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
No doubt the big
news of the week has been the release of the ‘Final’ Concept of Operations for
the PCEHR.
Two other bits of
news - the announcement of the Draft Telehealth Standards and the DoHA data
warehouse have rather slipped between the cracks!
Setting up these
warehouses to be data-mined for quality, performance and cost information may
indeed turn out the be a much larger step than most are recognising right now!
The Draft
Telehealth Standards are found here:
There is a lot of
information - but it is not clear to me exactly what is being standardised at a
technical level. Comments welcome on this one!
Certainly the
control and governance of this information needs to be very closely watched.
Lots of other
interesting stuff - including the rather sad note that one of our medical
technology companies has hit a rather nasty bump on the road. This country produces
only so many major successes of a technical kind and it is to be hoped this
ship can be quickly righted.
-----
Enterprise data warehouse project will help facilitate the
National Health Reform initiative
- Tim
Lohman (Computerworld)
- 16
September, 2011 09:36
Australia’s National Health Reform (NHR) initiative has
taken a step forward with the announcement that it will shortly begin the
enterprise data warehouse (EDW) overhaul component of the initiative.
The NHR initiative seeks to unify the Commonwealth, states
and territories in a nationwide health and hospital system overhaul.
The EDW program, one of many elements, will ensure the data
collection and storage facilities for a range of key health-related data sets
are in place to support the NHR.
The EDW will also provide access to key common and agency
specific data collections; provide the tools for a range of data analysis,
modelling and forecasting activities; and ensure activity based funding-related
data transfer between the relevant national, state and territory agencies. The
data sets involved in the data warehousing program are sizable.
-----
The Department of
Health and Ageing has agreed to resume the funding required to develop the
technical standards that underpin its $466.7 million personally controlled
electronic health record initiative.
The department had reportedly
cut funding to an e-health standards development program by Standards Australia
over the current financial year.
Negotiations around
funding for Standards Australia's work continued well into August. A spokesman
for the national body said an agreement had since been reached.
-----
THE Medical
Software Industry Association has warned that the Gillard government's $500
million e-health records rollout is a "standards-free zone" that will
lead to massive costs and risks sinking local e-health providers.
The revised concept
of operations for the personally controlled e-health record system, currently
under implementation at 12 lead sites, was released by Health Minister Nicola
Roxon in Canberra yesterday.
But the document
reveals that a swag of technical standards needed for the build are yet to be
decided. Instead, private contractors will have to rely on
"specifications" developed by the National E-Health Transition
Authority, which will ultimately progress these for acceptance by Standards
Australia.
An MSIA spokeswoman
said there was little point in having a dozen projects and a national
repository for patient records if the work was being done without reference to
appropriate standards.
-----
The final plans for
the personally-controlled e-health record (PCEHR) have been released by health
minister Nicola Roxon. However, medical groups such as the AMA say the
government has not listened to the practical suggestions put forward by doctors
for the scheme, which is due to start in July 2012. Michael Woodhead reports on
what the scheme will look like.
-----
- Natasha Bita, Consumer editor
- From: The Australian
- September 16,
2011 12:00AM
CELEBRITIES,
politicians and victims of domestic violence will be given fake identities to
prevent hacking into their medical records stored in the federal government's
new electronic health database.
The government has
decided to let patients who "fear exposure due to the public nature of
their work" use pseudonyms when they sign up for the $467 million e-health
system, which will begin storing medical records in a central database from
July next year.
-----
Posted Mon, 12/09/2011 - 16:46 by Josh Gliddon
The Australian
Medical Association (AMA) has renewed its concerns about the structure of the
PCEHR following the federal government’s launch of the final version of the
Concept of Operations today.
In particular, the
AMA has raised concerns about the ability for patients to excise aspects of
their medical records from the record as something that could have serious
consequences in an emergency situation. The AMA has repeatedly questioned
aspects of the PCEHR’s operation in public and private forums.
-----
Posted Thu, 15/09/2011 - 11:40 by Josh Gliddon
The Royal
Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has welcomed the final
Concept of Operations document for the personally controlled electronic
healthcare record (PCEHR), with a caveat.
