This appeared last week:
Apple's iOS push could change healthcare data sharing, still won't kill the fax
Apple may have finally found a way to enable the large-scale sharing of electronic medical record information on mobile devices. But its tools won't replace the old tried-and-true fax for data-sharing in healthcare.
Lucas Mearian (Computerworld (US))06 February, 2018 07:55
Apple's Health Records feature in the upcoming iOS 11.3 rollout may be the most high-profile attempt at sharing healthcare data between caregiver and patient, but it won't succeed without industry's cooperation.
What is new is the mass market Apple commands with its iPhone and iPad and the company's efforts to take advantage of new industry standards and collaborative alliances for aggregating and sharing patient data from disparate healthcare systems.
Even with all the electrification of healthcare data and advances in networks for sharing that data, however, one industry stalwart is unlikely to be replaced: the fax.
Virtually all US healthcare organizations continue to use the facsimile, even as the industry has been forced to adopt modern electronic medical records (EMRs) and online data-sharing methods. The fax protocol is used to transmit laboratory reports, send prescriptions and authorizations and transmit payment information between hospitals and insurance companies.
The reason the fax isn't going away anytime soon is that it's simply too well ingrained in back office systems. "People use it as lowest common denominator. You could call it the great unifier in letting all these disparate systems talk to each other," said Bill Ho, CEO of Biscom. "And, healthcare is ... a little bit conservative when it comes to adoption of new technology."
In 1980, Biscom launched the fax server industry, turning what was previously all paper-based fax machine systems into electronic file sharing. Even today, many of Biscom's healthcare customers send tens of thousands of faxes per month.
For example, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance sends and receives an average of 10,000 faxes every month, and Massachusetts General Hospital sends 25,000 to 30,000 faxes per year using Biscom's service.
And all EMR systems have a fax tool embedded in them, or at the very least a computer system's "print" command allows for a fax option.
The screenshot is from a test server using GE Centricity's EMR. The screenshot shows the process of going into a patient record and performing a prescription refill via the fax protocol.
"People have this image in their head of someone standing in front of a fax machine and sticking paper in to it. Today it's all digital. Most faxes never hit paper," Ho said.
Eventually, as Apple envisions, a new electronic document system will prevail. But it's going to be a very slow changeover, according to Ho, whose company does offer other forms of electronic file exhange.
"Healthcare is a large, complex, multi-faceted system, and I don't think we're going to see rapid disruption," Ho said.
There is a vast amount more here:
So it seems Tim Kelsey’s wish is to be put off a little longer.
Makes one wonder just how the fax elimination plan is going. I have not heard much about it recently!
David.
8 comments:
The fax is dead long live the fax. It is a concern when people supposedly leading digital health confuse a physical product and the standards and protocols behind it.
That is the danger of silly slogans and trying to position your product by ridiculing alternatives. For $ 500,000 a year plus APS travel perks you would think this EO would be a little more savvy. The attack of faxes is but one element of an ever increasing pattern. The CEO and his COO are not doing anyone any favours putting the various stakeholders interest groups against each other.
@ 9:56 AM. Agree. In defence it is probably our distraction with this ridiculous cultural revolution internally. What is it? Who knows, all it exposes is hypocrisy. Some seem to get away with blue murder and make a mockery of the APS while good people are treated badly and staff turnover seems high and morale at an all time low.
@ 10:21 AM. Are there film crews stationed in the ADHA? The reports coming out of the ADHA have all the symptoms of a nightmare reality TV show. I am getting extremely concerned. If something does go wrong the ADHA had better be able to present clear discussion making, approvals and assurance activities and traceability from requirement to release.
The inclusion of the standards used in the commonly termed Fax, will be interesting to see in the Interoperability strategy framework. Interoperability is about how various standards and solutions coexist amounts participants of any given community model. To excluded these standards or the recognition they exist will severely weaken any attempt to unify and extract value from such agreements.
Anyone know where this Interoperability thing is? It has been nearly seven months since it was suppose to have been delivered. I cannot even find a draft for comment? David or readers has anyone been invited to review?
I thought this interoperability thing" you refer to was being developed by some vendors in collaboration with the MSIA! Have I got that wrong?
Could not say if you are right or wrong. This was the tender request and I have seen nothing more on it. The FAQs seem pretty on expect deliverables and timelines. There is not evidence I can find this was changed and organisations were asked to reconsider based on new conditions.
https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/about-the-agency/tenders-and-offers/strategic-interoperability-framework-rft/faqs
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