Useful and Interesting Health IT News from the Last Week – 19/07/2009.

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

First we have:

Privacy fight shaping for eHealth

by James Riley

Monday, 13 July 2009

The battle lines are being drawn for the biggest privacy fight since Joe Hockey’s 2005 smartcard proposal, this time focused on Rudd Government plans for a unique citizen identifier number in the health sector.

There is nothing like a unique identifier number to heat the blood of privacy advocates everywhere: Bob Hawke found out with his Australia Card proposal; Joe Hockey got a taste through the ultimately doomed ‘Not Australia Card’ smartcard; and Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon may be about to learn just how loud the privacy lobby can get.

Roxon and her State counterparts announced plans for national consultations on the legislative framework for the “national healthcare identifier numbers” that will underpin Australia’s e-Health system.

Health is widely acknowledged as the biggest ICT hairball in Government – at any level. The potential savings that could be delivered through an electronic health system encompassing governments, healthcare providers, patients and healthcare centres are enormous.

More here:

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/26246/53/

I think we can be assured this will bubble on while ever the Government does not explain a great deal more about just what is planned, what is the business case supporting the proposal, what other options may exist and what the Privacy Impact assessments said regarding the proposal.

This was followed up here:

Poor eHealth records can cost lives too

by James Riley

Tuesday, 14 July 2009

Australian Government claims that an Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI) would reduce avoidable deaths in the healthcare system has been dismissed by privacy advocates, who say poor records management was also a problem in eHealth.

In fact, the Australian Privacy Foundation says there is evidence that poorly implemented eHealth systems can actually increase mortality rates caused by patient mismatching. Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon yesterday indicated an IHI could reduce such deaths.

APF Health committee chair Juanita Fernando urged authorities to address the governance and management issues related to eHealth before considering the introduction of unique ID numbers.

“We have nothing against saving lives, but it (eHealth) can cost lives too,” Ms Fernando said. “Poorly implemented eHealth systems can cost lives, and that really needs to be recognised.”

“It is quite clear that there are benefits that eHealth can deliver. But there are definite costs too, and they need to be considered openly and questioned.”

More here:

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/26274/53/

Note also this:

Student ID number under fire over privacy fears

Farrah Tomazin

July 14, 2009

THE movements of every Victorian student through the education system will be tracked by the State Government as part of a multimillion-dollar project that has sparked privacy concerns among parents, teachers and opposition parties.

From this week, thousands of students under the age of 25 will be given a unique student identification number, allowing the state Education Department to monitor them as they progress through primary school, secondary school, or vocational education and training.

Every student's number will be recorded within a central register, providing details such as the child's name, date of birth, sex, enrolment history, and movements between schools.

Education Minister Bronwyn Pike said the project — which is costing taxpayers more than $5 million — would help identify students at risk of dropping out, while ensuring the Government had accurate information on student movement and retention rates. But some fear the plan could result in serious privacy breaches if strict controls are not put in place.

"The question is, who gets access to the information and on what basis?" asked Australian Education Union branch president Mary Bluett.

More here:

http://www.theage.com.au/national/student-id-number-under-fire-over-privacy-fears-20090713-dit9.html

The urge to number people by bureaucrats is certainly pretty strong!

Second we have:

Digital forecast bright

Andrew Colley | July 14, 2009

INFORMATION and communication technology industry groups have welcomed the release today of the federal government's directions paper on the digital economy, but some say it is light on policy leadership.

The result of 12 months of collaboration with the industry, the paper, titled "Australia's Digital Economy: Future Direction", provides a snapshot of what the Labor government thinks a successful digital economy will look like and sets out the roles government and industry should play.

But industry groups say a major element is missing in its 104 pages.

Australian Information Industry Association chief executive Ian Birks said the paper did more to raise challenges facing the digital economy than identify means to address them. He said it lacked detail on measures of the new economy's success and specifics on what government expected from the ICT sector.

"The paper's not heavy with policies or initiatives -- that's clear. It's more of a discussion, but it does do quite a good job setting the scene and it does identify the issues that will need attention," he said.

More here:

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25777410-5013040,00.html

An interesting report, however the health sector gets only a very brief mention. The only areas discussed seem to be the Bionic Eye and Remote ICU Care.

Third we have:

State support services revamp

Karen Dearne | July 14, 2009

I a reshuffle at NSW Health, former chief information officer Mike Rillstone has been appointed acting chief executive of the Health Support Services arm for an initial six-month period.

The HSS was established last year as the delivery arm for NSW Health's share services program.

Former HSS chief executive John Roach has been appointed chief financial officer, NSW Health.

Meanwhile, former deputy chief information officer Craig Smith is acting CIO of the Strategic Information Management branch. Mr Rillstone would have a "very close working relationship" with Mr Smith and the SIM unit, a NSW Health spokeswoman said.

Late last year, special commissioner Peter Garling ordered a massive and urgent upgrade for the state's public hospital IT infrastructure, and the provision of electronic medical records for all patients.

More here:

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25776695-15319,00.html

This could be a good move as it gets out of the NSW Health Department the luddite, who all on his own, slowed e-Health in NSW down a very good deal. No names, no packdrill but insiders will know who I mean.

Fourth we have:

Guild offers panacea to drug abuse

Simone Roberts

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has revealed details of its solution to prescription medication abuse.

Guild president Kos Sclavos told Pharmacy News that the issue could be "addressed overnight" if the Government agreed to implement the Guild's new program called ControlledDrugRx.

The program, based on technology developed for Project STOP, would provide real-time decision support for a pharmacist before dispensing opiates and other addictive pain relievers, as well as optional real-time checks for doctors before prescribing S8 drugs.

Health officials would also be able to access the data, allowing them to monitor health professionals and the patient's S8 records.

"Pharmacists would dispense as they do today and there would be mandatory reporting via this real-time monitoring system. This would make available to pharmacists immediate decision support whether to proceed with the dispensing. Pop up messages to pharmacists would signal if clinically appropriate," Mr Sclavos said.

Full article here:

http://www.pharmacynews.com.au/articles/Guild-offers-panacea-to-drug-abuse_z490326.htm

This should be seen as part of an ongoing push on the part of the Pharmacy Guild to get more funding in the new remuneration agreement with Community Pharmacy. The e-Health aspects the Guild’s initiatives are not consistent with the National E-Health Strategy, and Government support of them should be seen as a sign of desperation to get something happening..messy and un-strategic though their plans may be.

I wonder when we are going to see the NHHRC final report?

Fifth we have:

Tassie goes to market for more e-health

Suzanne Tindal, ZDNet.com.au

14 July 2009 05:00 PM

Tags: tasmania, government, e-health, hospital, clinical, hobart, state, tender

Tasmania has gone to market for further e-health services in a continuation of its push to upgrade the health technology capabilities in its hospitals.