The peak
organisation for GPs stated not all of its concerns had not been addressed, the
plan did provide the clarity needed to get the record underway.
“The RACGP is
pleased that the final plan for the PCEHR has been released and whilst not all
our previously raised issues have been addressed, it is important that
Australia gets underway with the implementation of the PCEHR,” said Dr John W.
Bennett, chair of the RACGP National Standing Committee – ehealth, in a
statement.
-----
Slow uptake of the
government's planned personally controlled e-health records (PCEHR) will be
better for the system, according to Health Minister Nicola Roxon, who said that
it may not be able to cope with 100 per cent adoption on day one.
At the unveiling of
the government's final
concept of operations report for the PCEHR system in Canberra yesterday,
Roxon refused to be drawn on what level of take-up for the opt-in system she
was expecting from the launch on 1 July 2012, instead saying that it will be
better if fewer people sign up for the system on day one.
-----
FEDERAL Health
Minister Nicola Roxon has hit back at critics of the opt-in system for setting
up individual electronic health records, saying people shouldn't have to make
the switch before they are ready.
Every Australian
has been assigned a 16-digit identification number, but they won't
automatically get an e-health record when the system starts in mid-2012.
Instead, they'll
have to choose to participate.
Doctors say that's
a mistake, saying an opt-out system would be better.
-----
- Karen Dearne
- From: Australian
IT
- September 13,
2011 9:08AM
HEALTH Minister
Nicola Roxon has flatly ruled out paying for doctors to create and maintain
electronic health records on behalf of their patients.
In a doorstop
interview at the launch of a model e-health display in Parliament House
yesterday (MON), Ms Roxon replied "no" when asked if there would be a
special Medicare rebate for doctors using a new $500 million nationwide patient
electronic record system due to start next July 1.
-----
The government has
ignored advice from medical groups on the PCEHR, with health minister
Nicola Roxon ruling out any special rebate to cover the costs of adopting the
new system.
In an interview
yesterday she said GPs were already using computerised systems and would see
the value in switching to a new and better record system.
“The government's
commitments are to fund the infrastructure that's required so that the system
can talk to each other. It's not to fund each and every bit of a general
practice or a health practice of any type which is going to constantly update
itself and want to keep up with modern technology,” she said.
-----
13-Sep-2011
Paul Smith
There will be no new MBS items to fund the time GPs spend setting up
the Federal Government’s $467 million e-health record system.
Yesterday saw the
release of the government’s final blueprint, detailing how the records will
work, the clinical information they will hold, the extent of a patient’s
control over their content and the role of the GP.
GPs will be expected
to become the so-called “curators” of patients’ shared health summaries, the
part of the e-health record that will list diagnoses, medications, allergies
and basic biographical details.
But Federal Health
Minister Nicola Roxon, when asked by reporters if there would be special
Medicare rebates for setting up the records, said: “No. Look, we are not
contemplating that there will be a special rebate. I’m sure that over time
there’ll be all sorts of different options and requests and they will be considered
as they come.
-----
THE revised concept
of operations for the Gillard government's $500 million e-health records
program fleshes out some details but many of the ticklish issues around
funding, governance and medico liability remain "out of scope".
Consultations threw
up concerns that as yet, there are no arrangements for long-term management of
the personally controlled e-health record (PCEHR) program and related services,
that there is no ongoing funding beyond its July 1 startup date, and that there
is no money on the table to compensate doctors for the creation and maintenance
of uploaded patient information.
-----
Australians are a
step closer to accessing their medical records from July 2012 after the
government issued the blueprint for national electronic health records.
The government
released the concept of operations for the personally controlled electronic
health record (PCEHR) system on Monday.
Health and Ageing
Minister Nicola Roxon said the plan would help build the core parts of the
system in the move from paper-based records to secure e-health data.
"Ehealth will
help us provide better care, save lives and save money," Ms Roxon said in
a statement on Monday.
