How A Less Than Robust Password Can Cause A Lot of Trouble!

The following article appeared a few days ago.

Hacked!

As email, documents, and almost every aspect of our professional and personal lives moves onto the “cloud”—remote servers we rely on to store, guard, and make available all of our data whenever and from wherever we want them, all the time and into eternity—a brush with disaster reminds the author and his wife just how vulnerable those data can be. A trip to the inner fortress of Gmail, where Google developers recovered six years’ worth of hacked and deleted e‑mail, provides specific advice on protecting and backing up data now—and gives a picture both consoling and unsettling of the vulnerabilities we can all expect to face in the future.

By James Fallows

On April 13 of this year, a Wednesday, my wife got up later than usual and didn’t check her e‑mail until around 8:30 a.m. The previous night, she had put her computer to “sleep,” rather than shutting it down. When she opened it that morning to the Gmail account that had been her main communications center for more than six years, it seemed to be responding very slowly and jerkily. She hadn’t fully restarted the computer in several days, and thought that was the problem. So she closed all programs, rebooted the machine, and went off to make coffee and have some breakfast.

When she came back to her desk, half an hour later, she couldn’t log into Gmail at all. By that time, I was up and looking at e‑mail, and we both quickly saw what the real problem was. In my inbox I found a message purporting to be from her, followed by a quickly proliferating stream of concerned responses from friends and acquaintances, all about the fact that she had been “mugged in Madrid.” The account had seemed sluggish earlier that morning because my wife had tried to use it at just the moment a hacker was taking it over and changing its settings—including the password, so that she couldn’t log in again.

Pages and pages follow here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2011/11/hacked/8673/

The saga outlined in the next 10+ pages is riveting and salutatory read and has all sorts of lessons about retrieving information from the cloud, password strength, the need for backups in different locations and so it goes on.

I know my key passwords are now even more robust after reading this than they were!

A great read!

David.

Health IT Seems To Be Racing Ahead in the US On All Fronts. Wonderful What Leadership and Money Can Do!

The following popped into view a few days ago.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Federal Health IT Activity Heats Up in Q3 2011

by Helen Pfister, Susan Ingargiola and Rachel Sam, Manatt Health Solutions

During the third quarter of 2011, the federal government continued to implement the HITECH Act, which was enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This update summarizes key developments and milestones between July 1 and Sept. 30. 

Third-Quarter Health IT Highlights

The third quarter of 2011 saw a number of high-level developments:

• ONC Releases Final Health IT Strategic Plan. On Sept. 12, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT released a final version of its Federal Health IT Strategic Plan for 2011 through 2015. The plan focuses on five goals: 1.) achieve adoption and information exchange through meaningful use of health IT; 2.) improve care and population health and reduce health care costs through use of health IT; 3.) inspire confidence and trust in health IT; 4.) empower individuals with health IT to improve their health and the health care system; and 5.) achieve rapid learning and technological achievement.
• HHS Secretary Appoints New OCR Director. On Sept. 13, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the appointment of Leon Rodriguez as director of the Office for Civil Rights. Among other things, OCR is responsible for enforcing the HIPAA privacy and security rules.
• President Obama Proclaims National Health IT Week. President Obama issued a proclamation declaring Sept. 11 through Sept. 16 National Health IT Week. The proclamation urged Americans to learn more about the benefits of health IT, take action to increase adoption and meaningful use of health IT and use the information health IT provides to improve the quality, safety and cost effectiveness of health care.

ONC Policy, Standards Committees

Health IT Policy Committee Submits Meaningful Use Stage 2 Appendix to ONC

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Other Health IT Policy Committee Recommendations

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Health IT Standards Committee Recommendations

At its September meeting, the Health IT Standards Committee approved recommendations put forward by the Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN) Power Team for technical specifications and standards to support the secure transport and exchange of electronic health information on a national scale through NwHIN and the Direct Project. 

At its August meeting, the committee approved the Surveillance Implementation Guide Power Team's report on standards for health IT-based surveillance systems for population health. 

