This Issue Is A Real Sleeper as We Move More Into E-Health. How To Preserve Important Health Information over the Long Term?

The following note appeared a day of so ago.

http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/How-to-Preserve-EHRs-for-the-Long-Term-41956-1.html

How to Preserve EHRs for the Long-Term?

HDM Breaking News, February 18, 2011

Federal agencies will sponsor a two-day workshop, April 5-6 in Bethesda, Md., on long-term preservation and management of electronic health records.

Sponsors include the National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Institutes of Health/National Library of Medicine, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the National Archives and Records Administration. Presenters include renowned informaticists and CIOs in addition to federal policymakers.

......

Registration soon will be available at http://ddpehr.nist.gov/home.php.

--Joseph Goedert

Here is the description of the workshop from the web-site above.

Workshop on Long-term Preservation & Management of Electronic Health Record

Background: Electronic health-related patient information is vital for clinical care and medical research. However, systems interoperability for preservation, storage, and accessibility of such health data have not yet been defined. Clinical data in digital form represents a digital library, and inherits all the same administration and technical issues faced by digital libraries in other fields: what to retain and for how long; how to handle obsolescence of hardware and software; interchange of information; costs; assignment of responsibility; standards. In addition, clinical data involves issues of privacy, legal constraints, economics, and data ownership that complicate preservation even further. If preservation of clinical information is not addressed, valuable and irreplaceable information will become inaccessible, or disappear over time with disastrous consequences for patient care and research value. Replacing lost data even if possible, will entail huge costs for patients, clinicians, administrators, pharmacists, and potentially, the entire country’s economy.

Challenges: How to preserve and provide access of electronic clinical data as electronic health record (EHR) for a sufficiently long period of time to maximize value to patient, caretaker, and scientist.

Actions: To ascertain current practices for long-term preservation and lifecycle management of EHR, including an interoperability framework which supports a wide variety of data types, data formats/records, and data delivery mechanisms, while providing technology-independent infrastructure to acquire, store, search, retrieve, migrate, replicate, and distribute EHRs over time.

The expected outcomes will be the following:

• Understand the current landscape on EHRs
• Survey current practices and identify best strategies to be used as models
• Begin to develop requirements, technologies, standards and best practices for long-term preservation and life-cycle management on EHRs
• Differentiate between requirements for patient care and those for secondary use
• Identify cultural and technological challenges
• Catalog current legal requirements for retention of EHRs
• Identify interested collaborators to form a WG on this area
• Discuss possible test scenarios and datasets for collaboration and testbed

Participants: Policy makers, EHR experts, hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies, consumers, attorneys, representatives of CMS and ONC

----- End Extract

There are a huge number of issues raised here and there is no doubt that exactly the same issues apply in Australia.

When you consider that there are already General Practice Systems in Australia that have well over a decade’s worth of information stored already every year that goes by makes these records more valuable and potentially more useful.

At present we have no agreed Standards for the storage and formatting of Health Information that permits portability of the information and access to that information in a useful way into the future.

This looks like a job that the giant intellects in NEHTA should really address and sooner rather than later. Maybe a similar workshop in Australia, after attending the US workshop might not be a bad idea?

David.

Monday 21 Feb, 2001 AIIA Briefing on the Progress of the PCEHR and Other Matters. A Few Interesting Tit-Bits.

The following formal report on the AIIA briefing appeared a few days ago.

The announcement of the session appeared here:

http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2011/02/now-here-is-must-not-miss-free.html

Vendors line up for slice of ehealth pie

By Beverley Head
Tuesday, 22 February 2011 15:58

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

With the clock ticking on its race to spend $467 million of Government funds by June next year the National E-Health Transition Authority (Nehta) is close to announcing the composition of its first vendor panel, nominating the companies which will be involved in the first of its e-health implementations.

Nehta signed a contract with the Government on the last day of 2010 which defines its role during the e-health implementation programme as the Commonwealth’s managing agent, seeing it oversee the spending of the $467 million.

Speaking at an Australian Information Industry Association e-health update in Sydney, Lisa Smith, head of implementation for Nehta, said the first vendor panel was likely to be announced in March.

Australia’s progress toward a national e-health system has been fraught with controversy and slow. Six years after Nehta was first established there are many in the IT and health sectors who question its slow progress and opacity.

However as the first implementation sites are rolled out more clarity is anticipated.

The first wave of Nehta implementations will be in three GP practice groups in Brisbane, the Hunter district of NSW and Melbourne East. Contracts were signed with those first wave sites at the end of January according to Ms Smith.

