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, August 22, 2010

Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 22 August, 2010.

Here are a few I have come across this week.

Note: Each link is followed by a title and a paragraph or two. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.

General Comment:

Well all I can say is that bigger forces are now in play and we will now simply need to see how it plays out before any possible impact on e-Health in OZ becomes apparent.

Those in the know say it will be a week or so before things become clear – so for now I think we will just wrap up the news and await events! The fate of the promises from both sides now seem to be in limbo.

I just checked out the policy from the Greens – and as far as I can tell no mention at all of e-Health. (The site lacks a search function I can find)

http://greens.org.au/policies/care-for-people/health

I wonder what that might mean?

I popped in a non e-Health article at the bottom just to allow us all to keep some perspective on things.

-----

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/opinion/reality-of-national-e-health-moves-fall-short-of-promises/story-e6frgb0o-1225906059439

Reality of national e-health moves fall short of promises

LABOR came into office with Health Minister Nicola Roxon promising to put e-health back on the agenda. She has failed.

What we have got is a healthcare identity number for every resident, but it will be years before doctors can even access the number, except by phone, let alone use it in any meaningful way.

Ms Roxon may have learned you can't make software work by waving a ministerial direction, but there's not much else to show for $98 million.

Medicare has assigned a 16-digit unique identifier against every record in its database -- surely a very straightforward IT task -- and as a result may, over time, clean up its dirty data.

Failure to consult means software developers are only now beginning to build interfaces with the system -- which has never been tested in the real world.

The twin healthcare provider identifier system is in meltdown -- with the process reportedly plagued with errors -- long before it expands to capture the details of some 500,000 never-before registered allied providers.

Right now, it can't even deal with the smaller number of GPs and specialists who are well-known through professional processes. Work hasn't even begun on the separate identifier for health IT service providers -- cobbled together because existing services had been overlooked in the regulations.

The key control system, the National Authentication Service for Health, is yet to appear on the starting blocks.

Note: This is a long article that is well worth a read – I would be interested in reactions to what is being said – now we are post election and in limbo!

-----

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/telemedicine-gets-a-healthy-prognosis/story-fn59niix-1225906082915

Telemedicine gets a healthy prognosis

  • Adam Cresswell, Health Editor
  • From: The Australian
  • August 17, 2010 12:00AM

DOCTORS are providing about 2200 online consultations a year through the University of Queensland's Centre for Online Health in Brisbane.

The centre, which uses video to link specialists to patients thousands of kilometres away, is one of a handful in the country that have the facilities, and its services are only possible because the doctors at the centre and with the patient are paid a salary by Queensland Health, which also funds the technology involved.

The centre's deputy director, Anthony Smith, predicts the number of online consultations will jump if Labor wins the election and releases its promised funding for online consultations from July 1 next year.

-----

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/government/labor-launches-e-health-records-trials/story-fn4htb9o-1225906463440

Labor unveils e-health records trial sites

  • Karen Dearne
  • From: Australian IT
  • August 17, 2010 4:27PM

LABOR will rely on a Howard government e-health project to kickstart its $467 million personally controlled e-health records strategy.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon has confirmed GP Partners in Brisbane, GP Access in the NSW Hunter Valley and Melbourne East will receive $12.5 million in total funding to act as pilot sites over the next two years.

The Australian today revealed the three GP divisions had been selected as lead implementation sites, under a project led by the National E-Health Transition Authority.

Ms Roxon said the three lead sites "will be at the cutting edge of cyber-health advances".

They will also trial the new healthcare identifiers regime, and will be first to electronically send hospital discharge summaries and referrals using national specifications, she said.

The Queensland government has already committed $1.2m in in-kind support to GP Partners, while NSW will commit the same amount for the Hunter trial.

-----

http://www.6minutes.com.au/articles/z1/view.asp?id=522275

Immunisation register and incentives needed

by Jared Reed

The costs of creating and maintaining a whole of life immunisation register would be made more affordable by the move towards e-health, and should therefore proceed, says the AMA.

The register would allow GPs and other health professionals to know for certain which vaccines a patient had received over their lifetime, and would avoid wastage by duplication. It would also provide important data about herd immunity, says AMA vice president Dr Steve Hambleton.

“What GPs are missing ... is a mechanism for confirming immunisation status for anyone over the age of eight,” he told the National Immunisation Conference from the Public Health Association of Australia in Adelaide today.

-----

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/croakey/2010/08/19/some-clever-ideas-we-should-steal-from-the-us/

Some clever ideas we should steal from the US

, by Croakey

I’ve written an analysis of health election debate and policy, which has been published today at ABC’s The Drum. It draws upon some of the discussion that Croakey has been hosting in recent weeks. Thanks to all those who have been contributing.

Also a particular thanks to Associate Professor Mavis Duncanson at Notre Dame University in Sydney, who suggested that this election manifesto from the Public Health Association of NZ might be a useful starting point for such an analysis.

Meanwhile, in part 13 of our election series, health policy analyst Dr Lesley Russell, looks at where Australia can learn from the US on health reform. This post is from a speech given at the Australian Financial Review’s national health conference on August 17.

