Quote Of The Year

Timeless Quotes - Sadly The Late Paul Shetler - "Its not Your Health Record it's a Government Record Of Your Health Information"

or

H. L. Mencken - "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

Sunday, December 11, 2022

Why Can’t The ADHA Just Admit The #myHR Is A Disaster Rather Than Flat-Out Lying?

The ADHA released what it claims was an annual report a few days ago.

The document set a new benchmark for sneaky attempted deception I reckon.

Here is the first bit.

Australian Digital Health Agencey 2022-22 Annual Report

Annual performance statements 2021–22

Statement of preparation by accountable authority

On behalf of the Board, I present the 2021–22 annual performance statements of the Australian Digital Health Agency, as required under paragraph 39(1)(a) of the PGPA Act. In my opinion, these annual performance statements are based on properly maintained records, accurately reflect the performance of the Agency and comply with subsection 39(2) of the PGPA Act.

Dr Elizabeth Deveny

Chair

27 September 2022

Performance targets from the Portfolio Budget Statements 2021–22

This section reports on the Australian Digital Health Agency’s 2021–22 results against the performance measures and supporting annual targets published in the Minister for Health and Aged Care Portfolio Budget Statements 2021–22 (PBS) and in the Agency's Corporate Plan 2021–22. The measures have been developed to assess the Agency’s delivery of the 7 strategic priority outcomes (strategic pillars) to be achieved by the Agency by June 2022, as outlined in Australia’s National Digital Health Strategy (2018–2022).

The Agency has been successful in progressing the objectives of the National Digital Health Strategy in 2021–22 and achieving the Agency’s purpose:

Better health for all Australians enabled by seamless, safe, secure digital health services and technologies that provide a range of innovative, easy-to-use tools for both patients and providers.

A performance analysis is provided below for each 2021–22 target, noting that in all but 3 instances, targets were met or exceeded.

In addition to these specific performance outcomes, the Agency has also successfully delivered a range of other initiatives outlined in the Agency Work Plan (an attachment to the Corporate Plan). Performance against the Work Plan is provided in Section 2.

STRATEGIC PILLAR: Health information that is available whenever and wherever it is needed

PERFORMANCE MEASURE

My Health Record system operability, availability and usage is maintained or improved for the benefit of Australians and the Australian healthcare system.

2021–22 TARGET AND SOURCE

  1. Maintain My Health Record software, hardware and storage currency and make enhancements supporting timely access for clinicians and consumers to National Immunisation Program status information
  2. Maintain My Health Record system availability of at least 99.9%, excluding planned outages
  3. Maintain or increase the percentage of healthcare provider organisation registrations and usage of My Health Record across clinical settings

Source: PBS p176, CP p22

PERFORMANCE RESULT: Target met

ANALYSIS

My Health Record

  1. My Health Record software, hardware and storage currency was maintained, and a range of enhancements delivered to allow early visibility of COVID-19 pathology reports and to support implementation support for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. These enhancements improved provider and consumer access to important vaccination and immunisation information. The enhancements include:
  • New COVID-19 dashboard (immunisation, medicines, allergies & adverse reactions, medical conditions and COVID-19 test results). It aims to provide relevant health information which may influence the approach to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
  • Continuous support to implement changes to vaccination dose interval as recommended by Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) including:
    • recognition of single dose COVID-19 vaccine
    • early visibility of COVID-19 and other respiratory ailment related pathology tests as soon as they were uploaded
    • visibility of COVID-19 booster and medical contraindication exemptions
    • capability to download the COVID-19 digital certificate to a digital wallet (Google Pay, Apple)
    • COVID-19 on-screen alerts for second dose due date range format display.
  • Updated the immunisations manage access page to simplify and align the access control of Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) information in My Health Record through the Medicare settings preference for AIR.
  • Clinical Document Categorisation to improve discovery of documents by consumers and healthcare providers relevant to healthcare scenarios. Supporting sub-types of clinical documents to capture greater share of available health information.
  1. My Health Record system availability was maintained at 99.94%, exceeding the 99.9% target.
  2. The Agency maintained healthcare provider participation in the My Health Record system, and increased registration or use in those categories identified in the table below. Usage is defined as an organisation uploading to, or viewing, at least one My Health Record in the last 12 months.

