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."

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Review Of The Ongoing Post - Budget Controversy 15th January 2015. It’s Getting Much Worse!

Budget Night was on Tuesday 13th May, 2014 and the fuss has still not settled by a long shot. Indeed more than a few commentators are wondering out loud if the Abbot Government will last for a second term.
The modified co-payment - announced late last year  - seems to have annoyed most other than the Government and we now wait till mid February 2015 to see what the Senate thinks of Plan B.
Last week this appeared - so the ground may be shifting but the new regulations start on January 19th - Next Monday!

Coalition looks to dump optional GP co-payment

Joanna Heath
The Abbott government would keep the majority of planned ­savings in its revamped Medicare package if it dropped its $5 optional GP co-payment.
There is speculation the ­measure, which lacks support among the Senate crossbench at present, could be quietly ­abandoned as the government seeks to close off ­lingering political battles from last year’s May budget.
The co-payment is not due to come into force until July 1 this year. It will be introduced by ­cutting the Medicare rebate by $5, to prompt GPs to charge patients who can afford to pay.
The optional charge is only one of three measures announced by the government in December to replace its original mandatory $7 co-payment proposal, but is proving the most controversial among parliamentarians.
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Otherwise the Budget still seems to be in chaos with falling iron ore and now oil prices along with slowing growth and lots of commentary regarding the future of interest rates over 2015 (flat to down seems to be consensus).
It seems clear the Business Community is just utterly sick of the parliamentary shenanigans and really wants the Government to start behaving a adults as they promised.
See here:

CEOs call for Senate overhaul

Chanticleer
Tony Boyd and Michael Smith
Australia’s chief executives want urgent changes to how the Senate is elected and longer terms for the House of Representatives.
Morale among Australia’s business leaders, which peaked in late 2013 when Prime Minister Tony Abbott was elected after six years of Labor power, has been hit by the inability of the ­Coalition government to get major changes through the Senate that could lift the economy’s performance.
The rising business frustration at the impact of minor parties on policy and the inability of Mr Abbott to fulfil his electoral mandate is revealed in the 2015Chanticleer CEO Outlook survey.

Late Breaking News: The new Health Minister has bowed to the political inevitable and has just (Thursday 15/1 at midday) withdrawn the regulatory changes which were to start next week. She admits she does not presently have a plan and will consult widely over the next period. Watch this space!
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General.

Call to target health insurance rebate at private care

Sean Parnell

A PUSH to strip the health ­insurance rebate from policies covering unproven natural therapies has sparked a call for the ­Abbott government to go further and focus the subsidy on high-end private hospital care.
The Weekend Australian revealed health funds and their members had embraced the so-called alternatives to traditional medicine, with natural therapies responsible for the biggest ­increase in benefits paid to members outside of hospital services — a 345 per cent increase in 10 years.
As the government considers stripping the rebate from policies covering unproven therapies, such as homeopathy — from April 1 when premiums will rise again — market trends have exposed other problems for the industry and potential challenges for the government. The industry regulator, the Private Health Insurance Administration Council, has charted an increase in general insurance policies, which may cover natural therapies but not hospital treatments and still receive the rebate.
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4:39pm January 6, 2015

PM remains 'box office poison', says Labor

Federal Labor wants Queenslanders to send Tony Abbott a big message on January 31, even if it thinks Premier Campbell Newman is desperate to keep the prime minister away from his re-election campaign.
Acting opposition leader Tony Burke says the prime minister remains "box office poison", a term Victorian Liberal strategists used to describe Mr Abbott before their state election loss in late 2014.
"Campbell Newman is doing everything he can to try to time an election in a way that has people thinking about Tony Abbott as little as possible," he told reporters in Canberra.
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Redirect the subsidy to cure insurance headache

FOR an industry that attracts a government subsidy of more than $5 billion a year — more than the wildest aspirations of the carmakers — the private health insurance industry has escaped a serious look for almost 20 years.
The industry we see today is the linear descendant of the industry of the 1950s, with more than 30 funds, over-regulated, over-subsidised and over-protected. Two for-profit funds dominate the industry — BUPA (owned by a British not-for-profit) and newly listed Medibank Private. These dominant funds have about 80 per cent of all issued policies, with Medibank Private losing its position as market leader to BUPA in the past six months, continuing a slow decline that had been evident for years.
The latest tweak to industry regulation is apparently to be the withdrawal of subsidies for unproven natural therapies, a good move that will promote greater use of evidence in healthcare. There has also been a recent call to target subsidies only to those products that offer comprehensive coverage (The Australian, January 1), based on the argument that products which only cover public hospital care by definition don’t reduce demand on public hospitals, one of the arguments for the subsidy in the first place.
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Means testing free hospital care will make medicare sustainable