This post is considerably longer than Croakey’s usual offerings but I thought it worth leaving in all the detail. I hope you find it informative…

-----

http://www.nehta.gov.au/e-communications-in-practice/epathology

e-Pathology

e-Pathology

e-Pathology aims to enable a nationally endorsed consistent and secure exchange of pathology information across the healthcare sector in an agreed approach using standardised formats.

Approach

NEHTA is working with the healthcare sector to understand current technologies, business processes and standards to develop agreed specifications or guidelines to align systems across the sector.

Benefits

e-Pathology facilitates the development of a national approach to pathology services creating more effective, efficient and safer patient care. This national approach will also promote greater continuity of care and enable increased responsiveness across the pathology sector.

-----

http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/357264/medtech_scores_nz_e-health_project/

Medtech scores NZ e-health project

ASX-listed e-health provider Medtech Global Limited (ASX:MDG) has secured a $1 million deal to provide software for an “important national health project” for New Zealand's Ministry of Health.

The tender, the details of which have remained commercial-in-confidence, would see Medtech’s New Zealand subsidiary and New Zealand Post subsidiary, Datam, jointly provide software and services for a minimum seven years with a potential three year extension. Datam will provide support, maintenance and development throughout the project.

-----

http://www.zdnet.com.au/e-health-just-like-online-banking-roxon-339305362.htm

e-health just like online banking: Roxon

By Josh Taylor, ZDNet.com.au on August 19th, 2010

Accessing your personal electronic health record via an online portal in 2012 will be just like using online banking, according to Health Minister Nicola Roxon.

"The actual design is still to be developed but the easiest way to think of this is to think about online banking, with clear information like allergies and medications upfront," she said during an online chat on The Australian's website this afternoon. "But you control access and information is very secure."

Labor has allocated $466.7 million in this year's Federal budget to deliver e-health over the next two years. Earlier this year Roxon set the deadline for the portal to be ready by July 2012. She said today that a patient portal used by GP partners in Brisbane could be the prototype for the national system.

-----

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/government/live-qa-with-nicola-roxon/story-fn4htb9o-1225906946463

Live Q&A with Nicola Roxon

  • Fran Foo
  • From: Australian IT
  • August 18, 2010 4:40PM

FEDERAL Health Minister Nicola Roxon has been driving Labor's e-health agenda as part of the government's wider health reform ambitions.

In December 2006, the Labor member for Gellibrand became opposition health spokeswoman and retained the portfolio when Labor won office in 2007.

She's backing a personally controlled e-health records framework expected to come to fruition by 2012 at a cost of $467 million.

Read the Q&A from this link.

-----

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/government/coalition-eyes-id-card/story-fn4htb9o-1225907735407

Coalition eyes 'ID card'

  • Karen Dearne
  • From: Australian IT
  • August 20, 2010 12:13PM

THE loathed Coalition health and welfare Access Card is suddenly back on the agenda.

Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey is proposing to use the mandatory new healthcare identifiers to monitor people on benefits.

A spokeswoman for Mr Hockey said the idea was not Coalition policy, but would be considered by an Abbott government.

-----

http://www.zdnet.com.au/coalition-confused-over-national-id-card-339305384.htm

Coalition confused over national ID card

By Darren Pauli, ZDNet.com.au on August 20th, 2010

The Liberal Party is in a state of confusion over whether it would deploy national identifiers to keep tabs on people receiving health and welfare benefits, should it win government.

Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey told The Age today that the failure of the Howard Government's Access Card had been his biggest political regret and that he would "absolutely" re-introduce a similar scheme should his party win the election. The scheme would require "fair dinkum consolidation" of government IT agencies.

"Whether you go a card or not, I don't know. Everyone has a Medicare card already, but that's old technology. We're spending $140 billion to $150 billion a year on health and welfare, but what productivity improvements have there been in service delivery? None," Hockey told The Age.

-----

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/surgically-enhanced-screensaver-telemedicine/story-e6frg8y6-1225907521132

Surgically enhanced screensaver: telemedicine

FOR some stroke victims it really does matter if you're in a big city or out bush.

That's because doctors have a short three-hour window to determine if a stroke was caused by a blood clot blocking an artery or a bleed into brain tissue.

If it's a blockage, they can administer a clot-dissolving drug, improving the odds of a good recovery.

Clearly, patients arriving in a metropolitan hospital have a good chance of getting a prompt diagnosis and on-time medication. But patients in regional and rural hospitals face a different outcome.

-----

http://www.bjhcim.co.uk/news/2010/n1008006.htm

iSOFT launches eprescribing system in UK

16 August 2010

iSOFT Group has launched an eprescribing and medicines administration (ePMA) system in the UK

The system is already in use at ten hospitals in Australia and across six district health boards in New Zealand and has been adapted for the UK market with drug database provider First DataBank.

iSOFT says it is close to finalising deals with a number of NHS trusts to become early adopters.

The system offers a drug formulary and decision-support rules engine to stop drugs being wrongly prescribed and so shorten hospital stays. It will also streamline processes such as discharge, reduce re-admission rates, and cut costs.

