Cork start-up KM Medical gives sports medicine a speedy recovery

9 May 2018

Margaret English from the Sports Surgery Clinic with KM Medical CEO Andy O’Donoghue. Image: KM Medical

Cork start-up implements a groundbreaking system for sports surgery that could have a wider impact across the healthcare sector.

Irish software company KM Medical has partnered with the Sports Surgery Clinic (SSC) in Santry to use technology that can help to revolutionise healthcare management and research.

KM Medical is an Enterprise Ireland-backed company based in Cork that develops software solutions to improve the efficiency of hospitals, clinics and doctors, and improve patient outcomes.

The company’s technology will be used at both the SSC and its sports medicine department.

“Our electronic referrals system automatically generates referral letters with minimal input from consultants,” said KM Medical CEO Andy O’Donoghue.

“What usually took a consultant 10 to 20 minutes now takes just three to six minutes. There’s a significant cumulative time-saving there for consultants that allows them to spend more time with their patients.”

Transforming healthcare practices

KM Medical has also implemented iMedDoc at the SSC, which is software that organises all outpatient activity, automatically managing appointments and reports, and the collection of key clinical data. The system gives doctors a single, user-friendly software platform available on desktop PCs, iOS and Android.

“KM Medical has completely transformed and streamlined our referrals system,” explained Margaret English, business applications manager at the SSC.

“It is not only fast but is more accurate, and reduces the risk of mistakes. The amazing thing is that it enables our medical professionals to spend so much more time with patients.”

Enterprise Ireland has identified KM Medical as a high-potential start-up (HPSU) and has invested €150,000 in the company.

“KM Medical’s technology is at the forefront of innovation and the company has global ambition as well as a very strong business offering,” said Niall McEvoy, manager of the HPSU department (ICT) at Enterprise Ireland.

“KM Medical’s health informatics technology offers significant savings on both time and capital efficiencies for its clients.”

In response to questions from Siliconrepublic.com about how such technology could be more widely adopted in the Irish healthcare system, O’Donoghue said: “My observation is that private hospitals and clinics tend to be earlier adopters of technology. This isn’t because they have bigger budgets, it is because they use funds more effectively to improve efficiencies, ultimately improving patient outcomes.

“There is no doubt that publicly funded health services could be more effective if they adopted solutions like ours.”

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com