The newest request for tender looks for a clinical care system that will first be rolled out at the neo-natal and paediatric intensive care unit of the Royal Hobart Hospital, which has 14 beds and would have 70 users. Its estimated cost for acquisition and implementation is $500,000.

Yet this small implementation could be the start of a larger roll-out. "The department's long-term vision is for a single, state-wide system for critical care medicine that may be deployed to any relevant site within the Department of Health and Human Services," the tender documents said. The time scale for this to happen was five to 10 years.

The system will replace current manual systems with electronic recording of clinical information through direct entry, data collection from different hospital devices and analysis of health information. The system has to interface with other existing and future health systems in the state.

Lots more here:

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Tassie-goes-to-market-for-more-e-health/0,130061733,339297398,00.htm

It is good to see some apparent steady progress.

Sixth we have:

MEDIA RELEASE

14 JULY 2009

Caring and Sharing – The quest to develop a strategy for the sharing of electronic patient records

Media release from Health Informatics New Zealand (HINZ)

The quest to develop a strategy for the sharing of electronic patient records Fisher & Paykel Clinical Education Centre, Auckland City Hospital 8.45 am Friday 24th July 2009

For the past year, Health Informatics New Zealand (HINZ) has been endeavouring to stimulate debate re the development of a national electronic health records strategy.

Development of a viable information sharing strategy is becoming more and more important to the New Zealand health sector. On one hand the pressure on the system to develop safe, reliable and easy to use mechanisms for sharing patient information is mounting.

On the other hand we are becoming more and more aware of the complexities and challenges of doing so.

More here:

http://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/news?article=432e7027-aa23-489b-b65e-bb8d7d3a5a05

It will be very interesting to see what outcomes emerge from this meeting.

Seventh we have:

Simple hearing test a 'lifesaver'

Fran Foo | July 14, 2009

WHEN Michelle Downey decided to take a simple hearing test, little did she know it would save her from complete hearing loss.

Michelle Downey, 45, discovered she had a hearing problem after taking a free hearing test at a mobile kiosk

While at her local shopping centre, the Brisbane mother of four chanced upon a mobile kiosk offering free hearing tests.

The test involved donning a headset and responding to a range of sounds and instructions.

"When you hear a buzz or a beep, you just touch the screen. It was very simple and straightforward and took less than 10 minutes," Ms Downey said.

More here:

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25776699-5013040,00.html?referrer=email&source=AIT_email_nl

This seems like a useful and sensible innovation which can certainly help people understand if they need further investigation and help.

Eighth we have:

Vic hospital radio tag plan under fire

July 13, 2009 - 8:14AM

Medical staff at the new Royal Children's Hospital are to wear radio tags to allow their movements to be tracked under a secret Victorian government plan.

But the plan has raised the ire of unions, who fear a new precedent for surveillance of employees across the workforce, and by RCH doctors, who have refused to wear the tags when the new hospital opens in 2011, The Age newspaper reports.

Documents it obtained show the control group for the $1 billion hospital reconstruction discussed in January last year a "comprehensive patient and staff radio frequency identification tracking system".

Much more here:

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/vic-hospital-radio-tag-plan-under-fire-20090713-dhqf.html

I think there would need to be a clear understanding of just what the valid reason for doing something like this was before it is likely to gain much acceptance. Hospitals seem to have kept track of their staff pretty well to date without things like this.

It seems the staff agree. See here:

http://www.theage.com.au/national/big-brother-hospital-plan-angers-doctors-20090712-dhdy.html

'Big Brother' hospital plan angers doctors

Nick Miller

July 13, 2009

Ninth we have:

Tasmania kicks off NBN plans

Mitchell Bingemann | July 16, 2009

THE Rudd government's ambitious $43 billion national broadband network has taken its first baby-steps towards construction after the federal and Tasmanian governments released competitive tenders for the build in the island state.

Cutting the ribbon at the opening of the Basslink fibre optic cable in Tasmania, federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and Premier of Tasmania David Bartlett said a memorandum of understanding had been signed between the respective governments and the state government-owned power utility, Aurora Energy to construct and operate the new fibre-to-the-home network.

A new company, tentatively titled TNBN Co, will be established to undertake the project, with the first sod of soil expected to be turned shortly, the government said. TNBN Co will be a subsidiary of NBN Co jointly owned by Aurora Energy which today issued an open competitive tender for the fibre optic cable needed to build the network.

More here:

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25791048-15306,00.html

We also have this:

NBN won't cost more than $43bn: Conroy

Correspondents in Canberra | July 15, 2009

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Stephen Conroy has dismissed suggestions the government's planned national broadband network will cost more than its budget of $43 billion.

"I've not met anybody around Australia who has said look ... that's going to blow out in costs," Senator Conroy told ABC television when questioned about the prospect of a budget overrun.

More here:

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25785154-15306,00.html

And we also have this today:

Telstra help would boost broadband network, Conroy says

• Video: Stephen Conroy discusses the NBN (Inside Business)

The Federal Government has acknowledged it needs Telstra's help to efficiently deliver its planned new National Broadband Network (NBN).

More here

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/19/2629964.htm?section=justin

One has the feeling the overall NBN program is evolving to become something a bit different to what was initially announced.

Lastly the slightly more technical article for the week:

Hints of How Google's OS Will Work

Google isn't saying how its new operating system will function, but the clues lie in its browser.

By Erica Naone

Soon after Google announced plans for its own operating system (OS), called Google Chrome OS, on Tuesday night, the Web giant clammed up about technical details, saying that the project is still at too early a stage. The first netbook devices running Chrome OS won't be released until the second half of 2010, so most users will have to wait until then to find out precisely how the software will work. But that doesn't mean there aren't hints out there already, and the biggest clues can be found in Google's Chrome browser, which the company says will be a key part of the new OS.

According to a post written by Sundar Pichai, a vice president of product management at Google, and Linus Upson, the company's engineering director, the open-source Chrome OS will consist of a Linux kernel with the Google Chrome browser running on top inside an entirely new desktop environment.

The Chrome browser was released nine months ago and is Google's effort to reinvent the browser completely: it's designed from scratch with Web applications in mind and is meant to be the only application that a Web-savvy user needs on her computer.

In an interview in March, Darin Fisher, an engineer on the Google Chrome team, said that in early sessions, the engineers decided to "take a page out of the operating system book" when they built the browser. Notably, the Chrome team decided to treat the browser as a launchpad from which the user can start different Web applications. Each application operates independently so that if one crashes, it doesn't affect the others. OSes, Fisher said, had to take the same approach to allow a single application to crash without requiring a user to reboot the whole system. This change in browser design helps give Web applications the stability that desktop applications enjoy.