-----
By Computer Daily News | Monday | 2011-09-12
The Federal Government has released a new blueprint for the deployment
of its e-health project. The blueprint includes a timeline for the rollout of
its e-health program, as well as development of personally controlled e-health
records (PCEHR in Canberra-speak) and telehealth initiatives.
The Government has set out how it will meet 45 percent of efficient
growth funding from July 2014, and 50 percent of efficient growth from July
2017 at an initial cost of $467 million.
It plans to have the national infrastructure for the PCEHR in place in
the first quarter of 2012, with further enabling legislation ideally set to
pass in March or April.
-----
By Beverley Head
Monday, 12 September 2011 15:25
Five months to
the day after releasing its draft concept of operations (ConOps) document
regarding the use of personally controlled electronic health records (PCEHR),
the Federal Government has unveiled the final version. The ConOps explains how
the nation’s e-health system will be structured, how it will work, and what
security and privacy principles will be embraced.
According to the
minister for health and ageing Nicola Roxon; “The Concept of Operations will be
used by our infrastructure partners to build the system to allow all
Australians to sign up from July next year.” Despite multiple concerns raised
during the consultation phase the regime remains opt-in, meaning that only
those Australians that want a PCEHR will get one.
-----
Healthcare
providers get unlimited "break-glass" access to patient records.
Healthcare
providers will have access to all clinical documents and records in an
emergency situation under a revised concept of operations released by the
Department of Health and Ageing today.
The "no access"
provision was proposed in the draft document in May as one of three document
security levels that allowed users to fine-tune access to their personally
controlled electronic health record, due to be available from July 1 next year.
It came in addition
to the "general access" and "limited access" levels, the
latter of which restricted access to some documents for nominated healthcare
providers.
-----
The Australian
Government has finalised its plans for its personally-controlled electronic
health record (PCEHR) system with the release of a final Concept of Operations
report, which contains significant alterations to how the proposed system will
work, including a change in how health providers will be able to access medical
information.
The final plans (PDF) for the health record system, which is
expected to be made available to the general public in July next year, were
released by the Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, today.
-----
Federal health minister, Nicola Roxon, has hit back at
critics of the "opt-in" system for individual electronic health
records
- AAP
(AAP)
- 13
September, 2011 08:27
Federal health minister, Nicola Roxon, has hit back at
critics of the "opt-in" system for setting up individual electronic
health records, saying people shouldn't have to make the switch before they are
ready.
Every Australian has been assigned a 16-digit identification
number but they won't automatically get an e-health record when the system
starts in mid-2012.
Instead, they'll have to choose to participate.
-----
Plans to expand wireless in the works
The rollout of iPads, a 'bring your own' technology (BYOT)
policy and the trial of an internal wireless network have given
Southern
Health staff members greater access to patient information while on the
move.
Southern Health CIO, Dr Philip Nesci, said that the largest
public service provider in Victoria began to trial wireless internet at Casey
Hospital earlier this year.
“We decided to go fully wireless in Casey Hospital,
basically as a pilot to really understand not just wireless but technologies
and the impact they can have on personal care,” he said.
-----
A committee of
mental health professionals, social media experts and carers has been appointed
to oversee rollout of new services.
Access to online
mental health services is a step closer after the federal government appointed
a committee to oversee their rollout.
The committee
comprises a mix of mental health professionals, social media experts and
consumer and carer representatives.
-----
SOFTWARE under
trial that warns pharmacists not to dispense addictive medication to drug
addicts if they have been given such medication just days before could bring
addictions under control if introduced.
West Australian
Coroner Alastair Hope earlier this week called for a central register to
monitor the sale and use of the addictive medicines after a 40-year-old mother
of seven died from an overdose of methadone while being treated for an
addiction to prescription drugs.
The Pharmacy Guild
of Australia says it is working with the government on a real-time recording
system that captures data on the dispensing of controlled Schedule 8 drugs such
as codeine, methadone, oxycodone and pethidine.
