News Extras For the Week (04/12/2008).

Again there has been just a heap of stuff arrive this week.

First we have:

Md. health officials track flu with e-mail queries

By Frank D. Roylance

November 21, 2008

You're all achy, coughing and feverish. Work is out of the question, but you're not sick enough to see a doctor. How nice it would be if someone checked in to ask how you're feeling.

The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene won't send over a pot of chicken soup. But state epidemiologists have a first-in-the-nation, Web-based project to ask thousands of residents whether they've been laid low by flu symptoms.

The Maryland Resident Influenza Tracking Survey is designed to augment reports from the doctors, hospitals and medical laboratories traditionally used to gather data on the geography and intensity of the flu season. The health department sends a weekly e-mail to people who sign up, asking them such questions as whether they've had a fever or a sore throat.

"We're looking at ways to fill in the gaps of our existing surveillance system," said Rene Najera, an epidemiologist at the health department. "We're trying to get at people who don't go to the hospital or do not see physicians. When those people do not seek care, they don't get reported to us."

More here:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/technology/bal-te.md.flu21nov21,0,5604173,print.story

Also we have:

For World's Sick, Care Via E-Mail

By Kevin Sullivan

Washington Post Foreign Service

Monday, November 24, 2008; A08

WINGHAM, England -- Geese honked happily outside as Pat Swinfen sat in the study of her 16th-century farmhouse, cozy and warm amid thick Oriental carpets and a glowing wood fire.

Pure English countryside idyll -- except for the critically ill pregnant woman in Iraq desperately in need of a neurologist.

Swinfen, a retired nurse in her early 70s, sat at her computer and tapped out an e-mail, trying to connect doctors in Basra working on the woman, who had suffered a brain hemorrhage, with a renowned neurologist from Northern Ireland trekking in Nepal.

She soon had an e-mail response from the neurologist, who told Swinfen to forward details of the case.

The Swinfens run the Swinfen Charitable Trust, a telemedicine charity that uses e-mail to link sick people in poor, remote or dangerous parts of the world with hundreds of medical specialists in some of the world's finest hospitals.

Doctors in about 140 hospitals and clinics in 39 nations use the organization to seek help for patients requiring specialized care beyond their capabilities. Through the trust, they can be put in e-mail contact -- often within hours -- with one or more of the 400 specialists who work without pay as part of the trust's network.

More here

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/23/AR2008112302629.html

Seems there is a lot of news on how e-mail can make a difference! Good stuff.

Second we have:

Balancing Privacy with Progress
Health care IT continues with the struggle between access and security.

By David St.Clair

One of the primary roadblocks in the advancement of health information technology (IT) is the ongoing debate about the privacy and security of personal health information. Many maintain that the timely exchange of patient information among the various entities in the health care process - which is essentially the backbone of effective health care IT - increases the risk of that very personal data falling into the wrong hands. These claims have gained resonance in recent years with the all-too-frequent reports of cybercrimes and high-profile security breaches involving the medical records of various celebrities.

Privacy and security concerns are by all means legitimate. But are they significant enough to warrant slowing the vast improvements to health care quality, safety and affordability that technology can generate? Indeed, the greatest potential danger to the health care system may not be the misuse of personal health information, but the non use of it.

Right now, valuable clinical data sits idle in various places throughout the health care system when we could be deploying it through electronic health records (EHRs) to improve the system and perhaps even save lives. Delivering a greater breadth and depth of actionable information to the point of care furnishes clinicians with a much more thorough and complete picture of a patient and his or her medical history. The EHR fills in important blanks; it essentially makes known to a physician that which is otherwise unknown. As a result, doctors can make faster and more accurate decisions, which can snowball into a wealth of related benefits: better outcomes, increased operational efficiencies, less waste, lower costs and so on.

Given these almost certain benefits, one must consider whether we're approaching the point in the privacy debate where fear of the misuse of information needs to be overcome in order to prevent the nonuse of information, and whether the somewhat misdirected fear of potential security breaches is really worth stifling health IT progress and all it has to offer - especially at a time when the country is grappling in earnest for solutions to the high cost of quality health care.