Also in August, the Standards Committee endorsed the Clinical Quality Measures Workgroup and Vocabulary Task Force joint recommendations on the assignment of code sets to clinical concepts for the purpose of reporting clinical quality measures. 

The recommendations outline the minimum set of vocabulary standards that should apply to each data element included in the 23 categories of clinical concepts defined by the National Quality Forum's Quality Data Model version 3.0. The committee sent the recommendations to ONC on Sept. 9. 

EHR Certification

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Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs

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Health Information Exchange

ONC Launches Two Metadata Initiatives

In September, ONC launched two initiatives to test health information exchange metadata standards under its Standards & Interoperability Framework:

ONC soft launched the Data Segmentation Initiative, which builds on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology recommendation that metadata tags be developed and used for health information exchange. The goal of the initiative is to enable health providers to segment and withhold certain data from exchange. The initiative formally launched Oct. 5.

ONC launched its Query Health Initiative, a public-private collaboration that will establish standards and services for distributed population queries of data in EHRs. ONC is seeking participants for three Query Health Workgroups: the Business Workgroup, the Clinical Workgroup and the Technical Workgroup. 

ONC Issues Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Metadata Standards

On Aug. 5, ONC issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking soliciting public comments on metadata standards to support health information exchange. The ANPRM outlines standards for patient identity metadata (i.e., data required to uniquely select a patient from a population), provenance metadata (i.e., data that provide information on a dataset's history, origin and modifications) and privacy metadata (i.e., data to convey and communicate patient preferences regarding the sharing of his or her health information). Comments were due Sept. 23.

ONC Releases NwHIN Transport Specifications

On Aug. 12, the ONC Office of Standards and Interoperability announced that NwHIN transport and security specifications were available for public review and comment. ONC held two public calls to discuss the specifications in August. Comments were accepted until Sept. 16.

Privacy and Security

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Rural Health IT

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MORE ON THE WEB

• ONC on HITECH Programs
• HealthIT.gov
• CMS EHR Meaningful Use Overview

An amazingly large amount more is found here!

http://www.ihealthbeat.org/features/2011/federal-health-it-activity-heats-up-in-q3-2011.aspx

The scope and range of activity in just a single quarter is really amazing - and flags just how determined the US is to actually move on with all this.

I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to compare this level of progress and activity with what we are presently seeing in Australia.

David.

The Evidence For Health IT - Some Still Doubt and We Really Lack Proper Trials. Time To Do Them I Believe!

The following very interesting article appeared last week.

Love of Health Tech Doesn't Have to be (Double) Blind

Gienna Shaw, for HealthLeaders Media , October 25, 2011

One of my favorite quotes from last week's Center for Connected Health Symposium in Boston came from Peter Tipett, MD: "Information technology can reduce cost, increase quality, and advance science," said the vice president of industry solutions and security practices at Verizon's business unit. "But other than that it's not worth it."

In so many ways, so many kinds of Health IT make perfect logical sense. Making patient medical records easily accessible in electronic format? A no-brainer. Giving patients access to their own records which, after all, belong to them? Makes sense.  Tools that help clinicians make quick and accurate evidence-based diagnoses at the point of care? Well, of course that's a good idea.

But try proving it.

There is some research suggesting that electronic health records can have a positive impact on quality. But for medicine, so enamored with empirical evidence, double-blind studies, and peer review, it isn't always enough. Telemedicine, remote health, and m-health are particularly vulnerable to that phrase that concludes so many academic papers: "more research must be done."

Another of my favorite nuggets from the symposium was when Joseph Kvedar, MD, founder and director of the Center for Connected Health, said researchers add that line to the end of their papers because it's in their best interest—they are, after all, in the business of conducting said research.

Tippet noted that it's not just a healthcare thing—there's very little science about the efficacy of technology in any field. Did Watt need empirical evidence before patenting the steam engine? Did Sony do double blind studies to see if consumers would rather listen to music on a Walkman instead of lugging a boombox around on their shoulders? Did the healthcare industry need peer reviewed studies of imaging technology such as CT-scanners when they were new?

