MyHospitals Web Site Launches - It Has A Fair Way To Go I Reckon!

The following opened for business at 11am.

Go here to check it out.

http://www.myhospitals.gov.au/

Here is an early report from the SMH.

MyHospitals website goes live

Mark Metherell

December 10, 2010 - 11:56AM

Australians will now be able to check how their hospital waiting times compare nationally after the MyHospitals website went live this morning.

Information on waiting times for emergency care and elective surgery for each of the 769 public hospitals will be available. Information will also be available on 153 private hospitals.

The details are already available on most state health websites, including those in NSW and Victoria.

But the additional feature on the new website will be information on how the hospitals' performances compare with national benchmarks.

The website does not yet include details on how hospitals perform on significant quality measures such as the rate of infections caught in hospitals and unexpected readmissions - indicating poor performance.

The director of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Penny Allbon, said such information would be made available after technical issues were resolved and health ministers gave their approval.

More here:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/myhospitals-website-goes-live-20101210-18rxo.html

There is also a good interview (with transcript) with Andrew Pesce of the AMA on the topic here:

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2010/s3090203.htm

There are 2 major gaps in my view - excluding the obvious financial comparisons which I am sure will be a very long time coming! First there is very limited quality and safety data as I predicted when this was first announced. I know getting comparability is hard but that is where the real value will lie.

See here:

http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2010/08/and-just-where-will-reliable.html

(there are lots of suggestions here).

Second Ms Roxon is refusing to have things like staffing levels reported - despite the obvious linkages between staff levels and patient safety (especially in nursing).

We all need to be clear - the real objective of this web-site should be to push hospital managers to do better for patients. With that mindset the gaps that need filling are obvious. About 3/10 so far!

David.

It Is Amazing We Would Sponsor A Nit-Wit Like This To Come Here If This is True!

I spotted this today.

Is Oprah bad for your health?

December 9, 2010 - 1:30PM

Oprah Winfrey is here and no doubt she will greeted with the kind of adulation that would make a Beatle blush wherever she goes.

Oprah has certainly earned the goodwill she enjoys around the world. She has used her unparallelled fame and fortune to do an enormous amount of good, both at home and abroad. And such is the power of the ‘‘Oprah effect’’ that her most casual reference can send a book to the top of the bestseller lists or an album to the top of the charts.

But, as Spider-man’s uncle once said, with great power comes great responsibility. And Oprah doesn’t always use her power responsibly. In fact, watching her show could be bad for your health.

Sadly, Oprah seem to feature almost every bit of pseudoscience going on her show. Whether it’s her favourite doctor, Mehmet Oz, talking about reiki, actress Suzanne Somers extolling injecting estrogen directly into her vagina, the not-necessarily-harmless silliness of The Secret, or even a Brazilian faith healer. And tens of millions of viewers are left with the impression that this stuff will make them feel better. (Oprah’s penchant for promoting pseudoscience even prompted a Newsweek cover story last year).

In 2007, Oprah repeatedly had actress Jenny McCarthy on the show talking about her belief that vaccinations had made her young son autistic and Oprah’s website also contains incoherent anti-vaccination information. Over the past 20 years, dozens of studies around the world have found no link between vaccines and autism spectrum disorders. Vaccination rates continued to fall in the US and in 2008, the country had its biggest number of measles cases in a decade. This year, whooping cough has so far killed at least 10 children in California alone as that state experiences its worst epidemic of the disease in more than 60 years.

Oprah has also introduced millions to Dr Christiane Northrup, who tried to scare Oprah’s viewers away from the cervical cancer vaccine, wrongly stating that it had killed people. (Northrup, by the way, believes that thyroid problems are caused by an ‘‘energy blockage’’ in the throat — the result of choking back words you’re too timid to say.)

More here:

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/blogs/sceptic-science/is-oprah-bad-for-your-health/20101207-18ny6.html

Sorry to stray from Health IT - but this woman seems like she is a total ratbag! Your decision to assess what she says - but my view is that she is a very rich nit-wit!

People should stick to ranting on about things they are actually fully informed on - especially when they are famous and can cause a lot of harm!

Back to e-Health.

David.

Some Suggestions For NEHTA To Help Them Find Some Ideas for a Better National E-Health Architecture.

A few days ago we saw the proposed architecture for the planned Personally Controlled Electronic Record.

What I failed to notice, at the time, was that this diagram was really only a part of the overall picture as I discussed here:

http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2010/12/it-is-now-clear-pcehr-is-nothing-but-pr.html

Also I then noted, reviewing some older files, that the big picture has been addressed pretty thoroughly elsewhere in the world.

What was amazing about these efforts was the similarity to documents produced elsewhere over the last decade and NEHTA’s apparently rather similar view of the big picture and how little apparent innovation is seen.

