This appeared last week:
ONC funding slashed by $17M in FY 2020 under WH budget
Published March 12 2019, 7:25am EDT
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has a lot on its plate in Fiscal Year 2020, but the agency may have to do more with less.
The Trump administration on Monday released the President’s FY 2020 budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes a total of $43 million for ONC—a reduction of $17 million from FY 2019.
“In FY 2020, ONC will continue to reduce operational and administrative costs in information technology, space, staff training and agency travel,” states the HHS justification. “ONC will continue to seek additional administrative and operational efficiencies.”
At the same time, HHS contends that the FY 2020 budget “prioritizes policy and rulemaking activities, standards development and implementation and electronic health record certification efforts to fulfill ONC’s commitment to an interoperable health IT system.”
Specifically, ONC’s FY 2020 priorities include:
- Developing data standards and the implementation of a trusted exchange framework and common agreement across health information networks.
- Focusing standards work on application programming interface standards, demonstration projects and pilots, implementation testing and collaborating with industry stakeholders.
- Working with CMS and healthcare stakeholders to identify and implement efforts to reduce provider burden from health IT.
- Advancing nationwide health IT interoperability through implementation of the Cures Act, which directs ONC to continue its work to combat information blocking by aggressively implement Certification Program rules that prohibit such conduct.
- Working with HHS partners to improve opioid prescribing practices, inform clinical practice, protect patients at risk and reduce illegal use of prescription medications through health, as well as advancing the accessibility and interoperability of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs.
More here:
For the latest year (FY 17/18) we have figures it seems the ADHA spent a total of $256M presumably including the operation of the myHR.
Calling the ONC Budget about $A65 or so makes the ADHA seem very expensive indeed for a country that is about 10+ times smaller!
Surely the ANAO has to wonder if we are getting value for money for all that?
David.
The bulk of expense and use of valuable human resources is spent on the MYHR not digital health. The ADHA to make room for spin doctors, digital artists and comms people became thinner than lean with technical capability.
ReplyDeleteEven before they dismantled architecture, standards and interoperability these teams were no where near the capacity needed. Three years on and the lake has been polluted and the rivers that once feed it are all but dry.
I suggest that the Department take its HR system and return COAG to funding a national entity like ONC here in Australia (along the lines of the AHHA blueprint.
Much of the ADHA budget must be going on vacuous stunts like this:
ReplyDelete"My Health Record: Revolutionising The Way We Consult- 1 hr webinar for Podiatrists! Register now! buff.ly/2u1piDs"
https://twitter.com/alliedhealthss/status/1108595342319206401
Following the link it tells us that a dietician is running a webinar for podiatrists to tell them about myhr:
"WEBINAR - My Health Record: Revolutionising The Way We Consult
How often have you wasted time chasing clinical information about your patients or spending precious minutes in consult paper pushing? The My Health Record is here to ease your load and free up your time to focus on doing what you do best – providing exceptional patient care and delivering positive patient outcomes.
This webinar will provide you with all the information you need to gain the maximum benefit out of My Health Record to enhance shared clinical and patient centred care and integrate the My Health Record system into your business as usual daily practice.
Presentation by: Abby Raupach. Digital Health Implementation Consultant
Abby is a University qualified Accredited Practising Dietitian and has a keen interest in both community and preventative health measures. Abby’s role within the Brisbane South Public Health Network (BSPHN) is related specifically to the the My Health Record Expansion Project. Abby’s main focus as part of the My Health Record team is to build awareness and create meaningful use of the My Health Record amongst Allied Health practitioners within the Brisbane South region.
When: Wednesday 27 March, 201"
The statment "How often have you wasted time chasing clinical information about your patients or spending precious minutes in consult paper pushing?" suggests that myhr will help podiatrists access patient data.
The reality is that before the opt-out process was complete only about 15% of registered people had a shared health summary less than a year old. After opt out that will have dropped to about 4%.
Podiatrists will be spending precious minutes either looking up a non-existent myhr or talking to the patient to find out if they have one.
If they do, by some chance, find one then all that health data will be available for scrutiny by the local foot doctor.
Recommend that you do not unpack Bernard’s posting if you value your sanity and believe in rationale thinking.
ReplyDeleteHere's something else you might not want to read, if you value your sanity, especially if you consider myhr to be just another app. Apps that interface with myhr are certainly in scope:
ReplyDelete"Data sharing practices of medicines related apps and the mobile ecosystem: traffic, content, and network analysis"
https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l920
"CONCLUSIONS
Sharing of user data is routine, yet far from transparent.
Clinicians should be conscious of privacy risks in their own use of apps and, when recommending apps, explain the potential for loss of privacy as part of informed consent.
Privacy regulation should emphasise the accountabilities of those who control and process user data.
Developers should disclose all data sharing practices and allow users to choose precisely what data are shared and with whom."
And the article starts off with a reference to Australia
"Introduction
Journalists recently revealed that Australia’s most popular medical appointment booking app, HealthEngine, routinely shared 100s of users’ private medical information to personal injury law firms as
part of a referral partnership contract.1 Although the company claimed this was only done with users’ consent, these practices were not included in the privacy policy but in a separate “collection notice,” and there was no opportunity for users to opt-out if they wished to use the application (app).1"
Looking at the conclusions wrt to myhr ....
Has ADHA informed everyone who did not opt-out that they have been registered for a myhr? No. Transparency = 0.
Are all clinicians aware of privacy risks in myhr? No.
(are people who do not see a clinician informed of privacy risks? No)
Have All Australians given informed consent? No, it is assumed.
Is it clear who is accountable for controlling and processing user data? No, especially when the larger ecosystem is in scope.
(Who is accountable and liable etc? Nobody knows)
Has ADHA (as the developer) disclosed all data sharing practices. No.
Has ADHA allowed users to choose precisely what data are shared and with whom. That is arguable. If the default is open access and controls must be applied, that is IMHO, not choice. And there is no realistic control at the individual level.
Does ADHA care? Problably not. They will just ignore it and look to their skewed test-bed projects to bolster their rather dubious argument that myhr will save lives.