Oh, wait. Scratch that last example.

OK, so there are some healthcare technologies that demand rigorous study. But do text messages reminding patients to take their medication at the correct time each day fall into the same category? What about wireless scales that send a patients' weight to their doctor's office? An app that helps overweight patients make healthy food choices or gives tips to folks trying to quit smoking?

Again, back to the symposium. In a debate-style session, Kvedar and Sahid Shah, CEO of the health IT consultancy Netspective who blogs under the handle The Healthcare IT Guy, debated whether current approaches to patient self-management improve quality or lower healthcare costs.

More here:

http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/TEC-272480/Love-of-Health-Tech-Doesnt-Have-to-be-Double-Blind

This is a real ripper of a debate and we need to have it globally. There are applications that we know work, those we imagine will work and those where the jury is well and truly out!

We know in good quality trials that if you present helpful information to a clinician at the point of decision making care you can see a positive improvement in what people do as they treat patients. On the broader question of just how these trials translate into the clinic and how much they improve patient outcome - to say nothing of the overall cost of care - I think - except for a few isolated examples - we are still struggling.

Bringing it closer to home the PCEHR is simply an ideological fantasy. There is no evidence anyone has shown me that it will make a whit if difference to the quality and safety of scare.

Just what is Government scared of? Actually conduct a proper trial with a real PCEHR system and show it actually makes a difference to patient outcomes - or admit to the public you are a money wasting rabble who just ignores the concept of seeking evidence when you have a pre-conceived idea something will work!

You say the science of climate change is in - and I agree - so we should act - but on the PCEHR it is just not true. You can’t have it both ways! Without any evidence the PCEHR is an astonishing fraud on the Australian public.

David

I Think NEHTA Should Read This Closely. It Might Help Save on Staff Turnover Costs. Certainty On Other Matters Is Also Needed!

The following popped into view a few days ago and reminded me of the astonishing staff turn-over rates (28-30% per annum) that seem to prevail at NEHTA - according to the CEO as Senate Estimates a little while ago.

5 ways to attract the best health IT employees

October 27, 2011 | Michelle McNickle, Web Content Producer

Implementing the latest health IT is a challenge in and of itself, but having a competent team makes it that much easier. Fred Pennic, senior advisor with Aspen Advisors and author of the blog Healthcare IT Consultant, suggests five ways to attract the best health IT employees. 

1. Having a strong employer brand and culture. According to Pennic, top IT prospects are attracted to companies with a well-established and respected brand that also coincides with their own personal brand. "Employers must continue to establish and/or maintain a strong brand that will attract the best HIT talent,” he said. 

2. Creating a positive work environment. “All employees want to work and thrive in a positive working environment,” said Pennic. Not to mention, a healthy environment helps reduce employee turnover rate, while negative and destructive environments tend to upset employee morale. “[That] will motivate top HIT talent to leave for better opportunities,” he added. “Let’s face it, no one wants to work for a negative superior who never provides any positive feedback.” Ensuring top talent is rewarded and recognized for their accomplishments and efforts is also key, said Pennic. 

3. Offering career development opportunities. To retain the best IT employees, it’s essential employers continue to keep them engaged. “[This should be] what the employees feel is ‘meaningful work,’” said Pennic.

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4. Ensuring flexibility.

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5. Providing competitive compensation, incentives, and benefits.

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More here:

http://healthcareitnews.com/news/5-ways-attract-best-health-it-employees

It would seem to me that point number three needs to be looked at closely here. Feedback I get suggests that the combination of a drop dead date as of July, 2012 and a lack of early reassurance that an ongoing job will materialise must be weighing a little. Also the lack of any apparent progress on all sorts of fronts for a long while and now a mad rush with ‘tiger teams’ can’t be helping!

It is utterly incompetent on the part of NEHTA’s senior management and even more importantly the NEHTA Board to not have had this totally sorted long since.

