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The following articles have the tag ehealth
PRACTICES anxious to meet today’s personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) deadline have inundated their software providers with inquiries as the RACGP holds workshops around the country explaining the new system.
GPs working in aged care have given a mixed response to a new standardised medication chart rolled out by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, welcoming a one-size-fits-all document but questioning the fact it is not yet e-health ready.
A US e-health expert visiting Australia has urged GPs to become more involved in the development of smartphone apps that could aid themselves and their patients.
THE RACGP will this week begin the first of 200 peer-to-peer seminars aimed at increasing GP confidence in the government’s personally controlled e-health record system (PCEHR).
AUSTRALIA'S chief clinical adviser on e-health has been touring the country to discuss the beleaguered electronic medical records program with GPs, with a message for those who have had problems using the system.
THE national clinical lead advising on the e-health program has revealed frustration at not being able to access the system that he helped introduce.
A NATIONAL system to track addictive drug prescriptions might reduce overprescribing but could lead to unintended consequences, experts say.
THE AMA has called for the much maligned PBS authority prescriptions scheme to be axed once and for all, arguing it is little more than a bureaucratic hurdle.
MANY GPs could lose their eligibility for the e-health Practice Incentive Program (e-PIP) unless the 1 February deadline for software compliance is extended, says the AMA.
LEADING e-health experts have called for greater regulation for e-health systems and software in Australia, warning that incidences of IT-related patient harm are growing as hospitals and GPs adopt more electronic health practices.
THE AMA has called for a delay in changes to the e-health Practice Incentive Program (PIP) ahead of a February deadline for practices to have their software up to date.
“NEXT year we really need to see some crystallisation of the PCEHR. The AMA has seen some key elements of it that show it will work. But we need to share [information on] medication properly.
AUSTRALIA’S high rate of GPs keeping electronic patient records has declined since 2009 and Australia lags behind other countries in terms of electronic exchange of patient summaries with doctors in other practices, new research shows.
CLINICIANS advising on the national e-health program say they are dissatisfied with the level of engagement by the National E-health Transition Authority (NEHTA), with MO understanding some are reconsidering their involvement.
GENERAL practices could offset any cost increases associated with the personally controlled e-health record (PCEHR) by switching to a secure messaging service instead of paper letters, a leading e-health expert has said.
GPs in regional cities and outer metropolitan areas are preparing to scale back their telehealth services – including one scheme to get regional children seen by city hospital specialists – after the federal government unexpectedly cut access to Medicare rebates.
HEALTH Minister Tanya Plibersek has allocated $2.55 million for an RACGP-run program to help GPs operate the PCEHR.
THE AMA has said it is “astounded” that the latest draft National Primary Health Care Strategic Framework – developed by both Commonwealth and state governments – contains no new funding for the sector in the immediate future.
THE AMA has criticised the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s (OAIC) draft PCEHR Enforcement Guidelines for “setting the wrong tone” and failing to highlight the importance of partnership and collaboration to the e-health rollout.
THE government has defended a letter sent out to GPs that aimed to clarify new eligibility requirements for the e-health Practice Incentive Program after the AMA criticised the document for failing to provide any new assistance for doctors preparing to navigate the new scheme.
GPs are feeling “insulted” by the lack of information they are receiving about the personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) and related incentives, despite the health department’s pledge to promote the new system.
THE federal government is considering broadening tough new mandatory reporting laws for e-health records, including fines for those who fail to report breaches, beyond the realm of health care, MO can reveal.
THE rollout of software giving GPs patient prescription histories in real time, aimed at cutting doctor shopping, is moving at a slow pace with bureaucratic hurdles delaying the process by months.
THE federal opposition has accused Labor of putting "political spin before patient safety" after claims it ignored its own e-health agency’s warning of critical faults in the e-health system just days before its launch.
GPs have finally been given clear permission to bill Medicare for the time they spend organising a patient’s e-health record, with new explanatory notes added to the MBS that doctors’ groups have hailed as a breakthrough.
GPs have finally been given clear permission to bill Medicare for the time they spend organising a patient’s e-health record, with new explanatory notes added to the MBS that doctors’ groups have hailed as a breakthrough.
RESEARCH has confirmed what many doubtless already suspected: appearing with clinical equipment, especially a stethoscope, makes a doctor appear more trustworthy to prospective patients.
A GOVERNMENT-backed electronic health record specifically designed for patients with chronic disease has been launched today with the promise of keeping patients, doctors and allied health workers in the loop.
