HealthEngine Seems To Be Setting Off Alarm Bells Again!

This appeared early in the week:

HealthEngine to build Australia's vaccine booking platform

By Justin Hendry on Mar 8, 2021 4:41PM

Expected to be live within weeks.

The Department of Health has selected HealthEngine to build the booking platform that will underpin the federal government’s Covid-19 vaccination information and booking service.

The platform, which is expected to be up and running in time for the next phase of the vaccine rollout in the coming weeks, will allow patients to locate and book appointments with clinics.

GPs clinics, as well as other approved health service providers like pharmacies and state-run vaccination clinics, will be able to use the platform where they don’t already have a booking system.

GPs are expected to administer the bulk of Australia's vaccinations, with more than 4500 clinics signed-up to take part in what will be one of Australia’s largest-ever peacetime logistics events from later this month.

HealthEngine said the booking platform, which is being “fast-tracked” to meet the deadline , would allow clinics, particularly those without existing booking systems, to “get online quickly”.

“The HealthEngine designed solution is suitable as a standalone booking option that complies with government requirements around accessibility, privacy and security,” it said.

More here:

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/healthengine-to-build-australias-vaccine-booking-platform-561889

There is lots of subsequent coverage and already more than a comments on the blog about this.

The last para of Justin Hendry’s article summarises the concern:

“The contract comes six months after HealthEngine was fined $2.9 million last year for sharing the non-clinical personal information of over 135,000 patients without their knowledge.”

The most lengthy coverage and discussion of many I have seen is here:

12 March 2021

HealthEngine back in hot water with GPs

Comment Political TheHill

Posted by Jeremy Knibbs

HealthEngine, winner of a commonwealth contract to provide a centralised COVID vaccination booking engine, has confused a lot of practice managers with a marketing email that competitors claim is misleading.

CEO Marcus Tan has conceded the confusion and told TMR that a clarification is forthcoming.

Last week HealthEngine announced with much fanfare to the media that it had won the Department of Health contract to provide a booking engine service for free to any GP practices that had been approved to provide COVID vaccinations, but which still does not have a booking engine.

Immediate complaints surfaced about the company’s press release, which fails to make any mention of the fact that the contract is only meant to service GP practices which do not currently use a booking engine, and which does not point out that practices with existing booking engines would not be able to drop their current booking engine provider for on the basis that the government is now offering a booking engine service which is effectively free.

Emma Hossack, CEO of the Medical Software Industry Assocation (MSIA), confirmed last night to TMR that the DoH contract is only meant for those practices which do not already have a booking engine service, that the centralised service being offered by the Commonwealth through HealthEngine is temporary only, and that as the service is free, practices could not swap out their existing service for the free service.

Despite this HealthEngine sent a marketing email to all the practices on its email list. This list included many practices with existing booking engines, practices which are using competitive booking engines to their own. That email is reproduced below.

What has most confused practices is the closing statement in the email:

“Make sure you are using the government approved solution in your practice, to register for the Commonwealth Booking Platform emailDigital.CV19@health.gov.au. [sic] Alternatively, if you would like further information and assistance to select the right booking solution for your practice, our team is here to help.”

The email does include the statement:

“The HealthEngine designed platform will provide a standalone vaccine booking option to help clinics to ‘get online’ quickly, if they don’t already have an online booking system for COVID Vaccine administration”

But even that statement has confused practices which already have a booking system because upon reading this some have then gone on to query whether they require a booking system specifically for “COVID Vaccine administration”. They don’t.

Competitor booking engines are furious with the wording, claiming that it is confusing, and designed to lead their clients into considering using the platform in place of their existing booking engine.

At least two booking engines have complained directly to the Department of Health, and asked for an urgent clarification for their customers.

Lots more here:

https://medicalrepublic.com.au/healthengine-back-in-hot-water-with-gps/41647

Despite what others may think to me the main issue is whether the Government planning to use a system provider who has a track record of being fined (recently) for commercial un-consented patient information sharing deserves being, so soon, given a second chance and access to another patient data-set with all the misuse that is possible with that, where there  are clearly others who could do the work.

On the basis that leopards only change their spots pretty slowly, I believe this looks a bit rushed and inappropriate.

I would like to see a period of 3-4 years of exemplary corporate behaviour before being comfortable to have the Government choose to use HealthEngine again.

What is your view? Am I too tough, too soft or about right? It is also a bit hard to not see the release as a bit self-serving and overly pushy!

David.