E-Health Record To Help Ensure Better Treatment - 13 July 2009
A National e-health record promises to ensure patients have access to more expedient and better informed medical treatment, Medicines Australia chief executive Ian Chalmers said today.
Welcoming today’s decision by the Australian Health Ministers’ Conference to move towards establishing a secure national e-health system, Mr Chalmers said patients and healthcare professionals would be the big winners.
“If healthcare professionals understand what treatments a patient has received and what medications have been previously prescribed and dispensed, they will be much better placed to determine quickly the most appropriate treatment option.
“This initiative goes to the core of Quality Use of Medicines.
“An e-health record will help ensure doctors and other health professionals prescribe the right medicine to the right patient at the right time and at the right dose.
“This is a significant step in ensuring medicines are used correctly and avoiding adverse outcomes through the misuse of prescription medicines.”
Mr Chalmers said a national e-health record would also provide an important opportunity to deliver an advantage to Australia’s extensive clinical trial capability.
“There is an opportunity to capture greater value from an e-health record system by ensuring the system also provides remote access to the medical records of trial participants in Australia who have consented to such use of their details.
“Remote access to trial data would remove geographical barriers to participation in clinical trials.
“This would shorten the time taken to complete clinical trials in Australia and would therefore improve Australia’s attractiveness as a destination for global investment in clinical research.
“Medicines Australia has long argued for a national e-health system. I congratulate the Australian Health Ministers’ Conference for taking forward this initiative.
“It is important that all stakeholders have the opportunity to consider this proposal carefully. I look forward to engaging with the Health Ministers during the consultation period.”
ENDS
CONTACT: Jamie Nicholson
Medicines Australia, Media Communications Manager
The release is found here
http://www.medicinesaustralia.com.au/pages/view_news.asp?id=141
I wonder why this insight has suddenly come after so long! Could it be a bit of empire building from an organisation with a lamentable record in building and deploying software for clinicians?
David.
Note: In this comment I confused Medicare Australia and Medicines Australia - so the comment is partly incorrect. See comments. D.
2 comments:
I don't understand why you find it so necessary to criticise Medicines Australia with your suggestion Medicines Australia has a "lamentable record in building and deploying software for clinicians".
That is not Medicines Australia's role nor should it be and it has not ventured into that space nor should it do so.
So please explain why you find it necessary to be so critical. Further, if Medicines Australia did get involved in software development for pharamcists and doctors there is little doubt that you and your colleague Dr Ken Harvey would be the first to criticise such a move with all guns blazing.
Your apology and retraction of your statement above is accepted in avance.
Agreed.
Sorry I was thinking of Medicare Australia.
My first point however stands. Why has it taken so long for Medicines Australia to get on to pushing e-Health - or have I missed your releases over the years?
It is also quite naive to imagine centralised EHRs as proposed by NEHTA are going to make much of a difference. The key improvement in quality use comes from quality decision support at the point of prescribing.
The NEHTA IEHR is also not planned to be of much use in research given its summary nature - or does Medicines Australia know different.
David
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