Here are a few I have come across this week.
Note: Each link is followed by a title and a paragraph or two. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or payment.
General Comment:
It seems that the Federal Health Team are pushing with all their weight to get their version of health reform through. We have another announcement today – this time on Emergency Departments.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/rudd-promises-to-halve-waiting-times-20100410-rzs2.html
STEPHANIE PEATLING POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
April 11, 2010
AUSTRALIANS would wait no more than four hours for medical attention in hospital emergency departments in an ambitious bid by the federal government to halve existing waiting periods.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will today announce a $500 million injection for emergency departments but only if the states sign up to his health reform plan.
And in a boost for Queensland the government announced yesterday it would spend $22 million on clinical training to entice graduates to take up jobs in the cities and towns in which they have studied.
Under the new target, public hospitals will be required to ensure people are admitted to hospital, referred for follow-up treatment or treated and discharged within four hours.
---- End extract.
Three things occur to me about all this.
The first is to ask the question just why is it that the vague, partially defined plan put up by the Commonwealth is to brook no discussion, debate or fine tuning? Compare this with what happened in the US where there was a full on public and political debate with lots of tweaking of the final package that made it to the President’s desk. I thought we lived in a democracy where the best ideas should be accepted. Not much sign of this here. ‘My way or the highway’ seems to be the mantra.
Second just why do we have to be drip fed the plans? Being made up on the run feels about right to me!
Third, you won’t fix emergency department treatment times until you fix the hospitals that they are the front door for.
I really do not like how this is being done at all, and I suspect people who think like me are rising in number. The results of the recent poll make this clear.
See here:
http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2010/04/aushealthit-man-poll-number-14-results.html
Can I also say I don’t much like these ‘behind closed door’ discussions that seem to be going on. Just what is it that the Government is offering that the public can’t know about?
See here:
http://www.smh.com.au/national/emergency-funding-welcome-but-extra-hospital-beds-key-doctors-20100411-s0gd.html
Emergency funding welcome, but extra hospital beds key: doctors
April 11, 2010 - 1:28PM
Doctors say federal Labor's promise of an extra $500 million to cut waiting times in emergency departments will only work if there is also a boost in hospital beds.
In order to receive the extra cash public hospitals will have to treat and discharge emergency patients, refer them for follow-up care or admit them, within four hours.
"The funding will assist emergency departments to deal more efficiently with patients who are treated and discharged and those who are referred for follow-up treatment," Australian Medical Association president Andrew Pesce said in a statement.
"(But) there will need to be additional reforms to ensure that patients who must be admitted to hospital have a bed to go to in a safe and appropriate timeframe."
---- End extract.
And as a last point, watch the tricks that go on to ensure patients are treated etc in the 4 hour window. Put a bucket of money in front of any Health Bureaucrat and watch them meet the target 100% - statistical fudging will be rife I suspect – just as it is now!
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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/data-breach-costs-2m-per-incident/story-e6frgakx-1225851401246
- Karen Dearne
- From: Australian IT
- April 08, 2010 1:19PM
ONE of the first comprehensive local surveys of data breach costs shows organisations sustained financial losses of almost $2 million on average per incident, with an average $123 spent to deal with each compromised record.
The 2009 Australian Cost of a Data Breach study, conducted by US-based Ponemon Institute on behalf of data encryption specialist PGP, examined the actual financial losses incurred by 16 organisations from different industry sectors following a data loss, with breaches ranging from around 3300 to 65,000 lost or stolen records.
In the most expensive incident, one organisation spent more than $4m to resolve a single event.
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http://www.australiandoctor.com.au/articles/80/0c068880.asp
8-Apr-2010
COMPUTERS: Software problems could result in a medicolegal disaster for GPs. By Noel Stewart
ACCURATE clinical records -- preferably electronic -- and robust recall management systems can go a long way in protecting GPs and their medical clinics from adverse legal actions.
Yet inaccurate or incomplete clinical notes can at times result from a glitch in the software system. I have heard many horror stories of clinical data being lost, often during software upgrades or in the migration process. Sometimes these issues were slow to be resolved.
So who is at fault if a doctor is sued for negligence based on a glitch in the computer system?
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http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/342392/casa_upgrade_medical_records_system/?eid=-6787
Will streramline business processes at the aviation safety agency
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is to overhaul its medical records system (MRS) in a bid to streamline the government agency’s business processes.
The current MRS supports the processing of regular medical examinations required to be undertaken by pilots, flight crew and air traffic controllers to obtain and keep their licences, according to CASA documents.