CONVERTING the private health insurance subsidy into a private hospital subsidy, as Stephen Duckett suggested on this page yesterday, is only half the solution to funding healthcare.
Unless a means test is employed, and so long as Medicare offers ‘‘free and universal’’ public hospital care paid for by taxes, consumers have scant incentive to take out private health cover regardless of the subsidy available for private hospital care. This is the chief lesson of the last half-century of health policy.
Public subsidies for public and private hospital care were a core feature of pre-1980s Australian health system. However, reviving this approach in the limited form of a publicly funded private hospital subsidy is unlikely to promote a more efficient, mixed public-private health system without reintroducing another key policy of that era — a means test for public hospital care.
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The Australian economy is in need of some medicine

By Stephen Koukoulas
December 18, 2014
"The policy prescription to a sick economy should be clear. Needed now in Australia is easier policy in the form of either stimulatory levels of interest rates or a relaxation of fiscal policy, or some mix of the two. "
In terms of some hard numbers, Australia should ideally be recording real economic growth a little above three percent, on average, over the course of the business cycle. This would translate to employment growth sufficiently strong to lock in an unemployment rate that is consistent with the Reserve Bank of Australia’s inflation target of two to three percent.
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Morgan Stanley eyes slow growth, $A slide

Stephen Cauchi
Australia’s economy will grow at the slowest rate since 2009 over the coming year, according to a pessimistic Morgan Stanley overview for 2015.
The Australian dollar will slide to US76¢ and the sharemarket will trade sideways to 5350, with a bear case of 4400, according to the predictions.
Morgan Stanley did not predict any quarters of negative growth over 2015, merely subdued growth leading to a total 2015 GDP figure of 1.5 per cent. But this is notably less than other predictions. A Bloomberg survey of 35 economists in December produced an average GDP prediction of 2.54 per cent for 2015.
Federal Treasury is tipping 2.5 per cent growth in 2015 and the Reserve Bank between 2.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent growth.
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Fair billing, not bulk-billing, a healthier choice

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott’s ministerial reshuffle last month, focused attention on hardhead Scott Morrison moving to Social Services. Yet the hottest social policy seat belongs to his newly-promoted cabinet colleague, Sussan Ley.
As the new Health Minister, Ley succeeds Peter Dutton, now the tough cop on the border protection beat. Dutton shifted after a tumultuous year in health, highlighted by the government’s difficulties selling a $7 co-payment on GP services.
Yet the budget policy had the right intention, imposing a modest and affordable price signal on GP services with a ceiling to protect the elderly, the poor, young families and the chronically ill. But its design was rushed, consultation non-existent, and it focused too much on bottom-line savings over sustaining the creaking Medicare edifice.
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Frydenberg appointment gives Abbott muscle to sell economic message

THE fact is Joe Hockey’s future as federal Treasurer is intimately tied to Tony Abbott’s success as Prime Minister. This means these two seasoned political warhorses have a mutual interest in turning around the opinion polls and cementing their jobs.
Importantly, Abbott’s appointment of the up-and-coming, hardworking and intelligent MP for Kooyong, Josh Frydenberg, as the new Assistant Treasurer has afforded Hockey (and also Mathias Cormann) an opportunity to combine their complementary skills to sell the government’s economic message more effectively.
Frydenberg will also join the frontline in question time and more than likely land some body blows on the federal ALP.
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6 questions for the new health minister

5 January, 2015 Paul Smith 25 comments
Australia’s new Federal Health Minister, Sussan Ley, is now tasked with defending the government's $3.5 billion worth of cuts to GP funding following the Christmas departure of her predecessor Peter Dutton.
Mr Dutton during his brief tenure had declared the government was “totally committed to rebuilding general practice”.
That claim looks to many to be simply untrue.
With rebates cuts for millions of consultations lasting less than 10 minutes being introduced in just two weeks’ time — the first of three Medicare cuts coming the way of general practice this year — Australian Doctor lists a few of the many questions Ms Ley (pictured) now needs to answer.
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Medicare Co-Payments.

