AUSHIT Man Asleep at the Wheel!

Good heavens – it seems the Prime Minister has said something about e-Health and I missed it!

In the context of the Government Response to the now quite historical 2020 Summit there was an e-Health gem. (Thanks to an eagle eyed correspondent for the tip!)

The Prime Minister released the Government Response to the Australia 2020 Summit Report on the Summit website on 22 April 2009.

The full set of responses are found here:

http://www.australia2020.gov.au/response/index.cfm

The introduction to the Health Section of the response runs as follows.

A long term national health strategy

Australia is fortunate to have a health system which has delivered, in international terms, very good health outcomes due to Medicare, a strong public hospital system, and a high quality workforce. However, the challenges which our health system faces are substantial. Health costs are rapidly increasing, due to expensive technologies, higher pharmaceutical costs and increasing community expectations. Australia’s ageing population also poses great challenges to the health system, generating the need to provide increasing levels of aged care and support in a system already under pressure. Australia is also experiencing the increasing burden of preventable chronic disease such as diabetes. The Government has made health a major priority in its first term and is committed to delivering national policy solutions that are socially and economically sustainable. This agenda is being progressed through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) as part of a wide range of health reforms currently under consideration.

Participants in the Health Stream at the 2020 Summit agreed on the need to have a health system integrated at all levels, focused on both illness and wellness, drawing on the latest technological advances and research to deliver improved health outcomes for all Australians by 2020. These ideas covered a broad range of themes, including healthy lifestyles, health promotion and disease prevention, the health workforce and service provision, addressing health inequalities, and future challenges and opportunities in health and health research. The ideas from the Summit have made a significant contribution to the Government’s health policy.

The Health Stream developed a broad range of ambitions, themes and ideas that have influenced and guided the Government’s policy in this area, including:

· National Plan to Boost Organ and Tissue Donation – The Government’s National Plan to Boost Organ Donation is a $151.1 million national reform package to boost the number of life-saving organ transplants for Australians.

· National Healthcare Agreement – In November 2008, COAG agreed to an historic package of broad reforms of the health and hospital system. Under a new National Healthcare Agreement and associated national reform proposals, the Government will provide $64.4 billion in funding over five years. This includes an increase to the Healthcare Specific Purpose Payment of $4.8 billion over the forward estimates period, and a package of health reforms in priority areas totalling $3.9 billion. One important reform is the Preventative Health National Partnership to improve the health of all Australians, which includes the establishment of a national preventative health agency. Other reforms include the Indigenous Health National Partnership, which expands primary health care and targeted prevention activities, and the Hospital and Health Workforce Reform National Partnership, providing the single largest investment in the health workforce ever made by Australian governments as well as improvements to hospital efficiency, sub-acute care and emergency department services.

· Research in Bionic Vision Science and Technology – The Government is committed to supporting research where Australia is on the leading edge of innovation as a crucial investment in our nation’s future. One such area is research into the bionic eye, which is a critical advancement for millions of vision impaired Australians and promises the development of technologies to translate into other areas of need. Australia is already a world leader in bionics based on our expertise in the bionic ear. The Government is committed to conducting a competitive grants process to fund this important work.

Following this there are a set of topic responses.

Of interest here is the following.

Topic:

COAG Health and Ageing Working Group – E-Health

2020 Proposed Ideas

• Introduce an individual e-health record, plus ‘Healthbook’ (like Facebook) for Australians to take ownership of their health and to electronically share health information.
• Develop incentives to improve the uptake of e-health.
• Introduce national online access to a system of health information for tertiary, secondary and primary health care providers and individuals.
• Improve genomic diagnosis and treatment: for example, making gene space part of the ‘Healthbook’ concept.
  
• Introduce a universal health card with universal information

Government response

Agree in-principle. The Summit recognised the importance of e-health, and in November 2008, COAG agreed to the continued funding of $218 million (50:50 cost shared between the Commonwealth and the states) to the National E-Health Transition Authority. The authority is a not-for-profit company established by the Australian, state and territory governments to develop better ways of electronically collecting and securely exchanging health information. For example, it is working on standardising certain types of healthcare information to be recorded in e-health systems. The authority will continue to operate until June 2012.

----- End Response.

Well all I can say is that I should have stayed asleep. It clearly takes a person of the giant intellect of the Prime Minister to identify the link between the Ideas and the Government Response. I sure can’t! There is no link I can see between continuing NEHTA funding and these ideas offered by the Summit participants. NEHTA has its own (deeply flawed in my view) plans for Shared EHRs and I don’t see Facebook getting a look in. (Google and MS Vault are another matter!)

There is no mention of the National E-Health Strategy – and given the date of this document we must really be wondering if anything will ever come of that document. Remember it has now been in Government’s hands for over six months!

We have seen all sorts of plans for Infrastructure Spending – but essentially nothing for Health. I wonder when the Health Sector and e-Health will get to catch up and be given a share. If not in the Budget of May 12, 2009 it will be pretty sad.

There are also suggestions on adoption incentives, health cards etc suggested and these are just ignored!

The easily affordable national health information portal which could have made a real difference is also just ignored.

If ever there was a non-response this is it. I know there is a GFC and if that is the problem it would have been nice for this document to say “we like the ideas, get back to use when the GFC passes” and not just fudge as they clearly have.

Hopeless.

David.