As a result of overhauling the MRS, CASA expects that it will realise significant efficiencies by improving the user environment and avoiding unnecessary multiplication of effort, and improve safety effectiveness by having a single, robust system with consistent data.
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http://www.futuregov.net/articles/2010/mar/30/australian-healthcare-provider-migrates-clinical-s/
30 March 2010
St Vincent’s & Mater Health Sydney implemented a web-based clinical support system which reduced cost without compromising user experience. Chief Information Officer David Roffe tells FutureGov the benefits of migrating its clinical system online.
The application development tool used to develop the previous system at St Vincent & Mather Health (SV&MHS) went out of support in 2000. Although the system was still usable, it was difficult and expensive to find programmers who are skilled in such an outdated computer programme. Roffe needed to decide whether to buy a new system off-the-shelf or redevelop the current system in-house, and what technology to use.
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http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/5810/cohen:_morecambe_bay_go-live_%27early_may%27
08 Apr 2010
Gary Cohen has predicted that the latest version of Lorenzo will go live at University Hopsitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust in May 2010.
The executive chairman and chief executive of iSoft told the Financial Times "we are confident that we have a go-live in early May."
He made his comments the day after NHS chief information officer Christine Connelly confirmed that the trust had not gone live with Lorenzo Regional Care Release 1.9 by the 31 March deadline she set last year.
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http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/bosses-held-party-while-queensland-health-staff-went-without-pay/story-e6freoof-1225852012703
THE introduction of Queensland Health's payroll system was celebrated with a roof-top party while thousands of staff went without their fortnightly pay.
Senior executives and bureaucrats involved in the $40 million project were treated to beers, cheese platters and a barbecue just days after the troubled payroll system went live.
The Tuesday afternoon shindig was held on March 30 on the roof of the Department of Public Works in George St, with guests enticed by an invitation featuring a cheesy play on the poem Click Go The Shears.
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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/medibank-private-acquires-mckesson-asia-pacific/story-e6frgakx-1225851849432
- Correspondents in Melbourne
- From: AAP
- April 09, 2010 1:47PM
PRIVATE health insurer Medibank Private has agreed to acquire phone and web-based healthcare services provider McKesson Asia-Pacific from McKesson Corp for an undisclosed sum.
McKesson Asia-Pacific, McKesson New Zealand and Fitness2live will become a part of Medibank.
Medibank Private managing director George Savvides said McKesson delivered healthcare services and programs to state and national governments, area health services, corporations and health insurers, including Medibank Private.
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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/aboriginal-australia/gps-to-ask-all-patients-if-theyre-aboriginal/story-e6frgd9f-1225851120249
DOCTORS and health workers will be expected to ask all their patients if they are of Aboriginal origin regardless of their appearance or country of birth as part of the push to lift standards in indigenous health.
New guidelines issued by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare today say all patients in hospitals, clinics and GP surgeries should be asked whether they are "of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin" even if staff already know the patient or the family background.
The move is intended to provide a more accurate measure of indigenous health disadvantage by counting people whose status has previously been unrecorded -- in some cases because they were not asked.
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http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/342180/pirate_party_philip_nitschke_teach_seniors_hack_filter/?eid=-255
Newcastle techie preaches proxies to the grey army
Pro-euthanasia group Exit International is holding national hacking crash-courses in how to bypass the Federal Government's planned ISP-level Internet content filter with help from the Australian Pirate Party.
The first of eight “Hacking Masterclasses” was held in Chatswood NSW on Thursday last week, and drew about 50 elderly people — some bearing laptops. Exit International director and controversial Australian physician, Philip Nitschke, created the class to help the elderly access euthanasia-assistance material online, following fears that the Internet filter will block access to the information.
A leaked copy of the filter blacklist revealed Exit International websites, the UK publisher of the Peaceful Pill eHandbook, and three YouTube videos were on the list of banned materials.
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http://www.smh.com.au/business/telstra-on-brink-of-deal-or-no-deal-20100408-rv85.html
LUCY BATTERSBY
April 9, 2010
AN END to the tussle between the government and Telstra on the value of Telstra's telecommunications infrastructure is in sight, with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy saying the parties will soon reach a conclusion or break off negotiations.
''It won't be long before there will be either a deal or no deal in the discussion between the government and Telstra,'' Senator Conroy told 3AW yesterday.
''I can assure Telstra shareholders that David Thodey and Catherine Livingstone have been representing their interests,'' he said, referring to Telstra's chief executive and chairman.