Medicare Funding Cuts - Support Materials For Practices

2014 was a turbulent year for the future of Medicare.  The Government has pursued an agenda of fiscal policy – not health policy – to strip $3.5 billion out of Medicare and shift these costs on to patients.
The AMA’s strong and sustained advocacy resulted in a number of concessions by the Government. [click here to read more about the original Government proposals and AMA advocacy]
Instead, the Government will:
General practice will be hardest hit, with the first change already set in law that will start on 19 January 2015.  The AMA has developed material to assist general practices to implement the changes to the Medicare Level A and Level B consultation items.
Let the Government and your local MP know that you oppose these changes. [click here to access links to MPs
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New year, same approach: implications of the Fed Govt’s confidence trick on Medicare

Marie McInerney | Jan 05, 2015 12:03PM | EMAIL | PRINT
Much happened on the health front in the closing weeks of 2014, not least with the appointment of a new Health Minister Sussan Ley. See some interim advice to the new Minister and judgements on the contributions of former Minister Peter Dutton from Croakey contributors.
The Federal Government also finally came up with a Plan B to its proposed $7 GP co-payment that also raises significant concerns. Thanks to Tim Woodruff, Vice President of the Doctors Reform Society, for this clear and timely post that explains the implications of the latest changes, including the new requirement that a Level B consultation be a minimum of 10 minutes duration, which took effect on 1 January.
See also this article – GP co-payment 2.0: a triple whammy for patients – from The Conversation by Stephen Duckett and Peter Breadon from the Grattan Institute.
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GPs lobby MPs, patients ahead of looming rebate cut, AMA president Brian Owler says

Wed 7 Jan 2015, 1:00pm
Doctors are taking their fight against the Federal Government's changes to Medicare consultations to the waiting rooms of their practices.
GPs are soon expected to display posters in their surgeries explaining to patients why they will have to pay more under the Government's changes to consultation rebates.
Late last year Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced a revised healthcare policy which includes an optional $5 co-payment.
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Doctors to demonstrate in protest at 'plan B' proposed Medicare changes

AMA president says public rallies in Sydney, Brisbane and possibly Canberra will draw ‘hundreds if not thousands of doctors’
Lenore Taylor, political editor
Doctors are planning public demonstrations over the Abbott government’s proposed Medicare changes as they ramp up a lobbying campaign against a policy they claim is the greatest threat to general practice in a decade.
The Australian Medical Association’s president, Brian Owler, told Guardian Australia doctors were planning public rallies in Sydney, Brisbane and possibly Canberra in early February to demonstrate their “extreme unhappiness” with the government’s health “plan B” unveiled shortly before Christmas.
The “plan B” saves $3.5bn over the next four years – almost as much as the original budget policy to introduce a $7 GP co-payment which was blocked in the Senate. But it achieves the savings by reducing or freezing Medicare rebates paid to doctors, leaving it up to the GPs to decide whether to pass on the costs to patients.
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Federal Govt faces doctors rallying in waiting rooms, streets over Medicare co-payment Plan B

Marie McInerney | Jan 08, 2015 10:58AM | EMAIL | PRINT
The Federal Government is facing the prospect of doctors marching on the streets against its latest Medicare package – possibly ahead of the Queensland state election on January 31 where health cuts are already on the agenda.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) yesterday signalled it was launching a campaign to put a stop to the changes.
AMA President Brian Owler tweeted (above left) confirmation of plans for doctors to rally in capital cities, in a bid to lobby new Health Minister Sussan Ley and Senate cross benchers. He told ABC Radio:
We have a new Health Minister, and obviously the new Minister’s getting across her portfolio at the moment, but we would hope that common sense will prevail. Now, these changes are due to come in on 19 January. Parliament can disallow them when they come back in early February, so they will be introduced before Parliament has the chance to make the disallowance, but when they come back, the AMA and the other groups will be campaigning very strongly to make sure that these changes are stopped.
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Changes to Medicare billing to cause rise to GP fees, Australian Medical Association says

Thu 8 Jan 2015, 12:33pm
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has warned of a rise in medical fees due to new changes to the Medicare benefits schedule coming into effect on January 19.
The Federal Government scrapped its plan for a $7 Medicare co-payment before Christmas, but AMA national president Associate Professor Brian Owler said new changes had outraged general practitioners.
Under the new co-payment schedule, rebates for GP consultations lasting less than 10 minutes would be reduced.
"This has angered GPs more than any of the other proposals, even more than the initial proposal," Dr Owler said in an interview on 666 ABC Canberra Breakfast.
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Petitioning Federal Minister for Health The Hon. Sussan Ley
This petition will be delivered to:
Federal Minister for Health
The Hon. Sussan Ley