Detail on exactly what is likely to be implemented in each of the first wave sites remains scant, although it will be components of the planned personally controlled ehealth record (PCEHR).

Nehta is also now ploughing through the 97 applications it has received from health care sites (including a number of private health care providers) which want to be considered as so called second wave implementation sites, all up for a slice of the $55 million funding for second round pilots.

Ms Smith said that Nehta hoped to have a shortlist of these second wave prospects by the end of the month, and have selected the final dozen or so sites and be ready to start second wave implementations by the end of May. That leaves it with a very tight timetable as under the terms of its engagement all the implementations under this round of funding have to be complete by the end of June 2012.

Lots more here:

http://www.itwire.com/it-policy-news/government-tech-policy/45336-vendors-line-up-for-slice-of-ehealth-pie

Ms Head's headline certainly covers a good deal of the apparent motivation of many providers as far as the PCEHR is concerned.

I also was sent some informal notes from an attendee:

----- Begin Notes

Notes from this morning’s AIIA/NeHTA love-in re PCEHR implementation.

Lisa Smith, NEHTA Head of Implementation spoke for 20 minutes and took questions for 30.

About 80 people attended.

Not too many questions, let alone curly ones.

The following is a cryptic snapshot of what was said.

Vague about what exactly is the long term model, i.e. post June 2012 fate for NEHTA.

COAG funding for NEHTA is only for 2 years. $466M is all Federal money controlled by DoHA.

DoHA (not NeHTA) have engaged Powick from Deloitte as Strategic Adviser (i.e. over seeing NeHTA).

(NEHTA does not seem all that impressed by this).

Asked was the PCEHR spec available – The answer was it goes on the web site today (Has not happened as of Thu, 24 Feb).

Predicts that legislation additional will be needed to support PCEHR/HI

No comment on what happens to all of this if the Government Changes

AIIA raised risks in a sensible way but the answer was motherhood

Wave 1 is the big guys, Wave 2 is the smaller sites (about 10) which will share the $55 mill. Closes early March, have 97 applicants and trials will end June 2012

A consumer representative asked a lot of questions with no detailed response from Ms Smith.

Ms Smith Kept talking about the ‘Adoption Partner’ and the ‘Benefits Partner’ (and I think a 3rd Strategic Partner) as in NeHTA will delegate all responsibility and blame to them.

Said there would not be one government data repository, rather many private and public innovation drivers filling the role.

Asked was there any Press in the room - no – so the response was – ‘that’s good’ (Comment - seems Ms Head was there!)

Asked if the UK failed why won’t this.

Answer – we are smaller and are not picking winners (ho ho). UK was too big. NeHTA is a fast follower and will learn from the UK experience.

Question on Google and Microsoft. Answer will sit by side with PCEHR as different offering (huh?).

Private enterprise will lead innovation according to Ms Smith.

Lisa Smith kept repeating that NeHTA is the ‘Managing Agent’ for DoHA and will supervise all the Wave 1 and Wave 2 sites as this ‘agency’. - (re defining their relevance I guess)

Asked about anti-competitive behaviour and mandatory accreditation by SMEs the answer was mother hood quoting learning from practical experience as we toddle along the journey.

Wave 2 was signed on 31 Jan, Wave 1 on 31 Dec.

NeHTA’s Managing Agent role expires on 30 June 2012 – a fact that obviously is a concern to them (mentioned three times)

NEHTA are creating a Vendor Panel for Primary Care Software Innovation. Ms Smith was asked was this a matter of picking winners. Answer No.

Then Lisa said (a lulu to my mind) the sector panel will be based on building up the innovation of NeHTA’s ‘products’

A huge clue that they intend to remain as a IP owner in one way or another!

----- End Notes.

Another correspondent provided the following comments (in part):

----- Begin Comment

If NeHTA don't deliver this - they are dead. In fact they (or some elements at least) may be dead before that, if it looks like they are the problem rather than the solution.

.....

NASH is 3 months late and growing and has been removed from 1st wave requirements. The First wave sites rather than delivering by 1.Jul.11 are now being talked about as some vague later date.

The PCEHR concept of operations is a month late.

The HI service is still looking very rocky.

----- End Comment.

Obviously I was not there but the reports seem consistent. Accept the information included here as just impressions rather than Gospel Truth! I have to say none of this really conflicts with what readers here have been posting in comments over the last month or two.

