The South Australian Department for Health has settled a dispute with Melbourne software vendor Global Health over the ongoing use of the aged Chiron patient administration system (PAS) in its country hospitals, and is now doing preparatory work to decide whether to roll out its EPAS clinical and patient administration system to some of those hospitals as a replacement.

Following a court-ordered mediation session on Tuesday, SA Health has agreed to pay $5 million for a perpetual licence to use Chiron at all hospitals it is currently used in – including a retrospective payment – with a renewal fee of $600,000 each year after April 1, 2020.