Here are a few I have come across the last week or so.
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
Well certainly an
interesting week with the on and off launch of the NEHRS / PCEHR giving us all
a lot to watch and wonder about. As they say it came, it went and then it came
back. All through the lack of comments from NEHTA and DoHA was very, very
surprising I have to say.
Of course the big
test is now to see what happens next and if this very large investment actually
starts to make a difference from the point of view of health outcomes - which
is the final measure of the quality of the idea and associated policy making.
Otherwise all sorts
of small (and not so small) bits of news with NSW Health, Mental Health, Old
Payroll and the Higgs Boson all getting a mention.
-----
E-health system goes offline
- by: Karen Dearne
- From: Australian IT
- July 03, 2012
THE Gillard
government's new e-health online registration system and consumer portal were
pulled offline just hours after a brief go-live late yesterday, and remain
unavailable today.
A Health department
spokeswoman said the two online channels would go-live again "soon",
although callers to the personally controlled e-health record (PCEHR)
registration helpline are being told it could be available sometime this week.
"The online
channels were implemented briefly on Tuesday in order to test the performance
of the system and related links in the live internet environment," she
said.
-----
E-health records misses online deadline
Summary:
Australian Government misses key deadline for e-health record launch.
By Josh Taylor |
July 3, 2012
The Federal
Government has launched its e-health record registration across Australia, but
without the online registration it promised would be available as late as last week.
After two years in
the planning, and $466.7 million of initial investment, the Federal Government
quietly launched e-health record registration on Sunday evening, updating the eHealth.gov.au website to include information about how to
register for an e-health record via phone, in a Medicare store or by printing
out a form and mailing it into Medicare.
-----
QLD calls for investigation into PCEHR
The government's e-health system has been plagued with
problems on the day of its launch, according to senator Sue Boyce
- Stephanie McDonald (Computerworld)
- 03 July, 2012 17:03
Queensland Senator Sue Boyce has slammed the Personally
Controlled E‐Health Record (PCEHR) system, stating it is a
"faulty" system and a waste of money due to problems with the
hotline.
“The attempts by the Gillard government to launch a national
e‐health
system have become farcical. Having spent a billion dollars of tax payer’s
money, the only thing they launched 1 July was a toll free phone number, but
even that wasn’t working,” Boyce said in a statement.
-----
Registration For An eHealth Record Now Available
By Computer Daily News | Sunday | 01/07/2012
Australian consumers will be able to register from today for a
personally controlled electronic health record – but the $1 billion PCEHR
system won't get going in earnest until at least August.
Consumers can now register for a PCEHR, set personal controls and upload
information about their personal health events, a federal Health Department
spokeswoman told The Australian.
-----
Australia: New eHealth Law passed
Source: The Information Daily
Published Sunday, July 1, 2012 - 10:15
Published Sunday, July 1, 2012 - 10:15
Australia’s controversial
Personally Controlled E-Health Record (PCEHR) system is to become available
from today onwards.
The PCEHR, accessed
by the patient and his or her authorised healthcare providers, is a electronic
record of patient’s medical history, stored and shared in a network of
connected systems.
Managed by the
National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) on behalf of the Department of
Health and Ageing, the PCEHR reform agenda will save the Australian government
and related agencies US$11.5 billion over 15 years.
-----
Privacy Commissioner: know your e-health obligations
2nd Jul 2012
GPs have been
advised to get to know their obligations under the national e-health records
system (NEHRS) so they can train staff, implement safe work practices and
advise patients.
Consumer
registrations for the new system opened on the weekend but GPs and other
practitioners aren’t expected to be able to use it for a few months yet and
Australian Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim said they should put that time to
good use.
“The first point
is, practices need to start knowing their obligations under the legislation
that supports the system,” he said.
-----
Privacy commissioner to regulate eHealth system
The privacy commissioner will be able to seek civil
penalties for breaches in eHealth privacy
- Stephanie McDonald (Computerworld)
- 02 July, 2012 12:55
The federal government's new eHealth system will be regulated against
privacy breaches by the privacy commissioner and the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner (OAIC).
The eHealth system, which went live July 1, will initially include basic
information, with healthcare professionals adding to the system, such as
medications prescribed and allergies.
