It Is Clear We Are All Being Taken For Utter Fools With The Government Making Announcements Like This.

This appeared a few days ago.

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/health-mediarel-yr2017-wyatt040.htm

Information Sharing on Digital Health, a Focus of Health Cooperation with Germany

Information sharing on the best uses of digital health to improve the health status of populations is a key focus of a Joint Declaration of Intent on Bilateral Health Cooperation.

Page last updated: 19 May 2017

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19 May 2017

Information sharing on the best uses of digital health to improve the health status of populations is a key focus of a Joint Declaration of Intent on Bilateral Health Cooperation signed by the Australian Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Indigenous Health, Ken Wyatt and the German Minister for Health, Hermann Grohe, during the G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting in Berlin.

Representing the Australian government at the first ever G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting, Minister Wyatt said that Australia and Germany share many similar challenges, in particular the increasing health care costs driven by increase prevalence of non-communicable diseases and an increasingly ageing population.

“Germany and Australia seek to ensure our respective health systems deliver access to quality care to all who need it,” Minister Wyatt said.

“In particular we are interested in sharing information about digital health.

“Australia is a world leader in digital health. Our vision is a national digital health capability that improves the lives of all Australians by supporting the efficient delivery of healthcare.

“I know that the Australian Digital Health Agency and Department of Health are holding regular discussions on domestic digital health policy with Germany. Germany and Australia both have much to gain from sharing their collective expertise in digital health.”

Minister Wyatt said Australia and Germany both enjoy strong health systems and share a commitment to advancing their respective digital health capabilities.

In another bilateral meeting overnight in Berlin, Minister Wyatt met with the Indian Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Jagat Prakash Nadda, on the new Australia-India Memorandum of Understanding on health cooperation.

“These discussions follow on from Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s recent visit to India during which dialogue on health issues was a focus,” Minister Wyatt said.

“The two Prime Ministers were pleased to build on longstanding collaboration in the health sector through an MOU and committed to continue cooperation in this field.

"My discussions today with Minister Nadda were about ways of cooperatively improving the health status of both countries through concerted policy action in all sectors with a focus on quality health care."

Here is the link:

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/health-mediarel-yr2017-wyatt040.htm

I thought I should review the state of e-Health in Germany.

Here is a link to all you need to know at high level.

https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/health/the-electronic-health-card.html

Basically they have a smart card based system – new card introduced in 2015 – and a working to create a national patient record system due later:

This summarises the situation – with a new so-called E-Health Act:

“The Act on secure digital communication and applications in the health care system (E-Health Act) aims to leverage the opportunities brought by technological progress to enhance patient care. The Act includes a master plan for the swifter introduction of useful applications.

Following its successful trial run, the first online application of the electronic health card to be introduced nationwide by mid-2018 is the online synchronisation and updating of patient master data.  This sets up the online structures for medical applications such as emergency data, the electronic medication plan and the electronic patient record.

The first medical application that, from 2018 onwards, the insured can opt to have stored on their e-health card will be their emergency data. Storage on this card vastly improves medical access to these potentially life-saving data in case of emergency.

Starting October 2016, persons who take three or more medicines will be eligible to a medication plan. Mainly elderly persons and persons who live alone will benefit from the medication plan that is also scheduled to be electronically retrievable from the e-health card by 2018. Doctors are required to inform the insured about this right. Pharmacists will be involved from the outset and obliged to update the plan whenever medications change if the patient asks them to.

The E-Health Act promotes the launch of the electronic patient record. By the end of 2018, the gematik must create the prerequisites for patient data (such as discharge letters, emergency data, medication data) to be made available to the patients in an electronic patient record. This will enable the patients to share key health data with their care providers. 

Patient benefit and empowerment are paramount. By 2019, therefore, each patient will be given a personal e-folder for them to file and access data from available applications and documentations. The patients can also use their e-folders to file their own data, such as blood glucose logs.

The E-Health Act is based on a simple premise: Those who go along with progress reap benefits, those who stand in its way face sanctions.”

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The last paragraph sounds pretty draconian.

One really wonders what it is that is special about Germany – other than that they have a more forceful approach to e-record use!

This whole release is really pretty bizarre I reckon! I wonder just how often we are really consulting the Germans on Digital Health? Not often I would suggest.

David.