This appeared last week:
NT Govt commits $186m to e-health record system
25/05/2016
news The Northern Territory has announced plans to spend $186 million on a jurisdiction-wide, integrated electronic health record system.
Implemented as part of the 2016 Budget, the investment will be spread over five years as part of the Core Clinical Systems Renewal Program (CCSRP).
Minister for Corporate and Information Services Peter Styles said the program to upgrade the existing core clinical information systems will be the “largest ICT reform ever undertaken” in the Territory.
“For the first time clinicians will be able to electronically access patient records from any public health care facility, anywhere in the Territory,” he said.
The e-health program will replace four existing clinical information systems with a single end-to-end clinical information system at the point of care for all public health facilities, including all NT public hospitals and more then 50 health clinics.
“It will improve efficiency, eliminate outdated, manual systems of patient support and ultimately improve health outcomes,” Styles said.
John Elferink, Minister for Health, said the NT Government has set out to revolutionise healthcare delivery in the Territory by modernising the “outdated” ICT system to ensure correct information on patients is available at the point of treatment.
“The program will transform our public health care network meaning clinicians will no longer need to re-assess a patient’s history each time they visit a Territory public health service,” Elferink said.
He added that immediate access to patient records will improve the delivery of healthcare in the Territory through reduced readmissions, reduced emergency department waiting times and improved patient safety.
The announcement extends the Country Liberal Government’s commitment to set the standard in core clinical health and follows the development and implementation of innovative health solutions such as Telehealth.
There is additional coverage here:
NT sinks $186m into ‘largest ever’ clinical systems replacement
Outdated hospital IT to get the boot.
By Paris Cowan
May 25 2016 12:12PM
May 25 2016 12:12PM
The NT government has committed $186 million to the replacement of four of its critical clinical systems with a single, integrated patient information database that will be accessible in real-time from any one of the territory’s hospitals or medical centres.
The core clinical systems renewal program will take five years to complete and represents a comprehensive overhaul of the health system’s operational IT environment.
It will deliver the NT’s doctors and clinicians a single view of a patient, integrating data that is currently stored in four different systems - CareSys, the clinical workstation system, the primary care information system, and the community care information system.
Changes to a record made anywhere in the state will be updated and appear in the system in real-time.
The NT’s Minister for Corporate and Information Services described the CCSRP as the largest IT reform ever undertaken in the territory.
“It will improve efficiency, eliminate outdated, manual systems of patient support and ultimately improve health outcomes,” he said.
The establishment of a single, integrated source of truth on a patient’s medical history is expected to be particularly transformative for the NT’s 50 medical centres, many of which serve regional and remote communities.
Health Minister John Elfrenik said the program ”will transform our public healthcare network meaning clinicians will no longer need to re-assess a patient’s history each time they visit a territory public health service".
More here:
There is also some information (rather old) regarding what is intended:
Core Clinical Systems Renewal Programme (CCSRP)
Market Sounding Brief
The following documents are provided in support of the CCSRP Market Sounding Brief:
Here is the link:
When I first read all this I was encouraged that the plan was to create a system designed to optimally support clinicians in caring for a mobile and complex population in an integrated way. However reading the market Brief one notices all of the NEHTA specifications which seem to be what is being requested.
Were it me, I would just ignore all that work - develop a proper requirements specification and go to the market for a system that will efficiently meet the clinical needs. I seriously doubt there is anything out there that meets all these baseline requirements and without testing the market functionally the NT might wind up with a real lemon.
Bottom like the NT should decide what it needs functionally for its clinicians and move on from there - not move from the basis of what terminology and display standards are used (many of which are not proven in implementation).
This program has a very long way to go and watching progress will be fascinating!
David.
Well they have a few weeks until all bets are off with NEHTA. Stephen Moo sits on the ADHA board and The MyHR is dependant on NT, guess ADHA will be moving to NT for the next few years and all funding will be sucked dry.
ReplyDeleteBear in mind that NT - being a Territory, not a State - is funded by the Federal Government so one can expect that Digital eHealth funding, of whatever amount, will flow to NT as and when they ask. NT is the only place apart from ACT where the Federal Department of Health can fund whatever it wants, no probs. We've seen it all before.
ReplyDeleteAt roughly $780 per resident in NT, will there be $15.5 billion allocated for the rest of the population?
ReplyDeleteNo need to allocate more funding to cover the rest of the population. Once NT has its system up and running, in the cloud of course, NT can host every other state in Australia. To achieve that we can all be compulsorily enrolled on the NT system which will be renamed the Australian Digital Health System (ADHS) and the states will have to pay to keep the system running else the Federal Government will curtail some of their hospital funding until they cooperate. All very simple really - all you have to do is think and behave like a bureaucrat.
ReplyDeleteDon't you worry about Stephen Moo. He will be handsomely paid to manage delivery of the new ADHR system (Australian Digital Health Record). He is the only CIO in Australia who has delivered a working state (Territory) wide system albeit for only one medium sized hospital and a few hundred thousand people.
ReplyDeleteAhhh Mr Mac Magoo, we'll all be in the kangaroo pooh.
My boomerang won't come back mac, my boomerang won't come back.
http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/m/myboomerangwontcomeback.shtml
And as it is borrowed money we can sell it off to pay the interest, just like Darwin harbour, someone needs to call Alan Jones
ReplyDelete