Much more here:

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/22987/?nlid=2170

An interesting article explaining, possibly, just where Google is going!

More next week.

David.

Report Watch – Week of 13, July, 2009

on a few interesting reports that are worth a download or browse. This week we have a few.

First we have:

Survey Shows CPOE Lay of the Land

HDM Breaking News, July 2, 2009

A new survey of health care CIOs shows adoption, "at some level," of computerized physician order entry systems is becoming widespread. But full implementation remains years away.

.....

--Joseph Goedert

Full article here :

http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/CPOE-38597-1.html

For full survey results, click here.

Second we have:

UnitedHealth Says Existing Technology Can Trim Health Costs

By Bill Kenealy

July 2, 2009

Minneapolis-based UnitedHealth Group says better use of technology can take a bite out of nation's health care tab.

The report, issued by the company's Center for Health Reform and Modernization, says savings of $332 billion in national health expenditure could be realized over the next decade by streamlining administrative processes. The paper contends savings can accrue across entire health care system by modernizing the administrative and transactional aspects of health care. For example, over the next decade the report predicts broader use of automated swipe cards could save $18 billion, creation of a national payment accuracy clearinghouse could save $41 billion, and elimination of paper checks and paper remittance advice could save $109 billion.

More here:

http://www.insurancenetworking.com/news/-12604-1.html

This is, of course, the mother lode for US healthcare where administrative costs consume roughly 30% of total healthcare costs. In Australia a comparable figure is 3-4% I believe.

The press release with link to the full report is here:

http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/newsroom/news.aspx?id=b2bf4b20-61ef-4064-aae5-1e6c0f5b2759

Third we have:

The robot will see you now

Mobile machines, remote hookups help Lahey Clinic cope with shortage of specialists

By Kathleen Burge, Globe Staff | July 3, 2009

BEVERLY - The robot glides past the beeping heart monitor, past a row of patients supine on their electric beds, past the beehive of the nurses’ station. The sleek, metallic body, dusky blue, stops outside Room 9 and slowly rolls through the doorway.

Watch Video Here:

http://www.boston.com/video/viral_page/?/services/player/bcpid14094180001&bctid=28340035001

“Mrs. Morash, Dr. Liesching’s here,’’ says nurse Dawn Deschenes, announcing the arrival of the robot to a gray-haired woman breathing behind an oxygen mask. The face of Timothy Liesching, a pulmonary critical care doctor, gazes at his patient from a computer screen on top of the robot.

“I’m just going to look in your monitor now,’’ says Liesching, his voice flowing from a speaker on the robot even though he is sitting in his office at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, 22 miles - and one large traffic snarl - away. The computer swivels away from her face. “Your oxygen looks good, your respiratory rate looks pretty good.’’

More here:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/03/mobile_machines_remote_hookups_help__lahey_clinic_cope_with_shortage_of_specialists/

The fun here is to watch the robot – really amazing stuff.

Fourth we have:

HIMSS white paper: "usability" critical to adoption of EMRs

July 02, 2009 | Kyle Hardy, Community Editor

CHICAGO – The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society's EHR Usability Task Force has released a white paper focusing on the level of usability in electronic medical records and their implementation at healthcare organizations.

"Defining and Testing EMR Usability: Principles and Proposed Methods of EMR Usability Evaluation and Rating" identifies usability of software in an EMR as “one of the major factors and possibly the most important factor hindering widespread adoption of EMRs.”

“Through our research, we found that usability as a requirement in the certification process could benefit product development for more usable EMR products and give users or decision-makers more confidence in selecting clinical EMR systems,” said Jeffery L. Belden, MD, associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Missouri Health Care's School of Medicine and chairman of the HIMSS EHR Usability Task Force.

Article continues here:

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/himss-white-paper-usability-critical-adoption-emrs

The report is here:

http://www.himss.org/content/files/HIMSS_DefiningandTestingEMRUsability.pdf

This is really utterly invaluable stuff!

Fifth we have:

The medical home – A foundation for transformation

Replacing poorly coordinated, acute-focused, episodic care with coordinated, proactive, preventive, acute, chronic, long-term and end-of-life care is foundational to the transformation of the U.S. healthcare system. Many believe this can be best accomplished by strengthening primary care and having primary care provider-led (PCP) care delivery teams working at the "top of their licenses" — at the level for which they are qualified and licensed.

One approach to transforming primary care is the patient-centered medical home (PCMH), or the "medical home" — an enhanced primary-care model that provides comprehensive and timely care with appropriate reimbursement, emphasizing the central role of teamwork and engagement by those receiving care.

The PCMH is a model that can be implemented immediately to help address increasing healthcare costs, poor or inconsistent quality and inaccessibility to timely care.

• Register to download complete IBM Institute for Business Value study
• Download the executive summary (129KB)

The article is found here:

http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/bus/html/gbs-medical-home.html?open&cm_mmc=5555-_-n-_-vrm_newsletter-_-10165_120052&cmibm_em=dm:0:8862580

I am sure IBM is keen word gets out on this report.

Sixth we have:

World Hospital Information Systems Market

This report analyzes the worldwide markets for Hospital Information Systems in US$ Millions. The specific product segments analyzed are Clinical Information Systems (CIS), and Non-Clinical Information Systems (NCIS). The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the US, Japan, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of World. Annual forecasts are provided for each region for the period of 2006 through 2015. A six-year historic analysis is also provided for these markets. The report profiles 303 companies including many key and niche players worldwide such as Agfa-Gevaert bv, Akhil Systems Pvt. Ltd., Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions Inc., AxSys Technology Ltd., Brunie-Software GmbH, Cerner Corporation, Computer Programs and Systems, Inc., Eclipsys Corporation, GE Healthcare, Healthland, IBA Health Ltd., iSOFT Group PLC, Integrated Medical Systems Pty Ltd., Keane’s Healthcare Solutions, McKesson Corporation, Medical Information Technology, Inc., MEDISTAR Praxiscomputer GmbH, Philips Nederland bv Medical Systems, QuadraMed Corporation, Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc., Softlink International Pvt. Ltd., Sysmex Corporation, and Sysmex (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. Market data and analytics are derived from primary and secondary research. Company profiles are mostly extracted from URL research and reported select online sources.

Much more here:

http://www.reportlinker.com/p0109892/World-Hospital-Information-Systems-Market.html?utm_source=MRKW&utm_medium=PR&utm_campaign=MRKW

Looks pretty comprehensive if you have $US3950 to spend!

Seventh we have:

EU-policy Initiative on Telemedicine: Why and how?

Thursday, 09 July 2009

The Commission issued on 30th June 2009 an explanatory document that includes details of the extensive consultation process which led to the 'Communication on telemedicine for the benefit of patients, healthcare systems and society' adopted on 4th November 2008. The telemedicine communication proposed a set of actions aimed at enabling wider deployment of telemedicine services, focusing on three main priorities:

• building confidence and acceptance of telemedicine services,
• bringing legal clarity, and
• facilitating market development.

