Quote Of The Year

Timeless Quotes - Sadly The Late Paul Shetler - "Its not Your Health Record it's a Government Record Of Your Health Information"

or

H. L. Mencken - "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

Sunday, February 05, 2017

What Should We Hope To See In The Initial Draft Of The New Digital Health Strategy From The ADHA?

As most will be aware the official consultation period for the new ADHA Strategy closed  few days ago.
See here:

How do you see the future of digital health?

Your health. Your say.

The 'Your health. Your say.' consultation period closed on Tuesday 31 January 2017, 5PM AEDT. Thank you to the individuals and organisations who contributed to the future of digital health by responding to the survey, sending us a submission, or attending one of the national conversation events. 
The Agency is currently reviewing all feedback. Stay tuned for further updates on the findings of the national conversation and the development of the National Digital Health Strategy, which will be available here on the conversation website. Subscribe here to stay updated.
Here is the link:
Having watched the recent webinar Tim Kelsey made it clear that work was now beginning on drafting the actual plan for COAG’s (Council of Australian Governments) Health Committee.
In discussions with the ADHA I have been told that before the plan was submitted to COAG it was likely there would be a discussion draft released that would permit thorough discussion and review by the rest of us.
With that in mind what would I be hoping to see? Here is my short list.
1. A clear definition of the scope and intended duration of the plan. Additionally discussion of just where the Strategy fits with current and planned Health Policy is critical.
2. An outline of just what the objectives of the plan are and the timeframe over which they are expected to be delivered.
3. A credible assessment of just where we are up to with Digital Health in Australia right now, as well as a needs analysis for optimal health system performance.
4. A thorough review of what has worked and what has not, both here and around the world, and what have been the factors that have led to both success and failure – as well as a realistic capability assessment of the Australian Digital Health Community.
5. A thoughtful analysis of just where the ADHA should fit in the Digital Health ecosystem and what its role should be going forward.
6. An full assessment of available options for moving forward especially in the areas such as overall national digital architectures, Standards, technology, information management, skills etc.
7. A clear sub-strategy for the involvement of the private technology sector and a similar sub-strategy that addresses interactions between the jurisdictions, clinicians and consumers.
8. A pragmatic list of projects that the ADHA might initiate and foster, what the approximate anticipated costs and benefits are and a discussion of why the ADHA is the correct entity to undertake such a project.
9. A focussed review of the myHR program with a realistic assessment of what has been achieved to date, what evaluations have been done and what they have shown. Additionally we need a realistic costed plan for what should (if anything) be done with the program, what benefits can realistically be expected and what costs are likely to be incurred.
I am sure there is a lot more that others might want to mention – and I would love to see them as comments.
Thanks.
David.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi hope to see a move away from centralised thinking to a more federated or open system that fosters competition and innovation. However my guess is we will get a profile of the UK 2020 Framework for Action, The govEHR will be the centre peice, I can only imagine what number of ne functions the beast will have, booking for the nation, shop a doc, national email system and NBN spine.

Anonymous said...

The Department of Health Releases A New Draft National Health IT Strategy. The comments in the aushealthIT blogspot below demonstrate another great confidence trick in all its glory.

http://aushealthit.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/the-department-of-health-releases-new.html

In effect - this draft strategy was nothing more than a smoke and mirrors tactic to buy another 12 months respite time until another draft strategy could be conjured up.

Feb 6 8.11am has predicted correctly - it will mark the beginning of another $1 billion++ vortex of great activity and massive wastage of funds. Like Health ministers before him Minister Hunt will be sucked in by his bureaucrats and be complicit in the wastage. Minister Hunt - tear down this monument to health profligacy.


Anonymous said...

Here is one. To stop playing with things we don't understand and simply ensure that any technology used is done in a safe compliant way. Support consensus based standards development and insist on a compliance regime based on those consensus standards. Allow use of provider numbers and reinstate proper PKI infrastructure that we had before NEHTA. Contract out AMT to someone with a clue.

Anonymous said...