Much more here:

http://health-care-it.advanceweb.com/Article/Balancing-Privacy-with-Progress.aspx

This is a very useful view and the full article is worth a read!

Third we have:

Germany’s GEK picks Atos for e-health card

20 Nov 2008

German health insurer, Gmünder ErsatzKasse (GEK), has signed a five-year deal with Atos World line, to implement and operate the new German electronic health card (EHC) on its behalf.

During 2009, GEK plans to issue 30,000 cards per day in order to provide its 1.7million members in Germany with the new e-health card.

Due to be rolled-out nationally in 2009, the electronic health card is one of Germany’s most important public sector IT projects. The card is designed to guarantee the secure exchange of data between insured parties, doctors, pharmacists and health insurance companies and will serve to validate patient’s identity, rather than hold their electronic medical record.

The introduction of the new electronic health card is intended to help connect citizens, pharmacists, doctors, hospitals as well as the private and statutory health insurance companies. Use of the card will help simplify and accelerate information exchanges, reducing and in some cases eliminating current paperwork.

Atos Worldline, a division of Atos Origin, has been selected by GEK to implement and operate the issuing and management of e-health cards. Services include the implementation of the health insurance data, the running of the card application and management system.

Atos will provide its card application management system for the electronic health card ‘Worldline eGK KAMS’.

Atos says its Public Key Infrastructure ensures that patient data is securely stored. The keys for the e-health card Atos Origin will supply are approved as trusted services by Gematik (Gesellschaft für Telematikanwendungen der Gesundheitskarte mbH), the national body overseeing the German e-health card project.

More here:

http://www.ehealtheurope.net/news/4344/germany%E2%80%99s_gek_picks_atos_for_e-health_card

It is important to understand just how the Germans are proceeding on e-Health. Here is a useful article to get started.

Fourth we have:

DOD, Veterans Affairs will use SOA to increase EHR interoperability

By Peter Buxbaum
Published on November 24, 2008

The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments will migrate their respective electronic health record systems to a service-oriented architecture to enhance the interoperability of outpatient clinical data.

Stephen Jones, principal deputy assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs, made the announcement at a Pentagon press conference this morning.

SOA means that the systems will rely on Web services that connect loosely coupled, reusable components.

A study by Booz Allen Hamilton recommended the use of SOA, and officials accepted that recommendation, Jones said.

The decision came on the heels of speculation that DOD might ditch its EHR — AHLTA — in favor of VA’s Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture or another alternative.

“The Booz Allen study looked at three different options: building on the current approach, replacing AHLTA with VistA and replacing both with another commercial off-the-shelf solution,” Jones said.

Booz Allen recommended the first option, which would allow DOD and VA to “move forward with information sharing in a compatible way,” Jones said. He added that he could not provide cost or schedule information because the implementation effort is just beginning.

More here

http://www.govhealthit.com/online/news/350692-1.html

Interesting where these large organisations think SOA fits.

Last for this week we have:

Joint Commission outlines ‘hospital of the future’

Posted: November 20, 2008 - 3:30 pm EDT

The Joint Commission released a white paper urging the healthcare industry to consider specific actions within five core areas of hospital development.

In its paper, Health Care at the Crossroads: Guiding Principles for the Development of the Hospital of the Future, the commission maps out steps hospitals should take in the areas of economic vitality, technology adoption, patient-centered care, staffing and design to better meet the needs of patients. “The importance of hospital-based care will not diminish in the future, but hospitals will have to meet the high expectations of the public and all stakeholders in an increasingly challenging environment,” said Mark Chassin, a physician who is president of the commission, in a written statement. Aramark Healthcare supported the development of the white paper.

Full article here:

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081120/REG/311209972/-1/TODAYSNEWS

This is a useful study – and shows where technology can help future hospital developments.

David.

Canada Moves of Certification of Health IT – NEHTA Seems to Lag.