The newly issued (30th June 2009) document (Commission staff working paper) expands on certain aspects of the communication, such as the outcome of the extensive consultation phase that was undertaken in preparation of the initiative, the policy context and the relevant legal aspects. It also illustrates with concrete examples how wider deployment of telemedicine can affect individual patients, healthcare systems and society.

More here:

http://www.ehealthnews.eu/content/view/1660/27/

Lots of stuff on these links.

Reference documents:

• Telemedicine Communication
• Telemedicine sub-site
• Connecting eHealth services
• Lead Market initiative - eHealth
• European Economic and Social Committee
• Staff working paper - Telemedicine for the benefit of patients, healthcare systems and society (.pdf, 293 Kb)

Last for the week

Comparative-effectiveness reports set high bar

By Shawn Rhea / HITS staff writer

Posted: July 8, 2009 - 10:30 am EDT

Two sweeping advisory committee reports providing guidance for creating a national comparative-effectiveness research program set an ambitious agenda and could mark the turning point for the delivery of patient care in the U.S., said healthcare industry experts familiar with the reports.

Those same experts acknowledged, however, that the recommendations may have done little to quell concerns about the ultimate use of comparative-effectiveness research or answer questions about when providers and patients would be able to access such information to guide treatment decisions.

Watch the related video of Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, discussing her role on the 15-person Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research.

Released last week by the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research and the Institute of Medicine, the two reports offer direction for how HHS should spend the $400 million it received in February for the creation of a program comparing the outcomes of various disease-treatment and care-delivery programs. The money was part of a two-year, $1.1 billion comparative-effectiveness funding package allocated under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality were given the balance of the money, receiving $400 million and $300 million, respectively.

Lots more here (registration required)

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20090708/REG/307089995

The first report is here:

http://www.hhs.gov/recovery/programs/cer/cerannualrpt.pdf

and the second is here:

http://www.iom.edu/CMS/3809/63608/71025.aspx

This is all a big deal and will help sort out just what treatments actually work and make a measurable difference in a vast number of patients. Just like the UK has NICE we need the same here!

And finally – for reference:

http://www.oecd.org/document/30/0,3343,en_2649_34631_12968734_1_1_1_37407,00.html

OECD Health Data 2009: Statistics and Indicators for 30 Countries

Follow links for lots of data

Enough for one week!

Enjoy!

David.

International News Extras For the Week (13/07/2009).

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

First we have:

Paperless health care? A hospital's long journey

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard, Ap Medical Writer Mon Jul 6, 3:29 pm ET

PITTSBURGH – Baby Riley Matthews wheezed noisily on the exam table. "He's belly-breathing," the emergency-room doctor said worriedly — Riley's little abdomen was markedly rising and falling with each breath, a sign of respiratory distress.

In most emergency rooms, the doctor would grill Mom: Has he ever been X-rayed? Do you remember what it showed? But in the new all-digital Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, doctors just clicked on a COW — a "computer on wheels" that rolls to each patient's side. Up popped every test and X-ray the 6-month-old has ever had.

This is the eerily paperless hospital of the future, what the "electronic medical record" that President Barack Obama insists will transform what health care looks like.

No chart full of doctors' scribbles hanging on the bed. No hauling around envelopes full of X-rays. No discharge with a prescription slip. Even the classic ER patient list has changed from the white-board of TV-drama fame to a giant computer screen.

By the best count, only 1.5 percent of the nation's roughly 6,000 hospitals use a comprehensive electronic record.

Even that statistic belies how hard it will be for health care to jettison its 19th-century filing system by 2014, the federal government's goal — despite the $19 billion that the economic stimulus package is providing to help doctors start. It took Children's seven hard years and more than $10 million to evolve a system that lets its doctors check on patients with a few mouse clicks from anywhere and use speedily up-to-date records in directing their care.

"Sometimes before I even see the ER patient, the X-ray is in here and finished and read," said Dr. Jonathan Bickel, the ER attending physician who whipped out his laptop to check on Riley's overnight stay. Not too long ago, "I had to take mom's word for it."

Look, he pointed: An outpatient lung specialist tested Riley for cystic fibrosis just before his mother brought the 6-month-old to the emergency room. The specialist's detailed exam notes hit the ER computer in hours, not the days it takes to transcribe into a paper chart. Cystic fibrosis didn't cause his wheezing; quick, test for something else.

Still, Children's evolution isn't finished.

Pages more here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090706/ap_on_he_me/us_med_healthbeat_paperless_hospital

This is a good short review of the reasons why we need this stuff and how hard it can be.

Second we have:

Important steps forward at health ministers’ meeting

“We can free up millions of hospital beds and avoid millions of incorrect prescriptions. There is an enormous potential in eHealth”, said Minister for Health and Social Affairs Göran Hägglund at a press conference on the second day of the informal ministerial meeting in Jönköping on 7 July. Also taking part in the press conference were Minister for Elderly Care and Public Health Maria Larsson and Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou, responsible for health issues at the European Commission.

Minister for Health and Social Affairs Göran Hägglund, Minister for Elderly Care and Public Health Maria Larsson, and Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou took part in the press conference

What is known as ‘eHealth’ involves investment in modern IT systems in order to improve both patient safety and quality of care, as well as accessibility and efficiency within healthcare.

Besides eHealth, other issues on the agenda for the two days were antibiotic resistance, preparedness for pandemic influenza, patients’ rights when seeking healthcare in other EU countries, and prevention of alcohol related harm.

More here:

http://www.se2009.eu/en/meetings_news/2009/7/7/important_steps_forward_at_health_ministers_meeting

Seems like e-Health is top of the Health Agenda for the Swedish Presidency of the European Union – and a good thing too!

Third we have:

Patient records should be given to Microsoft or Google, say Tories

NHS patient records would be outsourced to Microsoft or Google under Tory plans, instead of being held on a central government database.

By Chris Irvine
Published: 7:00AM BST 06 Jul 2009

The Conservatives, who have close links with Google, argue that developing a database would be unnecessarily expensive, and it would be more beneficial to hold the information on secure systems which already exist, such as Microsoft Healthvault or Google Health. Patients would be given the choice of storing their records with private companies, although it is not yet clear what would happen to the notes of patients who do not consent.

The Tories estimate that if data were outsourced to sites such as these, the country would save half of the £1.65 billion it spends on IT annually.

Under the plans, which emerged yesterday, medical staff with appriopriate access would log on when necessary, although it does raise issues over security.

David Cameron, leader of the Conservatives, has previously singled out the "Electronic Patient Records system" as an example of the government's wasteful spending.

