The question was:
Will The Public Find MyHospitals.gov.au Useful in Its Present Form?
You Bet
- 4 (14%)
Possibly
- 3 (11%)
Neutral
- 1 (3%)
Probably Not
- 14 (51%)
No Way
- 5 (18%)
Votes 27
I think it is fair to say those who read here are of the view that an opportunity was probably wasted with only 25% saying it will be at all useful.
Again, many thanks to those that voted!
David.
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.
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By now, many healthcare organizations are on the road to implementing electronic medical record (EMR) and computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems that we optimistically hope will cut costs, improve quality, and reduce medical errors—as well as comply with federal and state regulations. Although some organizations are further along on this journey than others, we all could use a little encouragement that we're travelling in the right direction.
A recent study released by researchers at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (LPCH) and Stanford University may be just the signpost we've been waiting to see.
For the first time, researchers have shown that a significant decrease in hospital-wide mortality rates can be associated with implementing a CPOE system that enables physicians and other medical staff to order medications, tests, and other treatments electronically. If configured properly, the systems can also provide decision support at the point of care.
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http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1010029?query=TOC
N Engl J Med 2010; 363:2301-2309December 9, 2010
Small studies suggest that telemonitoring may improve heart-failure outcomes, but its effect in a large trial has not been established.
We randomly assigned 1653 patients who had recently been hospitalized for heart failure to undergo either telemonitoring (826 patients) or usual care (827 patients). Telemonitoring was accomplished by means of a telephone-based interactive voice-response system that collected daily information about symptoms and weight that was reviewed by the patients' clinicians. The primary end point was readmission for any reason or death from any cause within 180 days after enrollment. Secondary end points included hospitalization for heart failure, number of days in the hospital, and number of hospitalizations.
The median age of the patients was 61 years; 42.0% were female, and 39.0% were black. The telemonitoring group and the usual-care group did not differ significantly with respect to the primary end point, which occurred in 52.3% and 51.5% of patients, respectively (difference, 0.8 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], −4.0 to 5.6; P=0.75 by the chi-square test). Readmission for any reason occurred in 49.3% of patients in the telemonitoring group and 47.4% of patients in the usual-care group (difference, 1.9 percentage points; 95% CI, −3.0 to 6.7; P=0.45 by the chi-square test). Death occurred in 11.1% of the telemonitoring group and 11.4% of the usual care group (difference, −0.2 percentage points; 95% CI, −3.3 to 2.8; P=0.88 by the chi-square test). There were no significant differences between the two groups with respect to the secondary end points or the time to the primary end point or its components. No adverse events were reported.
Among patients recently hospitalized for heart failure, telemonitoring did not improve outcomes. The results indicate the importance of a thorough, independent evaluation of disease-management strategies before their adoption. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00303212.)
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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/210618.php
08 Dec 2010
The Pharmaceuctical Group of the European Union (PGEU) the association representing Community Pharmacists, calls for pharmacists to be granted access to electronic patient records in a statement on E Health released today.
The statement points out that E Health represents a major opportunity to improve patient safety and make health services in Europe more cost effective and efficient.
Appropriate deployment of both e-prescribing systems and electronic health records, as well as other ICT tools such as decision support systems, can significantly contribute to the minimisation of harm to patients who have to take multiple medications.
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http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ipad-goes-or
December 07, 2010 | Molly Merrill, Associate Editor
DURHAM, NC – Surgeons at Georgetown University are exploring the benefits of using an iPad in the operating room, according to an article published in the Journal Surgical Radiology. One surgeon says the technology's most obvious advantage in the OR is providing a "convenient way to easily access previous patient imaging."
The article, "The iPad in the Hospital and Operating Room," was written by Felasfa M. Wodajo, MD, senior editor, iMedicalApps.com and assistant professor, orthopedic surgery, at both VCU School of Medicine, Inova Campus
and Georgetown University Hospital.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/business/24drug.html
November 23, 2010
QualityHealth is a popular health Web site with more than 20 million registered users that offers online medical information and e-mail newsletters on a variety of topics, including diabetes, allergies, asthma and arthritis.