Examples of National E-Health Architectures that may provide a few additional ideas can be found here:

From The NHS:

http://schemas.library.nhs.uk/About.aspx

and for a more detailed version see here:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmhealth/422/422w211.htm

(about ¾ of the way down the page)

From Canada Infoway:

http://www2.infoway-inforoute.ca/Documents/EHRS-Blueprint-v2-Exec-Overview.pdf

From about page 10 there are a series of useful diagrams.

What the diagram we have should have been given was the big picture that showed where both current and planned systems fitted. That would greatly assist any ongoing discussion.

Of course we have a US Contribution or two.

See here:

http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/document/910517/nhin_architecture_overview_document_v_1_0_pdf

and here:

http://www.microsoft.com/industry/healthcare/technology/Healthframework.mspx

Both these are pretty current and look interesting. I am sure NEHTA has carefully reviewed all this to come up with what we have seen. At least I hope so!

Here is the Concept document from their Blueprint of a few months back.

It would be good to know where the PCEHR fits in this effort. It was not seemingly featured just a short while ago.

One possible issue for NEHTA not having all the detail sorted might be some recruiting / retention trouble.

This add kind of suggests the Head Architect is doing it tough at present!

http://www.nehta.gov.au/careers/773-personal-assistant-architecture

Personal Assistant, Architecture

Brisbane

The purpose of this role is to provide a wide range of administration duties to support the efficient and effective day to day operations of the Head of Architecture.

Key responsibilities include:

• Managing day to day co-ordination of the Head of Architecture's office.
• Diary Management.
• Assisting in preparation of reports.
• Organising meetings/catering as required.
• Management of the calendar, agenda and papers for key NEHTA meetings.
• Arranging travel as required.
• Attending meetings as required.
• Minute taking as required.
• Drafting of correspondence and documentation as required/
• Provide administration assistance as required to the Head of Architecture's direct reports.
• Liaising with other NEHTA offices, Project teams and external companies/stakeholders as required.
• Attending to and monitoring urgent enquiries and issues, ensuring that they are brought to the Head of Architecture's attention and, where relevant, referring matters on to appropriate staff for response.
• Maintaining an effective and confidential recording and filing system.
• Processing correspondence, including preparing replies to routine and other relevant correspondence on behalf of the Head of Architecture.
• Support for the Architecture Review Board and Design Authority by providing Secretariat (mainly co-ordination) services.
• Supporting co-ordination of team meetings for Architecture.
• Other ad hoc duties as may be required.

To be successful in this role you will need the following:

• Experience working with and supporting a senior member of staff in a busy, fast paced office environment.
• Demonstrate ability in being pro-active, taking initiative, providing solutions.
• Service oriented approach.
• Experience in an office environment providing a range of administrative support functions.
• Excellent organisation and time management skills.
• The ability to work closely with others as part of a team and build solid working relationships.
• Excellent written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills.
• Proven ability to prioritise tasks and, when necessary, take a flexible approach in order to incorporate changes to priorities.
• Experience in dealing with a variety of enquiries from internal and external sources.
• Excellent PC skills including MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, e-mail applications, and spreadsheet applications.
• A demonstrated ability to make sound decisions under pressure and balance multiple priorities including the demonstration of effective time management, multi-tasking and organisational skills.
• Ability to work independently and demonstrate initiative.
• Thoroughness and attention to detail in all aspects of work.
• High level of motivation and enthusiasm to provide an exceptional level of service.
  

Status: Full time

Sounds like a pretty busy job! Certainly would free up thinking time!

There are also other add for all sorts of staff, including architects - so maybe they are just short-handed?

See here for all the vacancies:

http://www.nehta.gov.au/careers

There are over 30 categories of vacancies - seems a lot!

All in all what we have to date seems pretty incomplete and not really ready for prime time. I wonder what will happen next?

David.

An Astonishing Comment Rolls onto The Blog!

This has just been posted.

Anonymous said...

Sadly, you don't know the half of it! We've been told to put our work on hold because NEHTA is building another more detailed architecture on the PCEHR that we'll have to fit into somehow, but that won't be available until the middle of next year.

Don't hold out much hope for the Politically Correct Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) from the Never Ever Have To deliver Anything (NEHTA) organisation.

Thursday, December 09, 2010 10:33:00 AM

If this is true - and the track record of informants has been pretty good, but nothing is certain of course - then there are going to be a number of very unhappy respondents to the request for proposals to provide PCEHR Trial Sites etc.

This is hardly a lot of notice when $55Million is up for grabs. The commercial implications are really not trivial at all if this is correct!

“Your application must:

1. Be lodged by hand, including by courier, at the DoHA Tender Box to meet the closing time deadline of 2pm (local Canberra time) on Thursday 23 December 2010;”

I look forward to confirmatory comments, clarifications or denials via the usual Anonymous route!

Early attention to this matter is appreciated!

David.