The following release appeared a few days ago.

Infoway to offer new certification service to developers of consumer health solutions

November 12, 2008 (Toronto, ON) - Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) today unveiled plans for a new certification service to help emerging consumer health solutions complement and leverage Canada's investments in e-health solutions.

"As Canada's health informatics industry evolves, it is essential that emerging solutions leverage the investments and progress made in every province and territory that are implementing electronic health records," said Richard Alvarez, president and CEO, Canada Health Infoway. "The launch of our new certification service will help the vendor community to develop new products accordingly, and provide buyers and users of those systems with some assurances the solutions are of high quality."

The new service will provide developers with greater market access, improve the quality of products they develop and enhance testing efficiencies.

Organizations investing in certified solutions can expect a higher degree of confidence that the products they purchase are reliable, interoperable, private and secure.

"We are pleased Infoway is moving forward with certification of health information technology solutions," said Elaine McKnight, Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Sector IM/IT Division, B.C. Ministry of Health. "Having an offering of certified solutions to choose from will help speed implementation and adoption of private, secure and interoperable EHR technologies."

Infoway will formally launch the certification service in early 2009, at which point it will accept applications for certification from developers of consumer health platforms.

"Canadians want electronic access to their personal health information, which is an important part of managing chronic illness and preventing its onset," added Alvarez. "As health IT vendors develop solutions to address this demand, it is essential that they are reliable, safeguard patient privacy and can interoperate with the core elements of the electronic health record infostructure that provinces and territories are implementing in collaboration with Infoway throughout Canada."

Canada Health Infoway is an independent, not-for-profit organization funded by the federal government. Infoway jointly invests with every province and territory to accelerate the development and adoption of electronic health record projects in Canada. Fully respecting patient confidentiality, these secure systems will provide clinicians and patients with the information they need to better support safe care decisions and manage their own health. Accessing this vital information quickly will help foster a more modern and sustainable health care system for all Canadians.

The complete release is found here:

http://www.infoway-inforoute.ca/en/News-Events/InTheNews_long.aspx?UID=346

This is an important initiative as it encourages interoperation between the various sectors and actors within the Canadian Health System. Canada has, of course, a published set of standards, architectures and selected products for their EHR initiatives and this additional work will nicely complement work undertaken to date.

In Australia NEHTA has been talking about both enterprise architecture and certification for a couple of years – but to date not much seems to have actually been progressed to implementation. An example of suggestions of the need for the work is here:

NEHTA maps out strategy

Karen Dearne | October 30, 2007

THE National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) will usher in a "more transparent and consultative approach" over the coming year, the organisation's chair Uschi Schreiber said.

Ms Schreiber said the current review of NEHTA's progress will assist the board in "framing more precisely the future evolution of e-health in Australia".

....

"Steps towards a national SEHR include improving the ability for healthcare providers to electronically send discharge summaries and referrals, prescriptions, pathology requests and reports," NEHTA said in its report.

"Work in these areas now form the focus of our 2007-08 program, which will also see the presentation of the business case for the SEHR to the Council of Australian Governments in early 2008.

"During the next 12 months we will progress NEHTA's approach to certification, conformance and accreditation - an important element in ensuring NEHTA's specifications and recommendations are adopted."

While there had been some employee turnover in the past year, the organisation's growing work program had seen a concerted focus on recruiting IT specialists and health professionals.

Full article here

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22672420-15306,00.html

A quick look at this article, from just over a year ago, shows just how glacial things have actually been with both the SEHR (now IEHR for some as yet unexplained reason) and other goals (messaging etc) running very late indeed.

Certification of both messaging interoperability and software quality and interoperability really matter – we should not still be waiting.

David.

NEHTA Breaks Its Silence on the IEHR.

The following dropped into view late yesterday in the form of a forwarded e-mail, under the NEHTA CEO’s authorship, from a kind source who will not be disclosed. As I understand it what is said is as follows.