But according to a complaint filed Tuesday with the Federal Trade Commission, site visitors who provide personal details about themselves might not be aware that QualityHealth collects information about people’s medical conditions, preferred medicines and treatment plans and uses it to profile its users for prescription drug marketing.
Rob Rebak, the chief executive of QualityHealth, a company also known as Marketing Technology Solutions of Delaware, did not return a request for comment.
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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20101208/NEWS/312089996/
By Joseph Conn
Posted: December 8, 2010 - 11:00 am ET
Health information technology problems ranked fifth on a list of the Top 10 Technology Hazards for 2011, according a report released by ECRI Institute, Plymouth Meeting, Pa.
Data loss, system incompatibilities and other health IT complications made the annual list of the not-for-profit patient safety organization, which reflects not a count of the most common or severe incidents, but ECRI staffers' judgment “about which risks should receive priority now," according to a news release about the report. Those opinions are based on ECRI's review of recent recalls and other actions, literature reviews, reports to ECRI's own medical device problem reporting database and those of other organizations, "and our experience in investigating and consulting on device-related incidents," according to the release.
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http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/ecri-research-technology-hazards-41481-1.html
HDM Breaking News, December 7, 2010
ECRI Institute, a Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based research firm and patient safety organization, has issued its list of the Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2011, with information technologies playing a prominent role.
Listed as No. 5 is "Data loss, system incompatibilities and other health I.T. complications." The convergence of medical technology such as monitors and ventilators into electronic health records brings many benefits to care, according to ECRI. But ineffective convergence can lead to data being lost or associated with the wrong patient.
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CCHIT to Begin Testing Hospital-Developed EHR Technology
‘EACH’ program intended to help hospitals close gaps in their mix of certified and uncertified EHR technologies.
By David Raths The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) is preparing to launch its certification program for hospitals with self-developed electronic health record technology.
During a Dec. 1 webinar, Alisa Ray, CCHIT’s executive director, announced that the organization would begin pilot testing in December with three hospitals: New York University Hospital, Care Partners in Boston and Edward Hospital in Naperville, Ill. The official launch of the program will be Jan. 10.
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http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/733675
Nancy Fowler Larson
December 6, 2010 — Most pediatric hospitals lack even the minimum setup needed to keep good electronic health records (EHRs), citing cost as the chief deterrent, according to a study published in the December issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine.
EHRs are growing in importance as chronic conditions such as asthma, obesity, and behavioral disorders emerge as the primary reasons for children's hospitalizations. Easily obtainable knowledge about patients' prior treatment is advantageous in managing these conditions, but such data are in short supply.
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http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/data-standards-healthcare-supply-chain-gain-ground
December 06, 2010 | Bernie Monegain, Editor
WASHINGTON – Healthcare organizations are moving closer to the adoption of global supply chain standards, according to an independent survey of healthcare providers, group purchasing organizations, device manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors.
The Health Industry Group Purchasing Association's (HIGPA) Committee on eHealth Standards announced the results of the survey on Dec. 3.
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http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/6492/basingstoke_rolls_out_ibm_portal
09 Dec 2010
Basingstoke and North Hampshire NHS Foundation Trust is rolling out a clinical portal based on IBM’s Websphere platform.
The portal will allow users to view historical patient information, access the trust’s JAC e-prescribing system, place requests for pathology and radiology through its Sunquest ICE system, and create correspondence for GPs.
IBM has been working with the trust on the portal and on getting its systems ready for go-live. This has included upgrading the trust's core network, virtualising its servers in a move from 120 non-IBM to 10 IBM servers, and deploying a wireless network.