There are over 200 people who work with NEHTA and it is fair to say they all deserve much greater clarity and consideration than is presently apparent.

A look here will show that COAG meetings (to get funds approval) seem now to be few and far between.

http://www.coag.gov.au/coag_meeting_outcomes/archive.cfm

There was one in 2010 and so far 2 in 2011. With the last one at the end of August, 2011 and with the last Parliamentary Session happening this week (The Reps rise on Nov 24, 2011 with 3 extra days in the following week - if required - for the year) on wonders if they will all be waiting until the end of the ‘silly season’ for some clarity.

This is also, complicated by the fact that there is no funding for the PCEHR committed after a one microsecond go live on July, 1 2012. If the PCEHR folds where does that leave the associated NEHTA staff?

Everyone needs a great deal more clarity I would suggest!

David.

Marking A Small Milestone. 300,000 Site Visits

Just thought it was worth a one line note!
Thanks to all who have made it so - now for 500,000!
David.

Why Has This Just Not Been Done After Six Years of Trying? It Is Just A Joke!

The following report appeared in the Australian very recently.

Victoria builds database of health products

• by: Karen Dearne
• From: The Australian
• October 31, 2011 12:00AM

HEALTH Purchasing Victoria will spend $2.1 million building its own database of health products and suppliers, as state governments struggle to implement the National Product Catalogue intended as a single source of data.

The NPC has been a key priority for the National e-Health Transition Authority since 2006, as all the jurisdictions recognise the costs associated with hospitals using different catalogues and non-standardised data.

NeHTA says the NPC now contains more than 210,000 items from 360 suppliers, and all of the states have been accessing data; the aim is to create a single source of product master data for medicines, medical devices and other healthcare requirements.

Victoria's auditor-general, Des Pearson, last week found the state's central health procurement agency was at least two years' away from completing its database of suppliers and purchasing data, the Victorian Product Catalogue.

"HPV struggles to get consistent and comparable data from hospitals to help identify future opportunities and plan for tenders on its annual program," Mr Pearson said.

"This problem largely stems from lack of a common product catalogue across the sector.

"Hospitals maintain separate catalogues and identify the same products in different ways, making it very difficult for HPV to get reliable data on how much is being spent in each product category.

"The lack of comparable data and standard names and products were identified as issues in 2005."

The report says HPV has been developing a VPC since 2009, in line with the state's commitment to the NPC being established by NeHTA, but had not been adequately funded for the task.

This year, it was given "in principle" approval for funding by the Health department.

"The VPC will synchronise data between the NPC and the various systems for managing catalogues, setting common, accurate product and pricing data, reducing management effort in health services and enabling broader supply chain reform," the HPV says.

"Full implementation of the VPC across the health services could occur by December 2013 and deliver savings of around $2.9 million per year."

Initial software development is estimated to cost $600,000 in year one, rising to $950,000 a year, from year three onwards; software licensing costs are an estimated $100,000 annually.

More here (on NSW being similarly slow!)

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/government/victoria-builds-database-of-health-products/story-fn4htb9o-1226180933097

One really can only one question on all this. Why, when there is actual demonstrable money to be saved, can’t NEHTA and the various State Jurisdictions just get this work done and operational. I have been hearing about this being needed since the late 1980’s. I wonder who is paying whom to prevent this happening and the savings being realised. It can hardly be incompetence that extends over a 30 year period - it has to be something else - plain old corruption maybe?

It must be that the suppliers clearly do not want it to happen, for their own profit motives, and that somehow they have caused it not to happen and pricing arbitrage remains alive and well for their benefit!

David.

Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 31st October, 2011.

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

It seems the Annual Report Season has struck with all sorts of reports covering the period to June 30, 2011 appearing on various sites.

Additionally today is the day for sign off of a first round of specifications from the ‘tiger teams’. It will be interesting to see what has been achieved.

Other than that we have continuing fall out from a major information breach at State Super which reminds us all how vulnerable large scale data stores can be.