THE rollout of the national e-health system has hit another barrier, with the hospital sector unlikely to embrace the individual health identifiers (IHIs) allocated to Australians two years ago.
Research has confirmed what many doubtless already suspected – appearing with clinical equipment, especially a stethoscope, makes a doctor appear more trustworthy to prospective patients.
THE public hospital sector is being urged to “realise the benefit” of Australia’s investment into the national e-health system, and use the unique health identification numbers that were created for every Australian two years ago.
GPs have been urged to “keep the faith” with e-health solutions despite a series of glitches that marred last week’s launch of the government’s national e-health records system.
Medical Observer has found patients with apostrophes or hyphens in their name cannot register for an e-health record, as the government scrambles to get the rest of the patient registration process working.
JUST days after the registration process for e-health records opened, experts have warned the system is inherently insecure and urged patients to think twice about signing up.
THE long-awaited launch date for the government’s e-health records system passed by on the weekend, meaning patients can now register for a record, but doctors’ groups and MDOs have advised GPs to tread cautiously.
GPs have been advised to get to know their obligations under the national e-health records system (NEHRS) so they can train staff, implement safe work practices and advise patients.
CAMPAIGNING has begun in earnest just days before polls open for the RACGP presidential election, with the stage looking set for a showdown between two senior college figures.
GENERAL practice nurses need to be asking questions about e-health on behalf of their patients now, an expert e-health nurse says.
A HEALTH department backdown has freed GPs of liability for “compromised or hacked” e-health records but the government is still demanding GPs obtain permission from the author of every document they upload to the system before doing so.
THEY don’t typically use iPads at Duntroon Medical Clinic, but that isn’t stopping GP Dr Rodney Evans from using the device to keep himself informed.
GPs can expect to connect to the national e-health record system (NEHRS) within months, according to experts who say clinical software packages incorporating the system will be widely available by September.
THE challenge of keeping electronic medical records up to date has been highlighted in a study of patient-GP concordance.
THE NSW health system has once again come under fire after a Sydney hospital sent a letter to a patient’s GP at an address where he had never worked – and at an establishment that closed down over a decade ago.
FEDERAL Health Minister Tanya Plibersek has admitted the take up of electronic health records is likely to be slow in the first few years.
EXPERTS have welcomed the government’s continued commitment to the personally controlled e-health records system but questioned the wisdom of forcing GPs to participate by threatening to withdraw practice incentive payments.
Dr Paul Mara, President, RDAA: “I’m not disappointed with this budget because, sadly, I wasn’t expecting much for rural health in the first place. The level to which the bureaucrats have listened to rural GPs is very poor and the government is really struggling to work out what its workforce strategy should be. More rural doctors will be leaving the bush for good.”
HEALTH has been front of stage in the past two budgets – this year things are different.
The government has a launched a charm offensive aimed at creating momentum for its personally controlled e-health record system, with the launch of an “online learning centre” for patients and practitioners.
THE Opposition has joined general practice’s criticism of the federal budget, saying it risks sacrificing vital patient care for an “artificial surplus”.
THE government will bar GPs who don’t participate in the personally controlled electronic health record system from receiving e-health PIP payments, while stripping money from the existing telehealth incentive program to fund it.
ELECTRONIC health records are needed to stop Australian soldiers wounded in war zones from falling through the cracks of bureaucracy during their rehabilitation, a review says.
THE health department has rejected suggestions it has been anything but “clear and unequivocal” about funding arrangements for GPs compiling PCEHR records, as doctors’ groups continue to question the details.
GPs and other practitioners have been using their unique e-health identifying number as a log-on for the AHPRA website since 2010 without being given any advice on security provisions or even warned the two numbers are the same.
ELECTRONIC health records are needed to stop Australian soldiers wounded in war zones from falling through the cracks of bureaucracy during their rehabilitation, a review says.
PSYCHOLOGISTS have joined GPs and physiotherapists in calling on the government to fund the administration of e-health records, estimating the cost of setting up the necessary software alone at $3000 per provider.
GPs will be allowed to bill Medicare for the creation and maintenance of shared e-health summaries according to Health Minister Tanya Plibersek, who confirmed for the first time today "nominated providers" would be paid for their time.
THE lack of digital records at a major Adelaide hospital delayed life-saving treatment for a 10-year-old girl who later died from a brain seizure, a coroner has ruled.