I Wonder How Successful This Will Be. I Suspect Most Clinician’s Eyes Will Just Glaze Over.

NEHTA popped this up a few days ago.

Detailed Clinical Models

NEHTA is actively engaging with the healthcare community to develop computable clinical content definitions known as Detailed Clinical Models (DCMs). Each Detailed Clinical Model is inclusive of all data attributes and potentially terminology bindings that are useful to describe a single, discrete clinical concept for use in a broad range of clinical scenarios. Examples of DCMs include: Problem/Diagnosis, Adverse Reaction, Medication order, Blood Pressure measurement, and a symptom.

If you would like to become actively involved in developing these DCMs, please self-register using the ‘Sign Up’ button in the top right of the Clinical Knowledge Manager (CKM) screen

What will the collaboration produce?

The resulting library of DCMs will be a cohesive and consistent set of clinical content specifications, based upon requirements identified by Australian clinicians and other health domain experts, and drawing from comparable work overseas. These will be uploaded and stored in the NEHTA Clinical Knowledge Manager (CKM), an online tool that will not only hold the library of DCMs but also support the life cycle management of each DCM through a collaborative, online review and publication process. Importantly, clinicians and domain experts will be able to validate that the clinical requirements have been met, and warrant that the resulting published DCMs are safe, high quality and fit for purpose.

What can be done with the DCMs produced?

Published DCMs will become a core national resource for expressing clinical content in a consistent, re-usable and standardised way. Multiple DCMs can be constrained and/or combined together into implementable specifications that can be used across all of Australia’s eHealth activities, including the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) and all health information exchanges, such as Health Summaries and eReferrals.

What is the work program?

Priorities for DCM development and review will initially be based on the needs of the NEHTA work program and the needs of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR). Initial development priorities are core clinical concepts:

1. Medications & Immunisations
2. Adverse Reactions
3. Medical History (including Problems and Diagnosis)
4. Lifestyle Risk Factors
5. Family History
6. Social History
7. Laboratory and pathology tests (including general laboratory, microbiology and anatomical pathology)
8. Requested Services
9. Diagnostic Imaging
10. Clinical Synopsis

Who should get involved?

NEHTA invites any interested individuals to self-register in the Clinical Knowledge Manager and become actively involved in the CKM online community and DCM development process. This includes the broadest range of clinicians, health domain experts and consumers. We encourage organisations to nominate individuals to join the community review process on behalf of their organisation.

There is a very important need for non-technical contributions from grassroots clinicians to warrant that the clinical content of each DCM itself is correct and appropriately defined. Review of the more technical aspects of each DCM will be covered by team members who have been identified as having technical, terminology and informatics expertise.

More information can be found here:

http://www.nehta.gov.au/connecting-australia/terminology-and-information/detailed-clinical-models

I encourage all who are interested to go and have a look. The site is found here:

http://dcm.nehta.org.au/ckm/

What is interesting is that what NEHTA is offering here looks very much like a rebranding of what is found here:

http://www.openehr.org/wiki/display/healthmod/Clinical+Knowledge+Manager

This has been under development for a couple of years. Most usefully there is an explanatory video (Quicktime Format) found on this page which explains what the intent of the Clinical Knowledge Manage is as without a bit of explanation it is not all that intuitive.

This is the direct link:

http://www.openehr.org/wiki/display/healthmod/Clinical+Knowledge+Manager+Video+Tutorials

It will be interesting to see if NEHTA sponsorship results in more actual clinical input and to what use that input is put.

Time will tell I guess.

David.

It is Now Clear The PCEHR Is Nothing But a PR Exercise and a Hoax on An Ill-Informed Public.

It seems the Government is trying to use confusion and deceit to have us believe that the PCEHR (The Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record) is the answer to a large swag of our Health System ills.

To put it simply this is just bunkum.

I have written enough on this topic to possibly bore some but there are a few things that need to be made crystal clear.

First the proposal for the PCEHR we see from NEHTA just ignores the fact that there is an e-Health system in place in Australia which is providing desktop support for many clinicians and which is facilitating - albeit somewhat imperfectly - secure clinical communications between the various health system participants.

The view offered in the diagram just simply ignores that NEHTA has had a goal since its inception of improving the quality and range of those clinical communications. All this seems to have been just tossed out the window in a misguided attempt to respond to a totally impractical and unachievable political hoax or con.

The diagram I am chatting about is found here if you missed it.

http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2010/12/it-isnt-only-wikileaks-that-can-cause.html

Consider that as a result of what NEHTA and DoHA are doing we now have a totally undignified ‘grab for cash’ from a granting agency that really is not providing realistic guidance as to what it is seeking. This is highlighted in this report.

$55m funding spurs progress on e-health personal records

• Karen Dearne
• From: The Australian
• December 07, 2010 12:00AM

A $55 MILLION pot for e-health projects is creating a scramble among health, consumer and industry groups for a stake in the new landscape.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon is seeking a "second wave" of alliances, offering innovative programs based on the personally controlled e-health record rollout.