Last we have a giant of the Artificial Intelligence world pass away. All in all an active and interesting week.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/government/e-health-tiger-teams-yet-to-meet/story-fn4htb9o-1226176402276

E-health 'tiger teams' yet to meet

• by: Karen Dearne
• From: Australian IT
• October 25, 2011 3:46PM

THE so-called tiger teams expected to draft and complete new technical specifications for the $500 million personally controlled e-health system by November 30 are yet to hold their first meetings.

The National e-Health Transition Authority established the plan to fast-track delivery of critical standards needed for the PCEHR infrastructure build and by the lead implementation sites, ahead of next year's July 1 start date.

Health department chief executive Paul Madden has told The Australian the tiger teams are confident they can sign-off the first round of specs "as ready to build" by October 31, and have the rest finalised and reviewed by the end of next month.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/government/medicare-electronic-refunds-take-off/story-fn4htb9o-1226174463683

Medicare electronic refunds take off

• by: Karen Dearne
• From: The Australian
• October 24, 2011 12:00AM

QUEUES for cash refunds are shorter at Medicare offices, with more claims being lodged and paid electronically.

Only 8 per cent of patients visited a service centre for a refund during the 2010-11 financial year and a mere 0.9 per cent of claims were settled by cheque, down from 10pc and 1.1pc respectively the previous year.

Instead, services paid via electronic funds transfer - where Medicare payments are made direct to a customer's bank account - rose to 4.2pc, or 13.5 million transactions - from 3.9pc a year earlier.
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http://www.rheumatologyupdate.com.au/news/Telehealth-MBS-claims-revealed

Telehealth MBS claims revealed

• By Gemma Collins and Sarah Colyer on  24 October 2011

There have been 2,275 MBS items claimed for videoconferencing since July 1, with more than two thirds of the consultations being in GP practices in rural areas.

Also, about 12% were in remote areas involving psychiatric attendances, specialist consultations and a smaller number of neurosurgery and obstetric attendances, the Senate heard last week.

According to the Senate hearing, 19% of the services were in RA1, inner and outer metropolitan areas; 35% in RA2; and 34% in RA3.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/new-player-in-national-e-health-space/story-e6frgakx-1226177893932

New player in national e-health space

• by: Karen Dearne
• From: The Australian
• October 27, 2011 6:54AM

THE government-owned National Health Call Centre Network is positioning itself as a lead player in Australia's e-health space through the provision of software-based medical triage and health information services delivered over the web or by phone.

With an eye to the federal government's e-health program, the NHCCN is developing a "centralised, comprehensive and reliable" online directory of healthcare providers.

"The directory is designed to provide a searchable and up-to-date listing of medical centres, pharmacies, dental services, hospitals and community health services, giving people better information on local resources," its annual report said.

"This is a national priority project and is closely linked with the e-health agenda."

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http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/doctors-offered-fee-to-undertake-records-survey/story-e6frea83-1226174589627

Doctors offered fee to undertake records survey

• by: Jill Pengelley
• From: The Advertiser
• October 24, 2011 12:00AM

DOCTORS are being offered $80 to respond to a federal survey about electronic health records.

That amount is more than Medicare pays them to see a patient for up to 20 minutes ($34.90) and more than they get for a complex consultation that lasts longer than 20 minutes ($67.65).

Australian Medical Association state president Peter Sharley agreed the Government's survey payments were more generous than its Medicare rebates. "That's the only way you're ever going to get a GP to do it (the survey) because they are working long hours," he said.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/government/poor-uptake-for-healthcare-identifiers/story-fn4htb9o-1226178894125

Poor uptake for Healthcare Identifiers

• by: Karen Dearne
• From: Australian IT
• October 28, 2011 5:00AM

THE largely idle $90 million Healthcare Identifier service cost $9.23m to run last year, $4.6m less than expected due to lack of interest from healthcare providers.

As operator of the service, Medicare has issued its maiden annual report, revealing there was very little activity in the year after its launch by Health Minister Nicola Roxon on July 1, 2010.