-----
GP fee urged after PCEHR ‘soft’ launch
2 July, 2012 Megan Reynolds
Fees should be
charged for setting up a PCEHR for patients, says AMA Council of General
Practice chair Dr Brian Morton as the system opens up for registration this
week.
The newly
re-elected chair of the AMACGP called the launch “premature”, as doctors do not
have the software required to set up a patient’s Shared Health Summary and he
does not expect they will have before the end of the year.
-----
The federal government's e-health platform hacked at birth
- by: Fran Foo
- From: The Australian
- July 03, 2012
THE federal
government's e-health platform was hacked while being developed but the
incident went undetected for several months.
The revelation
comes after Accenture, the main contractor for the personally controlled
e-health record program, delayed delivery, resulting in only 40 per cent of the
system being ready by its July 1 launch date.
The hacking
incident raises issues of reliability and security of the system as people
start to register for an e-health record that would contain their personal
details and health information such as medications, allergies and immunisation
details.
-----
Minister, we have a problem: AMA boss Steve Hambleton
- by: Karen Dearne and Sue Dunlevy
- From: The Australian
- July 03, 2012
THE launch of the
personally controlled e-health record system was akin to "throwing a paper
plane out the window at Cape Canaveral", Australian Medical Association
president Steve Hambleton says.
"It's been a
bit like, Houston, we have a problem at 10 seconds to go and now there's a
three-month hold on the rollout," he told The Australian yesterday.
"At the
moment, we haven't got anything other than an ability for consumers to register
an expression of interest in having a personally controlled e-health record one
day.
-----
Answers to identity verification questions not sufficiently secure
- by: Sue Dunlevy
- From: The Australian
- July 03, 2012
THE security of the
government's e-health records are under question a day after they were launched
because those registering have to provide only a Medicare card number and names
and birth dates of family members to verify their identity.
Security experts
say answers to the identity verification questions are so widely known it would
allow a person to set up an e-health record for someone else by telephone if
they wanted to access that individual's health details, such as medication or
medical procedures.
"My advice is
not to join until the security issues have been resolved," said Graham
Ingram, general manager of AUSCERT, Australia's emergency response team for
computer security incidents.
-----
Warning: e-health inherently insecure
3rd Jul 2012
JUST days after the
registration process for e-health records opened, experts have warned the
system is inherently insecure and urged patients to think twice about signing
up.
Australian Computer
Emergency Response Team general manager Graham Ingram said the health
department’s “blanket assurances” the system would be secure were unfounded.
“Health records
cannot be secured over the internet,” Mr Ingram said.
-----
July 03, 2012 10:38 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Research and Markets: Australia - Digital Economy - E-Health - Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records (PCEHR)
DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets
(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/mrxlmm/australia_digita)
has announced the addition of the "Australia - Digital Economy - E-Health - Personally
Controlled Electronic Health Records (PCEHR)" report to their
offering.
“Australia -
Digital Economy - E-Health - Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records
(PCEHR)”
-----
Punctuation a stumbling block for e-health
4th Jul 2012
Medical Observer has found patients
with apostrophes or hyphens in their name cannot register for an e-health
record, as the government scrambles to get the rest of the patient registration
process working.
Patient
registrations were originally due to be made available online, via telephone or
in person at a Medicare office from 1 July, before the government signalled
online registrations had been scrapped.
-----
E-health online registrations can't handle names wiith hyphens and apostrophes
- by: Fran Foo
- From: The Australian
- July 05, 2012
IF Health Minister
Tanya Plibersek's husband tried to register for an e-health record he would
have no such luck.
The issue lies with
Michael Coutts-Trotter's name: it has a hyphen and the newly launched,
multi-million dollar personally controlled e-health record system hasn't been
built to accept such characters.
As well, people
with apostrophes wouldn't be able to register.
-----
Validating Name Characters
Posted on July 4,
2012 by Grahame Grieve
Well, the pcEHR
go-live hasn’t gone that well. One particular feature that’s attracted some
attention is that fact that the pcEHR won’t accept people with some unusual
characters in their surnames.
From
http://www.medicalobserver.com.au/news/punctuation-a-stumbling-block-for-ehealth:
Medical Observer has found patients
with apostrophes or hyphens in their name cannot register for an e-health
record, as the government scrambles to get the rest of the patient registration
process working.