Usage

Healthcare provider organisation

2020–21

2021–22

% increase

Public hospitals

95.00%

95.10%

0.10%

Private hospitals (in-patient)

44.40%

46.93%

2.53%

Private hospitals (day patient)

6.11%

6.94%

0.83%

Pharmacies

82.09%

92.23%

10.14%

Pathology – public

99.00%

99.00%

0.00%

Pathology – private

67.00%

79.00%

12.00%

Diagnostic imaging – public

79.00%

79.00%

0.00%

Diagnostic imaging – private

26.00%

23.00%

-3.00%*

Specialist

3.86%

9.16%

5.30%

Residential aged care

2.09%

2.39%

0.30%

Allied health

0.66%

0.71%

0.05%

General practices

78.23%

86.31%

8.08%

* This does not represent a drop in real terms, as the baseline reduced as some practices closed and others adopted a new information system with reconnections underway.

Registrations

Healthcare provider organisation

2020–21

2021–22

% increase

Public hospitals

97.00%

97.30%

0.30%

Private hospitals (inpatient)

69.00%

69.00%

0.00%

Private hospitals (day patient)

22.00%

22.00%

0.00%

Pharmacies

99.00%

99.00%

0.00%

Pathology – public

99.00%

99.00%

0.00%

Pathology – private

81.00%

82.00%

1.00%

Diagnostic imaging – public

79.00%

79.00%

0.00%

Diagnostic imaging – private

74.00%

79.00%

5.00%

Specialist

14.00%

24.10%

10.10%

Residential aged care

11.00%

12.97%

1.97%

Allied health

7.78%

8.62%

0.84%

General practices

99.00%

99.00%

0.00%

----- End Extract

Here is the link:

https://www.transparency.gov.au/annual-reports/australian-digital-health-agency/reporting-year/2021-22-7

While there were a few gaps in usage among the usual suspects it was not too bad until you noticed this note:

3.     The Agency maintained healthcare provider participation in the My Health Record system, and increased registration or use in those categories identified in the table below. Usage is defined as an organisation uploading to, or viewing, at least one My Health Record in the last 12 months.

If that was not an example of deliberate deception and an attempt to mislead I have no idea what is. A clear cut effort to bamboozle with a lot of notes to their figures.

Clearly the usage figures are meaningless drivel and as for actual worthwhile clinical use we still have – after a decade+ - no blooming idea.

The CEO should just resign and pull the #myHR plug from the wall on the way out!

In passing I wonder why they came clean – if only in the fine print? Maybe the new administration in Canberra would take a hard line view of flat-out lies? With her opening into surely the chair is perjuring herself by claiming “In my opinion, these annual performance statements are based on properly maintained records, accurately reflect the performance of the Agency and comply with subsection 39(2) of the PGPA Act”?

David.

Ps. I note that the ADHA noticed and fixed the title after I had captured it! <grin> You could not make this stuff up!

D.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"STRATEGIC PILLAR: Health information that is available whenever and wherever it is needed"

Interesting that they turn a measure of health information availability into one of technology.

Reminds me of the Yes Minister hospital that met every key measure but which had no patients.

Maybe that's what MyHR actually stands for - the Minster, Yes, (a) Health Record.

I wonder if the ADHA people really believe they are delivering value.

Anonymous said...

I honestly doubt they understand enough to know it's BS. Those who do earn a living and some get to rub shoulders with likeminded followers.

Dr Ian Colclough said...

This is more than a disgrace, it is, and has been for many years now, a blatant outright financial fraud on every taxpayer in the nation - on every taxpayer in the nation.

Quote:
"The Agency has been successful in progressing the objectives of the National Digital Health Strategy in 2021–22 and achieving the Agency’s purpose:

Better health for all Australians enabled by seamless, safe, secure digital health services and technologies that provide a range of innovative, easy-to-use tools for both patients and providers."

Despite two well intentioned Audits into the My Health Record by The Australian National Audit Office [ANAO], on both occasions, the ANAO has failed to see through the deception and fraud that has prevailed.

Over the years there has also been an abundance of balanced objective advice made available, by many competent healthIT experts, to various Senate Estimates Enquiries (including some Ministerial Advisories) regarding this deception and fraud and the absolute failure of the My Health Record System.

Yet, such representations have all been to no avail. Past Ministers of Health and Finance and Senate Estimates Committees have all been deceived and continue to be deceived.

That such incompetence and fraud is permitted to continue and prevail at a cost now exceeding $3 billion is beyond any reasonable comprehension.

Australia has a refreshingly new competent government in place. Sadly however, the government is heavily dependent on the bureaucracy for advice, and in that regard the bureaucracy is so deeply entrenched in its ill-informed and misguided beliefs about the MyHR that it is no longer capable of rectifying the situation and extracting itself from the quagmire of confusion and delusion in which it has become embroiled.

As a consequence it continues to promote the same outdated empty rhetoric which well-intentioned, yet gullible, politicians unwittingly embrace, thereby perpetuating the status quo.