"Based on the agreed demand plan with the National e-Health Transition Authority, the original forecast cost was $13.8m," the report says.

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http://blogs.crikey.com.au/croakey/2011/10/25/your-thoughts-on-the-good-and-bad-of-ehealth-in-primary-health-care/

Your thoughts on the good and bad of eHealth in primary health care?

October 25, 2011 – 5:56 pm, by Melissa Sweet

What are the strengths and limitations of eHealth technologies in primary health care?

Olga Anikeeva at the Primary Health Care Research and Information Service is drafting a “research round-up”  about the use of eHealth technologies such as electronic health records, decision support systems and e-prescribing software by primary health care providers in Australia.

If you’ve an interest or expertise in the area, and can spare a few minutes – please have a look at her draft below and send your feedback by November 3 (contact details are at the bottom of the post).

(DRAFT)

Abstract

eHealth aims to improve the quality and safety of Australia’s health system by introducing a more efficient way to collect and share information such as prescriptions and test results.1 The primary health care sector could benefit substantially from the widespread use of eHealth technologies.2 The National E-Health Transition Authority is currently working with numerous stakeholders, including GPs and allied health professionals to develop an eHealth uptake plan.2 This RESEARCH ROUND up focuses on the use of eHealth technologies in primary health care, by exploring the benefits and current limitations of a number of eHealth tools.

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http://www.itwire.com/business-it-news/networking/50633-telstra-improves-its-bedside-manner

Telstra improves its bedside manner

By Beverley Head

Tuesday, 25 October 2011 20:59

Telstra has won a deal expected to be worth $36.7 million over the next eight years to install more than 3,500 computers at the bedside in South Australian hospitals and also provide patients with access to a range of entertainment services including Foxtel/Austar, a dedicated phone line and filtered internet access.

While the devices are able to be used for patient entertainment their other – arguably more important - use will be to provide health professionals with access to clinical and patient information at the bedside. The devices will also be able to be used to provide access to the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record once that is rolled out from July next year.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/government/nehta-annual-report-shows-operating-deficit/story-fn4htb9o-1226179683371

Nehta annual report shows operating deficit

• by: Karen Dearne
• From: Australian IT
• October 28, 2011 3:37PM

THE National e-Health Transition Authority had an operating deficit of $9 million during the last financial year, but reports a $32.9m surplus on total revenues of $123.6m.

The surplus was attributable to prepayments for elements of its Council of Australian Governments funded work program scheduled for the current year.

Nehta is holding $10m in revenue received but not yet earned, $5.8m in payments for vendors not yet made, and separate program funding of $1.2m received but not yet earned.

Other expenses and commitments not yet incurred include the National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) design and build at $6.5m, a Healthcare Identifier (HI) service cost of $4.8m plus a further $2.8m for HI implementations and advertising, and $10.7m in implementation support costs.

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http://www.itwire.com/profiler/50734-seeking-the-e-health-elixir

Seeking the e-health elixir

By Beverley Head

Friday, 28 October 2011 16:13

When the discussion turns to e-health Mukesh Haikerwal locks eyes – he rarely glances away but examines your reaction with diagnostic concentration. It’s no doubt a skill honed as a GP, but it is still slightly unnerving.

Government, its agencies, health departments and the IT sector may all on occasion try to stare him down but Haikerwal won’t blink in terms of what he wants from a national e-health programme. As the national clinical lead for Australia’s National E-health Transition Authority (Nehta) Haikerwal is determined that technology can completely reform Australia’s health sector and deliver improved, more sustainable services to Australians.

He has for years fought unsustainable status quos, ever since he was an uppity junior doctor in the UK railing against the long hours forced on young doctors. Today he’s 50 and a highly visible member of the establishment, a former president of the Australian Medical Association, an Officer of the Order of Australia, and was appointed chair of the World Medical Association in April.
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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/pay-tv-helps-case-for-sa-patient-records/story-e6frgakx-1226176374839

Pay TV helps case for SA patient records

• by: Andrew Colley
• From: The Australian
• October 25, 2011 3:23PM

REVENUE from commercial pay TV and movie services will subsidise South Australia's new hospital digital patient record system unveiled today.

