Noticed this last week:
TAC International Forum
When: April 27, 2021 all-day
Contact: ITAC Conference Secretariat 08 8981 5119
The Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council will be holding regular International Innovation and Technology Across Care (ITAC) Forums from April 2021. This International Forum will speak to Recommendation 68 “every approved provider of aged care uses a digital care management system meeting a standard set by the Australian Digital Health Agency” as recommended by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. Specifically the Royal Commission outlines that the integration of My Health Record would be an initial accreditation criteria. Come to the first ITAC International Forum to hear from international expert Professor Greg Alexander on the USA’s experience in integrated data collection along with national leading projects being delivered by the Australian Digital Health Agency in conjunction with the ACIITC.
Here is the link:
https://www.australianageingagenda.com.au/event/itac-international-forum/
There is also this:
Government urged to fund GP aged care visits and nursing home infrastructure
The AMA is calling for increased funding to support and encourage more GPs to visit patients in nursing homes as well as greater investment in nursing home facilities to make it easier for GPs to deliver the care that people in nursing homes deserve.
The call comes as AMA members report significant barriers to delivering care and deterring doctors from visiting aged care facilities altogether.
Problems include:
- incompatible IT systems
- lack of nursing staff to identify patients and assist GPs with clinical handovers
- no clinically equipped private examination rooms available
- lack of physical access with no parking, and the need for personalised swipe cards and access codes
- lack of adequate financial support for doctors’ visits
These hamper the delivery of quality patient care for our older Australians.
“AMA Members have signaled their intention to reduce nursing home visits and even cease them altogether and this is the last thing we want right now, when we know our older loved ones are suffering from a lack of medical care inside nursing homes,” AMA President, Dr Omar Khorshid said.
“Instead we should be attracting more doctors into aged care by supporting them to take the time away from their busy practices and visit patients in nursing homes. That way GPs can continue their relationships with their elderly patients who move into aged care.
“Most GPs bulk bill their patients in aged care, but they themselves are out of pocket as a result as the current Medicare rebate is woefully inadequate to cover the time spent in nursing homes with patients and what we call ‘non-contact time’ – the time spent on a patient’s care outside of their consultation.
“We are calling for increased Medicare funding so that GPs can work with nurses to deliver the quality and quantity of care that older Australians expect, and deserve, in a way that is sustainable for the health system.
“We’ve estimated this to cost $145 million in 2021-22 and $643 million over four years to 2024-25 in our new modelling. It’s a relatively small ask when we’ve identified over $21 billion of savings that can be made in addressing preventable hospital admissions from aged care,” Dr Khorshid said.
AMA Vice President, Dr Chris Moy, is a GP who works in aged care. He says there are a whole raft of non-contact activities carried out by GPs to support their aged care patients.
“Things like needing to discuss treatment with relatives and nursing home staff – it’s almost like looking after three patients, not just one – as well as the mountain of paperwork that goes with that takes time and doctors must be supported in doing this,” Dr Moy said.
“Additionally, incompatible IT systems often mean crucial patient information gets lost and that’s bad news for the older person.
“It’s ridiculous to talk about innovative digital technologies when they don’t work for the patient and their doctor.
“The My Health Record, My Aged Care, nursing home IT and GP clinical software all need to be able to talk to each other for the benefit of the patient and all involved in their care.
“Often we can’t examine our aged care patients in private because there are no available rooms for this. Nursing homes need clinically equipped examination rooms to preserve the person’s dignity.
“Just making sure a GP is supported in visiting a resident who has deteriorated can make the difference between them having to be transferred to hospital or not. Being able to treat the resident in their home is better for the individual and the health system.”
“We’ve identified a suite of needs for both the patient and GP in nursing home settings and if the Government is serious about reforming aged care, they should allocate resources to these areas.
“All of this speaks to our call to put health care back into aged care by boosting the number of doctors and nurses in aged care, and ultimately improving the health of our precious but often most vulnerable members of our community residing in the aged care system.”
Details of $21 billion in potential savings identified by the AMA are contained in our latest report: ‘Putting Health Care Back Into Aged Care‘
Here is the link to the release:
https://www.miragenews.com/government-urged-to-fund-gp-aged-care-visits-546064/
And this:
Sandy CheuApril 20, 2021
Providers encouraged to take part in clinical software survey
Residential aged services are invited to take part in a national survey investigating the uptake of clinical software and its impact on resident outcomes.
Aged care technology peak body Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council is undertaking the survey in partnership with the Australian Digital Health Agency.
It aims to identify what clinical software residential aged care facilities in all locations are using, how they are using it and the impact it has on resident outcomes.