In summary:

1. NEHTA is very happy about the three years funding ongoing funding.

2. Decisions about the fate of the IEHR and its timetable for development / implementation are up to Government for the future.

Reading between the lines of what I have seen does not seem too hard here. Essentially NEHTA is to continue doing what it was meant to do while all the forward plans are under review into the future.

Certainly it seems the IEHR has slipped down the list until other issues have been addressed as I have been suggesting for a good while now!

An amazingly sensible outcome in my view.

We await further developments with Health Infrastructure Fund and the like!

Interestingly there is still no comment on the NEHTA web site about the COAG funding as I type this.

David.

NSW Health Sets New Benchmarks for Chaos and Risk.

I have to say the 1100 page Enquiry into Acute Care at NSW Health makes riveting reading.

The report can be browsed in exquisite detail having been downloaded from here:

http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/acsinquiry

While not able to read the whole document as yet I have browsed the sections on IT and Communications from the main report.

There are a good forty pages of reading to be had here –as well as some coverage elsewhere and 250+ citations:

Section 14 -Clinical records & information technology

Importance of clinical records

Patient’s medical history

Observations of the patient

Record of treatment

Requirements for clinical notes

Failings of current clinical notes

Clinical notes presently in use

Lack of searchability

Illegible handwriting

Missing time, date and author details

Inability to check entries

Inability to prompt action

Confusing alterations

Incomplete notes

Limited ability to share records with other health professionals

Lost records

Storage and retrieval burden

Inability to collect data

A defective system

Interstate and overseas experience in health information technology

Training of health professionals

Doctors

Nurses

Allied health

Further training required

Information technology currently in NSW hospitals

Existing examples of electronic medical record in NSW

New electronic medical record being introduced by NSW Health

A variety of systems

Lack of support staff

Onerous password procedures

Inadequate hardware

No off-site access

No access by other health providers

Limited rural access

Clinician’s views

The way forward

Electronic medical record

Electronic prescription systems

Funding of health information technology

Secure Broadband Network

Implementation of electronic medical record

Experience in implementing FirstNet

Lessons to be learned

Privacy concerns

Electronic Health Record

What is concluded is summarised in the Executive Summary and in the following press reports.

NSW Health IT in disarray

Karen Dearne | November 27, 2008

SPECIAL commissioner Peter Garling has prescribed a massive dose of IT to fix NSW's troubled public hospitals, and recommended a watchdog oversee e-health.

He has demanded the provision of critical infrastructure, hospital and community information systems and a statewide e-health record system within four years - not the present eight to 15 year timeframe for completion.

Mr Garling, who has spent 10 months inquiring into the state's acute care services, said he has "accepted the overwhelming evidence" new models of clinical care "can only be achieved if NSW Health adopts a whole new approach to IT".

He has proposed a future IT program including essential upgrades and new systems that will cost more than $705 million, on top of the $315.5 million currently committed to projects scheduled until July 2011.

"The risks to safety and quality of patient care occasioned by delays in the introduction of an up-to-date IT system throughout NSW Health cannot be over-emphasised," Mr Garling said. "It is not until the implementation of key projects that NSW will actually have an electronic medical record for all patients that is integrated across the system.

"In my view, insufficient funds are allocated to IT to get it up to the standard needed in an acceptable timeframe."

To achieve his goals, Mr Garling has called for an independent Bureau of Health Information -- separate from NSW Health -- to be established to access, interpret and report on all data relating to safety and quality of patient care; this information is then to be regularly re-issued to individual units.

More here

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24716363-15306,00.html

and here:

Sick NSW Health IT prescribed $700m

NSW special commissioner Peter Garling has prescribed an aggressive 4 million investment strategy to cure NSW Health’s sick information technology systems, in a landmark review published late yesterday.

“Whilst much of the work undertaken in NSW public hospitals is “high tech”, its record-keeping system is a relic of the pre-computer age. - Peter Garling S.C.

“What currently exists is a largely paper-based system with significant variation from clinician to clinician, ward to ward and hospital to hospital,” Garling said in his comprehensive three-volume report on NSW’s health system released yesterday.