Launching the system, Health Minister John Hill said it was intended "to provide a clinical workstation for doctors and nurses and help standardise and improve clinical work practices across the whole health system".

Its establishment will see Telstra install about 3500 17-inch touchscreen bedside computers in 12 of the state's hospitals, through a joint investment with the South Australian government.

The state government has contributed $36.7 million to the system's roll-out, under an 8.5-year agreement with Telstra, following a tender process last year.

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http://www.itnews.com.au/News/278142,victoria-sets-start-up-costs-for-health-catalogue.aspx

Victoria sets start-up costs for health catalogue

By Ry Crozier on Oct 27, 2011 4:36 PM

Auditor calls for development as soon as possible.

Health Purchasing Victoria expects to spend about $1.3 million to start building a common product catalogue for the state's public hospitals.

The start-up costs are laid out in a procurement report (pdf) by the Victorian Auditor-General.

"Initial software development and implementation is estimated at $600,000 with
$100,000 a year in licence fees," the agency told the auditor.

"Staffing costs for implementation and ongoing management are estimated at $600,000 in year one, rising to $950,000 per year from year three onwards.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/government/medibank-privates-health-solutions-boosts-revenue/story-fn4htb9o-1226176797801

Medibank Private's Health Solutions boosts revenue

• by: Karen Dearne
• From: The Australian
• October 26, 2011 5:44AM

MEDIBANK Private's new Health Solutions unit boosted its revenues to $258 million last year, up 53 per cent since its acquisition of software-based medical support online services provider, McKesson Asia Pacific, on July 1 last year.

The division helped the insurer attain a before-tax profit of $428m on total revenue of $4.7 billion.

Medibank managing director George Savvides said the purchase had enabled the expansion of its nurse and doctor triage services, preventive health programs and mental health services, delivered by phone or over the web.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/government/health-secretary-jane-halton-takes-ibm-australia-to-task/story-fn4htb9o-1226177473480

Health secretary Jane Halton takes IBM Australia to task

• by: Karen Dearne
• From: Australian IT
• October 26, 2011 4:01PM

THE federal Health department's reliance on IBM as its ICT outsourced technology services provider is causing frustrations, with system changes over the weekend resulting in "a catastrophic failure".

In an email to all staff yesterday, secretary Jane Halton said "As you are no doubt painfully aware, changes made by IBM to the department's IT storage environment" caused major system outages that had "significantly affected everyone".

"Our own IT staff worked very hard with IBM on resolving the issue yesterday, overnight and continue today to attempt to fix the problem and restore the system as soon as possible," Ms Halton said in the email, leaked to news website Crikey.

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http://www.smh.com.au/national/doctors-deplore-changes-to-funding-for-pet-scans-20111023-1merg.html

Doctors deplore changes to funding for PET scans

Julia Medew

October 24, 2011

ACCESS to potentially life-saving cancer scans has become a lottery, with thousands of patients denied government funding for the most accurate imaging test available for most cancers.

Doctors have told the Herald that changes to the Medicare Benefits Schedule in July have cut funding for thousands of people to have positron emission tomography scans, a highly valued test that detects cancer before it can be found with other medical imaging techniques. The scan, which creates two- and three-dimensional images, also helps doctors monitor treatment and check if cancer is becoming active again. In some cases, it can be the difference between life and death.

As of July, many patients with cervical cancer are no longer funded to receive the scan for restaging of their illness, while about half of all patients with lymphoma have been taken off the funding list. They are joined by patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumours who until July were funded to receive scans.

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http://www.mjainsight.com.au/view?post=martin-van-der-weyden-the-robot-invasion&post_id=6832&cat=comment

Martin Van Der Weyden: The robot invasion

24 October, 2011

THE ambiance of our hospitals is universally described as clinical, frequently impersonal and definitely dispiriting.