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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20101208/NEWS/101209955/
By Joseph Conn
Posted: December 8, 2010 - 5:00 pm ET
The percentage of chief information officers who are confident that their organizations will qualify by April 2011 for federal incentive payments for the purchase of electronic health-record systems plunged to 15%, down by nearly one-half from 28% of responding CIOs in a similar survey released in August, according to the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.
Oct. 1 was the start date for hospitals under the Medicare portion of the program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Hospitals have to string together 90 consecutive days of meeting federal meaningful-use criteria within the 2011 federal fiscal year to qualify for reimbursement payments on their EHR investments.
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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20101209/NEWS/312099995
By Joseph Conn
Posted: December 9, 2010 - 11:45 am ET
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at HHS is seeking public comment on a proposed survey of the efficacy of its own health IT workforce development program.
In April, the ONC awarded $112 million in grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to dozens of universities and community colleges for various IT workforce training and advanced-education programs ranging from six-month certificates through post-graduate degrees.
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Friday, December 10, 2010
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On New Year's Day, the oldest of the country's 77 million baby boomers will turn 65. Those baby boomers will become eligible for Medicare, if they are not already, and, increasingly, they will be putting more strain on the U.S. health care system.
Medical advances have led to improved survivability of many diseases and longer life spans. In 2000, the proportion of U.S. residents ages 65 and older was 12%, or 35 million. By 2020, the percentage of the U.S. population ages 65 and older is expected to increase to 17%, or 50 million Americans.
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http://www.cmio.net/index.php?option=com_articles&view=article&id=25515&division=cmio
Written by Editorial Staff
December 9, 2010
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has partnered with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to publish new reports to guide software developers in improving EHR usability.
Usability has been a topic of considerable interest in the health IT community; one of the new reports provides NIST guidance about processes of user-centered design (UCD) for EHR application developers.
UCD serves to engineer improved usability and human performance into a system or device, according to the report. UCD models have the following principles:
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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20101210/NEWS/312109997
Posted: December 10, 2010 - 11:45 am ET
Adoption of health information technology is growing among office-based physicians, according to preliminary results of a survey released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than half of physicians reported using at least a partial electronic health-record system in their practices, according to 2010 estimates from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, conducted by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. That figure is up slightly from 48.3% of physicians in 2009.
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By developing registries and tapping e-medical record data, Kaiser Permanente is improving outcomes for hip and knee implant patients.
By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee, InformationWeek
Dec. 8, 2010
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228600158
At Kaiser Permanente, a recently released study about hip and knee replacement devices highlights how best practices can be developed (and discovered) and patient safety bolstered in large part through the gathering and analyzing of data in patient’s electronic medical records.
With 600,000 knee and hip replacements performed annually in the U.S. -- and with those numbers expected to grow as Baby Boomers age -- KP’s study advocates the development of a national registry to track procedures and patient outcomes in those surgeries.
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http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/acquisition-hie-payer-medicity-aetna-41478-1.html
HDM Breaking News, December 7, 2010
Insurer Aetna Inc. has agreed to acquire health information exchange platform vendor Medicity Inc. for approximately $500 million. The acquisition is expected to close in early January.
Salt Lake City-based Medicity has considerable market share among emerging state HIEs, and regional and proprietary HIEs. In total, the company says it serves more than 760 hospitals, 125,000 physician users and 250,000 end users.
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http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/print/TEC-259847/Blumenthal-EHRs-Change-for-the-Better
Each year the editors at HealthLeaders magazine choose 20 people who are making healthcare better. One of my nominees this year was David Blumenthal, MD, the national coordinator for health information technology. I called him "kind of a rock star" among healthcare tech types—I wonder how this buttoned-down doc will react to that characterization. And I wonder, too, how the healthcare industry in general will react to the idea that we think he is one of the 20 people who are playing a crucial role in the betterment of healthcare.
I'm guessing that opinions either way would be not so much a referendum on Blumenthal personally but on electronic health records systems in general.