Quit targeting general practice and the health of all Australians

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
From 19 January 2015, patient rebates from Medicare will be CUT by up to $25, meaning patients will pay more. Both patients and GPs have been unfairly targeted under the Government’s revised co-payment model.
GPs are vital to the health and wellbeing of every Australian. Don’t let yours be targeted.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) represents over 28,500 GPs working in or towards a career in general practice. The RACGP has been vocal with Government but it is falling on deaf ears. They haven’t listened to us but perhaps they will listen to you.
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7:13pm January 8, 2015

Patients could foot $20 shortfall for short GP visits

January 08, 2015: Changes have been quietly introduced to the Medicare rebate, placing limits on consultation times and forcing GPs to charge patients more.
Australians could be paying more for a visit to the doctor when changes to the Medicare rebate come into effect later this month.
Doctors have warned they will be forced to pass the difference on to patients when changes to consultation time limits are introduced on January 19.
“Patients would find it harder to get to a consultation to see their GP,” Sydney doctor Brian Morton said.
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Patients already avoiding doctor visits ahead of proposed Medicare cuts, says Broken Hill GP

By Gavin Coote
Posted yesterday at 10:19amThu 8 Jan 2015, 10:19am
A Broken Hill GP is joining the latest national push against the Federal Government's changes to consultation rebates.
Doctors will be putting up posters campaigning against the government's proposed $5 cut to the Medicare rebate, the plan which replaced the $7 GP co-payment proposal.
Local GP Ramu Nachiappan said the proposed funding changes were already putting patients off doctor visits.
He said he saw fewer patients book in over the New Year period compared with last year.
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Primary Health Care hit by ‘material’ funding cuts: analyst

Date January 9, 2015 - 2:46PM

Jessica Gardner

Tony Abbott also revealed a freeze on Medicare rebates to July 2018 and a $5 co-payment on doctor visits.
Cuts to Medicare funding of short visits to GPs, which are being fought by the powerful doctors' lobby, might  cost corporate medical giant Primary Health Care millions in revenue and significantly hit profit, a healthcare analyst has found.
A drop in the scheduled fee paid to doctors for visits that last less than 10 minutes from $37.05 to $16.95 is part of a revised Medicare funding plan put forward by Prime Minister Tony Abbott in December.
Mr Abbott also revealed a freeze on Medicare rebates to July 2018 and a $5 co-payment on doctor visits by adults and non-concessional patients under a plan that would save $3.4 billion over three years.
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Important changes to Medicare from 19 January

From January 19, 2015 important changes will be introduced regarding GP consultations. Additional changes will also come into effect from 1 July 2015.
Effective January 19, 2015 the following new time requirements will be applied to describe consultations.
  • Level A GP consultations (MBS item 3) will cover attendances less than 10 minutes (currently defined as straightforward consultations, without any reference to timing)
  • Level B consultations (MBS item 23) will cover attendances from at least 10 minutes to 20 minutes (currently defined as up to 20 minutes)
There is no change to item numbers used by non-vocationally registered medical practitioners as these are already time based.
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Comment:
I also have to say reading all the articles I still have no idea what is actually going to happen with the Budget at the end of the day.
As pointed out on Insiders a few weeks ago the next chance to have progress  in February, 2015 when Parliament comes back! Right now there is a lot of planning going on behind the scenes.
One wonders for how much longer this will go on?
Enjoy.
David.

Government Backs Down On Medicare Co-Payment - Back To The Drawing Board!

Amazing back-flip.

All planned Medicare rebate changes 'off the table'.

Consultations now to begin...

A matter to pause and consult on!

I have to say Minister Ley is sounding much more reasonable than her hopeless predecessor.

She has noticed there are unintended consequences - especially on the Rebate Changes for the short consultations.

Minister Ley says at present she does not actually have a plan C - hence the consultation! 

Note: Mr Abbott still keen on Co-payment so will be interesting to see what happens in Senate in February (or later).

David.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Here Is Another One That Seems To Have Slipped Out When No One Was Watching!

This appeared late last week.

Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) January 2015 Release 5 available for download

Created on Friday, 09 January 2015
NEHTA has released new specification sets and conformance requirements to enable Pathology and Diagnostic Imaging Reports to be uploaded to the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) by Pathology and Diagnostic Imaging service providers. These specifications support new capabilities in the PCEHR.
The Pathology and Diagnostic Imaging Reports can be used to share information about Pathology tests and Diagnostic Imaging examinations via an individual's PCEHR. These reports include a PDF which contain one or more examinations that are uploaded by the pathology or diagnostic imaging provider to the individual's PCEHR.
An additional new feature is the ability to download the Health Record Overview which can be displayed in local clinical information systems in whole or part. 
Presentation and Data Usage guidance documents have been developed for vendors presenting the Pathology Report, Diagnostic Imaging Report views and also the Health Record Overview in clinical information systems.
NEHTA has also updated a number of technical specifications to support the new capability:
The specification sets can be downloaded from the NEHTA website:
For more detailed information, please refer to the following release notes. Download:
Here is the link to the relevant page:
What surprised me with all this was that I had not, to date, seen minutes that confirm that all the stakeholders involved in results upload and use had agreed how it is to work.
Has anyone seen the final view from Government in all this?
If it does not exist one wonders how such specifications can be finalised.
Isn’t it also wonderful to see that in NEHTA’s view the PCEHR is going to become a large collection of .pdfs. Talk about back to the future.
David.

It Looks Like The Government Will Need A Plan C on The Medicare Co-payment.

Read all about it here:

www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/majority-of-senators-commit-to-scrapping-new-20-gp-fee-20150114-12nxvy.html

I wonder how far down the alphabet we will go before they realise this is not a good idea?

As we can see from this article from the OZ today there are plenty of other more sensible and less destructive options:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/health/health-eyes-15bn-payoff-from-war-on-waste/story-fn59nokw-1227183948925

David.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

A Belated Welcome To 2015. I Wonder How It Will Play Out In E-Health? I Am Not All That Confident For Now.

Over the holiday break I was challenged to suggest what might be needed to make a positive difference in e-Health.
What I suggested then were that five actions were needed. These were:
“Action One:
Recognise that there are two distinct clients for e-Health systems and services and that their needs are not by any means the same - meaning that different systems are required for each. The professional clients (doctors, nurses, allied health etc.) need systems that enhance their clinical capabilities, improve record keeping and facilitate their secure sharing of clinical information to improve patient care and safety.
The consumers need systems to allow them to record their own information while at the same time having access  to, ideally, the live clinical systems so they can better engage with and understand and contribute to their care.
It is obvious the present PCEHR does neither of these things well.
Action Two:
We need to recognise we don’t need a single monolithic System but that we need an e-Health ecosystem where health information flows efficiently, accurately, securely and privately between appropriately credentialed actors within the health system and to and from consumers.
Action Three:
We need an updated National E-Health Strategy that consults all stakeholders properly and provides the  governance, leadership, strategic technical, standards and managerial pathways to actually achieve the goals cited by the CHF for this domain. We then need the Strategy properly funded and led - as did not happen with the 2008 version.
Action Four:
Before anything more is done or spent actually undertake a proper in depth peer-reviewed evaluation of what e-Health in all its guises has achieved in Australia and what has been achieved in the rest of the world that might be applicable to Australia. This research should inform what comes next.
Action Five:
We need to understand that no-where in the world has a transition to e-Health been easy, uncomplicated, pain free or without missteps. As we increasingly realise, getting this right is a very considerable and some might suggest near impossible challenge that takes lots of time, lots of money and dedication - as well as quality leadership and governance for success. E-Health is not something for generalist bureaucrats and technicians to have repeated goes at and repeatedly fail at!”
Most who commented rather liked what I had suggested but still seemed rather pessimistic about the next decade or so. I think, on reflection, that what I missed in my post was that these five actions need to be seen as an integrated package. All five areas need to be properly, openly and transparently addressed. You, for instance, can’t develop a quality strategy and then not fund it - as happened in 2008 - and you can’t change management without making sure they have a clear strategy, commitment and real funding.
There is no doubt that 2015 will be a pretty interesting year with a new Federal Health Minister who has the PCEHR ‘hot potato’ placed right in the middle of her desk and who lacks any apparent expertise, right now, in the Health or E-Health sector. Deciding what to do with the PCEHR is going to be one of the most difficult parts of the portfolio, if we ignore the extreme difficulty of sorting out what to happen with the Plan B Medicare Co-payment - now that the AMA and the RACGP are now running public campaigns against the plan.
To me if the PCEHR is a ‘hot potato’, the co-payment is a grenade with the pin removed!
The old curse of ‘May You Live In Interesting Times’ is more that apposite and the times may indeed turn out to be more than challenging!
David.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 12th January, 2015.

