The AMA Reiterates it Has the E-Health Religion.

The following appeared yesterday.

Make e-health funding priority: AMA

Karen Dearne | September 16, 2009

THE Australian Medical Association has called for priority funding for e-health adoption, saying the roll-out should start with e-prescribing and electronic sharing of essential patient information.

E-health is one of seven key areas identified for urgent action, with AMA president Andrew Pesce handing the doctors' Priority Investment Plan to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Health Minister Nicola Roxon at a meeting in Canberra.

The AMA wants the Federal Government to assume full responsibility for funding the nation's public hospitals, with the states retaining control over operations and local governance arrangements.

Dr Pesce said the time for talk was over.

"We are offering real solutions to real problems," he said.

"The AMA fully supports the roll-out of e-health initiatives in order to integrate systems, reduce fragmentation and duplication, streamline service delivery and improve quality and safety.

"Priority needs now to go to funding the infrastructure for e-health - especially electronic health records - given that the investment to date has focused on development of standards and technical specifications."

But the AMA rejects the recent National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission recommendation that patients should control their own e-health records, saying medical practitioners should control the electronic sharing of patient information between healthcare providers.

Dr Pesce flagged doctors' concerns over person-controlled health records at an e-health forum last month.

More here:

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,26081906-15306,00.html

There is a link to the full AMA document in the report.

To download directly use this link:

http://www.ama.com.au/system/files/node/4954/AMA+Priority+Investment+Plan_September+2009.pdf

The key pay dirt as far as e-Health is concerned is in Section 6 of the 11 page Plan.

6. Taking advantage of the e-Health revolution

The AMA fully supports the roll-out of e-Health initiatives in order to integrate systems, reduce fragmentation, streamline service delivery, reduce duplication, and improve quality and safety.

The roll-out should start with e-prescribing and medically-controlled sharing of essential patient health information between health care providers through electronic records.

Priority needs now to go to funding and rolling out the infrastructure for e-Health - especially electronic health records - given that investment to date has mainly focussed on development of standards and technical specifications.

The AMA believes that a vital part of the e-Health revolution is to have remote communities 'wired' for e-Health service delivery such as telehealth and Internet consultations and advice, as recommended by the NHHRC.

----- End Extract.

As far as it goes this is a useful position for the AMA to be putting as it can only have the effect of ramping up the pressure on the Government to actually say what its plans are in e-Health – as the rest of the document aims to do with the other aspects of the recent 3 reports on the Health System commissioned by Government.

Clearly I agree with the thrust to get provider health records in place. I would have been saying that we need quality local systems and all sorts of improved governance and data quality before even starting clinical information sharing but maybe I am being a little picky. The clear emphasis on provider support first and then consumer access once the wrinkles are ironed out is certainly the right approach as far as I am concerned.

I must say I see the third paragraph reflecting the AMA’s view that actual progress on clinically useful systems has been delayed as work “on development of standards and technical specifications” seems to have had too much of the emphasis to date. Most would agree with this perspective I believe, while recognising the need for such work to get done.

Lastly it would have been nice to see the AMA suggest a notional budget for e-Health as they did in a range of other areas.

On a related government matter I see the AMA has also had what I would see as a win!

Medicare clerks won't see medical records

by Michael Woodhead

Medicare clerks will not be allowed access to patients’ medical records when doing audits into overservicing, the AMA says.

The Health Insurance Amendment (Compliance) Bill 2009, introduced in Parliament today, gives Medicare the power to obtain patient records from doctors to substantiate Medicare claims.

But the AMA says it has lobbied successfully to change the legislation and ensure that the documents will only be seen by medical practitioners employed by Medicare.

“Under the earlier draft Bill proposed by the government, these personal clinical records would have been seen by administrative staff,” says AMA president Dr Andrew Pesce.

“The AMA has been relentless in protecting patient privacy and preserving the confidentiality of the doctor-patient relationship. We pushed for a Senate Inquiry and the Senate agreed that there needed to be specific measures to ensure that patient clinical records would only be accessed when absolutely necessary.”

More here:

http://www.6minutes.com.au/articles/z1/view.asp?id=498778

This seems to me to be a very sensible outcome indeed.

David.