-----
5 July 2012, 2.33pm AEST
Doctors and patients uneasy about new e-health records system
IIn
the shadow of the carbon tax, Australia’s e-health records scheme rolled out on
July 1 with what can only be described as a very soft launch. Unlike the carbon
tax, the e-health records scheme is voluntary and it seems few doctors and
patients have signed up. Some doctors fear they may be held liable…
Author
In the shadow of
the carbon tax, Australia’s e-health records scheme rolled out on July 1 with
what can only be described as a very soft launch. Unlike the carbon tax, the
e-health records scheme is voluntary and it seems few doctors and patients have
signed up.
Some doctors fear
they may be held liable if the patient-controlled records aren’t kept
up-to-date. And consumers remain concerned about the privacy of their medical
information. So, what are the realities of these risks?
-----
PCEHR’s big picture: Why Australia’s system matters
Posted Wed, 04/07/2012 - 09:13 by Will Turner
The federal
government’s $700 million Personally Controlled Electronic Healthcare Record
(PCEHR) is currently one of the most significant ehealth projects undertaken by
any nation in the world.
Driven by macro
factors such as the rising costs of caring for an ageing population and the
inefficiency of existing systems, the PCEHR’s goal is to create a comprehensive
electronic medical record for every Australian. This record includes clinical
notes, pathology, referrals, discharge notices, and specialist letters.
It will also have
provision for citizens to enter their own information, quarantine certain
information, and keep records of medications, allergies and immunisations.
-----
Patients find an app a day may keep the doctors away
Date July 7, 2012
A
range of medical and health apps are allowing immediate access to a wide range
of advice, writes Catherine Armitage.
The exploding
popularity of health and medical apps is ushering a new wave of sometimes
unwelcome visitors into the doctor's surgery. Smartphones and tablets (the
screen kind, not the pill kind) have become mobile diagnostic devices.
Fitness apps for
monitoring workouts took off first, led by Endomondo, which gives audio
feedback on exercise performance, allows friends to follow and barrack live,
and claims 10 million users. Zombies, Run! wraps a story around daily exercise,
with an eponymous warning if you slow down.
-----
GPs consult via pharmacy video booth
3 July, 2012 Kate Newton
More than 100 GPs
have signed up to a private telehealth scheme, enabling them to consult with
patients sitting in video booths in pharmacies.
Launched last
month, the
ConsultDirect service means that patients can walk into a pharmacy, sit in
a booth and wait for the next available GP to appear on screen. The GP can be
located anywhere in Australia.
The service is not
covered by Medicare; patients pay the pharmacy $45 and the GP invoices the
pharmacy for $40.
-----
Coast medical records system 'dangerous'
Stephanie
Bedo | 12:01am July 6, 2012
SENIOR doctors say
Gold Coast Heath's new multimillion dollar electronic medical record system is
'inadequate and dangerous' and could put patients' lives at risk.
Doctors have
complained about the system, saying some patient documents are missing, it has
log-in problems and 10-minute delays in accessing critical information.
Gold Coast Health
was the first region in the state to move to electronic record-keeping, rolled
out progressively from October last year.
-----
Mental health website connects patients, therapists
Posted Fri, 06/07/2012 - 12:24 by Will Turner
A new website has
been launched by the federal government aimed at being a one-stop online
resource for individuals and health professionals dealing with mental illness.
For individuals,
the mindhealthconnect
portal is intended to provide a credible source of information, support and a
gateway to therapy for those seeking help for mental disorders.
-----
Country patients to access video conferencing
Posted
Patients
throughout the north and west of South Australia will not necessarily have to
travel to consult their medical specialist any more.
The Country North
SA Medicare Local has secured $115,000 in federal funding to help roll out
video conferencing facilities.
-----
Fed Govt set e-health expectations too high: Skinner
Summary:
The Australian Government has been slammed by the NSW Government for failing to
meet expectations with its e-health record system, launched last weekend.
New South Wales
Health Minister Jillian Skinner has criticised the Federal Government for
setting expectations too high on its 1 July e-health record launch.
Since Sunday,
Australians have been able to register for a personally controlled e-health
record (PCEHR), either via phone, in a Medicare office or by mailing in a form
to Medicare. Much of the functionality for the system, including letting doctors
put information in the records and connect their own systems to the PCEHR
system, has yet to be implemented.