GENERAL practices could offset any cost increases associated with the personally controlled e-health record (PCEHR) by switching to a secure messaging service instead of paper letters, a leading e-health expert has said.
With the launch date for the personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) looming, Mark O’Brien asks RACGP e-health spokesperson Dr Mike Civil to unpick some myths and false expectations.
GPs concerned about a major workload increase from managing the federal government's personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) are planning to confront the government with the initiative’s true cost to their business before it goes live.
THE federal government's e-health trial has suffered an embarrassing setback after the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) discovered incompatibilities between the software used on its pilot websites and the main planned network.
SOUTH Australian GPs will soon plug into a $408 million electronic record system that will provide real-time patient information, while experts have urged the rest of Australia’s GPs to prepare now for the national e-health rollout in July.
THE generation that brought the world Facebook, Justin Bieber and planking has an even less impressive notch on its collective belt – being number one when it comes to online self-diagnosis and taking unprescribed medication.
THE Senate will investigate new legislation intended to create Australia’s personally controlled e-health record (PCEHR) system after the two relevant bills were referred to the Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs last week.
THE federal government has taken another step towards setting up its patient-controlled electronic health records (PCEHRs) system, with Health Minister Nicola Roxon introducing the legislation to Parliament yesterday.
MO test-drives the government’s personally controlled e-health record
CIVIL libertarians have hit back at Health Minister Nicola Roxon’s comments labelling privacy and civil liberties groups as obsessive with regard to their fears of the risks of the government’s personally controlled e-health records (PCEHR) system. Civil Liberties Australia (CLA) today renewed calls for Ms Roxon to improve the planned safeguards to ward against data theft and patient records being accessed by those without appropriate permissions. Answering media questions last week regarding the Privacy Foundation’s fears, Ms Roxon urged the foundation to embrace the possibilities of new technology and suggested the electronic ...
EXPERTS have defended the security of patient information held in hard copy general practice files after Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the government’s personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) system would be more secure than traditional paper records. The minister said last week there were “very few protections” for paper records in general practice, with a spokesperson later telling MO e-health records would be more secure because they would be subject to a range of mechanisms to protect privacy. However, MDA National medicolegal and advisory services manager Dr Sara Bird said the minister’s apparent concerns about record ...
NEW standards for video consultations and information security have been released by the RACGP, giving GPs a framework to apply to the Medicare telehealth item numbers launched in July. The college launched its new Standards for Video Consultations and Computer and Information Security Standards yesterday at the GP11 conference in Hobart. In the absence of standards to abide by since the launch of the MBS items for telehealth, GPs had been advised by Medicare to simply ensure they were confident their method of delivering the service was capable of providing secure, reliable and ...
IN AN age where our teenage children can download movies off super-fast broadband Internet connections, you could be forgiven for thinking that the progress in general practice computerisation has been inch by inch. But is this still the case? Over the past few years, I have travelled to many different general practices as part of my role as an Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited (AGPAL) surveyor and I have seen the progress away from paper-based records, to hybrid (paper and computer), to (finally) fully computerised medical records. It is happening… We now have MBS ...
The blueprint on how the national e-health records scheme will be stored and managed is a minefield of medico-legal concerns, writes Leigh Parry.
A SMARTPHONE app that records vital signs and transmits these and point-of-care test results directly into a patient’s e-health record might be just a daydream for GPs in 2011, but the forward-thinking concept has won Medical Observer’s Future Medicine competition. Just under 1000 GPs from across the country entered and came up with a vast range of suggestions in answer to the competition question: “What piece of technology would you like to see invented to make GPs’ lives easier in the future?” NSW GP Dr Dannielle Poyzer’s suggestion, which would enable patients to be scanned with a ...
THE Federal Government has been handed a fresh warning against any move to tie doctors’ participation in the personally controlled e-health record (PCEHR) system to MBS rebates. A proposal to restrict MBS rebates to only those services carried out by doctors signed up to the Government’s PCEHR system had been recommended by the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC). But in its submission to ongoing consultation on the PCEHR blueprint – set to close this week – the AMA warned against any such move. “The AMA is strongly opposed to any measure that would directly ...
AMA vice-president Dr Steve Hambleton is set to take the association’s top job at its federal conference at the end of the month as the only candidate for the presidency at the close of nominations this morning. Dr Hambleton will take the reins from outgoing president Dr Andrew Pesce, who wished him well for the next two years. “I think Steve will be an excellent president,” Dr Pesce said. “That continuity will be important in continuing the work the AMA has done to engage with government and the medical profession. “I think it is probably ...