-----

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/ample-rebates-offset-by-savings/story-fn59niix-1225907023269

'Ample' rebates offset by savings

  • Adam Cresswell, Health editor
  • From: The Australian
  • August 19, 2010 12:00AM

THE federal government has defended the cost-effectiveness of its "generous" new rebates for video consultations due to start next year.

It says the program's near $400 million cost will be partly offset by patients being kept healthier.

Payments for doctors taking part in the online consultations, which have not been covered previously by Medicare except in a few areas such as psychiatry, are likely to be two to three times the value of rebates for face-to-face encounters.

Under the $392.3m package, announced by Julia Gillard on Monday, $250m is allocated for online consultations for Australians living in rural and outer metropolitan areas.

-----

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/doctors-wary-about-online-house-calls-20100817-127de.html

Doctors wary about online house calls

Jacob Saulwick and Mark Metherell

August 17, 2010

GENERAL practice leader Rob Walters says he has been able to diagnose the skin ailments of far-flung relatives with the help of images sent by Skype or mobile phone - which he says highlights the potential of telemedicine.

But Dr Walters, the former chairman of the Australian Divisions of General Practice, and the e-health advocate Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, says Labor's plan to support online consultations and video-conferencing covered by Medicare within two years is ambitious, given the technical and privacy snags which have impeded e-health in Australia. The $392 million announcement, the centrepiece of Labor's campaign launch yesterday, brings to more than $800 million the amount Labor is pledging to spend over four years on new health technology and personal electronic health records.

''It is disturbing to me, it is unacceptable to me, it is offensive to me that if you live in rural or regional Australia you are three times more likely to die within five years if you are diagnosed with cancer than other Australians,'' the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, told the Labor campaign launch yesterday.

-----

http://www.australiandoctor.com.au/articles/48/0c06bc48.asp

Online consult plan a big ask: Haikerwal

17-Aug-2010

By Michael East

Labor’s plan to introduce Medicare rebates for online consultations from July next year will require a “mammoth effort” to iron out privacy and security issues, e-health expert Dr Mukesh Haikerwal warns.

Labor yesterday outlined the $392.3 million package which will provide financial incentives for GPs to deliver online services and introduce Medicare rebates for online consultations in rural and remote areas from July next year.

-----

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-election/labor-ties-ehealth-to-broadband-20100816-126y7.html

Labor ties e-health to broadband

Jacob Saulwick

August 17, 2010

PATIENTS in rural and regional areas will have greater access to online consultations with specialists under a re-elected Gillard government, which has promised $392.3 million for a package of e-health policies.

The policies, the only ones announced by either Labor or the Coalition at their respective campaign launches, make a strong link between two issues the government is eager to campaign on: health and the national broadband network.

''It is disturbing to me, it is unacceptable to me, it is offensive to me that if you live in rural or regional Australia you are three times more likely to die within five years if you are diagnosed with cancer than other Australians,'' Prime Minister Julia Gillard said at Labor's campaign launch yesterday.

-----

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/industry-welcomes-400m-spending-for-e-health/story-e6frgakx-1225906062584

Industry welcomes $400m spending for e-health

JULIA Gillard has pedged $400 million to reform Medicare payments and build capacity to provide medical services over the internet.

Labor hopes GPs, nurses and specialists will begin offering online consultations from next July and has allocated $250m in new Medicare rebates.

It estimates this sum will fund nearly 500,000 telehealth sessions in areas with poor access to healthcare over the next three years. There is also $57m in incentives for equipment purchases, to encourage take-up by practitioners.

Ms Gillard says Labor will expand its GP after-hours phone helpline, with $50m for online triage by doctors and nurses using videoconferencing.

Another $35m will go to an online training fund.

-----

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/ama-president-backs-julia-gillards-online-consult-plan/story-fn59niix-1225905886276

Health agencies back Julia Gillard's online consult plan

LEADING health organisations have endorsed Julia Gillard's plan to give rural and regional Australians access to online specialist consultations.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said in a statement that the $392.3 million investment would help doctors use technology to provide services to patients who would otherwise have limited or no access to them.

"This is a recognition of the need to embrace communications technology to modernise our health system," Dr Pesce said.

----

http://www.governmentnews.com.au/2010/08/16/article/ELECTION-2010-Labor-commits-to-rural-e-health-measures/GIWFZJQWAG

ELECTION 2010: Labor commits to rural e-health measures

Published on Mon, 16/08/2010, 03:57:11

By Angela Dorizas

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has promised to expand Medicare rebates to cover e-health consultations, particularly in rural and regional Australia.

Launching the ALP campaign in Brisbane on Monday, Ms Gillard said the National Broadband Network would transform the delivery of healthcare in regional and rural Australia.

“It is disturbing to me, it’s unacceptable to me, it’s offensive to me, that if you live in rural and regional Australia you are up to three times more likely to die within five years if you are diagnosed with cancer than other Australians,” she said.

“Well, I want to transform that. I want to transform it soon and I want to transform it for the future, relying on the National Broadband Network.”

