I had a call from an old mate from the industry this morning.
In the call he told me he was having a good time reading the Version 11 of the NEHTA PCEHR Concept of Operations (ConOps) as well as parts of the NEHTA Contract with DoHA so, I presume, he could figure out just who was planning to do what with whom in this the round of PCEHR tenders.
I suggested that now we were at Version 11 it must now be perfect but he was just a mite sceptical of that!
What was really amazing, he found, was that the PCEHR timetables in the DataPak were essentially unchanged but that the way the tender was structured any delay risk had been transferred from NEHTA and DoHA to those tendering.
Astonishingly, apparently part of the proposed deal is that tenderers have to plan based on the assumption the HI Service and NASH will be delivered when needed and that the response cannot mitigate risks associated with these events not actually happening.
What this means, by my interpretation, is that either you sign up to un-realistic timelines or don’t bid. This is a classic commercial ‘rock and hard place’ situation.
You would be not surprised to know that when I suggested I might be sent a copy and I was told that was not possible as the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) was pretty draconian.
As an example of how dire the NDA is, is that both his lap top and my computer logs would be subject to search and review of logs should I be found to have a copy (I really wonder if that can actually be enforced? - feel free to send me a copy and we can see!)
Even more alarming was that when I suggested he might give me a copy of the NDA I was told that was also protected in a rather recursive way and was as restricted as the ConOps documentation.
All I can say is WTF. This is a document (the ConOps) describing something that is allegedly being developed for the good of our health and yet the whole process is being surrounded by military grade security. Just why would that be? There is no valid reason I can see!
My view is that this is utterly out of control! My feeling is that frankly NEHTA has become a threat to good and open government in our country with this sort of paranoid and anti-democratic behaviour.
As other sites often say ‘What do you think’?
David.
8 comments:
re tenderers needing to assume that IHI/NASH are there. This model has already been used by DoHA with the secure messaging PIP. You might recall that a major plank in this was needing NASH PKI's. Still waiting... 2012 perhaps?
NEHTA has a contract with DOHA. One presumes that it is doing DOHA's bidding. And that you are shooting the message boy.
If they were competent they would not be complicit with DoHA's silliness. They are meant to be the experts no?
Anyway I think I have made it clear all those involved need a 'maturity and openness transplant'!
David.
And you think they have a choice and can push back do you ?
....and since when have NDAs prevented previous leaks ?
Well I am waiting!
David.
Nehta and DoHA are flying like Korean Air used to. In Korean Air no one was game to tell the captain that they were about to fly into a mountain, because the captain could never be questioned. The co-pilot makes a few polite suggestions that their path might be wrong but never raises a fuss and they do indeed fly a full loaded 747 into a mountain, but the captain was never insulted!!
It turns out that NZ and Australia used to be the least complaint countries and Japan the most, but the fact that anyone in Nehta or DoHA who knows anything about eHealth or IT practices can stand by and let this disgrace go on suggests that we are turning Japanase, I really think so!
Compliance with fools is not a noble quality and standing up for sensible use of public money is. I am shocked you don't have a copy and shocked that there has not been an IT revolt. The problem is that all the eHealth funding eggs are in this rotten basket and everyone has their backs to the wall.
This is an insult to taxpayers.
NEHTA is well past its use-by-date, having all the characteristics of a rogue state run by psychotic pariahs - it acts like a narcissistic, hedonistic dictator in ehealth and as a drug addicted sycophant to DOHA and the Government - sucking off as much money as possible to keep its dirty habit going - flagrant and unashamed pissing taxpayer money up against the wall under a morbid self-delusion (seeing itself as the "saviour" of ehealth in Australia which will deliver a better health system) whilst not delivering anything tangible of real value to anyone!! What we have been served up over the past (nearly) 7 years is: a profound lack of transparency, lack of accountability, lack of real consultation and engagement with the public and broad health sector, track record of failed or late delivery, repeated failure to accept criticism and learn from past mistakes, arrogance and contempt for anyone who dares question any aspect of this organization (including its people, plans, methods, deliverables or track record for delivery) ...... and so on
Clearly NEHTA is like a malignant cancer and needs to be removed immediately!!
How much longer does the public and taxpayer have to put up with this perverse, failed experiment in ehealth?
When will the NEHTA Board accept responsibility fro all this failure and be fully accountable to the government and public and willingly disband ?
When will the government fix the governance in ehealth as alluded to in the Deloitte's ehealth strategy 2009 ?
E-Health has long been regarded as a major political and bureaucratic danger. Too costly, too challenging to implement successfully, too much drain on the health dollar.
Mr Abbott oversaw NEHTA's creation, after all, and set its role to be the substitute for real E-health progress and, hopefully, absorb all demands for action. I'm sure that just saying:'E-Health is too costly at present', as Mr Abbott did when he was the minister, would not suffice.
Disgorging 'standards', without reference to all the stakeholders, is 'safe' by Canberra norms, and the ~$200 million this has cost would easily be accepted by DOHA as 'worthwhile', in order to keep the E-Health tiger at bay. Arguably, however, it is no longer succeeding.
It is not just the taxpayers who are being insulted, it is the electors and citizens of Australia who deserve a more effective health care system, which is unlikely to be realised without E-Health
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