I note the implementation plan for the HI Service did also seem to suggest some slippage.

See here:

http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2011/02/nehta-has-it-all-in-hand-so-we-should.html

David.

Senate Estimates Covers E-Health For 20 Minutes!

The Senate Estimates Committee for Community Services has just spent 20 minutes on e-Health.

The questions were interesting and it is clear that Senator Boyce is taking a close interest in NEHTA and DoHA in this domain.

The main focus was on:

1. How come consumers had been so uninvolved in the PCEHR program until very recently?

2. Just why is it that NEHTA's risk assessment for the HI Service is secret?

3. Just who else is actually doing a PCEHR as we are - the answer was really no-one but the bureaucrat obfuscated a good deal.

4. The HealthSMART Clinical Risk assessment. We got the admission that it was never intended that the IHI be used as a sole identifier - news to some I am sure.

5. Apparent overseas junkets from NEHTA senior execs on study tours.

Not a bad session except for the Dorothy Dixers from Senator Furner where he and the DoHA staff confirmed they had no idea what level of impact might be possible from e-Health and assumed therefore the problem would be 100% solved - which is nonsense! (Medication Systems will reduce but not totally eliminate error etc.)

Full discussion when I have a transcript.

David.

Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 22 February, 2011.

Here are a few I have come across this week.

Note: Each link is followed by a title and a paragraph or two. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.

General Comment:

It has been quite a busy week. It now really seems to new year is really settling into its stride with, again, little apparent progress in the e-Health agenda.

As a bit of the heads up we have the Senate Estimates hearing on the Health and Ageing Portfolio on Wed 23, February 2011.

When available the program will be found here:

http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/estimates/add1011/index.htm

I am sure it will be interesting.

-----

http://www.techworld.com.au/article/376709/department_health_reveals_e-health_partner_requirements/

Department of Health reveals e-health partner requirements

Single private sector partner to oversee implementation and ongoing maintenance of e-health records

• James Hutchinson (Computerworld)
• 15 February, 2011 11:33

A single party will be responsible for the establishment and ongoing operation of the technology infrastructure required to implement the Federal Government’s $467 million personally controlled e-health records (PCEHR).

Documents reveal the Department of Health and Ageing is requesting a tender for provision of “national infrastructure solution services”, to be provided by one of four private sector partners aiding the development and implementation of the PCEHR system.

The winning bidder would effectively provide and entire bundle of enabling systems including core system infrastructure; operations and call centres; reporting and template servicing; and separated portals for use by both consumers and healthcare providers.

While some of the pieces of infrastructure could be outsourced to third-party providers, the partner would be responsible for detailed, fit-for-purpose design for the infrastructure as well as operability testing and ongoing support to third parties and lead e-health agency, the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) for the system.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/authentication-service-lagging/story-e6frgakx-1226005965851

Authentication service lagging

• Karen Dearne
• From: The Australian
• February 15, 2011 12:00AM

LEAD e-health record project sites will not be supported by user verification and audit functions as the federal Health Department concedes the National Authentication Service for Health will not be operational in time.

And a Health spokeswoman says new legislation will be needed before the introduction of the Gillard government's $467 million personally controlled e-health record system in July 2012.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/national-e-health-identifier-hazardous-says-state-agency/story-e6frgakx-1226005955988

National e-health identifier hazardous, says state agency

• Karen Dearne
• From: The Australian
• February 15, 2011 12:00AM

VICTORIA'S e-health adoption arm has warned that the $90 million-plus national Healthcare Identifier service is too dangerous to use on its own.

The state's HealthSmart Design Authority says the 16-digit Individual Healthcare Identifier Medicare issued in June to every Australian must only be used in conjunction with an existing Unit Record Number.

It found two critical risks for medical misadventure: misidentification of a patient associated with an IHI, and the inability to identify a patient via an IHI in a healthcare setting.

"Where the IHI is used in conjunction with a local URN, there is a moderately severe risk of a serious and potential life-threatening situation, however that risk may be avoided or prevented by medical personnel," the HDA says in its IHI risk assessment report.

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http://www.6minutes.com.au/news/online-rebates-should-not-replace-real-gps

Online rebates should not replace real GPs

• By Michael Woodhead on 17 February 2011
• 0 comments

Rebates for online specialist consultations should not be used as a substitute for having GPs ‘on the ground’ in rural areas, the Rural Doctors Association of Australia has warned.

In its submission to a government discussion paper on the subject of rebates for telehealth consultations, the RDAA says it welcomes the idea but says online initiatives must support, rather than replace, face-to-face consultations.