To add to the previous comments, it is difficult to understand the reasoning behind the significant and ongoing hiring spurge by the ADHA of staff (over and above the already large number of former NEHTA and DOH employees that the ADHA has taken onboard) before a credible strategy, business case and funding is in place ...my sources indicate that it is already chaotic within the ADHA with many staff not understanding where they fit and what exactly they are supposed to do. It would seem to me that the ADHA is very much a public sector body contributing to the evident government bloat - business as usual, building another large government agency before it has a clear plan and raison d'ĂȘtre in place and "kicking the can down the road" (for all the difficult problems i.e. MyHR) !!



Anonymous said...

To add, having kept an eye on the positions, they have not been active in recruitment to ensure the ADHA is a smart customer or a center of expert knowledge. God knows what the layers of managers are managing but I am sure there are plenty of fly in fly out meetings in Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane. Love to see a published org chart and travel expenses.

Bernard Robertson-Dunn said...

Could I just point out that the ADHA legislation defines its functions but not objectives. In other words, it has too do things, not achieve things. I wonder if Minister Hunt is aware of this?

Anonymous said...

When trying to complete the online survey it failed, no success, locked up my machine. I have to say it made me chuckle - yep, we can't deliver you a survey to complete, but trust us to deliver you the MyHR.......... just a few more million or so should do it.

When will someone in government wake up to this black hole. They've been at it for nearly 7 years now since inception (April 2010) and sadly as Feb 6 9.17am has said, there is just going to be even more wasted on it, when the country can't afford it and won't see anything for it.

Anonymous said...

12:21 sorry to hear, it worked fine the dozen or so times I filled it out

Anonymous said...

Seems the numbers the splitting out are fake then as I filled it in three times. Not exactly a robust and diligent approach to underpin funding minister.

Maybe David you should have added self indulging or self promoting as a criteria for this weeks poll.

Bernard Robertson-Dunn said...

1) They will be cherry picking the survey comments

2) The whole things is rather meaningless; the respondents will be biased towards those who care (one way or another) and with no control over multiple votes.

Look what happens in an optional voting system when you ignore those who don't vote.

In the USA there were 218,959,000 Americans eligible to vote and 146,311,000 registered to vote. 61,898,584 voted for Donald

28% of eligible voters and 42% of registered voters supported Donald Trump. Not only that but 63,551,979 voted for Hillary Clinton - 1,653,395 more than for Donald. And they have the gall to call the USA a democracy.

And don't forget, like the opt-out trials were not about the benefits or otherwise of MyHR but about the registration process, the "consultation" was about ideas for the eHealth strategy, not should ADHA be creating a strategy in the first place. And ADHA have the gall to call it a consultation.

They've already decided what to do and will pick the survey responses that agree with their prejudices.

Anonymous said...

Cherry picking would be scientific for them from what I am hearing, operationally the Agency is a mess and hemorrhaging money. That usually results in panic followed by more short sighted decision making. Looking from the outside it's hard to see what they are trying to do

Anonymous said...

Does it really matter? Telstra Kelsey has sorted SMD, that is the death nail for MYHR, as Nathan stated they will move away from CDA to anything in PDF, inderviduals and organisations can set up their own P2P agreements and not even touch the government, which I understood is setup for CDA.

Master stroke Tim and no one noticed who is on both the Telstra payroll and the Agency payroll.

Anonymous said...

Re 11.28 pm suggesting Tim is on two payrolls is most inappropriate unless you have some evidence to support that.

Dr David G More MB PhD said...

I agree - seems to be Fake News to me...

Bernard Robertson-Dunn said...

I'd like to see ADHA's strategy discuss the statements made in this article

http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/opinion/why-the-pressures-rising-for-emrs-to-make-an-impact

"EMRs are expensive to implement and maintain. In addition, there exists no clear evidence that they increase productivity, enhance quality or reduce medical errors."

Anonymous said...

Feb 07 11:28. Your statement both confused me and intrigued me. The only linkage I can find is Peter Young ((Argus), how seems to have and influential foot in both camps ( Telstra Health and ADHA), however no evidence of payments. Is it Peter Young you refer to? if so why? There are only three real players in secure messaging in Australia and the ADHA would need someone to lead it and advise on the optimal solution.