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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/industry-sectors/optus-sides-with-telstra-in-national-broadband-controversy/story-e6frg9hx-1225851118825
OPTUS has joined Telstra in baulking at a deal with the government over the national broadband network, with the No 2 carrier saying drastic changes were needed to draft legislation before it will sign up to the $43 billion project.
In its submission to the senate select committee on the national broadband network, Optus warned that the project could be sunk unless clauses that allowed the government-owned network to compete in retail markets -- specifically in the supply of telco services to government agencies -- were removed from the draft legislation.
Optus, until now, has been happy to negotiate with the government about its involvement in the NBN and had even gone so far as to consider selling its east-coast hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) cable network into the project.
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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/medicare-extends-its-long-standing-contract-with-ibm-for-another-year/story-e6frgakx-1225850070857
MEDICARE Australia will pay IBM $189 million for a one-year extension to its longstanding technology infrastructure services contract, along with a disengagement arrangement for up to 24 months.
This disengagement period will begin on January 1, three months before the services contract is due to end, on March 31 next year.
It covers provision of business-as-usual services including computing hardware and software in midrange, mainframe and data warehouse environments, desktops, a gateway and cross-platform services.
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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/medicare-pours-8m-into-advertising-blitz-for-online-claims/story-e6frgakx-1225850080813
MEDICARE spent $8 million spruiking the benefits of electronic claiming in doctors' offices in a two-month advertising blitz last May and June, on top of $42m in financial incentives and $6m to fix a "design flaw" inhibiting uptake of the troubled Easyclaim system.
The media campaign promoted the use of Easyclaim, Medicare Online and (in-hospital claiming service) Eclipse in a bid to reduce attendance at Medicare offices for cash rebates.
A direct mailout to 7.2 million Medicare cardholders cost $4.1m, $2m was spent on print and radio advertisements, while $1.8m was spent on creative and market research consultants", public relations firms and "champion" events.
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http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-health-admits-its-patient-satisfaction-figures-are-rubbery-20100404-rlsd.html
JULIE ROBOTHAM HEALTH EDITOR
April 5, 2010
NSW Health has overstated the proportion of patients satisfied with how long they have to wait for an operation, after an error compiling the statistics, the department has admitted.
In its latest patient survey, released in November, it claimed 85 per cent of patients thought their operation had been scheduled within a reasonable period. But the actual figure was 80 per cent, a departmental spokesman confirmed to the Herald.
The original satisfaction figure was compiled from the responses of the 59 per cent of patients who had undergone medical tests before admission, while other patients' answers were not included.
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And from a year ago.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/301824/nsw_health_spend_100m_electronic_medical_records/
Patient information to be shared between health facilities
After many promises and trials, NSW Health has committed $100 million over the next two years to replace existing paper-based health records in public hospitals with a state-wide electronic system aimed at improving patient care.
NSW Health anticipates the new electronic medical record (eMR) technology will make it easier for doctors and nurses to track the condition of patients through the health system as hospital information will be linked between facilities electronically.
Minister for Health, John Della Bosca, said the $100 million project will be rolled out to 188 hospitals across the state by the end of 2010.
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I wonder how this project is going. We do now have a new Health Minister in NSW.
It looks like there has been some progress in the West of the state.
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/news/2009/20091028_00.html
28 October 2009
Electronic Medical Record providing safer care in our public hospitals
The Deputy Premier and Minister for Health, Carmel Tebbutt, today announced that hospitals in the Greater Western Area Health Service (AHS) were preparing to roll out an Electronic Medical Record (eMR) system to assist clinicians and provide safer care for patients.
"There are many advantages in the switch to electronic records," Ms Tebbutt said.
"An eMR system will allow clinicians fast access to patient information, notify them of alerts and whether a patient has an allergy and will reduce paperwork to give nurses and doctors more time with patients.
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And for a serious sense of déjà vu!
http://www.misaustralia.com/viewer.aspx?EDP://1270767702634§ion=news&xmlSource=/news/feed.xml&title=Gershon+reforms+too+slow%2c+say+IT+companies
Brian Corrigan
Showdown talks with senior information technology industry executives will kick off a review of the federal government's implementation of plans to reduce IT spending by $1 billion over four years.
The former head of the National E-Health Transition Authority, Ian Reinecke, was appointed by the Finance Minister, Lindsay Tanner, last month to conduct an independent review of the ICT Reform Program embarked upon following the Gershon Review of 2008.
And also in the AFR:
Review of IT cuts begins with talks
09 Apr 2010
Ian Reinecke will meet senior representatives of the information technology industry next week as part of a review of the federal government’s plans to wipe $1 billion from IT spending over four years.
Oh dear, oh dear!
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Enjoy!
David.