Here are a few I have come across the last week or so.
Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. 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

Welcome to 2015.
Judging from the news 2015 will be all about Telstra and e-Health, the fate of the PCEHR, safety and Health IT, FHIR and wearable technology.
Enjoy the ride!
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Clinical safety of England's national program for IT: a retrospective analysis of all reported safety events 2005 to 2011

Received: March 26, 2014; Received in revised form: September 15, 2014; Accepted: December 28, 2014; Published Online: January 03, 2015
Publication stage: In Press Accepted Manuscript

Highlights

  • All known safety problems with national scale IT systems in England were examined.
  • National IT implementation was associated with problems on a large scale impacting on care delivery.
  • Problems encountered are not unique, but are well-understood challenges of IT implementation.
  • Human factors were four times as likely to result in reported patient harm than technical problems.
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Telstra Health picks up cloud medicine

5 January, 2014
Telstra has added further capabilities on the eHealth front with the acquisition of Australian eHealth cloud software developer Cloud9 and an Indian health software developer, IdeaObject.
The deals are designed to bolster the portfolio of integrated eHealth solutions held by Telstra Health, which was officially hived off as a stand-alone unit by the telco in October last year.
The Telstra Health division, running under the auspices of Shane Solomon - a former CEO of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority - aims to provide the connective tissue that brings patients, healthcare professionals, health funds and healthcare infrastructure (pharmacies and hospitals) together.
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What CEOs expect in 2015

Tony Boyd and Michael Smith
Captains of industry from banking, resources, media, property, insurance, infrastructure and retail give their insights on tough questions for the new year. Here’s a selection:
…..

David Thodey, Telstra

2: Up until recently I would have said the biggest threat was complacency, but following the B20 and G20 I think there is now a shared realisation within government and business that we need to take urgent action in some critical areas. Infrastructure investment is high on the list. There is currently a huge shortfall worldwide in the investment needed to meet the demands of the growing global population and to provide the platform needed to take advantage of innovative technologies. Digital solutions and new business models are disrupting every sector in the community. From a Telstra perspective, this technology disruption is obviously having a profound impact on our industry and the services we offer – cloud, mobility, the internet of things – and we aim to be a leader in these fields just as we were with our core business.
We’re also keenly aware of the disruption technology is causing in adjacent industries and looking to see where we can add value. The e-health industry is one we are very active in, and where we believe technology can fundamentally improve the system for all Australians.
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Indian HIS developer, IdeaObject, acquired by Telstra Health

IdeaObject will be integrated into Telstra Health, Australia’s largest telecom and tech firm
The business of Indian- based health software developer IdeaObject has been acquired by Telstra Health, the eHealth business unit of Australia’s largest telecom and technology company.
The IdeaObject business along with the business of Cloud9, an Australia-based eHealth cloud software developer which has also been acquired by Telstra Health, will be integrated into Telstra Health, with this work commencing immediately.
Jim Flynt, currently Telstra Health’s General Manager of Health Applications, has been appointed CEO of Cloud9, while the existing Indian executive management team will continue to have responsibility for the day-to-day operations and product development activities, as C-HIS is integrated into the broader Telstra Health strategy.
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Human Services urged to hang up on Telstra outsourcing deal

Date January 8, 2015 - 11:30PM

Noel Towell

Reporter for The Canberra Times

More than 6500 Centrelink and Medicare public servants have made a last-ditch appeal for their bosses to abandon an outsourcing deal that would have Telstra workers answering phones at the agencies' call centres.
The employees of the giant Department of Human Services say the proposal poses an unacceptable risk to the confidential information of millions of Australians.
The signatories to a union-organised petition say Human Services' troubled customer service performance could get even worse with inexperienced Telstra workers answering the phones.
But the department, which also runs the Child Support Agency and administers some Veterans Affairs and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme payments, said it had  not made a decision on whether to proceed with the deal.
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The Silicon Valley doctor who never sleeps