“Whilst much of the work undertaken in NSW public hospitals is “high tech”, its record-keeping system is a relic of the pre-computer age,” he said. NSW Health’s IT operations are in general led by departmental chief information officer Mike Rillstone, although each area health service also has its own CIO.

The commissioner has recommended a “one-off injection” of 4 million to remedy a system that had been bogged down not just by paper, inconsistent documentation and illegible handwriting, but also substandard hardware, incompatible software and inadequate broadband connectivity.

“In my view, insufficient funds are allocated to information technology to get it up to the standard needed in an acceptable timeframe,” Garling said.

A lot more detail here:

http://www.dileys.com/2008/11/sick-nsw-health-it-prescribed-700m.html

Before making a few comments I must say I was amazed to note that the ever secretive HealtheLink project is due to be fully rolled out in 2016. That has to be sufficiently far off to have everyone involved to very relaxed about meeting the deadline.

What strikes me about this report is how much better it could have been had a real e-Health expert been involved. The document is really terribly context free. A special clinical advisor could also have made a vast difference.

The suggested extra spend of $700 M seems reasonable – but I doubt – with the best will in the world – and even with stunningly great project management – it can all be done in 4 years.

What seems also to be missing is a process reengineering imperative to maximise the value from the IT spend.

This could have been a much more useful enquiry – but it sure lets one be clear where the issues are!

David.

NEHTA’s Amazing Silence on its New Funding.

OK this really has me surprised!

I went to the NEHTA web site today (2^nd December, 2008 – 3.35pm) expecting to read some detailed comments and news on how NEHTA was going to deploy their new funding.

Checked the news release section and the rolling news items. Not a word!

Who else finds this a trifle odd?

I hope we see a press release soon that explains how the (our) money is to be spent!

No press release is very odd for NEHTA in my experience.

David.

On another topic it is worth noting the commentary in Crikey.com.au from John Menadu on Health Reform today.

The article is entitled:

Menadue: COAG’s billions are a wasted opportunity for health

See here to read the article:

http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20081202-Why-COAGs-billions-are-a-wasted-opportunity-for-health.html

This bit really attracted my attention.

The introduction of e-health has been glacial despite the potential benefits in patient satisfaction, reduced costs and fewer mistakes with modern information technology This is not a political or philosophical issue. It is an operational and administrative matter for which government officials must bear the chief responsibility.

D.

Australian E-Health – Where to from Now?

I think it is fair to say it has been a bad weekend.

As reported over the weekend we have had the following statement from the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) on e-Health.

“E-Health

COAG noted the progress of the National E-Health Transition Authority and agreed to the continued funding of $218 million (50:50 cost shared between the Commonwealth and the States) for the period July 2009 - June 2012 to enable it to continue its existing work program.”

The Commonwealth contribution is as follows.

E-health (NEHTA)

2009/10 - $28.7M

2010/11 - $39.2M

2011/12 - $41.0M

Total $108.9M

This is ½ of the total as the rest will come from each of the states.

As pointed out by a correspondent this is really very rapid growth from the 2007/08 financial years sum of $38.715M to approximately $82M in 2011/12.

The real increase in activity could actually be a little more than the figures indicate given all the consultants that can be replaced with more permanent staff now funding is clear for the next 3.5+ years.

If this is to be all the new money for e-Health ($30-40M extra per year over current spend at Commonwealth level and almost certainly flat to negative spend in the States (Mr Garling SC recommendations for NSW Health IT notwithstanding) then progress, if any, will be dreadfully slow!

What this funding of NEHTA for the next few years has done has ensured that its leaders feel vindicated in the way they have behaved – they have essentially been ‘patted on the head’ – and any real stimulus for ‘root and branch’ change has been lost.

There is also a bit of a problem in that without a co-ordinated national direction it is a little murky as to who will be able to get the full value out of the planned NEHTA spend.