Online telehealth consultations with a specialist could help patients avoid having to travel long distances for follow up appointments to discuss test results or to monitor patients with chronic illnesses, says RDAA Vice President Dr Peter Rischbieth.

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http://www.zdnet.com.au/nsw-ambos-trialling-electronic-records-339309293.htm

NSW ambos trialling electronic records

By Darren Pauli, ZDNet.com.au on February 17th, 2011

The NSW Ambulance Service is deploying an electronic patient record system, which has irked paramedics already using it in other states.

The Victorian Ambulance Clinical Information System (VACIS), so called because it was designed and first used by that state, has also been introduced into Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland.

It involves a series of tough laptops deployed into ambulances for paramedics to send information on a patient's condition to hospitals.

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http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/377097/wireless_smartphones_essential_e-health_csiro/?eid=-255&uid=25465

Wireless smartphones essential to e-health: CSIRO

Wireless smartphones have as great a role to play in e-health development as videoconferencing across fibre networks

• Tim Lohman (Computerworld)
• 17 February, 2011 16:49

While e-health has to date largely focused on doctor-patient videoconferencing over fibre networks, wireless-enabled smartphones could soon grow to become the health service delivery platform of choice for many Australians, according to the CSIRO.

Speaking to Computerworld Australia ahead of his presentation at the Wireless Health conference in Sydney, CSIRO ICT Centre director, Ian Oppermann, said recent trials carried out by the agency of a care assessment platform had shown wireless smartphones could deliver healthcare services.

“We have been delivering… cardiac care via smartphones for patients who have heart operations and then have post-operative care targeted to them,” he said. "[The service] provides recommendations for exercise and provides feedback about how people engage with it – whether they are following the program or not.

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http://www.cio.com.au/article/376866/nsw_heath_appoints_cio_e-health_it_strategies/?eid=-601&uid=25465

NSW Heath appoints CIO for e-health, IT strategies

Department aiming for health IT leadership

• Rodney Gedda (CIO)
• 16 February, 2011 09:54

The NSW Department of Health has appointed Ian Rodgers as director of its new e-health and ICT strategy branch.

Rodgers has CIO-level experience in IT strategy and governance across the public and private sectors. He will start in the new role on March 30.

The new position has been advertised since November last year.

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http://www.seek.com.au/Job/head-of-communications/in/sydney/19126810

Head of Communications

• Key executive position
• National profile

Do you want to improve the health of the nation?

Do you want to be part of the largest national e-health transformation project in Australia, the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR)?

NEHTA is currently recruiting people with a desire to make a difference to health outcomes, that are passionate about the use of ehealth to meet these goals and who have the relevant experience to deliver solutions in a highly complex stakeholder and technical environment. In these roles you will be working with consumers and clinicians who will be defining how models of care can be improved using the PCEHR. You will be delivering the solutions that will be in place for your grandparents, parents and your children... and for you as you engage with the public and private health system.

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http://www.smh.com.au/technology/security/nsw-ambulance-service-back-online-after-virus-infection-20110214-1asv1.html

NSW Ambulance Service back online after virus infection

February 14, 2011 - 12:13PM

Computers which coordinate NSW's ambulances are back online in three of the state's regions after a major virus forced staff to shut them down for more than 24 hours.

The virus crept into the Ambulance Service of NSW's dispatch system at 1pm (AEDT) on Saturday, prompting staff to coordinate paramedics by telephone and handwritten notes.

Despite the shutdown, senior managers say no lives were put in danger and all triple-zero calls were answered.

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http://www.techworld.com.au/article/376509/nsw_ambulance_computers_coming_back_online/

NSW ambulance computers coming back online

No lives in danger and all 000 calls were answered despite shutdown, says senior managers

• AAP (AAP)
• 14 February, 2011 10:49

Computers which co-ordinate NSW's ambulances are back online in three of the state's regions after a major virus forced staff to shut them down for more than 24 hours.

The virus crept into the Ambulance Service of NSW's dispatch system at 1pm (AEDT) on Saturday, prompting staff to co-ordinate paramedics by telephone and handwritten notes.

Despite the shutdown, senior managers say no lives were put in danger and all triple-zero calls were answered.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/world-focus-on-ambulance-system-failure/story-e6frgakx-1226005951185

World focus on ambulance system failure

• Chris Griffith
• From: The Australian
• February 15, 2011 12:00AM

SECURITY experts worldwide are expected to home in on an investigation into how a computer virus attacked one of the world's most commonly used medical emergency software systems and brought the NSW ambulance computer aided dispatch system to a halt.