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http://www.govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?nid=75217
By Mary Mosquera
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
The first version of the software that will allow simple information exchange between providers, a crucial enabler for the first stage of meaningful use of electronic health records, was announced by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.
The open source reference model of the standards and services that enable connectivity, which will be available as both Java and .Net formats, will be deployed first in a series of pilots to test it for real-world use, according to Arien Malec, coordinator of the Direct Project, the new name for the old NHIN Direct, a project of the ONC.
The Direct Project is a streamlined version of the more robust nationwide health information network standards set (NHIN), and will offer physicians and small practices the ability to conduct basic health record exchanges. For example, a primary care physician who is referring a patient to a specialist can use the Direct Project to send a clinical summary of that patient to the specialist, and to receive a summary of the consultation.
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I think by now, we're past the point of arguing whether introducing complex technology into the healthcare continuum is a good idea. Whether to help caregivers make the right decisions more quickly, to better integrate clinical and financial systems to cut down on waste, government mandates, or a host of other good reasons to automate many parts of the healthcare process, hospitals and health systems are investing as never before in technological innovation.
Besides, even if you're stubborn enough to think it's not a good idea, or, at least, that it's unproven and too expensive, you know the feds are also behind the push. And when a customer that pays the freight for up to 50% and more of your patient flow says "jump," most of you who haven't seen the need for an EMR are now asking, "how high?"
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http://www.healthimaging.com/index.php?option=com_articles&view=article&id=25416&division=hiit
Written by Editorial Staff
December 2, 2010
Orion Health has added a modular suite of components to its health information exchange (HIE) tools, allowing healthcare organizations to customize their exchanges.
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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20101206/NEWS/312069979/
By Joseph Conn
Posted: December 6, 2010 - 12:00 pm ET
The main federal privacy law covering electronic patient records that are held by healthcare providers may be perceived as more stringent than the laws and rules regulating personal health-record systems, but the privacy practices of some PHR providers are far more patient-controlled and thus, protective, according to panelists at a recent daylong public hearing on PHR privacy and security.
"When we look at this whole privacy debate, we're looking at it the wrong way," said panelist Colin Evans, the former director of digital health policy and standards for computer chipmaker Intel Corp. and now CEO of Dossia, a PHR provider launched in 2006 by Intel, Wal-Mart Stores and several other major U.S. employers. Evans was one of 21 panelists at the Dec. 3 event in Washington, which was sponsored by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at HHS.
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HDM Breaking News, December 6, 2010
Too often, providers and payers use privacy and security issues as excuses to not permit patients access to their own information, the leader of a personal health records software vendor told federal officials on Dec. 3.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Federal Trade Commission held a public roundtable on Dec. 3 to hash out PHR issues. They got an earful from Colin Evans, president and CEO at Dossia, a Cambridge, Mass.-based PHR vendor targeting large employers.
The real barrier to consumer access of their health information via PHRs is not privacy and security issues but the unwillingness of providers and payers holding the information to give consumers control over information, Evans said.
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http://www.cmio.net/index.php?option=com_articles&view=article&id=25442&division=cmio
Written by Editorial Staff
December 3, 2010
The Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT has allotted more than $16 million to fund the Health Information Exchange (HIE) Challenge Program, which encourages breakthroughs for nationwide HIE.
The program focuses on five challenge areas identified as key needs since federal and state governments began implementation of the HITECH Act, according to the HHS.
Awards will fund the development of technology and approaches that will be developed in pilot sites and then shared, reused and leveraged by other states and communities to increase nationwide interoperability.
The five themes are:
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December 6, 2010 — 2:09pm ET | By Neil Versel
NHIN Direct, we hardly knew thee.
The health information exchange protocol to help small physician practices participate in the Nationwide Health Information Network and achieve a key "meaningful use" measure--often referred to as the "trust fabric" of HIE--has a new name: the Direct Project.