GREATER investment in online psychological treatments could prove a novel way for the Federal Government to meet growing demand for mental health services without incurring major budget blowouts, psychologists have argued. Ahead of the May federal Budget, Professor David Kavanagh, chair of the Australian Psychological Society’s telephone and Internet counselling group, said psychologists providing online services were “stumbling from short-term funding to short-term funding”. Online psychological services should be recognised as part of the service mix, and should receive guaranteed, long-term funding accordingly, he said. “We can see that these are remarkably effective programs and in many ...
THE Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) has demanded both major political parties make a commitment to coordinated primary care for patients in the lead-up to the New South Wales state election next week. RACP president Professor John Kolbe urged the major parties not to lose sight of important primary care issues, citing a “disproportionate focus on hospital-related healthcare” in the election health debate. “State and federal governments need to focus on coordinated and integrated services involving GPs, specialists, allied health and nurses to ensure better patient outcomes,” Professor Kolbe said. “Specialist physicians provide healthcare that ...
A REVIEW has found the computer system that runs emergency departments in hospitals throughout NSW is crippled by design flaws and is compromising patient care. The review found the FirstNet system allowed treatment details and test results to be assigned inadvertently to the wrong patient, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The review by Professor Jon Patrick, director of the University of Sydney's Health Information Technologies Research Laboratory, is based on a technical study of the software and interviews with directors of seven Sydney emergency departments. The review revealed that difficulties retrieving patient records could ...
DEFENCE Force personnel will soon have their health electronically tracked from recruitment to discharge with the new electronic health records system available to the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Under a system set for rollout by 2014, Defence health records - now in paper files and on a range of often mutually incompatible computer systems - will be combined into a single electronic health database. Defence Personnel and Veterans' Affairs Minister Warren Snowdon, launching the project on Wednesday, said the Government wanted every Australian to have an electronic health record that can be accessed by authorised healthcare providers ...
PHARMACISTS have charged GPs with bringing e-health to a standstill, claiming doctors are not up to speed with the latest innovations in e-health technologies. Speaking at the recent Pharmacy Australia Congress, Pharmaceutical Society of Australia president Warwick Plunkett said pharmacists had taken e-health as far as possible, and it was now up to GPs to get on board. “Until doctors get e-health up and running in its full extent we will not be able to go any further,” he said. While the advantages of e-prescribing were being enjoyed by some doctors, there would be even greater ...
ONGOING abuse of ibuprofen-codeine preparations resulting in gastrointestinal bleeds and ulcers suggests they should be prescription-only, gastroenterologists say. At the Australian Gastroenterology Week conference last month Dr Ian Turner and Dr Ian Fok from Campbelltown Hospital, southwest of Sydney, said they were still seeing relatively young patients with large ulcers and GI bleeds due to misuse of Nurofen Plus, despite its rescheduling. In May, codeine combination analgesics were put behind the counter and pack sizes reduced, but the gastroenterologists said visiting multiple pharmacies and surrogate buying was still rife. “There’s a fair case for it to ...
.jpg "TGA sets its sights on iPhone medical apps")
THE days of iMedicine could be numbered, as the Federal Government turns its attention to the unregulated world of health-related iPhone applications.
Are personalised e-health records truly the solution to the system’s ills? In the final of her series, Caroline Brettingham-Moore finds the experts are less than confident.
THE Government has announced the first sites to be involved in the launch of its patient-controlled e-health record, with GP divisions across three states set to pilot a national rollout. Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the three chosen GP divisions – GPpartners (Queensland), GP Access (NSW) and Melbourne East GP Network (Victoria) – were selected on the basis of their already strong e-health capabilities and community networks. However, despite announcing the $12.5 million investment in establishing the first sites, a spokesperson for Labor said no further detail was available regarding an implementation timetable for the records or ...
LABOR has promised to establish Medicare rebates for online consultations if returned to government this weekend, with an announcement today it will allocate $250.5 million over the next four years. The new funding would be shared “across a range of specialties”, according to a Labor statement, along with an additional $56.8 million in financial incentives that would be available to GPs and specialists who participated in delivering online services. The latest election promise, which Labor estimated would provide about 495,000 additional services to Australians in remote, rural and outer metropolitan areas, has been welcomed by GP groups. ...
