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Mercy Health is preparing for expanded interoperability and advanced digital capabilities as it works to stabilise real-time information flow across its services.
As part of its ongoing modernisation, the Catholic-run provider recently contracted Melbourne-based Data Agility to provide round-the-clock integration support for its clinical integration environment.
Based on a media release, the IT specialist is expected to deliver "continuous monitoring, proactive incident resolution, escalation management, routine maintenance, and detailed performance reporting" for Mercy Health, which runs a large network of health services, including 30 residential aged care facilities.
WHY IT MATTERS
The organisation shifted to a 24/7 managed service as its clinical integration environment grows.
"Previously, monitoring and incident response were managed with internal resources, but as the complexity and criticality of that environment grew, it became clear that a reactive model carried real risk," the organisation explained to Healthcare IT News.
It said managing a clinical integration environment of that scale has become "difficult and costly to replicate entirely in-house."
Outsourcing the service, then, allows the organisation, which employs around 10,000 staff across various health services, to meet uptime and performance requirements, which are "non-negotiable" for them.
The move ensures "structured, continuous coverage across monitoring, incident resolution, escalation, and routine maintenance, reducing the risk of downtime in systems that directly support clinical workflows."
THE LARGER TREND
Contracting 24/7 managed service is part of Mercy Health's digital strategy, which aims to deliver resilient, high‑performing digital platforms and expand the organisation's data and integration capabilities. It builds the "stable foundation that later phases will depend on," the organisation said, which includes expanded interoperability, real-time data availability for clinical decision support, and more advanced capabilities such as analytics and AI-assisted workflows.
The managed service agreement followed an earlier project-based work with Data Agility. "Progressing to a managed services arrangement was a natural evolution, formalising an ongoing partnership with a partner who already understood the environment well," Mercy Health said.
Mercy Health has been modernising its clinical and operational processes over the years. In late 2023, it started moving from a legacy recruiting system to Workday's cloud-based system. The following year, it piloted Baret, a role-based messaging platform on Microsoft Teams.
ON THE RECORD
"By introducing specialist integration support now, we're on target to meet our priorities to strengthen the digital foundations required for later phases of transformation," said Mercy Health CIO Dr Paul Jurman in a media statement.