"We want demonstrations that cover patients, GPs and other health providers, pharmacies, hospitals and aged-care facilities," Ms Roxon said.

The non-profit Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise, a global standards-based working group that solves real-world problems, said the funding could deliver a "fully functional" personal health record system for Australians by the end of 2012.

More here:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/m-funding-spurs-progress-on-e-health-personal-records/story-e6frgakx-1225966629876

This sort of ‘grab for cash’ reminds me of the legendary pink bats program where skills and capacities were promised and not actually delivered. Indeed some died because of it.

Delivering a properly planned, operational, evaluated and sustainable Health Information Exchange is just not possible in 18 months (it needs more like 4-5 years).

What NEHTA is planning to deliver is nothing more or less than an empty, portal based, political fix for a Government either to stubborn or too ignorant to gather good advice, gather good information from the rest of the work and lay out a systematic and well considered plan to meet the goals we all seek.

The risk of ignoring what needs to be done (NEHTA’s original mandate) while spending on this new fantasy is that we get nowhere with either project and waste a vast amount of money in the process.

On a related topic I was considering the example given at the Summit for the utility of the PCEHR discussing a middle aged chronically diseased woman who spent summer in Melbourne, a few months in Sydney with the grandchildren and the winter in Brisbane with her sister. She has 3 GPs - one for each port of call. The PCEHR was going to be a total wonder for her. Not actually so.

Each GP will have a practice management system and when the index service, using the IHI comes calling, it finds 3 different sets of records and results etc. Which is the most valid, most current and most reliable - who knows? The lack of a capitation system in Australia - linked with the use often of multiple GPs (one for the depression and one for the rest etc) means confusion and accidental discovery of information will abound. There are a zillion use cases like this which is why the secrecy and non-disclosure of what is planned needs to cease - or we will all suffer.

The support of clinicians and the place of the PCEHR (if any) needs a serious rethink or it will be a major cause of Labor losing the next election as it is seen to have grossly over-promised and failed to deliver.

As currently proposed the PCEHR is a hoax and a ‘dead man swinging’. It was always ill conceived and based on little more than a political slogan, as developed it is poorly designed, it will not engage clinicians and is highly likely to be rejected by consumers when they see how thin the actual offering is.

David.

It Isn’t Only WikiLeaks That Can Cause a Little Trouble. Look What NEHTA Has Let Out!

The following very fresh little tit-bit has just darkened my door.

I am sure the cover page will be of interest.

Much more fun however is the Draft Concept of Operations Diagram.

Having a close look (click to enlarge) it is clear that the recent blogs have been pretty close to the mark.

As predicted we have an indexing service, and access control service and a presentation service.

What is also interesting are the areas marked Lead, Release 1(R1) and Release 2 (R2).

It becomes clear that by July, 2012 that the lead and R1 is hoped to be operational - just - and that R2 will follow a good deal later and incrementally.

It is worth noting the Personal Health Records don’t happen until R2 and that there will be precious little that most who register for a PCEHR will access for a good few years.

Also note that NEHTA, like a dog with a bone, still has a Shared EHR - despite all the issues we have explored regarding this recently.

For years after 2012 the act of registration will be just that and nothing more. This is just an enormous hoax being played on consumers under political pressure.

My view, discussions on all this should be happening in public and be exposed to decent scrutiny.

It is just astonishing that this 80 page document devotes only a page or two to international experiences in this area. They are really determined to replicate the mistakes the rest of the world has made it would seem!

David.

Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 06 December, 2010.

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 subscription payment.

General Comment:

-----

Well a very interesting week. We seem to have a collection of spruikers saying that all is wonderful in the e-Health space (after a wonderful e-Health Summit) and others saying they feel the lack of transparency and disclosure about what is planned in the e-Health and what the implications of those plans is on all the various stakeholders will be a major blockage to progress.

At the very least I think the precautionary principle should apply and that, given all the difficulties that have been experienced elsewhere, a careful review of a properly formulated details proposal with costs, benefits, impacts and so on be undertaken by all those involved.

If this is what we will see early next year that will be helpful, but if the present disastrous level of open debate and discussion continues then I predict a real disaster will follow. This outcome is totally avoidable, indeed avoidance is what I for one hope for, and steps to ensure that the bad outcome is avoided must be taken sooner rather than later.

Sadly I am not holding my breath for sudden improvement!

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http://ehealthspace.org/news/roxon-watching-pcehr-opt-out-supporters

Roxon watching for PCEHR opt-out supporters

Posted Tue, 30/11/2010 - 12:52 by Mark Jones

Health Minister Nicola Roxon has signalled her willingness to embrace an opt-out approach to the federal government's personally controlled electronic health record system within three to five years.