A STALEMATE has emerged between Medicare and software vendors over who will be held liable for errors within the healthcare identifiers (HI) service. The Medical Software Industry Association has advised members not to sign the HI developer agreement proposed by Medicare, arguing that it may leave vendors or their GP clients liable for errors. Their refusal to sign up is set to further slow the HI rollout. “The biggest sticking point is where the liability lies,” said MSIA president Dr Geoffrey Sayer (PhD). “If vendors implement software with the HI service and Medicare does something to affect ...
ELECTRONIC summary care records (SCRs) provide little benefit to primary health care, a large British study suggests. The study, which analysed quantitative data of more than 400,000 primary care consultations, found that where SCRs were available, health professionals only accessed them in 21% of patient encounters. Overall, SCRs were accessed in just 4% of patient encounters. A qualitative analysis of the data found that clinicians did not view the SCR as the sole source of reliable data. “Rather, they drew eclectically on multiple sources, including the patient, electronic and paper records, and their own observations and ...
AFTER months of uncertainty the Healthcare Identifiers Bill has finally been passed by the Senate. The legislation, passed in the dying hours of Parliament before the winter recess, will enable all Australians and healthcare providers to be indentified by a unique 16-digit number. Medicare will have allocated 98% of Australian’s an individual healthcare identifier by Monday. National E-Health Transition Authority clinical lead Dr Mukesh Haikerwal said the Government and the Coalition should be congratulated for making e-health a priority. “Great credit is to be given to the Government for persevering with this and so too ...
THE rollout of a national e-health system has been stalled again, after it was revealed last week that just three medical software companies had signed on to deliver Individual Healthcare Identifiers. According to Medical Soft-ware Industry Association president Dr Geoffrey Sayer (PhD), the stark lack of interest was due to an unworkable developers agreement. The agreement was drafted by Medicare – which will operate the health identifiers service – but failed to detail full specifications that would be required of software companies. It also permitted Medicare to make changes to specifications at any point. “I was ...
THE Pharmacy Guild’s new “roadmap” for the future might be good for pharmacists but it’s not the solution for patients who could end up with fragmented care, the AMA has warned. The document spells out the guild’s opposition to independent pharmacist prescribing, despite recent suggestions this might be its preferred direction. Independent prescribing has also been flagged by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA). Instead, the roadmap outlines a push to expand pharmacy health checks and screenings. These include INR, blood pressure, lipid and asthma monitoring. Guild president Kos Sclavos said with the development ...
THE Opposition’s controversial about-face on e-health has come under fire from all sectors, with doctors arguing the plan would be an enormous backward step.In his Budget response, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey said the Opposition would reap savings of $467.2 million by abolishing the e-health program – a project it has previously supported. The Rudd Government was quick to pounce on the backflip, referring back to previous statements from Opposition leader Tony Abbott where he advocated a fully-functioning e-health system. In 2007, Mr Abbott, then Health Minister, said “failure to establish an electronic patient record system within five years... ...
Health spending up despite an austere budget Professor Jim Butler, Director, Australian Centre for Economic Research on Health Australian National University The macroeconomic parameters for this year’s Commonwealth budget have led to modest growth in government spending. Total expenditure is estimated to grow by only 3.4% in current prices in 2010-11 compared with the last financial year. In real terms, after adjusting for the expected increase in the Consumer Price Index, the increase is a meagre 0.5%. But health spending is a different story with a projected increase of 7.8% in ...
CONNECTING general practices in an e-health network could shave nearly $5 billion off Australia’s healthcare costs, and avoid more than two million GP and outpatient visits each year. According to a new analysis by international management consultants Booz & Company, practices that make a $3000 investment in e-health could yield a potential annual saving of $668,000 for the healthcare system. These savings would accrue by reducing medication errors, improving adherence to best practices and reducing unnecessary hospital visits. The report examined the impact of adopting a comprehensive e-health system, using generic models rather than the specifics ...
CARTER'S Encyclopaedia of Health and Medicine is set for release, but interested GPs should not go looking for it on bookshelves. Written by Brisbane GP Dr Warwick Carter, the encyclopaedia is the first Australian medical application for the latest technology sensation – the Apple iPad. With more than 12,000 entries covering everything from anatomy to first aid, the resource, unsurprisingly, took seven years to complete. The encyclopaedia was initially marketed as a CD-Rom, but as an iPad application it is able to move well beyond the limits of a typical book, with interactive diagrams and cross-referencing. ...