By contrast, NSW
already boasts a substantial e-health record system in hospitals, with over 80
per cent of hospital beds covered with a system that keeps orders and results
across the hospital, emergency departments and operating theatres. More than
75,000 clinicians have been trained to use the system, and it is utilised by
5000 unique users every day.
-----
E-health record grind worries NSW Health
Halts internal projects.
New South Wales
health minister Jillian Skinner has expressed disappointment at failed attempts
to hit benchmarks set for the federally funded personally controlled electronic
health record, which she claimed had held back plans for state-based e-health
projects.
Skinner said that
while the widespread uptake of the PCEHR "has the potential to
revolutionise the medical practice", major issues still required
resolution for the electronic health records project, which aims to provide
individuals with a system that ties together information from GPs and
hospitals.
The health minister
pointed to data integrity as well management and access to records as key
concerns she felt had not properly been resolved by the federal Department of
Health and Ageing and lead agency the National E-Health Transition Authority.
-----
Govt seeks return of health overpayments
- AAP
- July 02, 2012 7:47AM
Almost 50,000
Queensland Health employees will receive letters on Monday seeking the return
of overpayments caused by the payroll system bungle.
HEALTH Minister
Lawrence Springborg says 49,040 letters documenting $89.5 million in
overpayments will begin arriving on Monday, ending the moratorium imposed by
the former Labor government.
Cumulative amounts
under $200 and debts owed by workers who are now deceased - totalling $1.9
million - have been waived.
-----
No paperwork at new Queensland hospital
July
4, 2012 - 3:00AM
Australia's first
digital hospital is being built in one of Queensland fastest-growing regions.
Hervey Bay, about a
four hour drive north of Brisbane, has been chosen as the site for a $87.5
million, 96-bed private hospital where all patient records are online.
Hervey Bay's St
Stephen's Hospital, built by UnitingCare Health – which runs the Wesley
Hospital in Brisbane – will go ahead after the federal government confirmed a
$47 million grant.
-----
HealthLink boss calls for health IT overhaul
HealthLink chief
executive Tom Bowden says a fresh look at healthcare IT is required
In the wake of a
controversial decision over an e-referrals tender for the Nelson-Marlborough
District Health Board, one of the bidders, HealthLink, says the national health
strategy needs overhauling and completely revising.
“We need to take a
fresh look at the way in which healthcare IT is guided,” says HealthLink chief
executive Tom Bowden in a letter to National Health Board chairman Murray Horn
and Ministry of Health Information Group director Graeme Osborne.
It is an open
letter to the health sector, which Bowden says is being widely circulated.
-----
Jane McCredie: DIY health tests
IN this era of
patient empowerment, there’s increasing demand for personal access to medical
data, but how many of the following scenarios would most doctors feel
comfortable with?
• Pathology labs
adopting a policy of always communicating routine test results directly to
patients as well as their treating doctors
• Radiologists
notifying both the referring GP and the patient directly of a potential
malignancy on a scan
• Over-the-counter
kits to test HIV status in the privacy of a person’s home
-----
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/why-microsoft-axed-the-start-button-20120703-21e8t.html
Why Microsoft axed the Start button
Marc Georges
July
3, 2012
When Microsoft
users launch Windows 8
later this year, they'll notice getting started with the OS may not be as
familiar. The ever-present Start button, a Windows staple since 1995, is going
the way of the dodo.
In a report for
industry site PC Pro, Microsoft executives reveal that
Windows users have already largely abandoned the Start button. An increasing
number rely more on pinning favourite apps to their taskbar or simply using
keyboard shortcuts to access frequently used applications. As a result,
Microsoft will now present a tiled Start screen as part of the new Metro
interface.
-----
Missing ingredient: know your Higgs boson
July
5, 2012
What is the Higgs boson?
The Higgs boson is
a long-sought subatomic particle that is thought to explain why all particles
have mass. After the big bang 13.7 billion years ago, scientists believe
particles existed without mass and that they became heavier due to the Higgs
field.
How are scientists looking for Higgs boson?
Physicists conduct
experiments at the Large Hadron Collider which involve smashing together beams
containing billions of particles, at high speed and within a vacuum, and
watching the results. It is thought some of the new particles created during
these collisions may be Higgs bosons, though they rapidly decay into
well-understood particles.
-----
Enjoy!
David.