Ambulance Service director of control division, Michael Barnett-Connolly said that on Saturday the virus infiltrated the computer system responsible for automatically dispatching and tracking ambulances, known as VisiCAD.

"Our technician picked up the virus as part of scanning tests in the database boxes," Mr Barnett-Connolly said.

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http://www.cfoworld.com.au/news/533892/global-health-scores-e-health-deal/

Global Health scores e-health deal

Report | 18:50, 15th February 2011

By Dylan Bushell-Embling (CFO World)

Australian e-health solution provider Global Health (ASX:GLH) has revealed it has been chosen to provide its secure message delivery, ReferralNet, to Monkey Software.

Monkey Software will use ReferralNet in the Optomate practice management software it develops for its more than 1,000 clients in the Australian optical industry.

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http://www.6minutes.com.au/news/urgent-action-to-fix-registration-glitches

Urgent action to fix registration glitches

• By Michael Woodhead on 18 February 2011
• 0 comments

Federal and state health ministers have agreed that action needed to address ongoing registration problems with the new national registration scheme.

In a meeting with Nicola Roxon in Hobart, minsters agreed to provide additional funding to overcome problems that the Australian Health Practitioners Registration Agency (AHPRA) has been experiencing and restore credibility to the new national body.

They say additional monitoring of AHPRA will be introduced and the Commonwealth will consider ex-gratia payments to cover missed Medicare rebates “so that patients are not disadvantaged by lapsed registration of their health care practitioner who is still practising. “

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http://www.australiandoctor.com.au/articles/f9/0c06f0f9.asp

More resources pledged to fix registration

18-Feb-2011

Michael East

HEALTH ministers have pledged more resources to fix the registration fiasco, conceding the performance of the national registration system’s operator has not been good enough.

Since its introduction last July, the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency has been plagued by administrative meltdowns.

Doctors have complained that they never received registration renewal forms or they were sent to the wrong address. Applications submitted have also been unexplainably lost and there have been delays in processing them if they were received by AHPRA.

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http://www.mjainsight.com.au/view?post=Discharge+summaries+in+a+%93black+hole%94

Discharge summaries in a “black hole”

AN electronic discharge summary that includes tests pending when patients leave hospital is a good idea, but first the problem of test results disappearing into hospital “black holes” has to be solved, says Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, a national e-health leader and practising GP.

Dr Haikerwal, national clinical lead for the National E-Health Transition Authority, said that, in Australia, hospitals were the stumbling block to the implementation of an electronic test management and discharge summary system.

He was commenting on a systematic review by Australian researchers which showed failure to follow up test results for hospital patients is a substantial problem.

The paper, published online in BMJ Quality and Safety, found the lack of follow-up of laboratory or radiology test results for inpatients ranged from 20.04% to 61.6%, and for patients treated in emergency departments, ranged from 1.0% to 75%, when calculated as a proportion of tests.(1)

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http://www.medicalobserver.com.au/news/more-is-less-for-medicare-locals

More is less for Medicare Locals

18th Feb 2011

Caroline Brettingham-Moore

THE Gillard Government’s decision to increase the number of Medicare Locals (MLs) has received a mixed reaction from the divisions of general practice, with some claiming it will stymie and delay health reform.

As part of the revamped COAG deal, Prime Minister Julia Gillard raised the number of MLs beyond the planned 57 to ensure the organisations were more responsive to community needs.

But AGPN chair Dr Emil Djakic said the decision would result in weaker, less effective organisations.

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http://www.hospitaliteurope.com/article/24414/iSOFT_expands_in_Nordic_region

iSOFT expands in Nordic region

Tuesday 15th February 2011

iSOFT Group Limited has increased its foothold in Scandinavia and Finland, after an agreement with partners Picis to sell, implement and support its perioperative, anaesthesia and critical care solutions across the region.

Under its expansion plans, iSOFT has opened an office in Kista, Sweden and signed an agreement with Stockholm-based Exonor Technologies for local know-how. An established healthcare IT and clinical specialist, Exonor will provide staff, local knowledge and expertise with the full support of iSOFT’s UK service organisation. iSOFT plans to further expand its presence and product offerings in the region.

