Medicare raises axe over every IT vendor

Medicare has revealed all of its ICT services contracts are set to expire soon, with the government's healthcare provider hoping to find replacement suppliers this year.

Medicare has issued a proposed approach to market (ATM) notice for the procurement of the new ICT services arrangements, with its current deals all set to conclude at various times throughout the next 24 months.

IBM currently provides most of Medicare's ICT infrastructure services including mainframe, midrange, desktop, helpdesk, secure gateway and data storage, while Optus is Medicare's voice and data telephony services supplier.

According to a statement from the insurer: "Medicare Australia is currently in the process of developing its future ICT sourcing and services delivery strategy.

"Once finalised, the strategy will be presented to the industry and broader marketplace via an industry briefing."

The agency intends to hold the briefing in Canberra in the first half of February, details of which will be made public by the end of this month.