Winning a contract for medical records would guarantee revenue for Google or Microsoft for years, while it would also help increase the use of their technology in healthcare.

Reporting continues here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/google/5753071/Patient-records-should-be-given-to-Microsoft-or-Google-say-Tories.html

I will leave others to comment on the value of this proposal.

Fourth we have:

Saving the healthcare industry: EMRs are the 'beginning, not the end'

July 01, 2009 | Chip Means, Web Editor

CAMBRIDGE, MA – Economically healthy industries empower workers to make decisions, compensate based on productivity and use a lot of information technology. The healthcare industry doesn't do any of this – yet.

Stimulus funds for IT could save the day and the economy, according to Harvard economics professor and Obama campaign advisor David Cutler, who spoke at the Tuesday afternoon session of the HIT Symposium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

Every industry except healthcare has figured out how to become more efficient by replacing administrative work with information technology, he said. Nurses spend a third of their time documenting – a procedure Cutler said often involves printing digitized information and re-entering it into another IT system.

With the right IT systems and processes, he said, the business of healthcare could change to focus more on compensation and empowerment, making hospitals and practices more profitable.

Much more here (registration required):

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/saving-healthcare-industry-emrs-are-beginning-not-end

You would not be surprised to hear I think young Cutler is onto something!

Fifth we have:

Telethinking and the Nigerian health sector

By Olajide Adebola

OVER the past decade medicine has witnessed a substantial change in technological complexity and the reduction in cost of information communications technology (ICT) has resulted in a symbiotic relationship between the healthcare and ICT sector. Globally, the information age has transformed how we rethink, redesign and rework how businesses and public services operate, aimed at improving productivity, effectiveness and efficiency both internally and in external relationship with clients, customers, suppliers and partners. Recent advances in information and communication technology and the dissemination of networked data processing have led to widespread access to information resources and globalisation of communications, businesses and services.

Internet-based ICT solutions have brought about the greatest impact and they are rapidly changing the way health organisations, providers, care plans, payers, regulators and consumers access information, acquire health products and services, deliver care and communicate with each other. In the health sector, this trend is expressed by the growing consolidation of 'eHealth'- an area rapidly growing in health today distinguished by the utilisation of electronic communication and information technology to transmit, store, and retrieve digital data for clinical, educational and administrative purposes at the local and distance site.

The essence of eHealth is reliable transaction delivery in a fast changing environment involving people, processes and a service or business infrastructure focused on the ill or healthy citizen. Emerging eHealth applications are oriented to professional networking, integration of the clinical care process management and provision of web-based health information and patient care including remote monitoring and healthcare. This expanded view of ICT in health sector has been promoted as the final stage in bringing online the entire healthcare industry. eHealth solutions have emulated e-commerce and e-government strategies and experiences in using internet-based networked technologies to provide healthcare services.

Today in Nigeria, the use of e-commerce and e-business strategies is already being deployed in major sectors like Banking, Oil & Gas, Manufacturing etc while the health sector is yet to fully witness the emulation of these tools to provide efficient health services. The health sector is an enterprise characterised by the use of information for every decision taken. eHealth deployment in our health sector will provide opportunities for individuals, medical professionals and healthcare providers to obtain information, communicate with professionals, deliver first-line support especially where distance is a critical factor (telemedicine) and promote preventive medicine programmes.

Our health system in Nigeria faces so many challenges which can be summarised as: a lack of resources; poor utilisation of the resources available; a high disease burden, driven by HIV/AIDS, malaria and other infectious diseases, contributing to high infant and maternal mortality and morbidity; poverty driven by poor health that robs the society of its most productive sectors, while driving up the birth rate, robbing families of a chance to get out of poverty; shortage of educational capacity in the rural health care settings, exacerbated by the brain drain of talent to the urban centres and abroad; a lack of capacity to gather and process health statistics with which to target health spending and resources. Traditional healers and birth attendants are outside the health care system, but they have closer relationships with the patients at the village level than do the western-oriented doctors and nurses. The combination of these factors makes the achievement of MDG and the national health sector reform goals unlikely without some creative approaches.

Much, much more here:

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/editorial_opinion/article03/indexn2_html?pdate=060709&ptitle=Telethinking%20and%20the%20Nigerian%20health%20sector

This is the sort of article that reminds one just how little one knows. Really worth a browse.

Sixth we have:

Nashville: The New Hotbed for Health IT Innovation

Carrie Vaughan, for HealthLeaders Media, July 7, 2009

There are only a handful of regions in the United States that have the knowledge base, capital access, local leadership, and infrastructure to be the innovative leader in health IT. And Nashville, TN, is a "tremendous contender," said David Brailer, MD, PhD, chairman of San Francisco, CA-based Health Evolution Partners, during the Nashville Health Care Council's forum on health information technology and the economic stimulus held nearly two weeks ago.

It has been awhile since we've heard from Brailer, the former National Coordinator of HIT. He joked how arriving in Nashville on Southwest Airlines was a completely different experience than his last visit when he arrived on Air Force One. Brailer was joined by William W. Stead, MD, associate vice chancellor for strategy and transformation at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Don E. Detmer, MD, president and CEO of the American Medical Informatics Association, and Dave Goetz, Jr., commissioner for the department of finance and administration for the State of Tennessee.

Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, PhD, who is the chief medical officer and president of clinical services at HCA and was recently named chair of the Department of Health and Human Services Health Information Technology Standards Committee, moderated the panel.

The panel focused on three questions:

• How to make the HIT investment in the stimulus package the most effective?
• Are the goals realistic?
• Will the increased regulation of the HITECH Act stifle innovation?

Much more here:

http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/print/content/235533/topic/WS_HLM2_TEC/Nashville-The-New-Hotbed-for-Health-IT-Innovation.html

Not something I had ever thought of when thinking of Nashville!

Seventh we have:

Lawsuit claims stimulus act puts privacy in jeopardy

July 02, 2009 | Molly Merrill, Associate Editor

WHITE PLAINS, NY – A class action lawsuit claims the stimulus act jeopardizes the privacy rights of the 65 percent of Americans who aren't on Medicaid or Medicare by requiring healthcare providers to create an electronic health record of every person in the United States. The lawsuit seeks an injunction to protect personal health information and to prevent the defendants from disbursing the $22 billion budgeted for the electronic health records systems.

Lead plaintiff Beatrice M. Heghmann, a healthcare professional who has never been covered by Medicare and Medicaid, says because Title XIII of the stimulus act aims to have everyone's medical histories in the system by 2014, their personal health information would be a "mouse click away from being accessible to an intruder."

Heghmann has sued Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann Deparle and Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Charlene Frizzera.

Much more here:

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/suit-claims-stimulus-act-puts-privacy-jeopardy

As they say – only in America!