More than 10 million people visit the HealthTap website every month, where they can ask medical questions for free, or – for $US99 a month – talk immediately with a licensed doctor at any time of day or night. 
James Hamblin
What if you could text a doctor with a medical question at any time of day and get a quick, thoughtful response? No more haphazard googling (“swollen feet allergies”; “tick stuck in ear access to brain?”). No more sifting through message boards. No more algorithms suggesting a stomach ache might be the first sign of a terminal skin disorder.
As a patient, I’d say that sounds great. As a doctor, I’d say that sounds at best unsustainable, and at worst disastrous. The average primary-care physician has about 2300 patients. He or she would never sleep.
But Ron Gutman, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, would say that’s a business opportunity. Since he founded HealthTap four years ago, the website has grown into an interactive community of more than 60,000 licensed US physicians, who answer user questions for free. More than 10 million people visit the site every month.
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Medical diagnosis at the touch of a button

Monday 29 December 2014 6:46AM
A mental healthcare provider in regional Victoria has introduced interactive software that allows patients to enter their details, medical preferences, and symptoms online to provide faster access to treatment.

Guests

Caroline Byrne
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Privacy will be considered a luxury in 2025: experts

Date December 21, 2014 - 5:34PM

Hannah Francis

Technology Reporter

Experts believe the exchange of personal data for online conveniences will soon erode today's notions of privacy.
Today's notions of privacy will be eroded significantly within the next decade as growing reams of personal data are willingly exchanged for the convenience of living our lives online.
That's the prevailing view among the more than 2500 industry experts from around the world - including academics, legislators and staff at global companies such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo - who were quizzed on the future of privacy and security.
Respondents to the study from the Pew Research Center in the US, in conjunction with North Carolina's Elon University, said they believed living a public life online would be the new default by 2025.
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#FHIR for Laboratory Integration

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Grahame Grieve
As the FHIR project has progressed, many organizations are starting to face the difficult question: when should we think about using FHIR for our production interfaces?
Making this kind of evaluation depends on the technical merits of the various possible alternative standards, the existing ecosystem and how much is already invested in alternative approaches, and what kind of maturity rating is appropriate for the standard.
With regard to the last, see  Dixie Baker’s JAMIA paper, “Evaluating and classifying the readiness of technology specifications for national standardization”, but note that what kind of maturity is best for a project depends on that nature of the project and it’s participants. National regulations need something different than smaller projects with a shorter time line.
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How to salvage a (nearly) hopeless software project

Faulty foundations, AWOL contractors, bugs piling up -- here's what to do before taking a sledgehammer to a faltering pile of code
Like a carpenter called in to salvage a home repair gone wrong, developers who've been around the block are used to seeing a handful of the same problems. The code gets creaky; bug reports file at an ever-increasing clip; the time spent maintaining the project surpasses any ability to add features to it. At a certain point, the question arises: Can you rehab the code, or should you scrap it and rebuild from the ground up?
We talked with seasoned pros for insights on how they have addressed the most common types of software projects on the brink: Projects with runaway costs, poorly architected projects, ones that simply no longer work.
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Wearables expand to waistline, feet and fingers

One company says its "smart belt" can track a wearer's health
The Ring can let you remotely control your smartphone by making finger gestures.
Wearables for the wrist are all the rage at this year's International CES show, but companies are also coming up with devices meant to be worn on your waist, your feet and your index finger.
Enter Belty, a smart belt developed by French firm Emiota. When you put it on, the mechanical belt buckle will tighten around you automatically for a comfortable fit. It will then adjust the waist size automatically when it appears you're sitting down or standing up.
Emiota designed the smart belt as a way to track the health of the wearer. It does this by measuring changes in the user's waistline, which can be used to predict a person's diabetes risk, said Carine Coulm, the company's co-founder.
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Security bolstered on myGov website after dire warnings

Date January 2, 2015

Ben Grubb

Deputy technology editor

Your highly personal government records are now just that little bit safer.
The federal government's online myGov portal – which allows millions of Australians to access their private government tax, health and other records — has finally introduced a long-awaited security measure experts have previously said was urgently required.
The measure, implemented more than 30 months after launching the service, is called two-factor authentication. The process requires users to put in an optional token, or code, sent to their mobile phone before they are allowed access to their account.
Quietly launched in early December by the Department of Human Services, users are now being prompted to take up the new measure — described as an "enhanced security" mechanism to protect user accounts – when they next sign in.
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Safety in E-Health