More importantly what has been lost is the opportunity to put in place the sort of national strategy and national governance of e-Health. This will lead, almost inevitably, to waste and inefficiency in how the new money is spent. Of course that waste and inefficiency will be dwarfed by what will flow from failing to properly automate the health sector.

It is clear that without judicious, planned – but quite large – investment in Health IT that our health system is drifting towards the un-sustainable. Not getting going now in a serious and co-ordinated way will come back to cost us all dearly in the future. (much like not addressing Climate Change early means you pay a lot more to fix things up later).

With this expensive and large outcomes of this COAG meeting it is virtually certain that Commonwealth Investment in Health is going to exceed 10% of GDP, if not get close to 11%, especially as our economy contracts because of the “Global Financial Crisis”. Health IT can slow this growth – but only if you invest in it!

What has also been lost is an opportunity to commence planned co-ordinated investment in Health IT in a way that is designed to maximise benefit to all the actors within the health system.

Whoever decided not to fund and implement the Deloittes developed National E-Health Strategy for Australia – after so many stakeholders agreed we need such action – is to be utterly condemned.

Ultimately it is the Federal Minister who must take responsibility for this decision and she should be asking very hard questions to assure herself she has not made a major mistake which will cost a great deal to remedy both politically and financially.

Remember not only has the National E-Health Strategy been canned but also has the IEHR, which was the reason NEHTA was said to be mainly developing their infrastructure. Talk about ‘being all dressed up with nowhere to go’!

We now have a situation where there is confusion between the Deloittes Strategy and the NEHTA IEHR proposal. The Deloittes approach is correct – but because the waters have been muddied -neither have gone forward. That is a huge mistake in my view.

The only, and last, hope left is that the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council Meeting (AHMAC), which meets at the end of the week (I am told), unlocks funds from the National Health Infrastructure Fund to get things going properly. I understand this fund is separate from the COAG funding.

As far as the future is concerned, if that last hope does not come off, I see only fragmentation and waste with worsening levels of quality and safety within our system. Sad that.

David.

Blog User Interest in COAG Fiasco.

I thought it would be worth letting readers know the impact on the blog use of the breaking news on the outcomes of the Saturday COAG meeting has been just amazing.

On the weekend typically we have only about a quarter to a third of the weekday visits (about 30-40 per day)

On Saturday there were 101 Visits (187 Page Views) and on Sunday 175 Visits (275 page Views).

These were the biggest Saturday and Sunday figures by at least 150%.

Today we are already at almost 100 Visits before 11am with 200+ Page Views already.

There are also a lot of pretty frustrated comments that are worth a browse.

Seems a nerve has been hit!

Thanks to all.

David.

Useful and Interesting Health IT Links from the Last Week – 30/11/2008

Again, in the last week, I have come across a few reports and news items which are worth passing on.

These include first:

Medicare worker 'used dead people to claim baby bonus for 58 fake kids'

AAP

November 27, 2008 07:39am

A MEDICARE employee has been charged with using the identities of dead people to claim more than $300,000 in false baby bonus and immunisation payments for 58 fictitious children.

Australian Federal Police allege the man used his position as a Medicare Australia employee to access the Centrelink records of dead people to obtain encrypted tax file numbers (TFNs).

An AFP statement said the Perth man allegedly used the TFNs to create 23 false claims for baby bonus and immunisation payments for 58 fictitious children, which were then paid into his bank account.

He allegedly claimed more than $300,000 in false baby bonus payments.

More here:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24714164-29277,00.html

While this person is probably a crook if the reports are true, the larger issue is how the systems (Medicare and Centrelink) could not notice such systematic and expensive abuse for such a long period. We would hope e-Health systems were a bit more proactive in detecting fraud earlier. Additionally these are two major systems with linkages that permitted abuse and these need to be carefully reviewed and secured.

Looks like Medical Identity Fraud is a real issue in OZ - as discussed a week or so ago.