More importantly, the rebranded Direct Project has completed its open-source enabling software and is launching a series of pilots to demonstrate the effectiveness of secure messaging of sensitive healthcare data over the Internet. This set of standards-based technical tools and services will allow providers and other healthcare entities to "push" electronic messages to known, trusted recipients much like email, except that these healthcare messages will be encrypted to HIPAA standards.
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December 6, 2010 — 4:14pm ET | By Neil Versel
HHS' newest 10-year health goals for the country, Healthy People 2020, focus on prevention, shared decisionmaking between patients and providers, personalized self-management of health conditions and, yes, "meaningful use" of health IT. The department is issuing a related challenge, called myHealthyPeople, to application developers to create apps for healthcare professionals who track state- and community-level health data.
The initiative's overarching goals include attaining high quality, longer lives free of preventable disease, disability, injury, and premature death; and eliminating health disparities and improving the health of all groups. "This milestone in disease prevention and health promotion creates an opportunity to leverage information technology to make Healthy People come alive for all Americans in their communities and workplaces," HHS Chief Technology Officer Todd Park says in a press release.
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http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/few-hospitals-closing-loop-med-administration/2010-12-06
December 6, 2010 — 2:49pm ET | By Neil Versel
"Closing the loop" on medication management has long been discussed as a worthy health IT goal, but just 5 percent of U.S. hospitals have been able to get there, Health Data Management reports. That figure comes from a recent HIMSS Analytics report on EMR adoption.
There are many reasons why closed-loop medication management is so elusive. "When you look at medication management across the continuum of care and all the processes involved, they're complex and have multiple points of failure," Mark Siska, assistant director of informatics and technology for pharmacy services at the Mayo Clinic, tells HDM. "There are a number of opportunities for distraction and miscommunication, so automating medication management and connecting everything is very challenging."
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http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2010/12/professors-at-harvard-and-nottingham.html
Sunday, December 05, 2010
In the opinion piece "Don't Repeat the UK's Electronic Health Records Failure" (Huffington Post, Dec. 5, 2010), Dr. Stephen B. Soumerai, Professor of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Dr. Anthony Avery, Professor of Primary Care at the University of Nottingham Medical School, UK share familiar themes on health IT.
These themes will be especially familiar to HC Renewal readers and to my students and other readers of my Medical Informatics teaching website.
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http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/robot-er-staff-could-speed-triage/2010-12-07
December 7, 2010 — 2:41pm ET | By Sandra Yin
If a group of computer engineers gets their way, we will no longer hear stories of patients dying in the ER after excruciatingly long waits. A solution for overburdened triage staff and long emergency room wait times appears to be in sight.
If you're willing to wait five years, robots could help speed the ER triage process, according to Mitch Wilkes, associate director of the Center for Intelligent Systems and associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Vanderbilt University. He is the lead author of a paper presented yesterday at the Humanoids 2010 conference held in Nashville.
The paper describes an ER that would feature electronic kiosks (like those at the airport) at the registration desk and smart chairs. A mobile robot or two might monitor patients in the waiting room.
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Enjoy!
David.
The following announcement appeared yesterday.
The Australian Government’s personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) system took a further step forward today with the call for an organisation to evaluate the benefits and capabilities of the new system.
17 December 2010
The Gillard Government’s personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) system took a further step forward today with the call for an organisation to evaluate the benefits and capabilities of the new system.
This first major Request for Tender for the PCEHR system, issued today, was welcomed by the Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon.
“This organisation will have a key role in ensuring the implementation of e-health records will deliver real benefits for patients,” Ms Roxon said.
“The successful tenderer will put in place the analytical and evaluation framework that will underpin the development of e-health records.”
Today’s call for tenders comes on the back of the successful national e-health conference in Melbourne, and underlines the Government’s commitment to make more health information available to Australians at the click of a mouse through personally controlled electronic health records.