AN online psychology service offering assessment, diagnosis and treatment programs could increase GP access to referral services if used safely, the AMA says. Anxiety Online, a program run by Melbourne’s Swinburne University through the National eTherapy Centre, offers free online psychological assessments that provide patients with a diagnosis of their level of anxiety and advice on treatment or follow-up options. Once diagnosed, patients can then access their own dedicated psychologists online, conversing via email for a fee of $120 for a 12-week program that treats disorders such as OCD and agoraphobia. While voicing concern over the ...
NEW practice accreditation standards must not require GPs to invest in expensive new equipment or set tougher e-health criteria, doctors have told the RACGP. As part of a review of the Standards for General Practice, the RACGP last week released the results of an online member survey, which asked GPs and practice managers how the standards could be improved, and what should or should not appear in the next edition. Height-adjustable beds were singled out as a bugbear – labelled an “unnecessary and expensive addition” – and several GPs called for them to be removed from practice ...
AUSTRALIA is a step closer to developing a unified e-health system, following the tabling of federal legislation that will enable the rollout of the long-awaited health identification numbers to every patient, health professional and health provider. Health Minister Nicola Roxon this morning tabled the Healthcare Identifiers Bill 2010 and the Healthcare Identifiers (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2010, which, if passed, will provide the legislative framework for the unique healthcare identifiers (UHI). In her second reading speech, Ms Roxon said without the numbers there could not be an integrated, consistent e-health system in Australia. “One of the major ...
GPs risk falling foul of strict new e-health regulations and face hefty fines and jail terms, say doctors’ groups who are seeking a review of proposed legislation governing the use of unique healthcare identifier (UHI) numbers. Released late last year, the draft Healthcare Identifiers Bill 2010 outlines proposed regulations around access to and use of UHIs, which will eventually be allocated to every Australian. The 16-digit UHIs are intended to enable secure electronic transfer of patient information between health professionals, and misuse of the numbers could see health professionals slapped with fines of up to $13,200 or ...
GP groups have called on the Federal Government to ensure it will protect patient confidentiality when privacy laws are reformed this year. Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, from the General Practice Data Governance Council – of which the AMA, RACGP, RDAA and ACRRM are members – told the ABC that the group wants to make sure data is used in a trustworthy and ethical way. "Health privacy is not the purview of the privacy lobby. This is something that's important - vital to each of us as Australians and to each of my colleagues in health care," ...
GPs are best placed to drive the e-health agenda and should be incentivised to encourage specialists and other health professionals to sign up to e-health systems, experts argue. NSW Rural Doctors’ Association president Dr Ian Kamerman said while GPs were early adopters of e-health solutions, until other professions came onboard the system would not reach its full potential. He called on the Government to offer incentives to GPs and divisions that educate specialist and allied health colleagues. “No [specialists] in our area are interested in secure messaging – [GPs] have the capability but no one to ...
THE Federal Government is considering a proposal to make e-health capabilities a requirement of practice accreditation, which would leave GPs little choice in whether to sign up to the national e-health agenda. The recommendation is just one of several contained in the proposed National E-Health Strategy now under consideration by the Government. And while it has the support of the AMA and the RACGP, grassroots GPs are less convinced. Under the strategy – drawn up by Deloitte – practices would first be offered incentives to use e-health solutions to collect, store and share patient information such as ...
GPs face a long wait to see the promised rollout of an electronic patient identification system, an e-health expert claims, despite the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) saying that it will be in place by mid-2010. Unique healthcare identification (UHI) numbers are a key plank of the e-health program, and are expected to improve patient safety by reliably identifying patients, providers and care facilities. According to the recently released NEHTA strategic plan, UHI numbers will be rolled out to all stakeholders by July 2010. However, health IT consultant Dr David More was sceptical of the 10-month ...
PROGRESS on e-health has been unnecessarily slowed by concerns over patient privacy, health IT experts claim. During a panel discussion at the Australian Health Congress held recently in Sydney, Professor Michael Georgeff, director of Monash University’s e-health research unit and CEO of Precedence Healthcare, told delegates there was too much focus on privacy issues and developing e-health records. “If you explain the benefits of [e-health], by and large, most patients won’t find privacy as a blocking issue. I don’t think it’s as big an issue as we think.” Rolling out the unique patient and provider identification ...
