I don’t know about you but it seems to me that the political class have suddenly totally lost interest in the #myHealthRecord since the last federal election in May.
Most will be aware that it was only in the last few weeks before the election that the Coalition thought it had any chance of victory and because of that there was a feeling that the final fate of the #myHR would not be a problem that they needed to be address, after the total mess that was made of the opt-out process with sufficient public concern being raised that 2.5 million voters decided to opt-out, as the incoming health minister would inherit the problem!
To make sure the new minister was fully on the hook for solving the difficult problem Minister Hunt, knowing that the #myHR was not popular, kept talking up its virtues pre-election to ensure the apparent policy switch would be seen as a major backflip when the incoming Minister realised just how unloved and unused the system was, and decided to can it.
Well, guess what? The #myHR problem has rebounded back on Minister Hunt and it has to be said that his remarks on the #myHR have been sparse at best and totally absent at worst.
Mr Hunt now has a full 3 years to try and work out what to do with this Government ‘white elephant’ in the face of an imminent ANAO audit reporting on the myHealthRecord Program, and a clear need to an inevitably pretty expensive ‘replatforming’ exercise if it is to be continued with.
Mr Hunt's decision making will surely also be hampered by the loss of senior ADHA staff recently - with the most recent being the Chief of Staff of the organisation. Informal feedback on the blog also suggests there is quite a high level of turnover lower down in the ranks and that there is a waning amount of technical skill remaining there.
The sudden absence of reporting of activity statistics makes a good deal more sense in this light.
See here:
https://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2019/10/i-wonder-why-government-is-so-secretive.html
As I see it he can either press on with a failing project at considerable ongoing expense and risk or actually take a decision and wind the nonsense down.
I wonder what he will do. Doing nothing and staying quiet for 3 years really isn’t really an option!
What do you think?
David.
The My Health Record is unequivocally a failed IT project. The Health Department Secretary, Glenys Beauchamp, has avoided making any comments on the MHR since she was appointed. Nearly every politician has studiously steered clear of commenting; so too the Health Minister and Shadow Health Minister Catherine King, with not a mention of it in her National Press Club address. The Peak Bodies have also stepped back with the exception of the RACGPs spokesperson, Dr Pinskier.
ReplyDeleteBehind the scenes however one can assume some of the big 'C' consulting firms and major technology vendors are hard at it selling their 'better alternatives'.
The powers that be are quite likely hoping that the soon to be released ANAO Audit will help solve this embarrassingly thorny political dilemma.
There are increasing stories ADHA is to be dissolved, and aspects carved up between DHS and DOH. 2022 is a recurring theme. Tim Kelsey hit the 3-year break clause in his contract. No sign of him being replaced it might be that they intended to let him fluff about for the next two years until the term naturally expires, while the NeHTA Exec now ADHA COO (and world expert on clinical interoperability) stuff up another organisational refit.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Minister can explain why this has been buried, not addressed and several suspected under visuals with deep knowledge dismissed from the ADHA and issued gagging notices.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/25/my-health-record-government-warned-of-significant-patient-data-glitch
@3:24 PM The only parties pushing the My Health Record to doctors are some of the PHNs (Primary Health Networks). They do so not because they are fervent believers, far from it, but because the Department is funding the PHNs to promote the MHR. They can't cut the funding because it would be a signal to the doctors that the system has failed. Catch 22! A super-super-maxi stuff-up.
ReplyDelete"They can't cut the funding because it would be a signal to the doctors that the system has failed."
ReplyDeleteIt's also tightly tied into the new ePIP arrangements which can be worth upto $50,000 to doctors. Because the MHR uptake by practices has been so terribly low the Health Department agreed to extending the deadline for practices participation whilst still paying the incentive payment during the 'deferment' period. Every which way one looks the Department has tied itself into a great big knotty tangle with no upside only downside. A complete f--kup.
@4:36 PM ADHA Staffer .. The internal informal grapevine in organisations like, and as troubled as,the ADHA are generally fairly reliable. Therefore, . it seems to me that if you are a staffer and you don't understand what is going on then you need to get on your bike and get out of there fast.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete@4:36 PM ADHA Staffer, seems to be reminding us that there are deep flaws in the technology that remain unresolved. All very nice sappy new bells and whistles on the wreckage but how about resolving serious issues first.
What will ADHA do when faced with a challenging problem? Redefine the problem to a simple but incorrect set of solutions much like axe the facts and secure messaging being interoperability.
@3:24 PM ".... behind the scenes the big 'C' consulting firms and major technology vemdors are hard at it selling their 'better alternatives".
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, they sure will, mining for the next billion dollar resevoir of gold. Minister, AI, Block Chain, Bitcoin, Distributed databases, and oh there's more Minister, the mind boggles, we will bring in Chinese technology too.