ACIITC chair of the National Home Care Group Anne Livingstone said there has been little research in this area and this survey aimed to provide a snapshot in time.
“We don’t have a benchmark in time about the uptake of this software and also whether being sophisticated in your use of clinical platforms is assisting in improving the quality and safety of the services you provide,” Ms Livingstone told Australian Ageing Agenda.
“We’re looking at particularly the types of software that are used, its success and contribution to greater levels of quality and safety and high level of outcomes for individuals,” Ms Livingstone said.
More here:
Reading all this you can draw a few conclusions:
First no-one knows that IT , of any sort, is being used in Aged Care.
Second – from the AMA – there are zillion problems to be solved before anyone could give a fig about access to the #myHR.
Third a daylong conference, replete with ‘international fireman’ who knows diddlysquat about the Australian Aged Care IT environment – is likely to degenerate to an ADHA spin job on the value of the #myHR.
Bottom line is pretty clear as revealed in this recent poll!
Sunday, April 04, 2021
AusHealthIT Poll Number 573 – Results – 4th April, 2021.
Here are the results of the poll.
Do You Believe Digital Health And The #myHealthRecord Should Be A Priority In Improving The Aged Care System Over Responses Like Improved Funding, Quality Food, Improving Staffing Etc.?
Yes 1% (1)
No 99% (73)
I Have No Idea 0% (0)
Total votes: 74
It seems an overwhelming majority think that we need to fix the care, safety, staffing and food before the tech!
Here is the link:
https://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2021/04/aushealthit-poll-number-573-results-4th.html
The Aged Care sector may certainly need better IT but the #myHR is at the very bottom of the list of needs IMVHO!
What do you think?
David.
9 comments:
Problems include:
incompatible IT systems
lack of nursing staff to identify patients and assist GPs with clinical handovers
no clinically equipped private examination rooms available
lack of physical access with no parking, and the need for personalised swipe cards and access codes
lack of adequate financial support for doctors’ visits
I think that IT is well down the list. An easy fix by extending the GP desktop to a portable device. No need for massive infrastructure and the like. Create environments that meet the needs of residents and carers.
Seems straightforward so straightforward that you know this will be an expensive mess in the end.
Closed tender for the supply of digital troughs?
ADHA should not be allowed anywhere near aged care. ADHA is dispiriting based on jobs for mates. If you happen to get in on merit, with no connections you’ll want to leave quickly as managers preference staff who worked for them before with daily rate increases.
ADHA has a high tolerance for bullying. Invests in silly meditation/ mindfulness sessions but turns a blind eye to nasty GMs who belittle and shriek at staff to boost their ego. Without the courage to permanently remove bullies - everyone knows who they are and knows that each CEO has failed to act.
Not the sort of mindset and behavioural traits Age care needs to be embracing.
ADHA sounds the perfect fit for Services Australia and the APS more broadly. Surprised they don’t have a bikie and a brewer on the Board.
Wayne SmillieApril 28, 2021 9:59 PM - a trough of the size required will take a consortium of overseas consultancies to agree that a large trough is required and it should be digital and delivered using large scale agile under a transformation framework
Do we really trust ADHA and the Department of Health?
ADHA stopped publishing its board papers in December 2019 and the web page where they were made available has disappeared:
https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/about-the-agency/australian-digital-health-agency-board/board-papers
Reports on COVID-SAFE app are missing, presumed dead, even though they are a legal requirement:
Govt report on COVIDSafe app long overdue
https://www.innovationaus.com/govt-report-on-covidsafe-app-long-overdue/
Denham Sadler
Senior Reporter
28 April 2021
A six-monthly report required by legislation on the effectiveness of COVIDSafe has still not been completed by the government, despite the contact tracing app launching more than a year ago, and is not expected to be released for at least another month.
COVIDSafe was launched in April last year, using Bluetooth technology to theoretically log ‘close contacts’ between users, and send this information to state and territory health authorities if a user was diagnosed with COVID-19. In the year since it was launched, the app has only unearthed 17 new close contacts, all of which were in New South Wales.
The government has paid private contractors nearly $10 million for the development of COVIDSafe, and recently revealed that it will cost $100,000 per month to continue running, with a further $200,000 per month set aside for any necessary further changes.
The bureaucrats are victims of slick, fast talking, professional sales consultants driven by high rewards and success bonuses tied to sales success metrics.
The blind leading the blind, both suffering from conflicts of interest.
The federal health minister has asked the department not be distracted by attending oversight groups and reporting requirements. Seems not be transparent results in thousand of time consuming questions being asked.
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