ELECTRONIC discharge summaries are finally on the horizon, with the release of new standards from the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA), but a leading IT expert has questioned the complexity of the specifications. The electronic discharge summaries have long been touted as a measure that would improve continuity of care, and the new blueprint now outlines their design and content. Under the standards, the discharge summaries will contain a patient’s personal identification, medical history, procedures carried out and medications prescribed. However, according to health IT consultant Dr David More, the complexity of specifications on the template ...
DOCTORS have welcomed the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) report’s e-health recommendations, but have questioned the intent of linking Medicare rebates to e-health capabilities. The e-health proposals, which cost an estimated $1.8 billion, include person-controlled electronic health records for all Australians by 2012. However, the NHHRC also called on the Government to mandate that payments for health and aged care services should eventually be dependent on the provider’s ability to transmit information to a patient’s personal e-health record, and to other health providers. Health IT consultant Dr David More said he was “deeply uncomfortable” ...
EXPERTS have welcomed the release of draft proposals for patient and professional identifier numbers, but have argued key information is missing from the government plan. Released by the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council, the proposals outline the creation of 16-digit identifiers for each individual, healthcare professional and healthcare organisation in the country. The system, developed by the National E-health Transition Authority (NEHTA), has been lauded by the authority and the Federal Government as a means to improve patient care and reduce preventable errors, such as incorrect prescribing. The Government plans to roll out the identifiers – ...
AFTER a long career as a leading Australian health academic, Dr Lesley Russell (PhD) will be moving across the Pacific to share her knowledge on health policy with the US Government. Dr Russell, a Menzies Centre for Health Policy foundation fellow at the University of Sydney, will relocate to Washington DC next month to take up a post with the Centre for American Progress, a Democratic think tank that advises the Obama Administration. During her post – which will run for up to six years – she hopes to encourage an exchange of the best health policy ...
EXPERTS are pinning their hopes for progressing the e-health agenda on the release of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) report due out in June, following the conspicuous absence of e-health from the latest federal Budget. No additional funds were promised to the e-health implementation program, and according to Professor Enrico Coiera, director of the Centre for Health Informatics at the University of NSW, this “obvious hole” suggested the government was “waiting for something else, probably the NHHRC report”. The NHHRC report is expected to make final recommendations on, and provide costings for, health system ...
GPs who do not sign up to the government’s e-health agenda could find their access to the MBS restricted, under radical new proposals touted by the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC). The new proposals – released in a supplementary paper last week – recommend that public and private benefits for health and aged care services be tied to the provision of personal e-health records for all patients. GPs would have until January 2013 to comply. However, AMA e-health committee chair Dr Peter Garcia-Webb claimed the proposal could greatly disadvantage patients. “It may not be ...
GPs who do not sign up to the Government’s e-health agenda could find their access to the MBS restricted, under radical new proposals touted by the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission. The new proposals – released yesterday – recommend public and private benefits for health and aged care services be tied to the provision of personal electronic health records to all patients. GPs would have until January 2013 to comply. However, AMA e-health committee chair Dr Peter Garcia-Webb criticised the proposal, claiming it could greatly disadvantage patients. “It may not be possible for a GP ...
AS we edge closer to May, the Federal Budget and the potential impact of the global financial crisis on health spending are issues giving the divisions network much food for thought. We may have to wait until Wayne Swan makes his Budget speech on 12 May before we have any clarity about the future beyond June this year of a number of programs important to general practice and patients. Some of the programs under threat are essential not only to general practice, but to the Government’s own reform agenda in health care. To take account of ...
A LACK of detail on the new requirements for the e-health Practice Incentive Payment (PIP) has left many GPs in the dark as to whether they qualify for annual payments of up to $50,000, experts claim. According to the Federal Health Department, for PIP eligibility practices must ensure GPs can access three different types of “key electronic clinical resources” from their computers. Practices were given one example of each resource, leading to widespread concern that these examples were the only acceptable resources. No further examples are expected to be forthcoming, and no assessment of which resources meet ...
• CHINA'S ANTI-SMOKING PUSH TARGETS DOCTORS THE Chinese Health Ministry is targeting the country’s male doctors who smoke, believing it to be one way to reduce the country’s soaring smoking rate. China has the highest rate of smoking among doctors in the world, with 56.8% of male doctors using tobacco, according to the China Preventive Medicine Association. Ten medical schools and 10 medical associations have already signed up to the campaign, pledging to make their premises smoke-free and promote tobacco control among their students and members. More than half of adult Chinese males smoke, according ...