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http://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/un-doctored/2011/february-2011/14/correction-to-release-on-dunedin-e-prescribing-pilot-%E2%80%93-but-guild-stands-firm-on-prescription-safety-concerns-.aspx

Correction to release on Dunedin e-prescribing pilot – but Guild stands firm on prescription safety concerns

Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand Monday 14 February 2011, 12:18pm

Media release from Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand

The Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand (the Guild) has been asked by the Otago Daily Times to clarify our media statement from 9 February entitled Dunedin Hospital pilot uncovers serious prescribing errors.

Our media release stated that from a sample of 100 paper charts, the electronic prescribing pilot involving two wards at Dunedin Hospital uncovered 2,623 instances of harm or near misses from medication errors last year - most of which were unreported or unrecognised.

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http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/the-tony-collins-blog/2011/02/csc-likely-to-keep-its-nhs-it-contracts/

CSC likely to keep its NHS IT contracts

Officials are threatening to end CSC’s NPfIT contracts - but the end is not in sight.

Published 09:53, 18 February 11

The Department of Health is doing the right things legally: on 4 February 2011 it notified CSC of a breach of contract, relating to a delay in achieving a milestone at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust.

The breach is disputed by CSC, so it looks as if the two sides are locked in a legal battle. Indeed it’s customary for the DH, when giving statements to the media, to say it will not discuss commercial negotiations. But this time a spokesman for the DH told E-Health Insider:

“We can confirm that the Department of Health is considering the options available under the current contract, including termination.”

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http://www.hospitaliteurope.com/article/24400/iSOFT_wins_two_NHS_orders_for_Savience_patient_kiosks

iSOFT wins two NHS orders for Savience patient kiosks

Monday 14th February 2011

Two more NHS trusts have ordered patient check-in kiosks from iSOFT in deals totalling £275,000, under moves to cut patient queues and free receptionists and nurses.

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust is taking eight Savience self-service kiosks for outpatient departments at Watford General, Hemel Hempstead, and St Albans City hospitals. The trust deals with 374,000 outpatient appointments a year across the three hospitals. The deal is for a fully managed service over five years and includes six plasma screens and audio equipment for patient calling.

North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust has ordered two kiosks initially for the West Cumberland Hospital at Whitehaven, under a proof-of-concept project. Current plans are for further kiosks here and the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle. The trust handles 270,000 outpatient attendances a year across the two sites.

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http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/myki-looks-safe-at-least-in-melbourne-20110214-1atny.html

Myki looks safe, at least in Melbourne

Royce Millar

February 15, 2011

THE troubled myki transport smartcard could survive in a scaled-back form, although the Baillieu government may defer a final decision until next week.

With hundreds of millions already invested and the system largely in place and improving, transport industry and government insiders yesterday agreed the Coalition was likely to persevere with the smartcard.

Sources said yesterday the government was looking closely at modifying myki, a real possibility being to limit its roll out to Melbourne. A separate system would apply for regional transport. Mr Baillieu had hoped to make a definitive announcement this week.

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http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/time-for-a-decision-on-myki/story-e6frf7kx-1226005429999

Time for a decision on myki

• Stephen McMahon, state politics editor
• From: Herald Sun
• February 14, 2011 12:01AM

Experts say taxpayers could face a $2b bill if the government scraps Myki and replaces it with another ticketing system. Picture: Rob Leeson Source: Herald Sun

PRESSURE is building on the Baillieu Government to keep the troubled myki ticketing systems.

Transport experts, commuters and unions have condemned plans to axe myki.

It's estimated taxpayers would face a $2 billion bill if myki was dumped and replaced with a new system.

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http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/no-fatal-flaw-to-justify-scrapping-myki-says-expert-20110216-1avo4.html

No 'fatal flaw' to justify scrapping myki, says expert

David Rood, Jason Dowling

February 16, 2011 - 10:38AM

THERE is no "fatal flaw" with myki that would justify scrapping the $1.35 billion ticketing system, according to a senior transport expert.

While myki has had been plagued by a long list of glitches, including incorrect balances and a delayed introduction to trams, there is not a system-wide problem threatening the viability of the system, according to the source who did not wish to be identified.

The number of complaints about myki and calls to the myki call centre have been trending downwards, they said.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/rhetoric-changes-as-nbn-rural-promises-qualified/story-e6frg6nf-1226007829781

Rhetoric changes as NBN rural promises qualified

• Mitchell Bingemann and Lauren Wilson
• From: The Australian
• February 18, 2011 12:00AM

The federal government has backed away from promises that its National Broadband Network would deliver country dwellers download speeds of at least 12 megabits per second.