Second we have:

Revealed: how hospitals lied about records

Natasha Wallace and Louise Hall

November 27, 2008

SECRET internal health documents have confirmed two hospitals manipulated emergency data, making the times that more than 100 patients were seen appear "more favourable" to meet benchmarks.

The confidential internal investigations into Ryde and Gosford hospitals' emergency data were obtained by the Herald under freedom-of-information laws yesterday.

Both investigations recommended staff, some of who admitted to entering false data, be disciplined and the reports be sent to ICAC. Both reports said senior management had ignored staff complaints about the issue.

The December 2006 report on Ryde Hospital concluded that in late 2005 staff changed figures and sent false data to the Health Department - in effect, doubling the percentage of patients transferred to a bed within eight hours.

"This investigation identified that during the months of November and December 2005 a significant number of changes were made to the [emergency] data which consequently presented a more favourable access block statistic for Ryde Hospital for these months … this practice started in September 2005 and there is evidence to support that the practice continued up to and throughout February 2006," the report said.

It said "it appears that there was an executive decision made to make changes to [emergency department] data".

Staff told investigators management was under pressure from the area health service to improve the hospital's triage performance and that staff had formally complained of being "coerced" to change the data.

"Initially we probably weren't too happy with it but decided that given our effective manager at the time was being beaten by the area for access block [patients waiting more than eight hours]," one staff member said.

Despite several staff complaints between October 2005 and March 2006, "the practice continued unhindered until it was raised to an area level".

The report said the issue "could be occurring across the state and is one which the Department of Health should give consideration to reviewing".

In November and December 2005, 99 patients had their waiting times reduced to meet benchmarks. The waiting times were reduced by between 23 minutes and four hours and 25 minutes so the hospital could improve its "access block" rate - the percentage of patients waiting more than eight hours for a bed.

The manipulated data meant Ryde Hospital reported figures significantly below previously reported data - access block figures were reported as 19.8 per cent for the October-December 2005 quarter compared with rates as high as 43.9 per cent previously. For December 2005 it was reported as 13 per cent when it should have been 28.3 per cent.

More here:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/revealed-how-hospitals-lied-about-records/2008/11/26/1227491636518.html

This is really a bad story and makes one worry about the reliability of all figures produced by NSW Health. The culture in NSW Health that forces people to behave like this in fabricating data is clearly appalling.

Third we have:

Medical searches on Web can trigger anxiety: study

November 26, 2008 - 3:57AM

Playing doctor on the Web often leads people to mistakenly believe that they are suffering from rare illnesses, according to a study by researchers at Microsoft.

"Web search engines have the potential to escalate medical concerns," or "cyberchondria," Ryen White and Eric Horvitz wrote in the study published by the Redmond, Washington-based software company on Monday.

They described cyberchondria as "unfounded increases in health anxiety based on the review of Web content."

White, an expert in text mining, Web search and navigation, and Horvitz, another Microsoft researcher who is president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, noted that the Internet provides an "abundant source" of medical information.

"However, the Web has the potential to increase the anxieties of people who have little or no medical training, especially when Web search is employed as a diagnostic procedure," they said.

"Common, likely innocuous symptoms can escalate into the review of content on serious, rare conditions that are linked to the common symptoms," they said.

Much more here:

http://news.smh.com.au/technology/medical-searches-on-web-can-trigger-anxiety-study-20081126-6hm1.html

Another new word to add to the vocabulary. I am sure it is just another manifestation of the old saying “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing” and also potentially worrying.

Fourth we have:

Commonwealth Bank fixes computer glitch

November 26, 2008 - 7:10AM

The Commonwealth Bank has fixed up the problem that short-changed around 200,000 people due to a computer glitch.

Process duplication meant that all withdrawals on Tuesday had been done twice, leaving people with less money in their accounts.

But the bank said on Wednesday that the problem had now been fixed and all its customers' accounts were back in order.

More here:

http://news.smh.com.au/national/commonwealth-bank-fixes-computer-glitch-20081126-6hnj.html

This reminds me of the old saying that to ‘err is human but if you really want to mess up use a computer’. This one actually got me and for a while I thought I had more money that I actually had!