-----

http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/357077/updated_nbn_deliver_online_consultations_gillard/?eid=-6787

Updated: NBN to deliver online consultations: Gillard

Fibre-to-the-home network essential in delivering healthcare to regional and rural Australia, PM claims

Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has used the Labor Party’s official campaign launch to link the future health of Australians with the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Speaking in Queensland, Gillard said the Government would use the speed and connectivity of the NBN to facilitate online consultations between patients and doctors via videoconferencing.

The $392.3 million initiative would see Medicare rebates issued from 1 July 2012 for some 495,000 online consultation services over four years to rural, remote and outer metropolitan areas.

-----

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/gillard-stakes-political-future-on-broadband-and-health-at-labor-launch/story-fn59niix-1225905855473

Gillard stakes political future on broadband and health at Labor launch

  • Patricia Karvelas, Political Correspondent
  • From: The Australian
  • August 16, 2010 12:45PM

JULIA Gillard has vowed to transform the health system by allowing rural and regional Australians to see specialists using videoconferencing and online consultations.

Linking her national broadband network to the health of Australians, the Prime Minister said that from July 1 2012 Australians would have access to rebates to see doctors through the internet as part of a $392.3 million investment.

Ms Gillard said in the middle of the night a parent with a child with swelling or rash would be able to get help through the power of broadband access to the internet.

-----

http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/357036/nsw_health_moving_single_payroll/?eid=-255

NSW Health moving to single payroll

Web-based salary packaging solution will replace multiple manual and electronic health sector systems

NSW Health is considering the consolidation of its multiple salary packaging solutions into a standard state-wide salary packaging solution.

The new salary system will be hosted by a vendor partner and accessible by NSW Health staff from a Web browser for a period up to five years.

According to NSW Government documents, various health services within the NSW Health system provide a salary packaging service to employees either internally by the Health Service or by an external vendor.

-----

Lastly to keep things in perspective we have:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/no-stopping-universes-expansion-20100820-138xk.html

No stopping universe's expansion

August 21, 2010

LONDON: The universe will continue to expand forever, scientists have concluded in a new study that sheds light on one of the greatest astronomical mysteries, dark energy.

The international team of scientists, led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, used the Hubble Space Telescope and the European Space Observatory's Very Large Telescope to narrow in on what they believe comprises dark energy, which pushes the universe apart at an ever-increasing speed. Astronomers are unable to say what the mysterious force, discovered in 1998, is, except that it is invisible and makes up 72 per cent of the universe.

About 24 per cent of the universe is thought to be dark matter - also mysterious but easier to study than dark energy because of its gravitational influence.

The rest, a mere 4 per cent, is made of the material that makes up planets, stars and everything made up of atoms.

The scientists concluded the distribution of dark energy would mean the universe would never stop growing. Their research, published in the journal Science, also found the universe would eventually become a dead and cold wasteland.

-----

Enjoy!

David.

AusHealthIT Poll Number 32 – Results – 22 August, 2010.

The question was:

What Do You Think Of The Gillard Election Campaign E-Health Announcement?

Visionary and A Vote Changer

- 5 (19%)

Pretty Good

- 5 (19%)

Neutral

- 2 (7%)

Slightly Off Target

- 6 (23%)

Really Disappointing

- 8 (30%)

Votes : 26

I think it is fair to say there was a split about all this – similar to the way the vote from yesterday played out!

Again, many thanks to all those who voted!

David.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Weekly Overseas Health IT Links - 20 August, 2010.

Here are a few I have come across this week.

Note: Each link is followed by a title and a paragraph or two. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.

-----

http://www.fortherecordmag.com/archives/080210p10.shtml

August 2, 2010

Faulty Construction

By Alice Shepherd

For The Record

Vol. 22 No. 14 P. 10

Critics wonder what good it is to invest in EHR technology if it fails to engender itself to users who feel betrayed by its lack of intuitiveness.

EHR systems promise to increase efficiency and productivity, reduce costs, provide 24/7 accessibility to medical records, and improve clinical outcomes. Each day, about 300 vendors vie for market share, adding bells and whistles to already comprehensive product suites. Yet, if EHRs are so great, why isn’t every provider singing their praises? The problem, some say, lies not with functionality but with usability.

Stuck in the Past

While EHRs provide numerous benefits, users are sometimes frustrated with the time and effort it takes to enter information. “At this time, most providers are not realizing a productivity increase if they switch from paper to electronic records because it takes much longer to enter data,” says Jiajie Zhang, PhD, the Dr. Doris L. Ross professor and associate dean of research at the University of Texas Health (UT Health) Science Center at Houston. Zhang is also the principal investigator of UT Health’s National Center for Cognitive Informatics and Decision Making in Healthcare, which received a $15 million stimulus grant to conduct research to advance the adoption and meaningful use of HIT.

“Usability is a huge barrier to EHR adoption,” adds Eric Ford, PhD, the Forsyth Medical Center professor of healthcare management at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. “In their current format, EHRs are cognitively burdensome and labor intensive to use. While physicians find that receiving lab and radiology reports electronically is a great time-saver, having to type formerly handwritten material is slow, and making selections from drop-down menus takes too many clicks. It’s still easier and quicker to write a note than to codify a diagnosis in an EHR. Science and industry need to improve the products dramatically.”