When the $36 billion project was announced in April 2009, the then Rudd government guaranteed that the population living outside the footprint of the 100mbps fibre-optic network would be served by "next-generation wireless and satellite technologies that will be able to deliver 12 megabits per second or more".

However, Broadband Minister Stephen Conroy and the NBN Co building the network have changed the rhetoric and are now pledging that it will only provide wireless-served residents "peak speeds of at least 12 megabits per second" -- meaning actual speeds could be significantly lower.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/in-depth/backlash-looms-over-nbn-rollout/story-e6frgaif-1226005390341

Backlash looms over NBN rollout

• Amos Aikman
• From: The Australian
• February 14, 2011 12:00AM

LABOR faces the prospect of a widespread backlash when it moves from the trial phase to a nationwide rollout of its National Broadband Network.

A survey by The Australian of 12 councils near NBN test sites found the majority reporting a mixture of apathy, scepticism and hostility towards the NBN among residents.

Mayors said their constituents either did not want the scheme or thought the money could be better spent elsewhere. All but one thought the installation of overhead cables, 31,000km across the country, would spark an outcry.

Some of the strongest opposition was reported by councils in northeast NSW, in and around the electorates of independent federal MPs Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott, who have argued vigorously in favour of the NBN.

The findings follow revelations by The Australian that some residents in the Kiama Downs test site on the NSW shire of Wingecarribee are unhappy with the way the network is being installed.

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http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/telstra-superfast-4g-wireless-sparks-debate-over-nbn-20110215-1au0i.html

Telstra super-fast 4G wireless sparks debate over NBN

Ben Grubb

February 15, 2011 - 11:00AM

Telstra will significantly upgrade its mobile network to take advantage of fast 4G technology that will allow users to obtain speeds similar to home ADSL broadband connections while on the go.

The move has sparked fresh debate over the viability of the national broadband network (NBN).

The telco will use new 4G technology to boost mobile internet speeds in capital cities and some regional areas by the end of the year.

Telstra chief executive David Thodey said the "leading-edge" technology will help the company meet growing demands for mobile data, "which is doubling every year as customers move to adopt data-hungry smartphones, mobile modems and tablets".

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/service-providers-wring-more-speed-out-of-copper-networks/story-e6frgakx-1226005975254

Service providers wring more speed out of copper networks

• Andrew Colley
• From: The Australian
• February 15, 2011 12:00AM

AUSTRALIAN internet providers continue to squeeze extra speed from their networks without help from the federal government's $36 billion National Broadband Network, according to research.

Average broadband speeds in Australia were 10 per cent higher in the second half of last year compared with the previous six months, according to the study by British analyst Broadband Expert.

The study, revealed exclusively to The Australian shows the average speed of a broadband connection during the second half of last year was about 5.47Mbps, compared with 4.95Mbps for the previous half.

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http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/376946/open_office_dilemma_openoffice_org_vs_libreoffice/

Open office dilemma: OpenOffice.org vs. LibreOffice

Dueling open source alternatives to Microsoft Office match word processors, spreadsheets, and much more; which one should you choose?

• Neil McAllister (InfoWorld)
• 16 February, 2011 22:04

OpenOffice.org is one of the leading competitors to the Microsoft Office suite of business productivity applications. Originally developed as StarOffice in the late 1990s, the suite had been managed in recent years by Sun Microsystems as an open source project. But when Oracle acquired Sun in April 2009, the future of Sun's software offerings -- particularly free ones like OpenOffice.org -- was called into question. Before long, key OpenOffice.org developers, unhappy with the status quo under Oracle, began defecting from the project.

The result was LibreOffice, a new fork of the OpenOffice.org code base that's maintained by a nonprofit organization called the Document Foundation. LibreOffice looks like OpenOffice.org and it runs like OpenOffice.org. It even reads and writes OpenOffice.org's OpenDocument file formats. The difference is that LibreOffice is being developed in a fully community-driven way, without oversight from Oracle. (The "libre" in the suite's name is derived from a Latinate root meaning "liberty.")

10 great free desktop productivity tools that aren't OpenOffice.org

The question is, which suite should you use? Both OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice recently announced version 3.3.0 of their respective wares. Both are available as free downloads (although Oracle also sells a version of OpenOffice.org that includes commercial support). Which one will be the better bet for now or in the foreseeable future? I installed both to find out.

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Enjoy!

David.

NZ Earthquake : So Sad and So Awful.

Just to note my sentiments regarding the awful death and destruction that has happened. Really just so sad!

