Has the Peak e-Health Strategy Council in Australia (AHIC) Vanished Unannounced?

Writing earlier this year on the demise of HealthConnect as it was initially planned in an article in New Matilda in early 2006 I noted in passing

“There are other worrying portents of the Commonwealth Government vacating the e-health space. Firstly, the formal role of the Australian Health Information Council (AHIC) to undertake national e-health planning was withdrawn after the AHMAC meeting in late 2005.”

What I wrote seems to be truer than I could have imagined.

AHIC was initially set up by Health Ministers in July 2003. AHIC, it was said “works closely with the National Health Information Group in to increase the effectiveness of IT investment in the health sector.”

After little practical outcome from the Council after two years, it was reviewed by the Australian Government (in secret it would seem as there was no public report I am aware of ever announced or released) and its role was changed.

The new role was described as follows:

“The revised operating arrangements for AHIC are based on an independent review of the Council commissioned by the Australian Government. These arrangements will enable AHIC to focus on providing strategic advice to Health Ministers about the more effective and efficient use of information management and information communications technology (IM&ICT) in the health sector.”

At the same time as this was done (November 2005) all references to a proposed National E-Health Strategy disappeared from the AHIC web-site. I am told that despite twelve months consultation and work by the AHIC secretariat the strategy produced was so bad as to not be appropriate for release and so the whole idea of developing a National E-Health Strategy was abandoned. Since that time administrative transfers, changes and resignations have ensured that any expertise and skills in the e-health domain that may have existed have been largely dissipated.

It now seems that the last rites have been administered to the last representative Australian e-Health peak body – with the web site (www.ahic.org.au or www.ahic.gov.au) now having disappeared as of the time of writing (6th September, 2006).

The days of open consultative development of e-Health Policy in Australia would now seem to be over given we now have nothing other than private discussions determining the Heath Ministers decisions and NEHTA having advisory groups whose membership seems to be a state secret.

It seems unaccountable bureaucracy rules! All in all a sad day.

David.