Eighth we have:

Medical center seeks 'Holy Grail' of mobile devices

Mount Sinai needs voice capability, access to medical records

Matt Hamblen

July 1, 2009 (Computerworld) Andrew Pizzimenti is in search of the Holy Grail of mobile devices.

Pizzimenti is senior director for voice and data services at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, part of the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan. His mission is to find the ideal personal computing and mobile phone device for health practitioners.

Pizzimenti said he isn't sure whether this device is a smartphone, an e-book reader or a netbook, and he thinks it might take a while to find the right one.

"I'm seeking the Holy Grail now," Pizzimenti said in a virtual interview from the Cisco Live user conference in San Francisco today. He said he wants a device that would give health professionals access to electronic patient records, but also give them one phone number, instead of the several numbers on several devices they already have.

Full article here:

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9135078/Medical_center_seeks_Holy_Grail_of_mobile_devices?taxonomyId=140&intsrc=kc_top&taxonomyName=hardware_and_devices

Certainly one total device that does it all makes sense. Might be a complicated little beast however!

Ninth we have:

CDC launches public health tracking Web site

By Jessica Zigmond / HITS staff writer

Posted: July 7, 2009 - 10:00 am EDT

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched a Web-based tool that allows scientists, health professionals and members of the public to track environmental exposures and chronic health conditions. Known as the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, the site brings together environmental information from across the country—including air and water pollutants, as well as information for certain chronic conditions, including asthma, cancer, childhood lead poisoning and heart disease—in one resource.

“The ability to examine many data sets together for the first time has already resulted in faster responses to environmental health issues,” said Howard Frumkin, director of the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, in a news release. “We believe the Tracking Network holds the potential to shed new light on some of our biggest environmental health questions.”

More here (registration required):

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20090707/REG/307079992

This certainly looks like a very useful initiative.

Tenth we have:

Data-miners claim marketing used to improve quality

By Gregg Blesch / HITS staff writer

Posted: July 7, 2009 - 10:00 am EDT

The courts delivered new setbacks to companies that mine prescribing data and sell information about the habits of individual physicians as a marketing tool for pharmaceutical companies, a practice banned by laws passed in three Northeast states. But the industry will continue to make its case that the bans are bad policy regardless of whether they ultimately prove constitutional.

On June 29, the Supreme Court declined to review a case challenging a pioneering 2006 New Hampshire law that banned the use of prescriber-specific data for marketing. In the previous week, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to stop a similar Vermont law from going into effect July 1 pending the outcome of the industry's appeal of an April decision upholding the law.

A ban in Maine was struck down by a district court, but that case is on appeal in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the same court that previously upheld the New Hampshire law after it was similarly judged by the lower court.

More here (registration required):

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20090707/REG/307079994

I certainly this all presages the beginning of the end for these people!

Eleventh for the week we have:

Care Card Technology Improves Health System's Patient Flow and Waiting Time

Sarah Kearns, for HealthLeaders Media, July 6, 2009

At Heritage Valley Health System in Beaver, PA, patient flow was a major concern, as it has been for many facilities nationwide.

The facility was well aware of the long process patients had to go through to be seen by a physician. In 2006, it implemented electronic kiosks along with a Care Card to help the registration process move more efficiently and maintain constant patient flow.

"Modeled in part on successful implementations in both the airline and hospitality industries, the board and senior management of Heritage Valley developed a strategic plan for enabling and promoting greater consumer participation in the healthcare process through various self-service initiatives," says Robert Swaskoski, director of enterprise resource systems at HVHS.

The Care Card, a plastic ID card that comes in two sizes, one to put in your wallet and the other to snap on a keychain, uses a bar code with a unique identifying number that assists in patient identification at the initial point of registration. The card also functions as a portal that patients use to access their personal care records for HVHS.

Upon scanning the Care Card at a kiosk, the patient is reminded of any tests or exams scheduled for the day. Also, the patient can give any required information at the kiosk.

More here :

http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/235448/topic/WS_HLM2_TEC/Care-Card-Technology-Improves-Health-Systems-Patient-Flow-and-Waiting-Time.html

And – as the article explains – it also saves money!

Twelfth we have:

eHealth scandal reaches Premier's inner circle

Sarah Kramer received a bonus of $114,000 five months after starting her job as eHealth CEO.

For $327 an hour, one former aide wrote to another former aide

June 11, 2009

Tanya Talaga

Robert Benzie

Rob Ferguson

Queen's Park Bureau

Key members of Dalton McGuinty's inner circle are surfacing in the eHealth Ontario spending scandal, documents obtained by the Star show.

Premier Dalton McGuinty's former health adviser was paid $327 an hour by eHealth to, among other tasks, correspond with McGuinty's former chief of staff in his new capacity at a polling firm on "eHealth Ontario priorities," billing records demonstrate.

Karli Farrow was paid $10,646 for 32.5 hours of eHealth work as a Courtyard Group consultant over a period of three weeks in January.

Farrow, a one-time chief of staff to former health minister George Smitherman, had previously served as McGuinty's health policy adviser and was an architect of the Liberals' health-care platform for the 2003 election. She has worked with McGuinty periodically since 2000, including a stint as his director of policy and research, beginning in 2004. She left Smitherman's office in 2007.

More here:

http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/649032

This really is the scandal that just keeps on giving!

Thirteenth we have:

Most Wired survey shows hospitals are tightening their IT belts

July 07, 2009 | Molly Merrill, Associate Editor

CHICAGO – The economy is forcing hospitals to consider delaying or scaling back their IT projects, according to a survey of America’s “most wired” hospitals and health systems.

The Most Wired Survey, conducted annually by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine, the journal of the American Hospital Association, found that even with incentives being made available to implement IT, hospitals still have a long way to go.

Officials at the hospitals surveyed said they are torn between building on their IT successes while also being aware of their budgets.

“The economic slowdown is forcing hospitals to look closely at IT spending,” said Alden Solovy, executive editor of Hospitals & Health Networks. “Most Wired hospitals are doing their best to stay the course.”

“Hospitals clearly recognize that in spite of smaller budgets they still need to invest in IT and position themselves for the future,” said Sunny Sanyal, president of McKesson Provider Technologies. “We’re seeing hospitals reprioritize. For example, instead of continuing with plans to build a new data center extension, a hospital now may choose to redirect funds to other technologies.”

More here:

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/most-wired-survey-shows-hospitals-are-tightening-their-it-belts

Hardly a surprise – and good to see they are pushing on as best they can!

Fourteenth we have:

Will Providers Bite Off More Than They Can Chew When It Comes to CPOE?

Lisa Eramo, for HealthLeaders Media, July 7, 2009

If you had to begin implementing computerized physician order entry (CPOE) today, how many years do you think it would take for you to reach 100% adoption? This was one of several questions that the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives posed to 335 of its CIO members in a June CPOE survey.