I hope the outcomes will be the best possible for all involved given the scale of the catastrophe!

David.

NEHTA Has It All In Hand So We Should All Just Relax and Enjoy - Or Have They and Should We?

The following re-assuring article appeared today.

E-health will become a reality this year

• Karen Dearne
• From: The Australian
• February 22, 2011 12:00AM

• INFLUENCER
  Peter Fleming, chief executive, National E-Health Transition Authority

THE e-health program will move into the community this year with a rollout at the three lead sites and the broader second wave of projects, Peter Fleming says

With government funds flowing for delivery of the $467 million personally controlled e-health record system, Fleming says the second wave will spread the activity across the country.

"There were a significant number of responses (for the $55m funding pot) and these will allow us to dive deeply into various sectors, such as aged care," he says. "We've had people in the Health Department working right through Christmas evaluating these applications so we're ready to start the new year running. We're fairly close to being able to put forward recommendations to the minister."

Fleming says tenders for the National Authentication Service for Health and the GP software vendors panel are approaching finalisation, and new tenders designed to get e-health into operation around the country will be released shortly. "We're looking for private-sector partners to work with us on infrastructure, benefits realisation and change management, and this activity will bring a huge focus on the local community," Fleming says.

"We'll also start to see some real benefits from our work with the states. I've been buoyed by the data cleansing exercises the ACT government has been running for the Healthcare Identifiers program, for example. The results coming back are excellent, and Tasmania and Queensland will be next to run profiling exercises."

Fleming says the National E-Health Transition Authority will work with the GP software vendors panel to ensure their systems are upgraded to handle the HI service requirements.

More here:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/e-health-will-become-a-reality-this-year/story-fn7uxvjw-1226005571991

I am sure Mr Fleming thinks things are just ‘tickety boo’ but there are still some issues to say the least.

This appeared on the NEHTA site a day or ago.

Context Document for the Primary and Ambulatory Care Healthcare Identifiers

Implementation Plan

This Primary and Ambulatory Care Healthcare Identifiers Implementation Plan has been developed by nominated representatives from the sector, with the assistance of an independent consultant, David Rowlands of Direkt Consulting. This plan was developed between July and December 2010, with a review by stakeholders carried out in January and February 2011.

A wide range of stakeholder organisations were consulted either individually or as workshop participants in the development of the plan. The list of stakeholders consulted during the development is included in the plan.

How this plan was developed

An Issues Paper was developed on the basis of consultation, and was discussed at a workshop involving representatives who were nominated by key stakeholder organisations of the sector.

The first workshop was held on 31 August 2010 which involved consideration of and direction setting about the major issues and this feedback served as a basis for development of a Draft Plan. This Draft Plan was reviewed by the nominated stakeholder representatives at a second workshop on 22 September 2010 and the feedback incorporated in a consolidated version of the plan

This consolidated version was reviewed and cleared for publication by the Department of Health and Ageing on 23 December 2010 and returned to the sector representatives in January and February 2011.

Future iterations of the Plan

Since the development of this plan in late 2010, it is recognised that there have been further developments within the HI Service and the Primary and Ambulatory sector which will need to be taken into consideration in a future revision of the Plan.

This little gem can be found here:

http://www.nehta.gov.au/component/docman/doc_download/1265-context-document-pac-plan-february2011

Astonishingly it was actually posted on Sunday 20 Feb, 2011 and the document suggests it was finalised late on that evening!

What this essentially says is - as you were, this plan is not right and we need a new one! Jeez Louise what a collection of amateurs these people are!

What a total farce!

David.

Senate Estimates Program for February 23, 2011 (Tomorrow) is now Online.

You can download the program for the Community Services Sessions here:

http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/estimates/add1011/ca.pdf

It looks like the relevant session starts at about 9:30am.

If the usual practice is any guide we should see e-Health on mid to late morning.

There is a live web-cast that can be watched from this link:

http://www.aph.gov.au/live

Enjoy.

David.

AusHealthIT Poll Number 58 – Results – 21 February, 2011.

The question was:

What Score Would You Give the Gillard Health Reform Proposals Agreed at COAG?

The answers were as follows:

0%

- 9 (21%)

20%

- 15 (35%)

40%

- 7 (16%)

60%

- 6 (14%)

80%

- 2 (4%)

100%

- 3 (7%

Well that is seems pretty clear with only 25% suggesting that the reforms were positive in their view!

Votes : 42

Again, many thanks to those that voted!

David.