Inexorably caught up in the busyness of this medical microcosm, patients lose their identity in a form of reductionist verbal shorthand, becoming “the patient with CCF in bed 13 in Ward 3C”.

For the patients, even working out who is a doctor can be a complex exercise among a myriad of other health professionals. Couple this with the strict regimentation of ward activities and it is little wonder that hospitals, whose business is human welfare, are often accused of losing their humanity.

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http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/super-it-blunder-risked-23m-contract-20111024-1mf9f.html

Super IT blunder risked $23m contract

Asher Moses

October 24, 2011 - 11:32AM

The federal government has been in daily contact with the company responsible for the First State Super security failure and has demanded immediate changes to its systems as the company revealed that three other superannuation funds it administers were also affected.

The security breach sparked panic in the government because Pillar Administration, which is responsible for the day-to-day operations of First State Super and other superannuation funds, is next month set to take over the super fund for federal politicians, police, ASIO spies, department heads and other federal public servants.

The federal government ordered an immediate independent IT review of Pillar's systems and says the $23 million contract won't begin until "remedial security enhancements" are implemented.

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http://www.zdnetasia.com/ctos-urge-faster-progress-on-e-health-standards-62302655.htm

CTOs urge faster progress on e-health standards

By Jamie Yap , ZDNet Asia on October 27, 2011 

Technology leaders worldwide have called on the United Nations (U.N.) to step up progress on electronic health standards in order to achieve reliability and interoperability, which they said are crucial in enabling both patients and healthcare professionals to fully access and reap the benefits of e-health services and solutions.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the U.N. agency for information and communication technology, said in a statement earlier this week it met with 21 CTOs from leading ICT companies, all of whom have urged it to accelerate technical standardization work in the field of e-health and cooperate with other standard bodies to create secure, reliable and interoperable e-health services and solutions.

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http://www.smh.com.au/business/nbn-co-chief-defends-gag-on-wireless-20111024-1mgac.html

NBN Co chief defends 'gag' on wireless

Clancy Yeates

October 25, 2011

NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley has defended controversial agreements that stop Telstra and Optus pushing wireless services as alternatives to the network, saying the restrictions are in taxpayers' interests.

But Mr Quigley's support for what critics say are ''gag orders'' is at odds with comments from the competition watchdog, consumer groups, and the Productivity Commission.

As part of NBN Co's $11 billion deal with Telstra to shut down its fixed-wire network, Telstra is pledging not to promote wireless as an alternative to fixed-broadband for 20 years.

Optus, which is receiving $800 million to dismantle its cable network, has made a similar commitment for 15 years. The pledges have raised competition concerns, as wireless is likely to be the main competition with the NBN, a wholesale monopoly.

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http://www.techworld.com.au/article/405319/john_mccarthy_one_fathers_ai_dies_84

John McCarthy, one of the fathers of AI, dies at 84

McCarthy developed the LISP programming language and AI labs at MIT and Stanford

• Sharon Gaudin (Computerworld (US))
• 26 October, 2011 07:12

John McCarthy , one of the grandfathers of artificial intelligence, died Sunday. He was 84.

In 1958, while at MIT, McCarthy invented the programming language LISP, which has become the main language for artificial intelligence (AI) ( ) work. He also was one of the co-founders of the first artificial intelligence laboratory at MIT and the founder of the artificial intelligence laboratory at Stanford University.

Stanford University, where McCarthy was a professor emeritus of computer science, confirmed his death in a tweet Tuesday.

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Enjoy!

David.

AusHealthIT Poll Number 94 – Results – 31st October, 2011.

The question was:

Will The DoHA/NEHTA Use of Rapid Delivery 'Tiger Teams' Lead to Stable, Implementable Standards for the PCEHR?

You Bet

-  3 (6%)

Possibly

-  0 (0%)

Probably Not

- 11 (22%)

No Way

-  35 (71%)

Votes 49

A very, very  clear  vote. 93% do not think the Tiger Teams are a real goer!

Again, many thanks to those that voted!

David.