Of the 316 respondents who answered the question, only 8.5% of the respondents said full adoption could be achieved in a year. More than a third (34.5%) of respondents estimated a three-year timeframe.

These survey results hint at the challenges that many hospitals hoping to take full advantage of the EHR incentives outlined in ARRA are facing. Providers must implement CPOE for "all order types, including medication [inpatient and outpatient]" by 2011, according to the proposed meaningful use matrix that the Health Information Technology Policy Committee released last month. The specific measure that hospitals must report is the percentage of orders entered directly by physicians through CPOE.

And it all goes back to the very first goal outlined in the matrix: improve quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare as well as reduce health disparities. The idea is that CPOE will help to get the ball rolling toward many of these important patient care goals.

Much more here:

http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/235578/topic/WS_HLM2_COM/Will-Providers-Bite-Off-More-Than-They-Can-Chew-When-It-Comes-to-CPOE.html

A good question indeed. Well referenced article.

Fifteenth we have:

MobileHealthWatch.com

is dedicated to point of care and mobile health news and resources.

On Demand: Boost Nurse Efficiency with Voice over Wireless LAN

Date: Jun 15, 2009

This Web seminar will explore how leading hospitals throughout the world use Voice over Wireless LAN (VoWLAN) technology to save nurses time throughout their day, attract and retain top nursing talent and optimize workflows throughout the facility. Read »

Video: Stimulus Package for Telehealth

Date: Jun 10, 2009

The U.S. government is now making millions of dollars in grant funding available for organizations that implement technology-based solutions including telehealth. Remote patient monitoring (RPM) provides measurable financial and clinical benefits, including enabling patients to receive in-home care, which is a more efficient use of healthcare system resources; reducing hospitalization and readmission rates because clinicians can identify changes in patients' health before conditions become acute; decreasing the frequency of in-home visits, which also reduces staff travel time; and increasing patients' compliance with their care plans, leading to lower costs and improved efficiencies. Learn what's possible with future RPM technologies. Read »

Vastly more here:

http://www.mobilehealthwatch.com/allresources

Lots of interesting links and articles.

Sixteenth we have:

Wi-Fi Health Care Systems to Hit $4.9B

Driven by $20 billion in stimulus funds for digital medical records, a research firm sees a boom for Wi-Fi RTLS hardware and software, access points, managed services, and pure Wi-Fi and dual-band handsets.

Worldwide sales of Wi-Fi-enabled health care products will hit $4.9 billion in 2014, according to ABI Research, an increase of nearly 70 percent over 2009 levels. The predicted boom is based on the $20 billion of stimulus funds dedicated to the digitizing of medical records and Congress' pending health care reforms.

Increased Wi-Fi penetration in hospitals and health care systems is expected to result in reductions in operating costs, a theme stressed by the Obama administration in its health care initiatives.

"It’s a pretty big business,” ABI Research Vice President Stan Schatt said in a statement. "The strong uptake of Wi-Fi in the health industry is underpinned by its need for improved asset management, staff mobility, transfer of digitized records, and standardized administration of medications. In addition, government security requirements including HIPAA often mean replacing older wireless equipment with modern versions."

Much more here:

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Health-Care-IT/WiFi-Healthcare-Systems-to-Hit-49B-878082/

Sounds like a lot of growth!

Fourth last we have:

Panasonic breaks into robotics with medical robot

TOKYO (AP) — Panasonic said Tuesday has developed a medical robot that dispenses drugs to patients, the Japanese electronics giant's first step into robotics.

Panasonic will sell the robot to Japanese hospitals next March and will market it in the United States and Europe later. Panasonic spokesman Akira Kadota said the robot will cost several tens of millions of yen (hundreds of thousands of dollars).

"This robot is the first in our robotics project. It sorts out injection drugs to patients, saving time for pharmacists," said Kadota.

The robot does not look humanoid. "It looks like a cabinet with lots of small drawers," he said.

Much more here:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/robotics/2009-07-07-panasonic-robot_N.htm

These robots just keep coming!

Third last we have:

Kaiser Permanente Project Proves Electronic Health Information and Care Coordination Improves Chronic Disease Management

Posted : Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:01:18 GMT

Author : Kaiser Permanente

Category : Press Release

News Alerts by Email ( click here )

News | Home

Proactive E-Consults by Specialists Reduce Late Nephrology Referrals HONOLULU, July 9

HONOLULU, July 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Specialty care physicians can improve the health of high-risk patients by reviewing electronic health records and proactively providing e-consultations and treatment plan recommendations with primary care physicians, according to a Kaiser Permanente paper published online in the British Medical Journal.

The quality improvement project at Kaiser Permanente demonstrated that specialists can take a more active role in managing the health of populations with chronic illness - in this case, kidney disease - by using electronic health records to coordinate care among primary and specialty care providers. In the project, nephrologists (kidney specialists) proactively consulted remotely with primary care doctors to help manage patients at risk for end-stage renal disease.
Much more here:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/kaiser-permanente-project-proves-electronic,887142.shtml

Very interesting. Pity the BMJ has locked the article from non-subscribers.

Second last for the week we have:

Story claims proprietary EMRs could 'screw up' health reform

July 9, 2009 — 12:13pm ET | By Neil Versel

Washington Monthly, an influential magazine among left-leaning, inside-the-Beltway types, offers a bombshell of an indictment of major EMR vendors in its July cover story, provocatively titled, "Code Red -- How software companies could screw up Obama's health care reform." Author Phillip Longman, who wrote a book about the VistA EMR at the Department of Veterans Affairs, makes the case for open-source software in the coming stimulus-driven EMR spending frenzy by comparing the experiences of Midland (TX) Memorial Hospital and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

....

The story isn't up yet on the Washington Monthly site, but we can't wait to hear what Cerner and its big-name brethren have to say about this story. Meantime:

- check out the blog of open-source booster Dr. Scott Shreeve, who includes the full text of the article
- read this Forbes interview with the CIO of Midland Memorial
- have a look at this Associated Press story that paints Children's in a much more favorable light

More here:

http://www.fierceemr.com/story/story-claims-proprietary-emrs-could-screw-health-reform/2009-07-09?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

I can see this setting the hares running!

Last, and very usefully, we have:

System failure?

The £12.7bn NHS computer programme is five years behind schedule and beset by criticism, viruses and fears over patient privacy. So should the world's biggest IT project be scrapped? Andy Beckett investigates

• Andy Beckett
• The Guardian, Thursday 9 July 2009

At some point last November, an infection began to spread unnoticed through the three hospitals that make up Barts and The London NHS Trust in east London. This was not MRSA but the Mytob worm, a common but potent computer virus. It steadily slowed and choked the 4,700 PCs of the trust's network. By noon on 17 November, a Monday, the network was effectively crippled.