The PCEHR is a central plank of the government's $467 million health reform agenda, with all Australians to be given the choice of opting into the system by July 2012. The adoption of an "opt-in" strategy is key to the government's strategy to gain the support of influential stakeholders including health industry, privacy and consumer groups.

But when eHealthspace.org questioned Roxon about the likely success of its opt-in strategy at the eHealth Summit in Melbourne today, she indicated communities may eventually prompt a change in focus to opt-out.

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http://idm.net.au/article/008193-cio-s-view-e-health-challenge

CIO’s view of E-Health challenge

12.01.10

In May 2010, the Federal Government announced it plans to spend $467 million over two years to introduce "personally controlled" individual electronic health records as part of a national health reform agenda.

Australia is nearly 18 months away from the scheduled delivery of a personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) for every citizen who wants one.

“The health sector, because of its history, has a lot of homegrown solutions that people are familiar with and moving to another standard is quite a challenge. Change management is going to be difficult but not impossible.”Like many in the healthcare industry, Doug Horsley is keen to learn how the PCEHR will work in practice.

Will it be a push to encourage Australians to upload their data to hosted offerings such as those available from Google or Microsoft? Will it be a centrally controlled database maintained at the state or federal level?

And if the individual truly has “personal” control over their record, how will a physician or clinician view it as a legitimate basis to recommend any treatment?

Horsley is Chief Information Officer at Australia’s largest Catholic not for profit private healthcare group, St John of God Health Care (SJGHC).

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http://www.news.com.au/national/queensland-health-blocking-hospital-error-reports-from-right-to-information-access/story-e6frfkvr-1225964885300

Queensland Health blocking hospital error reports from Right to Information access

• By Patrick Lion
• From: The Courier-Mail
• December 03, 2010 1:01AM

ERRORS in public hospitals are being hidden from Queenslanders under a secret Health Department scheme.

The Courier-Mail can reveal Queensland Health chiefs told the department's independent Right to Information decision-makers to block access to so-called clinical incident data detailing health bungles at hospitals across the state.

The errors censored can include reports about mix-ups of newborns, patients being wrongly medicated or surgery errors which shed light on the problems in the health system.

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http://6minutes.com.au/articles/z1/view.asp?id=526203

GP uses USB stick to share patients' records

By Gemma Collins

The government’s plans for e-health may still be under debate, but one GP practice has been developing its own type of shared record system by using a simple USB stick.

Patients at Vale Medical Clinic in Brookvale in NSW have had all their medical details transferred onto a data stick.

And so when they find themselves in an emergency department, doctors have all their information to-hand.

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http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/smartphone-apps/now-theres-an-app-to-fight-cancer-20101125-188wp.html

Now there's an app to fight cancer

November 25, 2010

The iPhone has been drafted into the fight against cancer.

The phone's multitudinous user base in Australia now has easy access to up-to-the-minute and location specific advice on UV levels, and when sun protection is necessary.

Cancer Council Australia announced on Thursday its "SunSmart" app had been listed on the iTunes store, and it was free to download.

"With UV levels likely to reach extreme levels in many parts of Australia over the next few months, it is important that people know when to use sun protection," Professor Ian Olver said.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/new-alliance-represents-consumers-in-e-health/story-e6frgakx-1225962889481

New alliance represents consumers in e-health

• UPDATE Karen Dearne
• From: The Australian
• November 30, 2010 9:11AM

A NEW Consumers e-Health Alliance of parties are keen to be "at the table'' as the Gillard government rolls out its $467 million Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record program (PCEHR).

The emerging network comprises people from organisations wanting to ensure health consumers' interests are adequately represented during implementation.

The CeHA has already won support from the Australian GP Network and the Medical Software Industry Association.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/consumers-health-forum-lobby-group-rolling-up-sleeves/story-e6frgakx-1225962887471

E-health group strengthens lobbying position

• Karen Dearne
• From: The Australian
• November 30, 2010 12:00AM

THE Consumers Health Forum has strengthened its lobbying position by becoming a company.

The independent grassroots organisation has been playing a larger role in co-ordinating consumer responses to federal government projects, including e-health initiatives.

Over the past two years, the CHF has received more than $2 million in contracts and grants to run a community support secretariat and provide policy input on e-health records, private health insurance reforms, pathology and an MBS review.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/telehealth-at-the-chemist/story-e6frg6nf-1225962975749

Telehealth 'at the chemist'

• Sue Dunlevy
• From: The Australian
• November 30, 2010 12:00AM

RURAL patients having remote video consultations with city-based medical specialists will not necessarily be in their GP's surgery.

A government discussion paper on the Gillard government's $400 million telehealth plan says the services could be centralised in a pharmacy or community centre in small towns and a GP might not have to sit in on all the consultations.

The telehealth plan was the centrepiece of Julia Gillard's election campaign launch, and the service is being promoted by the federal government as one of the breakthroughs that its $35.7 billion National Broadband Network will provide.

