Again, in the last week, I have come across a few news items which are worth passing on.
First we have:
Ministerial Speech
Senator the Hon Joe Ludwig
Minister for Human Services
29 May 2009
Address to the Australian Medical Association Annual Conference
Melbourne
Introduction and Acknowledgements
Good afternoon. First, I acknowledge the Wurrundjeri people, the traditional owners of this area and I pay respect to elders both past and present.
I would like to thank the AMA and Dr Rosanna Capolingua for the opportunity to come and speak to you today.
Your President and I have shared some spirited exchanges over the Rudd Government’s proposed changes to Medicare audits.
That’s one of the issues I will be talking to you about today: why we’re doing it, how it will work and what it means to you.
I also wanted to share my views with you on the take-up of electronic Medicare claiming – or lack of it.
The way I see it, electronic claiming makes it easier for you, the patient and the Government to transact.
It also has significant savings for Medicare and these could be better used elsewhere in the health sector for everyone’s benefit, including you. Electronic claiming is a fundamental building block, as the health sector moves towards communicating electronically.
Finally, I wanted to challenge you about the way forward in service delivery.
The Portfolio
.....
Service Delivery
In the service delivery area, doctors have a dual relationship with government, as they are both consumers of services in their own right and partners in service delivery to the Australian public.
As consumers, much has been done in recent years to improve the convenience and efficiency of service delivery to doctors.
Almost all of this has relied on information technology to reduce paperwork and red tape in relation to both claims and payments, and to other services such as the provision of information and advice.
The benefits of technology in both your roles as doctors and as business people running practices are self evident. Technology can free you and your staff from paperwork.
Today, almost 90% of practices have an electronic claiming system, and they are extensively used to support much of the business of practices:
- 87% of claims for bulk billing services are made electronically
- 58% of DVA claims are made on-line
- more than 95% of payments to doctors are made by EFT and
- 75% of childhood immunisation data (ACIR) is submitted electronically
Doctors, like the rest of the community, see the benefits of doing business on line.
Medicare Australia is working closely with representatives of medical stakeholder groups to improve both the services available and the ease of use of the website.
Recently an improved on-line service for doctors was released - the Health Professional On-line Service or HPOS - which has simplified access to a range of on-line services.
A new service to enable practices to check Medicare card numbers on-line was included in HPOS in March, reducing the need for practices to make phone calls to Medicare Australia to check these details. More improvements are planned for release later this year.
But we have seen considerably less success when it comes to the use of technology already available to support claiming convenience for those patients who pay you at the point of service.
While 90 per cent of medical practices use an electronic claiming system, only 18.5 per cent of patient claims are being lodged electronically with Medicare Australia.
Recent research for Medicare Australia found more than 80 per cent of patients who pay to see their doctor would like to lodge their claim electronically at the surgery.
There is a clear gap between the capacity to carry out electronic claiming – 90 per cent of practices – with the reality of 18.5 per cent. In addition, the wishes of 8 out every 10 patients remain unfulfilled.
The result is that someone who sees a doctor has to then line up at a Medicare office to complete their claim where alternatives do exist.
The latter is direct interaction with Government and adds to the cost of providing public services. As a result, funds that could be going to subsidise a treatment, life-saving drug or procedure, are corralled into administration.
Lots more here:
http://www.mhs.gov.au/media/speeches/090529-address-to-aust-medical-assoc-annual-conf.html
This is really a confession that Medicare Australia still has not really worked out how to implement technology that clinicians really want to use. Maybe a new minister will help.
From www.pm.gov.au we find. (Release of June 6, 2009)
“The Hon Chris Bowen MP will enter Cabinet and be appointed Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law, and Minister for Human Services.”
The full release is here:
http://pm.gov.au/media/Release/2009/media_release_1056.cfm
I hope he has time to address the e-Health areas that he has responsibility as well as sorting out how Medicare will properly audit patient records for compliance without any risk of privacy breech.
Second we have more pleas for better e-Health.
E-health system 'would help contain flu'
AAP
June 03, 2009 07:36am
AN electronic health system would have provided more accurate and timely surveillance of swine flu, the organisation representing public hospitals and community health centres said.
The Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association supports the Government's approach to the present flu outbreak, but argues the threat of an epidemic highlights the need to fast-track e-health systems.
More here:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25580398-29277,00.html
Continuing pressure to do something in the e-Health domain.
Third we have:
Suppliers wanted for Tassie's e-health revamp
Suzanne Tindal, ZDNet.com.au
01 June 2009 05:24 PM
Tags: tasmania, iba, radiology, imaging, isoft, e-health, budget, hospital
Tasmania has continued its e-health blitz, putting out two tenders to support its multimillion dollar e-health plan.
The first looks for a vendor to undertake a project to replace the state's radiology information system as well as to replace or extend the existing picture archive and communications system Carestream, which is currently in use in Royal Hobart Hospital and Launceston General Hospital.
The idea is that the system will provide a single patient imaging record across the state, which will mean staff will be able to see all imaging services regardless of what hospital or unit they were taken. The Department of Human Services, which released the tender, also hoped it might be possible that clinicians be able to access the images from outside the Department's network.
The contract would be for five years with an optional five-year extension. The first phase of a system roll-out would be to Royal Hobart and Launceston General Hospital. Implementation is expected to commence by December at the latest.
The second tender sought Citrix support, development and training services for the Citrix application delivery infrastructure for the Department's iPatient Manager and iPharmacy systems.