The following day, the trust declared an "internal major incident". Ambulances carry-ing accident and emergency patients were diverted to other hospitals. Operations were postponed. The appointments system was suspended. Access to clinical information - usually quick and electronic - was maintained only by the slowest and most old-fashioned of methods: "runners" drafted in from the trust's administrative departments pounded the hospitals' endless twisting corridors with paper notes and printouts.

Scores of computer technicians from the private sector and from other London NHS trusts were brought in to eradicate the virus, but the PCs had to be decontaminated one by one. It was a week before the crisis was officially declared over, and a fortnight before the hospitals, some of the busiest in the capital, returned to normal. Afterwards, an official report found the virus had been able to infiltrate them because their anti-virus software "did not reach all [their] PCs and ... was configured incorrectly on some". The whole episode, the report concluded, had been "entirely avoidable".

Much more here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jul/09/nhs-computer-programme-failure

This gives a good flavour of the concerns that are out and about in the UK at present.

There is an amazing amount happening. Enjoy!

David.

A Report from the European Union that Nails E-Health.

Sweden has recently taken the rotating Presidency of the EU.

As part of its preparation it had Gartner develop an in-depth analysis of the successes and potential of e-Health across the member countries. The report reviews the experience of six countries including the UK, France, Holland and so on.

The report is cited here:

eHealth for a Healthier Europe!

S2009.011

Publication date: 01 July 2009

Type: Reports

Source: Ministry of Health and Social Affairs

Download

• eHealth for a Healthier Europe!S2009.011 (pdf 1.3 MB)

The full page is here:

http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/12090/a/129815

This is a just superb piece of work and needs to be read by all interested in the area.

A must not miss document that makes it clear just how visionless and ignorant the present e-Health powers (NEHTA, DoHA and Ms Roxon and her office) are!

You would think somewhere among this collection of people might have had the wit to have commissioned work of this quality to clarify what is needed.

Read and weep at the quality of the leadership we presently have.

David.

This May Be a Much Better Way to Do Shared Electronic Health Records.

The following caught my eye a few days ago. It really looks very useful indeed.

EMIS unveils EMIS Web

25 Jun 2009

Leading GP IT system supplier EMIS has unveiled its next generation IT system EMIS Web, ahead of an official launch in the autumn.

The system, which has been in development for five years, is scheduled to receive NHS Connecting for Health accreditation in November and the company hopes it will become widely used by 2010. A roll-out date will be offered to all practices within two years.

EMIS claims the system will set a new standard for the NHS by enabling clinicians outside general practice to access a patient’s GP medical record, view other patient information that will be recorded on the system, and to add to that data.

Patient data will be accessible from non-EMIS systems using an interoperability portal called the Medical Interoperability Gateway (MIG).

GP system suppliers INPS and iSoft and out-of-hours provider Adastra are also to use the MIG to share data.

Yesterday, EMIS said it was also holding talking with other healthcare IT suppliers including Ascribe, Oasis and IMS Maxims. Local service providers Cerner and CSC have declined to take part, saying it is outside their contractual commitments under the National Programme for IT in the NHS.

Sean Riddell, managing director of EMIS, told EHI Primary Care that EMIS Web would hold the GP patient record together with what would, in effect, be a series of other separate records such as a podiatry record, a record of information supplied by patients, a diabetes record and a district nursing record.

GPs will be able to see the information on the other records, with patient consent, but will only incorporate the data they want into their own record.

Riddell added: “The main differentiation between EMIS Web and other systems is our concept of one patient and a series of virtual records.”

Data is shared and viewed with explicit patient consent and according to local data sharing agreements.

Outside of general practice, the system is already being used by the NHS as part of the pilot-phase of EMIS Web.

Lots more here:

http://www.ehiprimarycare.com/news/4967/emis_unveils_emis_web

Here are some of the details from the web-site:

EMIS Web - the future of integrated care

EMIS’s new primary care system, EMIS Web, uses the latest technology to drive GP computing to the next level.

The system will deliver two key benefits to general practices: access to shared patient records between GPs and community or secondary care, and advanced functionality for everyone in the practice.

Building on the success of existing LV and PCS systems, EMIS Web offers general practices all the very best of EMIS’s development expertise in 20 years of being the market leading clinical system supplier in the UK.

And the best part is that users of EMIS LV and PCS don’t have to wait to start benefiting from the new technology: EMIS Web will be rolled out a module at a time, so that they have the latest technology as soon as we have finished developing and testing it. New modules will seamlessly ‘plug in’ to existing LV and PCS systems, to create LV Web and PCS Web.

A shared record for GPs

GPs will be able to access their patient data as normal, either hosted centrally in a secure Enterprise environment or on servers at the practice. If the latter option is chosen then the practice’s data will be replicated in EMIS Web, using EMIS’s data streaming process. Community healthcare professionals will also submit patient data to the central EMIS Web database, enabling GPs to access data recorded about their patients by other healthcare professionals.

EMIS Web will be a fully interoperable system meeting the requirements of Connecting for Health (CfH), and as such will exchange data securely with the Spine. This will facilitate, in the first instance, CfH projects such as EPS2 and CRS.

A shared record for other healthcare professionals

Clinicians providing care outside of the general practice setting, such as specialist clinics or community care, will have access to a summary of the patient’s GP medical record so that they have an accurate and up to date picture of each patient’s health. They will record notes that can be accessed by the patient’s GP.

Advanced EMIS Web functionality will be available for these users too, with user interfaces tailored specifically for each role, including relevant templates and Read/ SNOMED codes.

This is enabled by interoperability – systems exchanging data securely, in context and in real time. This puts vital patient data at the fingertips of those who need it most, when they need it most.

The system will also exchange data securely with third party healthcare software, to add to the patient’s record vital patient data from organisations that use other systems, such as Adastra out of hours systems and INPS clinical software.

Interoperability

To provide EMIS users with additional IT functionality, EMIS systems interoperate with a wide range of third party primary care IT suppliers, to offer products and services such as integrated ECG readings, automated arrivals software and document management. EMIS Web interoperability will also facilitate patient services such as EMIS Access online appointment booking and patient access to medical records. To complete the interoperability picture, EMIS Web will exchange data with secondary care IT providers, such as Anglia ICE online test requesting.

More on the site:

http://www.emis-online.com/primary-care-systems/emis-web/

It seems to me EMIS have a practical and sensible architecture that can really make GP and Specialist practices hum while at the same time enabling access to relevant information by those who need it with the agreement of the patient and clinicians.

I think it is important that GP system providers in Australia and NEHTA take a close look at this and see of this might just be an architecture that is suitable for Australia.

David.