Ford and Zhang compare the current state of EHRs with personal computing using DOS 20 years ago. “People had to remember commands, like Shift + F4, and had cardboard labels above the keyboard to remind them of the most common commands,” says Ford. “Since then, consumer products have become far more usable, but that hasn’t happened yet in healthcare.”

-----

http://govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?nid=74420

Feds urged to dial-up care coordination goals

By Mary Mosquera

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Healthcare providers who already use electronic health records urged a federal health IT advisory panel last week to add more goals for improving patient care coordination into the meaningful use financial incentive plan.

These include sharing information about the medications that they prescribe their patients and merging them into their electronic records as patients obtain treatment from multiple physicians.

The resulting medication reconciliation will improve coordination of care and patient safety by avoiding duplication and potential adverse drug effects, according to one of the physicians testifying at August 5 meeting of the Health IT Policy Committee’s meaningful use work group.

-----

Health Mobile App Wins Innovation Award

Department of Health and Human Services honored Text4baby messaging service, which has more than 64,000 subscribers.

By Elizabeth Montalbano, InformationWeek

Aug. 9, 2010

URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226600244

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has granted an innovation award to a mobile application that provides health information for expecting mothers.

Text4baby, which sends weekly health information to pregnant women, is one of three recipients of the department's HHSInnovates award, according to a White House blog post by Hillary Chen, a policy analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

A private-public partnership driven by federal CTO Aneesh Chopra developed Text4baby, which went live in February. The application has more than 64,000 subscribers, who receive free text messages providing pregnancy-health advice every week. More than 3.5 million messages have been sent since the service went live.

-----

Healthcare Suffers More Data Breaches Than Financial Services So Far This Year

Lax handling of data, storage of it, and access to databases biggest culprit

By Ericka Chickowski, Special To Dark Reading, DarkReading

Aug. 10, 2010

URL:http://www.darkreading.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226600307

Healthcare data breaches have swollen in 2010: Identity Theft Resource Center reports show that compromised data stores from healthcare organizations far outstrip other verticals this year. According to figures updated last week, healthcare organizations have disclosed 119 breaches so far this year, more than three times the 39 breaches suffered by the financial services industry.

Though many of these breaches aren't necessarily caused directly by unauthorized access or hacking of healthcare databases, some experts believe that the high numbers (PDF) are due to lax handling of how data is stored and accessed within these databases. This atmosphere, along with the extreme portability of healthcare data due to consumer devices and laptops and increasing numbers of malicious insiders seeking to profit from electronic medical records (EMRs) and other patient data, has formed a poisonous combination within the industry.

-----

http://fortherecordmag.com/archives/080210p14.shtml

August 2, 2010

Selling Physicians on the Value of Speech Recognition
By Lisa A. Eramo

For The Record

Vol. 22 No. 14 P. 14

To avoid a lackluster reception, experts recommend several steps healthcare organizations can implement to obtain staff buy-in.

At Rockingham Memorial Hospital (RMH) in Harrisonburg, Va., all the tell-tale signs to justify using speech recognition were present: a failing end-of-life legacy dictation system, increasing dictation demands, escalating costs, and overall physician dissatisfaction with transcription services. The hospital knew it needed to make the switch, but first it needed to figure out how to get physicians on board.

“Physician buy-in is critical to the success of any clinical documentation process,” says Mike Rozmus, chief information officer (CIO) and vice president of information services at RMH. In 2008, he organized a transcription task force to examine alternatives to what he says was a failing transcription model that included a combination of insourced and outsourced services.

-----

http://ehr.healthcareitnews.com/blog/hit-safety-and-security-concerns-persist

HIT safety and security concerns persist

By Jeff Rowe, Editor

"'In this world,” Ben Franklin once famously wrote to a French acquaintance, “nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

After reading two recent sets of comments from healthcare sector stakeholders, we can’t help but wonder if even a cursory exposure to the world of HIT might lead Mr. Franklin to add to his list of certainties.

The first comment comes from The Leapfrog Group, a watchdog organization which, in the wake of the new Meaningful Use rule, praised federal policymakers for a “good first step”, but then voiced disapproval for what it sees as a lack of attention to HIT safety issues.

-----

http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/08/13/mass_hospitals_investigate_exposure_of_records/?page=full

Patients’ files left at public dump

4 Mass. hospitals investigating

Four Massachusetts community hospitals are investigating how thousands of patient health records, some containing Social Security numbers and sensitive medical diagnoses, ended up in a pile at a public dump.

The unshredded records included pathology reports with patients’ names, addresses, and results of breast, bone, and skin cancer tests, as well as the results of lab work following miscarriages.

By law, medical records and documents containing personal identifying information must be disposed of in a way that protects privacy, and leaving them at a dump is probably illegal, privacy lawyers and hospital officials said. Violators face steep fines.

A Globe photographer discovered the records July 26 when he was dumping his trash at the Georgetown Transfer Station. When he got out of his car, he said, he saw a huge pile of paper about 20 feet wide by 20 feet long. Upset that the paper wasn’t being recycled, he looked more closely.

