Here is a summary of the key figures:
Budget 2023–24: Albanese Government to invest "historic" $6.1 billion to strengthen Medicare
The Albanese Government has delivered its second Budget, including
$6.1 billion to boost the beleaguered health system and "lay the
foundations for significant reforms".
Within the significant funding injection is $951.2 million towards a
"digital health package [that] will improve digital systems to build a
more efficient, connected and collaborative healthcare system. The Australian
Digital Health Agency will be an ongoing entity and will upgrade and modernise
My Health Record to make it easier for patients and providers to use and
support the secure, safe and efficient sharing of information. The
Intergovernmental Agreement on National Digital Health will be renewed for
4 years to progress the secure, safe and efficient sharing of information
across the health system."
Digital health related investments include:
- $429 million over 2 years in a modernised My Health Record to drive a digitally connected healthcare system for all Australians
- $325.7 million over 4 years towards securing the Australian Digital Health Agency to lead digital enablement of healthcare
- $126.8 million over 4 years for the Intergovernmental Agreement on National Digital Health
- $111.8 million over 4 years towards strengthening electronic prescribing and targeted digital medicines enhancements
- $69.7 million over 4 years towards "health delivery modernisation: enabling reform"
- $40 million over 4 years for Australia’s first National Clinical Quality Registry Program
- $29.8 million over four years as an initial investment to reduce fraud, including a taskforce within the Department of Health and Aged Care to oversee longer-term improvements to Medicare integrity.
- $8.7 million in 2023–24 for digital mental health services
- $5.9 million towards MyMedicare to support longer GP telehealth consultations.
In overall summary:
$951.2 million for digital health. The
Australian Digital Health Agency will
upgrade
and modernise My Health Record, making it easier for patients and
providers
to use and support the secure, safe and
efficient sharing of
information.
This will improve health outcomes for patients and reduce
duplication
in the system. (evidence????)
This will take the investment so far to over $3 Billion!
The details of what this actually means is not disclosed that I can find! Any clues anyone?
David
7 comments:
Why has Mark Butler, who previously suggested My Health Record was a dog of a thing, suddenly plunge another half a bil into making it the digital hub of the health system? Amanda Cattermole must have kompromat!
The ADHA budget paper, Entity Resources and Planned Performance
https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-05/2023-24_health_pbs_4.03_digital_health.docx
says that the projects ADHA are working on are detailed in their most recent Corporate Plan which is available at:
www.digitalhealth.gov.au/about-the-agency/corporate-plan
For the first time ever, the ADHA will have to report on three performance measures by the end of the 2022-23 financial year.
These are detailed in part three of the corporate plan.
Certainly an eye raising list. As you point out David with little to know supporting evidence. Having just replatformed for several hundred million it raises question - what is modernisation all about?
Like development and optimisation - modernisation is likely a protective blanket for something went horribly wrong with the replatforming and the need to start again.
I can understand the benefits of getting 2 months supply of medication with 1 visit but I don't understand why they can't charge for both. A few dollars cheaper to dispense in bulk but why are they making the 2nd box free?
Mark Butler is a good man and a good Health Minister. He is genuine, but unfortunately he is incapable of seeking opinions from others outside his immediate bubble. It's a tragedy, nothing less.
Looks suspiciously like the shift to a platform as a service offering has ended up costing a lot more than you would expect. The CDO left maybe the CEO and CTO should follow, after all change is less likely to be successful if the incumbent’s are in charge.
Mark Butler is a genuine and competent Health Minister. The first to go head to head with the Pharmacy Guild. The courage to restrict vaping and save the next generation from the ravages of nicotine addiction. However, unfortunately in regards to Digital Health (My Health Record National Data Repository and the ADHA) he has been unable, or unwilling, to comprehend that any attempt to modernise the failed MHR is an exercise in futility.
It is blatantly obvious from everything he has said about the MHR that he knows full well it is, and has been, a total failure, yet, he continues to allow himself to be seduced and conned into believing those responsible for delivering that $2.5 Billion IT disaster are capable of delivering a successful outcome the second time around.
The Minister doesn't understand the problem, yet for some inexplicable reason he seems to think the ADHA does.
He has shown he has the courage to change things for the better but he cannot do that unless he reaches out beyond the confines of the Canberra bubble to genuinely and openly engage with others who have been kept from him, and who have courageously spoken out for over a decade about the NEHTA-MHR-ADHA fiasco.
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