User group buys majority of Ireland’s HEALTHone

GP users of one of Ireland’s leading clinical management systems have banded together to buy a majority shareholding in the supplier.

Health Ireland User Group Ltd (HIUG), which represents the interests of over 600 GP users of the HEALTHone  clinical management system, has agreed to purchase a majority shareholding in Health Ireland Partners Ltd, the company that is responsible for the product’s development and distribution in Ireland.

The landmark deal was officially ratified and announced at HIUG annual conference held earlier this month.

HIUG is a co-operative of Irish GPs that use HEALTHone, which first appeared on the Irish market in 1992 and has grown to become one of the country’s leading GP practice management systems. Previously, HIUG owned 20% of Health Ireland Partners and was represented by two directors on the board of the company. Under the terms of the deal, the group has bought a further 45% of shares.

The new deal will secure the key advantages of HEALTHone for GPs, according to Health Ireland Partners’ CEO, Declan Rossiter, who recently purchased the remaining 35% shareholding as part of an overall deal which includes the full development and distribution rights to HEALTHone for Ireland.

“Health Ireland Partners can now plan for the future as a wholly-owned independent Irish company which is uniquely positioned to serve the needs of its ever-expanding customer base,” he said.

He said the new ownership structure would allow the company to provide existing HEALTHone customers and users of other systems with the reassurance they seek regarding financial stability, product continuity and user-led innovation while taking a long-term strategic view of the company’s development from the customer’s perspective.

Dr Michael Cleary, HUIG chairman, said the group has always been closely involved in product development to ensure that their software system continues to adapt to the changing needs of Irish healthcare professionals. He said he was looking forward to the imminent launch of the 2006 version of the system which was demonstrated at the HIUG conference.

In addition to the GP system, HEALTHone also supplies a primary care team product which provides shared health records for the multidisciplinary team.