-----

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100812/NEWS/100819978

Managing EHR privacy: Sensitivity training

By Joseph Conn / HITS staff writer

Posted: August 12, 2010 - 11:30 am ET

Part one of a two-part series.

Health information technology in current use is incapable of providing the level of privacy protection that some patients may desire, so it is important for federal policymakers as well as healthcare providers not to oversell the limited protections that are available, according to a federal privacy and security advisory panel.

In fact, providers should consider discussing privacy limitations with patients instead.

"I think the conclusion we can draw is if we really want to maintain the patients' sense of trust, we shouldn't let them conclude that they have more protection," said Wes Rishel, a vice president in the healthcare provider research practice of Gartner, an IT market-research firm.

Rishel is a member of the privacy and security Tiger Team, a special work group of the federally chartered Health IT Policy Committee. The committee was created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to advise HHS on healthcare policy matters.

-----

http://www.fierceemr.com/story/mass-general-search-engine-helps-docs-extract-salient-data-cluttered-emrs/2010-08-12

Mass General search engine helps docs extract salient data from cluttered EMRs

August 12, 2010 — 11:14am ET | By Neil Versel

We've often reported how EMRs represent vast, untapped sources of clinical and business intelligence. A system developed at Massachusetts General Hospital to extract EMR data for radiologists may be able to help far beyond imaging departments, according to new research published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

"The potential impact of advanced EMR search tools is by no means limited to radiology and in fact many departments in the hospital and outpatient clinic may benefit from these capabilities," lead author Dr. Michael Zalis, a diagnostic radiologist at Mass General, says in an American College of Radiology press release.

-----

http://www.govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?nid=74427

VA, DOD agree on single lifetime personal identifier

By Mary Mosquera

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The Veterans Affairs and the Defense departments have agreed on a single common personal identifier, one of the keys to its efforts to build an electronic record that can be follow military service members throughout their lifetimes.

The agreement is a significant step toward making the complex Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) project a reality because it will identify a service member whether they are seeking healthcare services or payment benefits and on active duty or retired, according to a senior VA official.

-----

http://www.ihealthbeat.org/perspectives/2010/final-rule-on-meaningful-use-includes-host-of-changes-for-providers.aspx

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Final Rule on 'Meaningful Use' Includes Host of Changes for Providers

by Protima Advani

The much-awaited final rule defining the first stage of "meaningful use" of electronic health records -- a requirement that hospitals and eligible professionals (EPs) must meet in order to qualify for the Medicare and Medicaid incentives -- is finally here. Overall, the final definition relaxed the meaningful use criteria for hospitals and physicians, expanded the eligibility requirements making more entities eligible for incentives and clarified critical details surrounding the incentive program payout schedules. Detailed below are the most salient changes to the meaningful use requirements and their implications for health care providers aiming to collect the meaningful use incentives.

-----

http://healthcareitnews.com/news/it-allows-docs-see-patient-%E2%80%9Cfirst-touch%E2%80%99

IT allows docs to see patient at “first touch’

August 10, 2010 | Molly Merrill, Associate Editor

CINCINNATI – Today some ambulances come equipped with telecommunciations technology that allows in-transport contact with physicians. But even the minutes between when a patient is loaded into the ambulance, or out and into a care setting, can leave room for miscommunications, according to one expert.

That is why Hamilton Schwartz, MD, led an initiative to find a technology that would allow his team access to the patient from the moment of pick-up until the patient was physically in the same room with the physician. Schwartz is a board certified emergency room pediatric practitioner, who serves as the medical director of Statline, a division of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center’s Emergency Department that serves as the hospital’s interface with emergency medical service providers and ambulance transport teams. After hearing about Scottsdale, Ariz., based GlobalMedia, Schwartz contacted the telemedicine company and they began a two-year collaboration.

-----

http://www.ehealtheurope.net/news/6129/welldoc_diabetesmanager_gets_approved

WellDoc DiabetesManager gets approved

05 Aug 2010

WellDoc, a specialist in mobile health applications, has received FDA clearance for its WellDoc DiabetesManager System aimed at patients with type 2 diabetes.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance to will enable the firm to market the WellDoc DiabetesManager System to healthcare providers and their adult diabetes patients.

WellDoc’s system offers automated clinical coaching and behavioural algorithms driven by real-time patient data. Patients and their healthcare professionals can configure specific parameters and extend their care beyond traditional office visits by using a mobile phone application and the Internet.

-----

http://www.ehealtheurope.net/news/6142/french_health_record_live_by_december

French health record live by December

09 Aug 2010

The delayed French electronic health record, Dossier Medical Personnel (DM-Personnel), will be launched by the end of the year, the agency responsible for the programme has said.

The EHR will allow patients to organise their health records for consultations with their GP and other healthcare providers and give them access to medication histories and a summary of recent appointments.

The second part of the programme, the Dossier Medical Patient (DM-Patient), will be developed over the next few years to allow medical records to be shared among healthcare professionals.