E-Health programs have the aim of improving the quality of health care. The main elements of Commission’s Safety in E-Health program are:
  • Optimising safety and quality within the rollouts of clinical systems, with an initial focus on discharge summary and hospital medications management programs
  • Using E-Health initiatives to improve the safety and quality of health care
  • The secondary use of information agenda – optimising reuse and analyses of safety and quality data available from clinical systems, to further drive improvements in safety and quality
The Commission works in collaboration with jurisdictions, the private hospital and primary care sectors, NEHTA, the National Health CIO Forum, and other national bodies to promote the safety and quality agenda within national E-Health programs.
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Clinical safety audit program for the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR)

The Commission has established an independent Clinical Governance Advisory Group (CGAG) and a clinical safety audit program for the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR).
This national clinical governance function complements and strengthens the work being performed by the National E-Health Transition Authority in assuring the safety and quality of the standards and specifications supporting the PCEHR and will provide external assurance on PCEHR clinical safety issues.
The CGAG meets quarterly to consider the clinical safety audits of the PCEHR and other clinical safety issues relating to the PCEHR and provide advice to the Department of Health and Ageing. The CGAG comprises experts from across Australia, and is chaired by the Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Baggoley.
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Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) January 2015 Release 5 available for download

Created on Friday, 09 January 2015
NEHTA has released new specification sets and conformance requirements to enable Pathology and Diagnostic Imaging Reports to be uploaded to the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) by Pathology and Diagnostic Imaging service providers. These specifications support new capabilities in the PCEHR.
The Pathology and Diagnostic Imaging Reports can be used to share information about Pathology tests and Diagnostic Imaging examinations via an individual's PCEHR. These reports include a PDF which contain one or more examinations that are uploaded by the pathology or diagnostic imaging provider to the individual's PCEHR.
An additional new feature is the ability to download the Health Record Overview which can be displayed in local clinical information systems in whole or part. 
Presentation and Data Usage guidance documents have been developed for vendors presenting the Pathology Report, Diagnostic Imaging Report views and also the Health Record Overview in clinical information systems.
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Professor Graeme Clark Wins Prestigious US Bioengineering award

on January 8, 2015 at 1:00 am
Professor Graeme Clark AC from the University of Melbourne is the first Australian to receive the US Russ Prize for an outstanding achievement in bioengineering innovation that is in widespread use to improve health and well-being: the cochlear implant.
The US National Academy of Engineering and Ohio University announced the winners of the biennial prize of US $500,000 today and recognised Professor Clark’s pioneering role in the development of the multi-channel cochlear implant for people with severe-to-profound deafness. 
Professors Clark, Ingeborg and Irwin Hochmair from Austria and Michael Merzenich and Blake Wilson from the US are the pioneers in developing the multi-channel cochlear implant for giving
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New antibiotic ‘just the tip of the iceberg’ in beating resistance

  •  The Times
  • January 09, 2015 12:00AM
SCIENTISTS are hailing a poten­t­ially huge advance against ­antibiotic resistance with the ­devel­opment of what could be the first new class of the drugs in 25 years.
If approved for use in humans, teixobactin promises to combat pathogens that are resistant to today’s antibiotics. The way teixobactin was discovered also opens a mechanism by which scientists can search for other antibiotics.
The discovery, published in the journal Nature, comes after British Prime Minister David Cameron warned that the world could be “cast back into the dark ages of medicine” unless action was taken to combat resistance to antibiotics.
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The 8080 chip at 40: What's next for the mighty microprocessor?

It came out in 1974 and was the basis of the MITS Altair 8800, for which two guys named Bill Gates and Paul Allen wrote BASIC, and millions of people began to realize that they, too, could have their very own, personal, computer.
It came out in 1974 and was the basis of the MITS Altair 8800, for which two guys named Bill Gates and Paul Allen wrote BASIC, and millions of people began to realize that they, too, could have their very own, personal, computer.
Now, some 40 years after the debut of the Intel 8080 microprocessor, the industry can point to direct descendants of the chip that are astronomically more powerful (see sidebar, below). So what's in store for the next four decades?
For those who were involved with, or watched, the birth of the 8080 and know about the resulting PC industry and today's digital environment, escalating hardware specs aren't the concern. These industry watchers are more concerned with the decisions that the computer industry, and humanity as a whole, will face in the coming decades.
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Enjoy!
David.