-----
COLLEEN EGAN and ANDREW TILLETT, The West Australian September 14, 2011,
5:14 am
Doctors need a live
computer database system if they are to keep up with trends in the black market
prescription drug trade, according to the Australian Medical Association.
AMA WA president
Dave Mountain said yesterday there was "a significant number" of
people who made a living from visiting GPs and pharmacists for pills which they
then sold for $30 to $50 each.
Dr Mountain said
painkiller oxycodone and sedative Stilnox were "flavour of the month"
in Perth because they had a reputation as party drugs, often when mixed with
alcohol and other substances.
-----
COCHLEAR'S
voluntary global recall of its unimplanted Nucleus 5 hearing device could see
the company post its weakest full-year earnings in six years as sales decline.
The world's largest
hearing implant maker began the recall on Monday after an increase in the
number of failures, and has ceased manufacturing the unit while it investigates
the cause of the "shut down", which it says does not injure users.
While Cochlear
plans to increase production of the device's predecessor, the Nucleus Freedom,
the company could not forecast the financial impact of its first major product
recall or how long it would take for the device to re-enter the market.
-----
KEY planks of the
National Broadband Network business case are anti-competitive and will send
Australia backwards, one of Kevin Rudd's "best and brightest"
economic brains has warned.
In a blistering
critique, economist Joshua Gans, who in 2008 was hand-picked to attend the then
prime minister's 2020 summit to discuss productivity, has criticised plans to
subsidise the rural NBN rollout through the prices that urban consumers pay.
The promise to put
a cross-subsidy in place so that regional areas pay the same access prices for
the NBN as people in the city was a key promise to the regional independents
Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott that helped Labor form a second-term government.
-----
Digital business partner says technology can improve quality
of life for aged care residents
The opportunity to help Australia's aging population with relevant
technology must be taken account for in the rollout of the National Broadband
Network (NBN), a KPMG digital business national managing partner has argued.
Speaking at an Enterprise Ireland trade mission in Sydney, Malcolm
Alder, said that aged healthcare was a "burning issue" and the
infrastructure provided by the NBN would deliver technological advances that
could help aged care.
Alder shared the findings of an e-health pilot that he was involved with
at a rest home in Foster, NSW, this year.
"The staff had been there 15 to 20 years and were not overly computer
illiterate," he said "The thought that a whole bunch of [e-health]
technology was going to descend on them was scary."
However, when the staff discovered that the technology was going to make
their life easier and the quality of the residents that they were caring for
better, their attitude changed, he said.
-----
AGPN board members
are to become the founder members of a new Medicare Local National Body, but a
question mark remains over the future role - if any - of the AGPN and GP
division state-based organisations (SBOs).
A communiqué (link)
from the AGPN Board says health minister Nicola Roxon has made it clear that
SBOs will not continue in their current form when the Medicare Local National
Body is formed
-----
THE IBM
supercomputer most famous for beating two former champions of American game
show Jeopardy! earlier this year will soon be helping US physicians identify
treatment options, under an agreement announced last week.
US healthcare
company WellPoint has signed a deal for the first commercial applications for
the IBM ‘Watson’ technology, which was designed to rival a human’s ability to
answer questions posed in natural language.
The system can sift
through an equivalent of about one million books or roughly 200 million pages
of data, analyse the information and provide precise responses in less than
three seconds.
-----
Java remains the longtime top-ranked language in the Tiobe
Programming Community index
Objective-C, used for developing
Apple iOS applications, climbs to No. 6 in the monthly
Tiobe Programming Community index for most popular programming languages, after
being ranked at number 8 a year ago. Also posting gains, C# rose to No. 4, a
jump of two spots a year ago, while PHP dropped from No. 4 at this time last
year to No. 5.
-----
Business decision-makers who get their proprietary software
illegally need to wake up and check out the free alternatives.
Close to half of all computer users around the world tend to
get their software illegally, and business decision-makers are no exception.
That's one finding from a recent survey commissioned by the
Business Software Alliance (BSA) lobby group, which reported the results in a
blog post last week.
-----
Enjoy!
David.