The successful tenderer will monitor and measure the progress of the program, analyse the benefits being progressively delivered, and evaluate the system’s growing capability.
The successful tenderer will also examine the trends that will affect the roll-out of the system, and provide continuing feedback to the Department of Health and Ageing and the National E-Health Transition Authority, as the managing agent of the program.
“This call for tenders is a key element to ensure the Government’s $466.7 million investment in the PCEHR system realises its full benefits, and does so in the most efficient and cost-effective way,” Ms Roxon said.
An industry briefing on the RFT will be held in Canberra on 17 January, 2011. Tenders close on Friday, 11 February 2011. Interested parties can access the documentation through the AusTender website https://www.tenders.gov.au.
The release is found here:
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/mr-yr10-nr-nr207.htm
Some coverage has appeared here:
THE Gillard government is seeking a private sector partner to finesse its $467 million nationwide electronic patient records rollout.
The brief is to monitor and measure progress of the personally controlled e-health record (PCEHR) program through an analytical and evaluation framework.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the successful bidder would have a key role in ensuring the system delivered real benefits to patients.
“The organisation will put in place a framework underpinning the development of e-health records,” she said. “It will analyse the benefits as they are progressively delivered, and evaluate the system’s growing capability.”
The partner will also “examine trends affecting the roll-out”, and provide “ongoing feedback” to the Health department and its project manager, the National E-Health Transition Authority.
And here:
The agency will work with the Department of Health and Ageing and NEHTA to deliver the project
The Federal Government is on the hunt for a partner for the rollout of its Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) program.
The $466.7 million program, outlined in the 2010-11 budget, includes the design, build and rollout of e-health records over two years from the 1 July 2010 until 30 June 2012.
Once the program has been implemented, all Australians who wish to participate will have the ability to register for their own personally controlled electronic health record from 1July 2012. This will also enable the quick exchange of patient-controlled, high priority healthcare information between systems ready to connect to the PCEHR system, including, hospital discharge summaries, referrals, and medications lists.
“Australians will be able to check their medical history online through the introduction of personally controlled electronic health records, which will boost patient safety, improve health care delivery, and cut waste and duplication,” health department documents read.
According to department documents, the agency will work closely with the Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) and the National e-health transition authority (NEHTA) in the delivery of the program.
More here:
The key requirements run like this:
The Benefits and Evaluation Partner will:
Provide a complementary research capability for the gathering of information that is relevant and of value to the build and rollout of the PCEHR Program.
----- End Extract
I don’t envy those responding to this given the level of vagueness of what the other partners and going to deliver and by when.
This is the best spot to register and download a copy of the RFT.
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/2171011
I plan a close read over the weekend. I am not sure and am keen to find out how one is meant to evaluate a program that has only just started - which is the way it seems to read.
David.
Click on the links to browse the full post. This order is provided by Feedburner.
And the Winner - with an astonishing 1431 page reads is;!
http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2010/09/sometimes-rubbish-really-comes-from.html
The following appeared today.
HEALTH Minister Nicola Roxon will seek an admission from the Coalition that it was wrong on e-health.
She will also seek Coalition support for health IT measures in the new parliament.
"The Coalition does not believe in e-health," she told The Australian.
Coming in at No 2 we have:
http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2010/11/talk-about-not-being-able-to-organise.html
The following appeared on the weekend:
A BRAVE new world of public hospital transparency seemed to be on the horizon following the election of the Rudd government in 2007.
A perception that was encouraged by Labor's most senior figures.
Truculent states would have their heads knocked together, seemed to be the message; and they were required for the first time to divulge information that would allow an unprecedented level of scrutiny of public hospital performance.
And for No 3 we have:
http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2010/11/sa-health-takes-risky-path-recently.html
The following press release appeared a few days ago.