THE Federal Government has just 12 months to set the ground rules for e-health standards before a national, unified e-health system slips from its grasp, experts have warned. Leader of the team which authored the Deloitte’s National E-Health Strategy, Adam Powick, said without a clear direction, smaller e-health trials and projects would continue to develop and forge ahead according to their own standards, leading to an increasingly fragmented system. There would come a time when the cost and effort required to align these systems would prove so great that the cost of implementing, for example, a national ...
TRIALS of unique patient and provider identifier numbers will begin by the end of the year, according to National E-Health Transition Authority clinical lead Dr Mukesh Haikerwal. The 16-digit number is the first step towards a personal electronic health record. Speaking at an e-health conference in Sydney last week, Dr Haikerwal said a national rollout wasn’t possible until changes were made to privacy legislation. “We have to be cautious about the legislation,” he said, adding that the trial was a chance to get the “methodology right”. But e-health consultant Dr David More wants the privacy ...
Will business go-getter and former Coca-Cola chair David Gonski be able to speed up the drive towards a national e-health system? Kathryn Eccles reports. YOU could say David Gonski has been thrown in at the deep end. But that would be an understatement. Thrown into shark-infested waters without a raft might be more of a reality. However, given his experience chairing organisations such as Coca-Cola Amatil, Investec Bank (Australia) and the Australian Securities Exchange, Mr Gonski is in a better position than most to swim to safety in his new role as chair of ...
THE federal government’s plans to roll out patient e-health records could cause serious problems for those in small communities if strict privacy protocols are not in place, the Consumers’ Health Forum has warned. In a submission to the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA), the forum raised questions around the levels of access health professionals would have to patient records. In particular, it expressed concern that if health professionals were given unfettered access to health records containing highly sensitive information, patients in small towns with specific conditions may find themselves stigmatised. “If more people know information, or ...
THE Northern Territory has been lauded as Australia’s poster child for e-health, thanks to the effectiveness of its shared electronic health record, electronic prescriptions and electronic medication management in aged care. Established by the federal and NT governments, the scheme allows for the secure storage and sharing of important patient health information, including allergies, medical problems, current medications and any discharge summaries. According to General Practice Network NT CEO Dr Leonie Katekar, the scheme has been particularly beneficial in providing services to the mobile Aboriginal population. Patients are able to opt in to the scheme, and ...
PROPOSALS for unique healthcare identifiers and a shared e-health system will need separate legislation if they are to become a reality, according to the Australian Law Reform Commission. The landmark For Your Information report – the first review of privacy laws in 25 years – investigated modern technology and its impact on individuals’ private lives. Government proposals to allow health professionals to access and share patient records through the use of patient identifiers would require specific laws in relation to information access and management. Legislation must also outline sanctions in relation to ...
A DRAFT report designed to shape Australia’s e-health policy has been met with a lukewarm response from experts. The working draft is the first stage in a $1.3 million government-funded work program by Deloitte, and along with summarising the process of the national e-health strategy to date, it also presents five possible governance models for the final e-health system. Deloitte was commissioned to undertake the work in April this year, and has invited stakeholder comment on its findings. It will present a final report to the federal government next month. National E-Health Transition Authority consultant and ...
A NATIONAL e-Health Transition Authority discussion paper on an e-health patient and provider identification system has been labelled as premature by a health IT expert. The paper, E-Health ID , has been released ahead of a $1.3 million government funded report from consultancy firm Deloitte, which is expected to indicate what NEHTA’s future direction should be. Health IT consultant Dr David More said while NEHTA was under pressure, it had to “deliver results on what’s needed, not what they think should be needed”. However, AMA e-health committee chair Dr Peter Garcia-Webb said unless ...
What’s the hold-up on a national, linked electronic health system? Kathryn Eccles finds out. BEING called to hospital at 2 am to assess a patient with chest pain is part of an average week for Dr Peter Rischbieth. At his most recent early morning call-out, the RDAA president would have been forced to rely on a 73-year-old patient and her relatives for a medical history were it not for his computerised practice. But a few clicks of the mouse were all that was needed to compare the patient’s current ECG with one from a month ...
DOCTORS will soon be able to analyse their practice records at the push of a button thanks to new computer software to improve clinical care from the RACGP. The college is set to release a program to allow practices to extract patient, condition and treatment information from online records to improve their business and clinical decision-making processes. Associate Professor Ron Tomlins, chair of the RACGP’s National Standing Committee on Quality Care, said the program would surpass the capability of existing search engines built into practice software. “You would be able to say, ‘I’m really interested to ...