Here are a few I have come across this week.
Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs.
For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also
that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
General Comment
Really a very quiet
news week. The most exciting thing is that we are promised a new revised PCEHR
ConOps. It was to be delivered during August, but seems to have been delayed.
That can’t be helping those delivering the system!
On another front I
note that as late as Thursday September 1, 2011 we have yet to see a contract
finalised between DoHA and Standards Australia to progress E-Health Standards
including some involved PCHER.
To quote “I have
discussed the situation with xxx, Senior Portfolio Manager. xxx has informed
that unfortunately SA and DOHA have not
yet executed the contract so SA are unable to facilitate any meetings at this
stage. With regard to the proposed new date, the decision is given below.”
Oh dear, seems to
be getting a bit messy here. We need all involved to get moving on this if we
are to see anything useful happen with the PCEHR in the next decade or so
.
-----
The committee found that while the NBN will improve e-health
implementation, a national leadership strategy is needed to implement
initiatives across the entire sector
Increased government leadership is needed to successfully
implement e-health initiatives across the entire healthcare sector, as opposed
to individual providers, a House of Representatives committee has found.
In its
report into the role and potential of the National
Broadband Network (NBN), the infrastructure and communications committee found
that while the NBN will play a significant role in improving the implementation
of e-health systems, challenges remain in gaining wider change.
The report cites comments made by the Broadband Commission
for Digital Development that the key reason behind e-health implementation
delays is the benefits reaching society as a whole, as opposed to immediate
positive consequences for the commercial aspects of healthcare.
-----
THE National
E-Health Transition Authority has collared an estimated $200 million so far for
the 18-month run-up to the Gillard government's personal e-health records
launch next July 1, with more money to come.
The Transition
Authority received some $110m in base funding for e-health standards work
between January 2011 and June 2012, plus separate Personally Controlled
Electronic Health Record contracts worth $90m from the Department of Health.
A third tranche of
these funds is due in October.
This contrasts with
just under $200m for four private-sector projects including the building of the
system, three lead implementations and nine e-health pilots to be finished in
the same period.
Only $2.3m has been
allocated to help local software providers redevelop their products through the
Transition Authority's GP desktop panel.
-----
Mark Metherell
September
1, 2011
THE Facebook era is
spurring an about-turn in the attitudes of those once anxious about the ''big
brother'' implications of electronic health records.
Consumer health
leaders have reversed their demand for the government to require individuals to
choose to be part of the system that will enable the electronic storage and
transfer of patient records.
At a meeting on
medicines policy in Canberra this week, 50 consumer health advocates
unanimously backed the introduction of an ''opt-out'' process under which
individuals would be automatically connected unless they took the conscious
step to stay out.
The Consumer Health
Forum says the change reflects a transformation in attitudes among many health
activists who are now more comfortable with electronic records and have become
more convinced of the potential benefits of e-health to patient care and
safety, and to streamline health services.
-----
THERE could be a
snag lying in store for attempts to improve care through a voluntary system
encouraging patients to register with a particular general practice.
It seems the
patients themselves are not too keen.
Newspoll research
conducted for Inquirer shows slim majority support for registration, at 51 per
cent, even after it's been explained to respondents that the move should give
them better quality healthcare.
Support for
registration dipped to 45 per cent in the 18-34 age bracket, suggesting a bumpy
road ahead for efforts to bring in registration if this lack of enthusiasm
reflects a generational attitude.
Support in the
over-50s, who are much more likely to have the chronic conditions such as
diabetes for whom such schemes are most relevant, was only slightly higher, at
55 per cent.
-----
Posted Tue, 30/08/2011 - 13:35 by Josh Gliddon
The General
Practice Data Governance Council has launched a website that provides tools for
health professionals looking to ensure data generated by consultations with
patients is handled properly.
Dr Mukesh
Haikerwal, independent chair of the General Practice Data Governance Council,
said this secondary use of data could be as varied as clinical research,
disease events and health planning.
.....
-----
It was the third
scathing assessment of the Therapeutic Goods Administration delivered this year
to new TGA national manager Rohan Hammett, a clinical and academic physician.
"The TGA has
for a long time been an easy beat-up and I think much of it has been deserved,
frankly. We're trying to change that," he says.
Hammett tells
Weekend Health his wish list includes beefed up post-market surveillance of
medical devices, backed by the power to impose new civil penalties on companies
breaching TGA regulations.