Fifth we have:

Internet's bandwidth health still in trouble, report says

Demand for Internet bandwidth will exceed supply by 2012, Nemertes says

Brad Reed (Network World) 24/11/2008 07:08:00

Nemertes Research continued to throw cold water on the future of the Internet this week, releasing a study projecting that demand for bandwidth on the Web would exceed its capacity by 2012.

The study, which is a follow-up to similar research Nemertes conducted last year, projects that the current global economic recession will only delay rather than eliminate the increased demand for bandwidth the firm predicted last year. Then, Nemertes projected that traffic growth would eclipse supply by 2010, but the firm now says it has adjusted its projections to reflect deteriorating global economic conditions.

Nemertes emphasized it is not projecting that the Internet will crash or shut down altogether. Rather, the typical user probably will experience Internet "brownouts," where such high-bandwidth applications as high-definition video-streaming and peer-to-peer file-sharing will stop performing up to users' expectations, the firm says.

During a presentation at an Internet Innovation Alliance symposium last week, Nemertes analyst Mike Jude said that one consequence of declining Web performance would be that users would look less to the Internet to deliver their desired applications. "More and more applications are coming online that will drive expectations for service quality even higher," he said. "I'm not saying that the Internet is going to crash in 2011, but that people's expectations are going to be throttled. People will stop going to the Internet for those services."

More here:

http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/268462/internet_bandwidth_health_still_trouble_report_says?eid=-255

It is a bit of a worry we only have Internet bandwidth globally to support the next couple of years. I hope someone does some investment soon to keep us ahead of the curve.

Last we have the slightly more technical article for the week:

Conroy defends Telstra's NBN bid

Panel to fight hard-nosed commercial negotiators.

Darren Pauli 28/11/2008 13:40:00

The federal government has defended its acceptance of Telstra's "non-compliant" National Broadband (NBN) proposal and said its expert panel will thrash out the details with the telco.

Telstra outraged many within the telecommunications industry this week after submitting a watery 12 page bid to address the government's strict 18-point criteria for the design and operation of Australia's largest telecommunications network.

Telstra would deploy fibre to the node to 90 percent of Australia, 8 percent short of the government's coverage requirements which it had staunchly enforced.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the compliance of Telstra's bid will be assessed during the initial expert panel negotiations over the next eight weeks.

“Telstra have indicated that they believe that it's a proposal that can be considered... and the expert panel will now test it against the 18 objectives,” Conroy said.

“[Telstra is] absolutely not [calling the shots], let's be clear. Telstra have been demanding concessions, as have others... we're not going to be pushed around on this, we're not going to deviate from what we've set down,” he said.

“Is it any surprise that any of the bidders might say, give us more government money, and we might be able to reach your objectives? These are hard-nosed, commercial negotiators, and this will be a tough, hard-nosed negotiation between the expert panel, and there's some very tough, hard-nosed commercial people on the expert panel.”

The government received six NBN bids, including national proposals from Telstra, Terria-Optus, Acacia and Axia NetMedia, and state bids from TransACT, and the Tasmanian government. Canadian-based company Axia NetMedia has an equal stake in Singapore's national fibre network which is owned by Optus parent company SingTel.

The members on the expert panel are John Wylie, Lazard Carnegie Wylie CEO; Tony Mitchell, Allphones Chairman; Laureate Professor Rod Tucker, University of Melbourne; Professor Emeritus of Communications, Reg Coutts, University of Adelaide; Tony Shaw, former Australian Communications Authority Chairman and Dr Ken Henry, Treasury Secretary.

More here:

http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/269125/conroy_defends_telstra_nbn_bid?fp=&fpid=&pf=1

What can one say about the mess Minister Conroy has created here. The way you procure goods or services, as a Government, is to decide exactly what it is you want to buy, specify it, and then go to the market to procure what it is you want. None of this has been done properly and the broadband e-Health needs is now even further off. Hopeless!

More next week.

David.