The tender documents said that the Department might also extend the contract, which will run from August until the Department's Citrix licences run out in 2011, to include support development and training for other applications as well in the future.
iPharmacy is currently implemented in all hospital pharmacies and the Department is currently implementing iPatient Manager in all hospitals in the state via an over $4 million contract with iSoft owner IBA to upgrade the system from the state's HOMER patient administration system to the newer iSoft iPatient Manager. The implementation is occurring region by region, and the government anticipates it will be finished by 2009.
Source:
It is good to see Tasmania moving to improve the Health IT core systems. It is really amazing that the HOMER system (which is a real relic of the 1980’s) has been kept going for so long. Certainly they have had value for money for the original purchase which I am sure virtually no one can remember!
Fourth we have:
Google tool tracks flu in Australia, New Zealand
June 4, 2009 - 8:35AM
Google on Wednesday expanded "Google Flu Trends," its online tool for tracking influenza outbreaks, to Australia and New Zealand.
Google said it had built a flu model for the state of Victoria by working with its own search data and historical flu data from the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory.
"We then extrapolated this model to produce flu models at a national and state level for the rest of Australia," Google said in a blog post.
Tasmania and Northern Territory were not included, Google said, because there was not a "large enough volume of search queries to be accurate."
Google Flu Trends analyzes patterns in search queries to determine the spread of the disease and Google research has found that "searches for flu-related topics are closely correlated to the actual spread of flu."
According to Google, Flu Trends search queries can be tallied immediately, providing early detection of flu outbreaks, while traditional flu tracking systems may take days or weeks to collect and release data.
Full article here:
Details and current information are found here:
http://www.google.org/flutrends/
Good work Google is all I can say.
More coverage here:
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/306257/google_trends_flu_activity_anz?eid=-6787
Google trends Flu activity in ANZ
Authorities hope to respond to outbreaks faster
Rodney Gedda 04 June, 2009 14:58
Fifth we have:
Patient-controlled records could lead to confusion
Elizabeth McIntosh - Friday, 5 June 2009
PATIENT-controlled health records could take just 12 months to set up, according to software giant Microsoft, but experts are warning that information in records could be incomplete or misinterpreted by both doctors and patients.
In a submission to the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC), Microsoft stated that once Australian privacy legislation around secure storage and access to data was amended, there was an opportunity for patient-controlled health records to be used as a “sub-set” to a full provider-held medical record.
Speaking to MO, Microsoft’s Australian health and human services leader, Dr David Dembo, said the company believed once such changes were made, patient-controlled health records – similar to its US product HealthVault – could be set up within a year.
AMA e-health committee chair Dr Peter Garcia-Webb said the patient-controlled health record could be useful, however he was concerned there was room for both GPs and patients to misinterpret information that was added to the record.
More here (registration required):
http://www.medicalobserver.com.au/News/0,1734,4653,05200906.aspx
Ongoing commentary on the PEHR front – all recognising there are real issues with what the NHHRC as proposing – as highlighted in the blog a couple of weeks ago.
Sixth we have:
X-ray software could leave GPs in the dark
Rada Rouse - Friday, 5 June 2009
CONCERNS are mounting over the lack of standard diagnostic imaging software and CD programs currently used by radiology services.
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons vice-president Dr Ian Dickinson said surgeons and GPs were being hampered in clinical decision-making because of incompatible and poor quality images or equipment.
“It’s a bizarre problem, because with every CD [of images] you have to load a program onto your computer and work out which buttons do what to read it, and they are all different,” he said.
More here (Registration required):
http://www.medicalobserver.com.au/News/0,1734,4642,05200906.aspx
It is odd this is being reported as a problem. The solution to the issue is to implement, as a national standard, the recommendations found here:
Seventh we have:
4 June 2009
iSOFT launches new diagnostic imaging PACS solution
iSOFT Group Limited (ASX: ISF) – Australia's largest listed health information technology company – today introduced its new iSOFT PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications) solution, enhancing its global portfolio of IT products designed to create a seamless Electronic Health Record.
The iSOFT PACS will integrate with existing solutions, including iSOFT’s Radiology Information System (RIS) and Hospital Information System (HIS). The PACS is also embedded as part of LORENZO, iSOFT’s next-generation health IT solution to electronically connect patient records across the full spectrum of healthcare provision.
iSOFT offers clinicians in both public and private radiology and cardiology departments one of the most technically and functionally advanced PACS solutions available that addresses Medical Image Repository needs. Offered as a standalone product or as part of an existing system, iSOFT PACS was designed as a cost-effective, easily deployable and upgradeable solution with multi-site scalability.
More here:
http://www.isoftplc.com/corporate/home/nm_latest_3407.asp
This is good to see as PACS is a proven money saver and a proven enabler of improved quality of care. (Usual disclaimer on my having a few shares).
Lastly the slightly more technically orientated article for the week:
Windows 7 available in October: Microsoft
June 3, 2009 - 7:50AM
US software giant Microsoft said on Tuesday that Windows 7, its new-generation personal computer operating system, would be available in October.
"Windows 7 will be available on October 22," Microsoft said in a brief statement which provided no further details.
Microsoft had said last month that Windows 7, which replaces the much maligned Vista, would be available to customers in time for the holiday shopping season and the October release date is ahead of expectations.
Windows operating systems are used in about 90 percent of the world's computers, according to industry figures.
Microsoft released a nearly final version of Window 7 known as Windows 7 Release Candidate last month and invited feedback from the public in a test of the operating system's capabilities.
More here:
This is good news indeed and means we will have a very stable software platform on our PCs for the next few years at least.
More next week.
David.
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