-----

EHRs Neglecting Preventative Care, Health Promotion

Current e-health record software fails to help clinicians identify patients who need additional services, finds government report.

By Nicole Lewis, InformationWeek

Aug. 11, 2010

URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226700051

As doctors increasingly extract more data from the health IT they've deployed, a new study finds that software that tracks population health at physician practices is very limited.

The report, "Practice-Based Population Health: Information Technology to Support Transformation to Proactive Primary Care," is based on interviews with 18 physicians and nine clinicians and other office staff to find out if they are using technology that collects data on practice-based population health (PBPH).

Published last month by the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the report defines PBPH as an approach to care that uses information on a group of patients within a primary care practice or group of practices to improve the care and clinical outcomes of patients within that practice.

-----

http://www.who.int/goe/ehir/2010/10-august-2010/en/index.html

e-Health Intelligence Report

10 August 2010

Publications

:: Sustaining innovation in telehealth and telecare (2010 - UK NHS, Dept of Health, The King's Fund)

This paper, the first in a series of WSDAN briefing papers, looks at how telehealth and telecare innovations are being used in health and social care. It considers the range of innovative approaches that have been developed, giving some practical examples. We identify some of the key challenges to the adoption of technology-based approaches to care, and suggest some strategies to overcome these challenges, so that telehealth and telecare innovations may be sustained. The ‘References’ and ‘Resources’ sections at the end of the paper provide useful links to key documentation, innovations and evidence.

-----

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/other/113363-study-medical-errors-cost-nation-almost-20b-each-year

Study: Medical errors cost nation almost $20B each year

By Mike Lillis - 08/09/10 04:42 PM ET

Preventable medical errors cost the country $19.5 billion in 2008 — or roughly $13,000 for each avoidable case, according to a report published Monday by the Society of Actuaries (SOA).

And that number is likely low, according to consultants at Milliman, who crunched the data.

"We used a conservative methodology and still found 1.5 million measureable medical errors occurred in 2008," says Jonathan Shreve, an actuary for Milliman who co-authored the report. "This number includes only the errors that we could identify through claims data, so the total economic impact of medical errors is in fact greater than what we have reported."

-----

http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/TEC-254903/5-Big-Advances-in-Small-Clinical-Technology.html

5 Big Advances in Small Clinical Technology

Gienna Shaw, for HealthLeaders Media, August 10, 2010

From a tiny eye telescope to microscopic health data on the surface of contact lenses to advances in cancer treatments, medical devices continue to get smaller and smaller. And the smallest of the small fields—nanotechnology—is expected to get bigger (so to speak) over the coming years.

The global market for nanotechnology was worth $11.6 billion in 2007 and could reach $27.0 billion by the end of 2013, according to India-based market research firm Bharatbook in a report released this month. Biomedical applications has the highest projected growth rate (56%) compared to other applications over the next 5 years.

-----

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100810/NEWS/100819998

Quality control propels health IT deals

By Joseph Conn / HITS staff writer

Posted: August 10, 2010 - 11:30 am ET

In a big week for information technology deals, healthcare businesses across the country sought to capitalize on growing demand for IT that can help companies analyze and control their healthcare costs and meet the changing health needs of an aging population.

GE Healthcare and Intel Corp. last week announced they are forming a joint venture to tap what's expected to be a multibillion-dollar market for systems to support independent living and chronic-disease management programs. Meanwhile, four other healthcare industry firms formed new IT alliances. Patient-satisfaction ratings firm Press Ganey Associates, South Bend, Ind., acquired one of the nation's forerunner systems for clinical performance measures, the Maryland Hospital Association's Quality Indicator Project for undisclosed terms. And Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Ingenix, a division of UnitedHealth Group, revealed plans to acquire Executive Health Resources, Newtown Square, Pa., a company that provides software and services that help hospitals with physician medical management and necessity compliance.

-----

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100810/NEWS/100819996

IBM acquires Datacap

By Joe Carlson / HITS staff writer

Posted: August 10, 2010 - 11:45 am ET

IBM Corp. has acquired the privately held information-capture firm Datacap, Tarrytown, N.Y., as the company continues to look for inroads into the healthcare industry.

Datacap sells data-management systems that help clients create digital documents from disparate formats and manage them in centralized systems. Healthcare clients, for example, can use the systems to automate image-capture processes for medical claims, patient correspondence, enrollment forms, encounter forms, medical records, laboratory results and other records, according to a news release.

-----

Senators Propose HITECH Incentives For Mental Health

Senators Whitehouse and Reed introduced a bill proposing to expand e-health record system use by mental health, behavioral health and substance abuse professionals and facilities.

By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee, InformationWeek

Aug. 10, 2010

URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226600286

A bill proposing to extend Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) financial incentives for e-health record use by mental health professionals has been introduced into the U.S. Senate, complementing similar legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in April.

The Health Information Technology Extension for Behavioral Health Services Act of 2010, introduced last week in the U.S. Senate by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Jack Reed (D-RI) aims to expand use of e-health record system by mental health, behavioral health and substance abuse professionals and facilities, including licensed psychologists, clinical social workers and psychiatric hospitals.