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http://www.pharmacynews.com.au/article/guild-welcomes-pharmacy-based-telehealth/526060.aspx

Guild welcomes pharmacy-based telehealth

30 November 2010 | by Nick O'Donoghue

Plans to make pharmacies in rural and remote parts of Australia hubs for telehealth are being supported by Pharmacy Guild of Australia.

Speaking to Pharmacy eNews after the release of a Government discussion paper, which said pharmacies, could be used to link rural patients seeking video consultations with city-based specialists, Guild president Kos Sclavos said community pharmacy was well positioned to provide online conferencing facilities.

“It’s an indication of pharmacy’s accessibility and connectivity, that some patients may be able to go to a pharmacy and have a video consultation with a specialist.

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http://www.nehta.gov.au/media-centre/nehta-news/770-mobile-phones

Mobile Phone Applications Could Help Revolutionise Health Care in Australia

30 November 2010. Accessing a patient’s record may be as easy as using a mobile phone application as the Government’s investment in e-Health revolutionises health care in Australia. A demonstration iPhone app has been developed to show how Doctors could access a patient’s record easily with e-Health records including x ray results and allergies, making diagnosis quicker and safer.

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http://delimiter.com.au/2010/11/30/an-iphone-app-will-not-fix-australias-e-health-woes/

An iPhone app will not fix Australia’s e-health woes

blog Hilarious news comes from the Federal Government’s flagship e-health conference in Melbourne this week, where Health Minister has revealed that part of Labor’s $466.7 million national e-health project will be spent on … an iPhone app for doctors. Quoth ZDNet:

The app is still in the development stage, but a demonstration of the app at the conference showed that doctors would be able to access a patient’s e-health record. The record could potentially contain information such as x-ray results or allergy details, depending on what the patient chose to provide.

Where do I even begin here? How about the fact that any iPhone application is ultimately only a window into the incredibly complex mishmash of technology platforms that constitutes Australia’s e-health systems — with a different set of them for every state, and sometimes even different sets within each state?

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http://www.apo.org.au/research/smart-technology-health-longevity

Smart technology for health longevity

• W.J. McG. Tegart
• Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering

Read the full text

PDF Smart technology for health longevity

15 July 2010

With the demographic ageing of Australia’s population, a suite of emerging innovative technologies offers the prospect of enhanced security, safety, diagnosis, treatment and physical assistance to improve the quality of life for elderly people, to help them remain at home, and to provide financial savings in aged care and medical treatment.

There is already a substantial investment in research and development capacity in this area in Australia but more needs to be done to maintain, strengthen and coordinate this activity and to ensure that public and private aged care authorities and organisations can effectively utilise the outcomes. The Australian Government has a critical role to play by promoting a National Research and Development Agenda on Technology and Ageing to complement the National Strategy on Ageing and the recently announced National Enabling Technologies Strategy.

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http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/369702/australian_government_outlines_key_issues_telehealth_scheme/?eid=-255&uid=25465

The Australian Government outlines key issues with telehealth scheme

The success of the initiative is reliant on a number of issues in the delivery process

• Chloe Herrick (Computerworld)
• 30 November, 2010 15:39

Establishing a clear deployment model and providing financial incentives for health care providers are some of the key issues to be resolved if telehealth services are to be successfully rolled out across Australia, according to the Department of Health and Ageing.

The issues, detailed in a discussion paper by the department, includes specifics around the implementation of the services, how the service will work, which medical specialties will work best in the online format, and potential technical issues.

The paper is seeking comment on practice models that are best suited to the system, for instance, whether a general practitioner (GP), a specialist or a nurse is required for an online consultation, or whether every GP in a given area will need online consultation facilities, as opposed to a centrally located facility to service all practices. It also looks to examine ways of linking practices with specialists and scheduling joint online consultations.

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http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/369816/nbn_first_release_sites_trial_telehealth/?eid=-6787&uid=25465

NBN first release sites to trial telehealth

Federal Government provides $4 million in funding to NSW Health to trial high-speed health monitoring

• James Hutchinson (Computerworld)
• 01 December, 2010 10:2

Two of the first mainland release sites under the National Broadband Network (NBN) will receive telehealth monitoring units in coming months, as part of a $4 million trial conducted by NSW Health.

As part of the trial, telehealth monitoring units and videoconferencing systems will be installed in homes and primary healthcare clinics of veterans with chronic diseases and those aged over 65 in the sites of Armidale and Kiama Downs. Under the rollout of the NBN, each of the sites are expected to encompass up to 6000 premises connected to speeds of up to one gigabit per second (Gbps).

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/government/armidale-kiama-downs-to-pilot-e-health/story-fn4htb9o-1225963914421

NBN sites Armidale, Kiama Downs to test e-health in NSW

• Karen Dearne
• From: Australian IT
• December 01, 2010 1:31PM

NSW Health will conduct telehealth trials in the mainland NBN pilot sites of Armidale and Kiama Downs.

