Interesting article noticed regarding the place of open source in Health IT - which refers to a paper published a few days ago by the California Health Care Foundation.
It seems to me that, while there is a lot of concern about the place of proprietary systems in Health Care, without some market making we simply would be confined to having systems developed by governments and thus have much less choice for a particular situation or institution.
It seems to me the best role the open source movement can play is keeping the commercial providers honest and keeping their costs reasonable while leveraging the investments made by government to provide the widest choice possible.
I seriously doubt that open-source will lead to the demise of proprietary systems any time soon.
Comments welcome.
David
Friday, March 10, 2006
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Card Confusion and Mis-Identity
The main news today is the revelation from the Sydney Daily Telegraph of the scope of the rorting and the degree of fraud and identity fakery going on with the current Australian Medicare card.
To quote the article:
"A STAGGERING 500,000 Medicare cards have been lost or stolen in the past 12 months, with some being used to create fake identities and make fraudulent benefit claims.
Recently a UK expert suggested that the total cost of identifying each citizen reliably with appropriate biometrics is of the order of $250 per individual. Even if it is just 1/2 this we are talking billions of dollars and with the loss rates of the Medicare card - huge ongoing replacement and renewal costs.
One hopes the business case for taking on this expenditure is sound - and that all the parts of government involved in identification schemes (Health, Human Services, Attorney General and Immigration) are co-ordinating their activity to minimise waste and to preserve privacy.
David
To quote the article:
"A STAGGERING 500,000 Medicare cards have been lost or stolen in the past 12 months, with some being used to create fake identities and make fraudulent benefit claims.
In a bid to tackle identity fraud, Human Services Minister Joe Hockey called for a photo of the holder to be included on Medicare cards, which currently only contain a person's name and Medicare number.
Criminals are using the lost or stolen cards to set up fake identities, open bank accounts and claim Medicare benefits and prescription medicine subsidies that they are not entitled to."
What is clear here is that the system simply lacks the robustness required, and to be made fit for purpose (i.e. to prevent fraud and to permit accurate identification of individuals) a large investment will be required.Recently a UK expert suggested that the total cost of identifying each citizen reliably with appropriate biometrics is of the order of $250 per individual. Even if it is just 1/2 this we are talking billions of dollars and with the loss rates of the Medicare card - huge ongoing replacement and renewal costs.
One hopes the business case for taking on this expenditure is sound - and that all the parts of government involved in identification schemes (Health, Human Services, Attorney General and Immigration) are co-ordinating their activity to minimise waste and to preserve privacy.
David
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Valuable Release from the EHR Vendors Association
Today I came upon a very recently released report which provides a roadmap as to how HIMSS sees EHR interoperabilty will be fashioned in the US over the next few years.
This is version 2.0 of their RoadMap efforts - and builds on a year of experience derived from the initial release.
It can be found here.
It is currently open for discussion until the 31st of March 2006.
I think this is a very valuable document that deserves a very thorough read and has a lot that should be considered in the Australian context. I hope NEHTA have noticed the release and will give the ideas due and careful consideration.
David
This is version 2.0 of their RoadMap efforts - and builds on a year of experience derived from the initial release.
It can be found here.
It is currently open for discussion until the 31st of March 2006.
I think this is a very valuable document that deserves a very thorough read and has a lot that should be considered in the Australian context. I hope NEHTA have noticed the release and will give the ideas due and careful consideration.
David
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
The Fate of HealthConnect - Sealed?
Seems there is more and more commentary on the directions being adopted by HealthConnect.
Karen Dearne in the Australian today discusses the request from Queensland to clarify what is going on at last weeks Australian Health Minister's Advisory Council meeting.
She concludes, based on the level of activity in evidence and the likely costs, that the program has been largely shelved and that we have not yet been told.
It seems to me the official announcement will have to wait until a replacement strategy is in place and I am pretty sure work to develop and clarify is a high priority with NEHTA.
Speculation on what you imagine is planned in the new direction is welcome!
David
Karen Dearne in the Australian today discusses the request from Queensland to clarify what is going on at last weeks Australian Health Minister's Advisory Council meeting.
She concludes, based on the level of activity in evidence and the likely costs, that the program has been largely shelved and that we have not yet been told.
It seems to me the official announcement will have to wait until a replacement strategy is in place and I am pretty sure work to develop and clarify is a high priority with NEHTA.
Speculation on what you imagine is planned in the new direction is welcome!
David
Monday, March 06, 2006
Useful Article in the Australian Financial Review
All,
Agnes King has had a conversation with the CEO of NEHTA the AFR is reporting. The article can be found here if you have subscription access.
In summary it suggests that after two years work NEHTA has developed the framework for the "unified national Health IT system" and that this framework will be released to the vendor community in the next few weeks.
These comments make it clear there will be little if any significant spend at the National level and that all vendors who hope for new sales will need to work with the states and territories where they are relevant and with GPs and private hospitals which are under less national of state control.
Issues of how any required changes in hospital and GP systems are to be paid for an so on are still unresolved in this article as are all the issues of information ownership, privacy and so on. It will be interesting to see just how practical and evolved the framework is when it is released.
One thing appears certain - the older concept of the national system of HealthConnect repositories which share summary records across the nation is well and truely dead.
We await the next installement with interest.
David
Agnes King has had a conversation with the CEO of NEHTA the AFR is reporting. The article can be found here if you have subscription access.
In summary it suggests that after two years work NEHTA has developed the framework for the "unified national Health IT system" and that this framework will be released to the vendor community in the next few weeks.
These comments make it clear there will be little if any significant spend at the National level and that all vendors who hope for new sales will need to work with the states and territories where they are relevant and with GPs and private hospitals which are under less national of state control.
Issues of how any required changes in hospital and GP systems are to be paid for an so on are still unresolved in this article as are all the issues of information ownership, privacy and so on. It will be interesting to see just how practical and evolved the framework is when it is released.
One thing appears certain - the older concept of the national system of HealthConnect repositories which share summary records across the nation is well and truely dead.
We await the next installement with interest.
David
Sunday, March 05, 2006
What is Australia's National e-health Strategy
This sadly is a question.
Just asking does anyone understand just what the National E-Health IT Strategy is?
In case anyone is wondering - I have been working and researching in this space since 1983.. and am tired at the level of apparent progress. I want to hear from all who think it is going well - or going badly.
Comments - suggestions as to sources etc of the truth also welcome.
In future posts we can explore what the truth might be - or maybe someone will tell us!
David
Just asking does anyone understand just what the National E-Health IT Strategy is?
In case anyone is wondering - I have been working and researching in this space since 1983.. and am tired at the level of apparent progress. I want to hear from all who think it is going well - or going badly.
Comments - suggestions as to sources etc of the truth also welcome.
In future posts we can explore what the truth might be - or maybe someone will tell us!
David
Health IT Introduction
The intent for this blog is to provide commentary, feedback and information on the e-health activity, processes, industry, politics and governance in Australia.
The aim to to provide clarity and transparency for all involved as to what is going on, who is doing what with whom and what is driving what is happening.
Enjoy
David
The aim to to provide clarity and transparency for all involved as to what is going on, who is doing what with whom and what is driving what is happening.
Enjoy
David
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