-----

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703988304575413703202287926.html?mod=djemHL_t

Doctors Get Dose of Technology From Insurers

By AVERY JOHNSON

Health-insurance companies including Humana Inc. and Aetna Inc. are stepping into the race to equip doctors with high-tech patient records.

The lure: the estimated 80% of U.S. physicians and 90% of hospitals whose records are still on paper, and the $27 billion in federal stimulus money available to help these holdouts switch. The Obama administration last month outlined how doctors can qualify for the funds starting next year. Come 2015, doctors will be penalized under Medicare if they haven't computerized their records.

-----

Stanley Awarded $6 Million HHS Contract

Work on the Department of Health and Human Services' Nationwide Health Information Network to include issuing digital certificates, updating network directories, and providing help desk support.

By Nicole Lewis, InformationWeek

Aug. 3, 2010

URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500189

The Department of Health and Human Services has awarded IT services provider Stanley a two-year, time-and-materials contract valued at $6 million to provide operation and infrastructure support for the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN).

The NHIN, which is being developed under the direction of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), will provide a secure, nationwide, interoperable health information infrastructure that will connect providers, consumers, and other stakeholders involved in supporting healthcare.

-----

http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/health-information-exchange-axolotl-40822-1.html

Vendor Streamlines Connectivity

HDM Breaking News, August 6, 2010

San Jose, Calif.-based Axolotl Corp. has introduced a streamlined, lower-cost version of its core Elysium health information exchange software.

Elysium Express is designed for hospital-to-physician and physician-to-physician connectivity, according to the San Jose, Calif.-based vendor.

-----

http://www.ihealthbeat.org/features/2010/private-sector-picks-up-baton-to-help-drive-meaningful-use.aspx

Monday, August 09, 2010

Private Sector Picks Up Baton To Help Drive 'Meaningful Use'

Now that the health care industry has had time to fully digest the final rule on "meaningful use," federal officials are looking to the private sector to help drive health IT adoption and propel the country's health care providers to becoming meaningful users of electronic health records.

At a briefing sponsored by the Health Industry Forum at Brandies University and the journal Health Affairs on Thursday, National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal told a packed room at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., that "changing the health care system is a team sport." He said that it's now time for the private sector to "pick up the baton and run with it."

Based on the panels following Blumenthal's opening remarks, it appears the private sector is ready to do just that.

-----

http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/blumenthal-berwick-call-meaningful-use-starting-point-better-health-system/2010-08-09

Blumenthal, Berwick call meaningful use a 'starting point' for a better health system

August 9, 2010 — 2:05pm ET | By Neil Versel

Two government officials who have been at the forefront of health IT implementation and quality improvement for years call last month's publication of the standards for "meaningful use" of EHRs a "starting point" on a "journey toward ubiquitous and effective use of health information technology," while also putting the rule into historical perspective.

Writing on the blog of policy journal Health Affairs, national health IT coordinator Dr. David Blumenthal and CMS Administrator Dr. Donald M. Berwick remind the healthcare community that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has been around for six years. They also note that it's been more than a decade since the Institute of Medicine dropped its bombshell of a report on medical errors, To Err Is Human (1999) and followed it up two years later with an equally significant tome, Crossing the Quality Chasm.

-----

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-08/mali-tfm080910.php

Telemedicine for maintaining health of oil rig workers is explored in Telemedicine and e-Health

New Rochelle, NY, August 9, 2010—Without hands-on access to doctors and hospitals, oil rig workers who become sick or injured increasingly rely on telemedicine "visits" with physicians and specialists on land, a trend explored in detail in an article published in Telemedicine and e-Health, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com). The article is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/tmj

Work on an oil rig can be dangerous, with cuts, sprains, fractures, and other injuries not uncommon. Ailments such as respiratory infections, asthma, and heart attack also pose a serious problem on a rig, where access to medical professionals is limited. To improve healthcare delivery, oil companies increasingly depend on technology to link a nurse or emergency medical technician working on the oil platform to emergency physicians and specialists at major medical centers through Internet or satellite connections.

-----

Enjoy!

David.

Friday, August 20, 2010

How Silly is This? I Thought Both Sides Said This Would Not Happen!

This appeared this morning.

Coalition to revive identity card

Tim Colebatch

August 20, 2010

A COALITION government would revive the controversial Howard-era plan for a national access card to identify every individual receiving government benefits, shadow treasurer Joe Hockey has revealed.

On the eve of what Prime Minister Julia Gillard says will be a ''cliffhanger'' federal election, Mr Hockey has told The Age that giving everyone a single identifier for access to health and welfare benefits could lead to ''massive improvements in productivity in health and welfare''.

But instead of everyone having a card, this time the identifier could be in electronic form.

Lots more here:

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-election/coalition-to-revive-identity-card-20100819-12s1l.html

This really is a very bad announcement as it undermines the guarantees we all thought we had about ‘function creep’ being absolutely ruled out!

The possible impact on trust in e-health records and initiatives can only be guessed at.

All I can say is think very carefully as you cast your vote and as Charlie Aitken always says at the end of his newsletters.

Go Australia!

David.