the health of all New Zealanders and reduce health inequalities. And Karo will be able to take a significant step towards that after becoming one of the recipients of our Innovation Fund.
The fund was established to reward and support innovations in the health sector that will help New Zealanders recover from injury.
Over 100 applications were received and the calibre of submissions was so impressive that we increased our funding to support more initiatives than originally planned. Each recipient has been awarded $100,000 to support their project.
An innovative approach to data management
Karo Data Management have been recognised as a funding recipient for their work in developing a digital interface in one of their platforms, Kotahi, that social sector agencies can use to refer their clients to health services they may be missing out on.
Kotahi – Connecting the Health and Social Sector
The problem they are looking to address is that a high percentage of clients in the social sector are not enrolled into primary care, which means many are missing out on funded programmes that could help improve their health outcomes.
Karo’s approach in this area has the potential to contribute positive long-term impacts on the health system, such as a reduction in hospitalisations and recurring claims.
Kyle says the boost provided by the Innovation Fund will make a big difference as Karo work towards their goal of improving health outcomes for all New Zealanders.
Karo Data Management CEO, Kyle Forde
“We’re privileged ACC are supporting this initiative and the funding goes a long way to ensure we can attribute focused resource to enable the health and social sector community with an open platform technology service,” he says.
“Our enabling technology platform, Kotahi, aims to enable social sector groups to seamlessly send referrals and secure correspondence to participating agencies to ensure whānau have access to the health services available to them. The innovation we’re leading aims to ensure accountability and transparency across the health and social care continuum.”
Kyle says Kotahi is a platform suitable for NGOs, health providers, lead maternity carers, Māori and community providers and much more. Due to the ability to ‘build your own’ workflow, Kotahi can meet the needs for multiple sectors and industries.
“We are currently heading into pilot phase for referrals into outreach for community immunisations and then extending this out into maternal birth Injury referrals for community providers, NGOs, Māori and Pasifika providers using our client management platform,” he says.
“We would like to make this service universally available for any provider, regardless of the platform they use. If their platform provider has modern API capabilities then we want to enable them to provide a better pathway for continued care across health and social care environments. If we can find a way to enable this service at no cost to individual providers consistently then even better.”
Turning data into good health
Karo was set up as a health data management company in 2009, building on more than a decade of primary and community health IT experience prior to that. Their main function is to design easy tools for health providers to manage primary health data and fulfil their reporting obligations.
But Kyle says that is only part of the story. “We’re really passionate about improving the health of New Zealanders,” he says.
“We’re looking to do that by taking the data of health providers and turning it into meaningful information they can use to evaluate and improve their services to provide the best possible care for their patients and communities.”
‘The sector exceeded our expectations’
Karo was one of six organisations to receive funds from our Innovation Fund and ACC Chief Executive Officer Megan Main was impressed with the level of the applications.
“We know there are a huge number of innovative ideas out there that we could learn from and potentially help grow sustainably,” she says.
“We asked for ideas that will help us accelerate our Health Sector Strategy and the sector exceeded our expectations. We're looking forward to working in partnership with all recipients.”