-----
We take a look at what an average day for Jurman looks like,
as well as what's next on his IT agenda
With around 13,000 staff working across more than 40 sites, Southern
Health is the largest health service in Victoria. The organisation covers parts
of metropolitan Melbourne, as well as sites at Monash, Greater Dandenong, Casey,
Cardinia, Kingston, Glen Eira, Frankston, Knox and Bayside.
The organisation’s director of information technology, Paul Jurman, sat
down with Computerworld Australia to discuss what an average day
involves for him.
-----
Leading pharmacy
organisations appear to be on different pages when it comes to the introduction
of Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records (PCEHRs), the AMA believes.
Responding to
claims by Kos Sclavos, Pharmacy Guild of Australia national president, that the
AMA would seek to lock other health professionals out of the PCEHRs, Dr Steve
Hambleton (pictured), AMA president, suggested the Guild consult the PSA on the
issue.
In his fortnightly
opinion piece in Pharmacy
News, Mr Sclavos expressed concerns medical organisations
including the AMA would seek to freeze other health professionals out of having
input into PCEHRs, giving total control to doctors.
"In my view
some of the negativity comes from medical organisations questioning controls in
the system, and by default reducing consumer confidence," he said.
"The AMA has
again predictably run interference stressing their desire that the system must
be doctor-centric, with the doctor controlling every step.
-----
Working with
doctors on personally controlled electronic health records (PCEHRs) will
provide the best outcomes for patients, the PSA believes.
Following claims by
Kos Sclavos, Pharmacy Guild of Australia national president, that the AMA was
running "interference" to create a doctor-centric PCEHR system, Grant
Kardachi, PSA national president, told Pharmacy News that collaborating with
GPs was essential to ensue quality use of medicines (QUM).
"PSA’s
position has always been to act in the best interests of patients, especially
in the area of patient safety, following QUM principles with respect to
medicines," Mr Kardachi said.
"Working with
our colleague GPs will be essential to ensure medicine safety for our patients,
and the PCEHRs will support that.
-----
Squabbles are breaking out in respect of who is
going to manage Person Controlled Electronic Health Records (PCEHR) with the Australian
Medical Association (AMA) and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia (PGA) being the
most vocal.
This against a backdrop of a contract being awarded
to Accenture and their alliance partners, Oracle and Orion to develop the
system on behalf of the Australian government.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon has said Accenture
would receive $47.8m to develop the personally controlled e-health record
system.
The department will also pay $17.8m to Oracle in
licence fees for access to e-health records stored within all PCEHR
repositories, and $11m in fees to Orion for operating a portal.
-----
Cloud product innovation laboratory opened in Melbourne,
aimed at enterprise and government customers
The move to Cloud will be accelerated for Telstra’s
(ASX:TLS) enterprise customers following the opening of a product innovation
lab with its US-based consulting partner, Accenture, in Melbourne this week.
The lab is designed to become an Australian innovation hub,
with Cloud-based technologies to be developed for both enterprise and
government organisations. It is part of an
$800
million, five-year investment in Cloud services announced by Telstra in
June this year.
According to Telstra’s chief technology officer, Dr Hugh
Bradlow, the lab will show businesses how Cloud computing technologies could
improve their business performance.
-----
Older people often fall for internet scams and then are too
embarrassed to report the fraud, a study has found
- AAP
(AAP)
- 29
August, 2011 08:30
Older people often fall for internet scams and then become
too embarrassed to report the fraud, a study has found.
The over-55 age group accounts for 40 per cent of victims
even though their age group is less likely to use the internet, a study by the
Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) has found.
The study surveyed 202 Victorians who had sent money to
Nigeria to determine why they had responded to unsolicited contact and the
impact of the fraud on their lives.
Federal justice minister, Brendan O'Connor, said many
victims were too embarrassed to report the fraud to authorities.
-----
- From: AAP
- September 02,
2011 7:42PM
THE Royal Flying
Doctors' Service (RFDS) says health services in Wilcannia in western NSW could
suffer if the national broadband network (NBN) fibre rollout bypasses the area.
RFDS southeastern
section executive director Clyde Thompson says rural and remote areas need far
better internet services than they now have.
"If we are
going to have an NBN ... please make sure that the capacity of the NBN in
remote areas, particularly in the satellite uplinks, meets the requirements of
remote communities," he told ABC Television today.
-----
Enjoy!
David.