Funding will come from the federal government's $4 million pot, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said.

The Digital Regions grant will allow NSW to pilot remote healthcare delivery directly into the homes of people aged over 65 with chronic medical conditions, via high-quality video-conferencing links.

"Armidale and the Hunter New England region has built a strong foundation for using telehealth to deliver improved services in hospitals and regional communities," Senator Conroy said.

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http://www.pharmacynews.com.au/article/roxon-says-5cpa-a-model-for-e-health/526098.aspx

Roxon says 5CPA a model for e-health

1 December 2010 | by Nick O'Donoghue

The Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement is an example of how e-health systems can work, according to Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon.

Speaking at the Government’s e-Health Conference in Melbourne yesterday the Minister highlighted a number of e-health initiatives funded in the agreement with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.

She said aspects of the agreement would reduce duplication of medical information in nursing homes and record data on controlled drugs.

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http://www.smh.com.au/business/isoft-chief-goes-in-hard-with-the-apologies-20101130-18ffm.html

ISoft chief goes in hard with the apologies

David Symons

December 1, 2010

AS THE annual meeting season draws to a close, the award for the most grovelling chairman's address looks set to go to debt-laden healthcare software company iSoft, whose shares have tumbled 90 per cent over the past year.

ISoft's recently installed chairman, Robert Moran, yesterday reserved a large chunk of his address to explain ''how and why we got it wrong''.

Moran said ''we were too slow to react to the changed economic environment'', ''we failed to achieve the growth levels'', and ''we are carrying too much debt for the level of trading''.

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http://www.newsmaker.com.au/news/6256

Medication Errors Reduced 60% with iSOFT's MedChart

Monday, November 29, 2010 - iSOFT Group

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, November 29, 2010 – Exciting new Australian research presented at the Health Informatics Conference (HIC) 2010 shows that electronic medication management has the potential to markedly reduce prescribing errors by more than half. Medication errors affect some 189,000 Australian hospital admissions every year and cost the health system an estimated $1 billion.

The study titled, “The effectiveness of an electronic medication management system to reduce prescribing errors in hospital http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=430012692310760;res=IELHEA is the first Australian research of its kind. Professor Johanna Westbrook, Director of the Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research, University of New South Wales was the study lead author.

The study authors examined the introduction and use of MedChart, the iSOFT Medication Management solution http://www.isofthealth.com/en/Solutions/HospitalsandClinics/MedicationManagement.aspx, within a mental health unit of an Australian teaching hospital. The solution included an electronic medication chart, and combined prescribing, clinical pharmacy review and drug administration.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/city-beat/debt-laden-isoft-mulls-sale-option/story-fn4xq4cj-1225963279238

Debt-laden iSoft mulls sale option

• Michael Bennet
• From: The Australian
• November 30, 2010 1:27PM

TROUBLED iSoft has revealed it could sell its whole business, after being pushed by disgruntled shareholders at its annual meeting today.

The debt-laden health IT company is conducting a wide-ranging strategic review, after its $383 million loss in August, to pay down $240m in drawn down debt.

The group is looking to overhaul its capital structure chairman Robert Moran described as "wrong" and is looking at asset sales and cost cutting measures.

iSoft this month broke stricter covenants, which saw its banks, including Westpac and National Australia Bank bring forward the maturity of ₤82.5m ($133m) in debt by more than a year to March 15, 2012.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/debt-laden-isoft-group-in-the-market-for-a-buyer/story-e6frg8zx-1225963538315

Debt-laden iSoft Group in the market for a buyer

• Michael Bennet
• From: The Australian
• December 01, 2010 12:00AM

THE troubled iSoft Group has revealed that the "for sale" sign is up, as it continues to assess ways to repay its $240 million debts.

At the health IT company's annual general meeting in Sydney yesterday, chairman Robert Moran told a disgruntled shareholder selling the whole business was possible.

"Yes, it's one of the options," he said, without revealing if an offers had been received.

The shareholder questioned iSoft's management after the company gave little guidance and the shares plunged 90 per cent this year. The shares lifted 5.4 per cent yesterday to 7.8c.

"The reason I think probably all of us are here is because we think it's worth more than 7c," Mr Moran said.

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http://ehealtheurope.net/news/6459/dutch_hospital_extends_isoft_contract

Dutch hospital extends iSoft contract

29 Nov 2010

The Canisius-Wilhelmina Ziekenhuis Hospital in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, has signed a €3m contract with iSoft for continued support of its hospital information system and electronic patient record for a further three years.

The 650-bed hospital first implemented iSoft’s v2 HIS and Mirador EPR, both of which are specifically designed for the Netherlands, four years ago.