CHICAGO and ADELAIDE, Australia, Nov. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- SA Health, the public health system of South Australia, today named Allscripts as the Vendor of Choice (VOC) for a strategic initiative to improve patient care, satisfaction and clinical workflow across its network of hospitals and health clinics. SA Health plans to deploy the Sunrise Enterprise™ 5.5 suite of advanced clinical, access management and financial solutions.
And for No 4 we have:
http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2010/09/view-from-e-health-front-line-one-mans.html
This is what I found to be a wonderful note from someone on the ground. Posted with his permission. (It is in note form - but the intent is clear!)
---- Begin E-Mail.
David,
Thanks for your article in the AUSTRALIAN this weekend.
Have visited http://www.aushealthit.blogspot.com/
Could not see where/how to add to the blog discussion.
As a medico about to retire [at 65] and having spent some 36 years in anaesthetics, may I comment:
Commenced a Health Informatics course with UTAS ... which disappointed me as the curriculum ran out of steam.
Prof did not even answer my letter.
And next as No 5 we have:
http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2010/11/secret-event-to-which-you-are-probably.html
This e-mail was sent out today to the select few - not me that is for sure.
Dear Prof. xxxxx
The Department of Health and Ageing has the pleasure of inviting you to attend the upcoming National e-health Conference to be held on Tuesday 30 November and Wednesday 1 December 2010, at the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre.
This Conference is an important opportunity for stakeholders to discuss how e-health and telehealth will drive the delivery of health care into the future, including the personally controlled electronic health record system.
Over two days, compelling speakers will lead the conversation through plenary sessions, while subject matter specialists will lead streams that focus on the national e-health agenda. The full conference agenda will be made available shortly.
No 6 is:
http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2010/11/now-here-is-job-i-would-avoid-like.html
An interesting advertisement appeared in first few pages of the Financial Review today.
Client in NSW Health.
The job has (they say):
- A Strategic Leadership Role
- A Complex Dynamic Environment
- A Local Role with National Agenda
It seems NSW Health have decided to create a new Branch in the Health Department and the Branch is to play a key role in ‘positioning NSW at the forefront of the National E-Health Agenda’
Success will apparently develop a State Wide Resource for Strategic Expert Advice to the health system.
Somehow this sounds remarkably like the Information Resource Management Centre (IRMC) which was established a little over 20 years ago at NSW Health. Since then the place has been re-organised at least five times I can recall!
No 7 turns out to be:
http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2010/10/nehta-unaccountability-just-rolls-on-it.html
The following appeared yesterday.
OPPOSITION calls for details of the National E-Health Transition Authority's spending have once again been rebuffed by the Health Department.
In replies to outstanding Senate estimates questions from June 3, Health yesterday released year-old figures for NEHTA's expenditure on contractors and consultants.
With Health back before the Community Affairs committee today and e-health matters on the agenda for tonight at an estimates hearing, Health belatedly supplied information from NEHTA's 2008-09 annual report, published last October 29, among a flurry of answers over the past week which saw the portfolio file expand from around 230 pages to 772 by the close of business yesterday.
And lucky last No 8 is:
http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-needs-to-come-from-planned-e.html
A short while ago (October 28, 2010) Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon announced there would be an e-Health Conference (or Summit) - Revolutionising Australia’s Health Care held in late November 2010.
In announcing the Summit she confirmed that she and Minister Conroy would be speaking she said that the e-Health Summit will take place on the 30 November and 1 December at the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre. Attendees are to be “the nation’s leading health experts, consumer groups and information technology specialists who will come together to discuss the technological revolution in the delivery of health care” The full press release is available on the Department of Health web site.
The stimulus for having the Summit is explained in the following two sentences from the release. “The Gillard Government is investing almost $470 million to introduce e-health across the health system – including the introduction of personally controlled electronic health records to be rolled out from July 2012,” and “This investment will build upon the $392 million committed to modernise the health system by providing Medicare rebates for online consultations across a range of specialties for the first time.”
They have all been good fun. I wonder what will make next year’s list!
I hope 2011 is a good!
David.