As well as support, the new deal includes an annual €100,000 ‘innovation budget’ to trial and implement new technologies provided by iSoft that will aim to further optimise clinical processes and improve efficiency and quality and reduce costs.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/bush-gps-fear-nbn-price/story-fn59niix-1225963532565

Bush GPs fear NBN price

• Annabel Hepworth and Mitchell Bingemann
• From: The Australian
• December 01, 2010 12:00AM

RURAL doctors are worried they will have to pay more for high-speed broadband than health professionals in urban Australia.

They are urging the government to ensure they don't, as fears grow that the Gillard government's post-election pledge of a uniform nationwide price faces a major challenge.

As the government yesterday insisted the National Broadband Network would facilitate its e-health initiatives, the National Rural Health Alliance said it was crucial that the model used for postage stamps -- where a single price was used nationwide -- was applied to the NBN.

The alliance's chairwoman, Jenny May -- who has a general practice in Tamworth, in the New England region of NSW -- said it was crucial that broadband was affordable to all Australians.

The group wants "universal affordability similar to the postage stamp model so that someone who is running a business in Borrona could do it with the same infrastructure cost of someone in Sydney", she said.

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http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/NBN-Co-Telstra-broadband-Stephen-Conroy-pd20101130-BP3SQ?OpenDocument

The NBN is not enough

Paul Budde

Published 6:41 AM, 1 Dec 2010 Last update 10:18 AM, 1 Dec 2010

My promotion of high-speed broadband – in Australia and also in NZ, USA, UK, NL and the UN – has been geared towards a trans-sectoral approach.

That means that it is not sufficient to simply say that the network is there and that the services will now develop – active government policies are then needed to direct the other sectors to start using the digital infrastructure for those services and access to an open network needs to be made available on a genuine wholesale basis.

This means that money must be reallocated towards the digital economy. In Australia active e-health, e-education and smart grid policies are now in place, all aimed at directing these sectors to use the NBN.

This has not been the case in countries quoted in the recent report Superfast: Is It Really Worth a Subsidy?, by telecommunications consultant and Robert Kenny and his brother Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the US centre for global development.

That report argues that the social and economic benefits of high-speed broadband networks are oversold.

I agree that to simply roll out a broadband network and then hope for those applications to arrive is not working, and will never work. Also, these trans-sector services typically require a national approach.

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http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/369459/nbn_benefits_grossly_overstated_study/?eid=-6787&uid=25465

NBN benefits "grossly overstated": study

Benefits of e-health, smart-grids and online education bear little relationship to fibre-to-the-home

• AAP (AAP)
• 29 November, 2010 08:5

An international study has found the claimed benefits of a national broadband network have been "grossly overstated", and accuses the federal government of misusing research to build the case for it.

Fairfax newspapers say the study, prepared by the British telecommunications consultant Robert Kenny and Charles Kenny from the US Centre for Global Development, was released in London before the vote on Monday on legislation paving the way for the NBN.

It found the evidence to support claims made for fibre-to-the-home networks was "surprisingly weak" and cited Australia as a key example.

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http://www.theage.com.au/national/nbns-benefits-grossly-overstated-study-reveals-20101128-18cf1.html

NBN's benefits grossly overstated, study reveals

Peter Martin

November 29, 2010

THE federal government has been accused of misusing research to build the case for the National Broadband Network in an international study that finds the claimed benefits ''grossly overstated''.

Released in London ahead of today's vote in Canberra on legislation to support the NBN, the study finds evidence to support the claims made for fibre-to-the-home ''surprising weak'' and cites Australia as a key example.

''All else equal, faster is better,'' says the study, prepared by British telecommunications consultant Robert Kenny with Charles Kenny from the US Centre for Global Development.

''But faster technologies don't always triumph; think of passenger hovercraft, maglev trains, and supersonic airliners. Concorde (if it hadn't retired) would still be the fastest passenger aircraft today, having first flown in 1969. It turned out that the incremental benefits of speed to most customers were not worth the extra cost.''

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http://www.techworld.com.au/article/369784/top_15_free_tools_every_windows_desktop/

Top 15 free tools for every Windows desktop

15 free (or nearly free) Windows utilities for a fast, productive desktop environment

• Woody Leonhard (InfoWorld)
• 01 December, 2010 07:49

If you haven't looked at the Windows utilities landscape lately, you're in for a big surprise. Many of the old favorites have changed, bringing new features to Windows 7, as well as XP. Others have fallen by the wayside, replaced by upstarts that deliver meaningful functionality that once cost big bucks.

But where to begin? After all, there is almost no end to the number of tools offered for Windows desktops. To help guide you on your quest to find the best free tools available for Windows, I poured through reviews, sifted through hundreds of websites, and canvassed Windows-savvy customers and colleagues to see which products actually help Windows users work faster and free up time for more important things in their business day -- and in their lives.

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Enjoy!

David.