best information technology: Ocak 2011

24 Ocak 2011 Pazartesi

A Few Details From Minister Roxon on the E-Health Plans. Now I am Really Confused!

The ABC?s World Today had an interesting interview with Ms Roxon on the e-Health plans.

Here are a few selected quotes.

Patient records go online

Melinda Howells reported this story on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 12:14:00

ASHLEY HALL: The Budget allocates almost half a billion dollars over two years for a new system of electronic health records.

Patients will be able to read the information online as will doctors, hospitals, pharmacists, and allied health workers.

Privacy is an obvious concern, but the Government says patients will be in control of their own information.

Doctors say what's been announced is still a long way from what's needed.

Melinda Howells reports.

.....

MELINDA HOWELLS: Last night's Budget allocated almost half a billion dollars over two years to develop the new system. It aims to reduce medication mistakes, cut down on duplication, and give patients access to their own health records.

The Health Minister Nicola Roxon says participation is optional.

NICOLA ROXON: The new investment of $466 million allows us to build the system so that patients will importantly be able to access their own health information. The easiest way to think about is like the sort of banking you do online. You can access your statements and your details. The Commonwealth will not be holding the data. We will be building the parts of the system that link a doctor's records with a pharmacist's records, with a hospital discharge and it will be up to the patient to decide who can access that information and when.

.....

MELINDA HOWELLS: The project is still in the planning stages, but Ms Roxon says privacy concerns have been addressed in the design of the system. She says the Government won't be storing the patient information.

NICOLA ROXON: Well, I think that is one of the big issues that is addressed by the Commonwealth not being the data warehouse, if you like, of this information. We'll in fact be holding and funding the links to the system each individual doctor or pharmacist or hospital service provider will retain information about an individual patient. But the convenience and protection this will give to patients is that you won't have to hunt around and make hundreds of calls to find out when you last had a vaccination.

MELINDA HOWELLS: Doctor Andrew Pesce says what's being proposed is only the first step down the road to a comprehensive national system of electronic health records, which is as useful to clinicians as it is to patients.

ANDREW PESCE: We're still only about 10 per cent of the way down that road. I mean, it's gonna take years something as big as this isn't going to happen overnight, there are lots of systems currently in place that have to be matched up. You just think about it, I mean every hospital has its own electronic health database, general practices do, some doctors don't have computers. All of this has to be married up into a seamless electronic health record. It's going to take some time.
.....

MELINDA HOWELLS: Nicola Roxon says half a billion dollars is a big commitment.

NICOLA ROXON: Governments of past have put off making the decision to do this and our focus will be absolutely on these stages and of course there is business plan for the stages that can come after that. This investment, however, will give the momentum to taking electronic health records that step closer to reality in Australia.

ASHLEY HALL: The Health Minister Nicola Roxon ending that report from Melinda Howells.

The full report can be found here.

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2010/s2897298.htm

One question. Does anyone know what they are actually on about and how it is going to work. I sure don?t.

I note the Australian is asking about Google and Microsoft.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/opinion/will-e-health-records-be-outsourced-to-google-microsoft/story-e6frgb0o-1225865572819

Will e-health records be outsourced to Google, Microsoft?

Karen Dearne and Fran Foo
From: Australian IT
May 12, 2010 2:46PM

opinion | OVER the past few months, federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon has kept mum on who exactly will run the proposed electronic health records system.

Will it be the private sector, Medicare, or some other government body? Will it be handed over to health insurers to manage? The crystal ball is still blurry, but we're hopeful Ms Roxon's office will clear the air once and for all today (if she responds to our query).

There have been murmurs in the industry for some time that the government was primed to "outsource" the administration of e-health records to commercial providers, although Ms Roxon has refused to confirm or deny the speculation.

Yesterday's federal budget added more fuel to the fire; look no further than Treasurer Wayne Swan's carefully selected delivery of the new funding regime for e-health records

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Make of all this what you will!

David.

Full Press Release on Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records.

Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records for All Australians

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.

PDF printable version of Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records for All Australians (PDF 24 KB)

11 May 2010

The $466.7 million investment over the next two years will revolutionise the delivery of healthcare in Australia.

The national e-Health records system will be a key building block of the National Health and Hospitals Network.

This funding will establish a secure system of personally controlled electronic health records that will provide:

Summaries of patients? health information ? including medications and immunisations and medical test results;
Secure access for patients and health care providers to their e-Health records via the internet regardless of their physical location;
Rigorous governance and oversight to maintain privacy; and
Health care providers with the national standards, planning and core national infrastructure required to use the national e-Health records system.

Benefits for patients

Patients for the first time will be empowered with easy-to-access information about their medical history - including medications, test results and allergies - allowing them to make informed choices about their healthcare.

They will be able to present for treatment anywhere in the country, and give permission for health professionals to access their relevant history at the touch of a button.

Patients will no longer have to remember every detail of their care history and retell it to every care provider they see. Parents will not have to remember the vaccinations their child has had, and doctors and nurses won?t have to thumb through paper records.

Patients will control what is stored on their medical records and will decide which medical professionals can view or add to their files, meaning privacy will be strengthened.

A personally controlled electronic heath record will have two key elements:

a health summary view including conditions, medications, allergies, and vaccinations; and
an indexed summary of specific healthcare events.

Benefits for health providers and the health system

Poor availability of health information across care settings can be frustrating and time consuming for patients and health professionals alike.

It can also have damaging effects on a patient?s health outcomes through avoidable adverse drug events and lack of communication between health care providers.

About 2-3 per cent of hospital admissions in Australia are linked medication errors. It equates to 190,000 admissions each year and costs the health system $660 million.

About 8 per cent of medical errors are because of inadequate patient information.

Clear, quickly available information will reduce such incidents, avoid unnecessary tests and save scarce health resources.

Implementation of personally controlled electronic health records

Personally controlled electronic health records will build on the foundation laid by the introduction of the Individual Health Care Identifiers later this year. Under this, every Australian will be given a 16-digit electronic health number, which will only store a patient?s name, address and date-of-birth. No clinical information will be stored on the number, which is separate to an electronic health record.

Implementation will initially target key groups in the community likely to receive the most immediate benefit, including those suffering from chronic and complex conditions, older Australians, Indigenous Australians and mothers and newborn children.

This investment includes funding for the first two years of the individual electronic health record business case developed in consultation with all states and territories and the National Electronic Health Transition Authority (NEHTA).

Subject to progress in rolling out the core e-Health infrastructure, the Government may consider future investments, as necessary, to expand on the range of functions delivered under an electronic health record system.

Reforms to take health system into 21st century

A national e-Health records system was identified as a national priority by the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission and the draft National Primary Health Care Strategy. It was also supported by the National Preventative Health Strategy.

The Government?s reform plans in primary, acute, aged and community care also require a modern e-Health infrastructure. It is a key foundation stone in building a health system for the 21st century.

A personally controlled electronic health record will not be mandatory to receive health care. For those Australians who do choose to opt in, they will be able to register online to establish a personally controlled e-Health record from 2012-13.

The release is here:

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/budget/publishing.nsf/Content/budget2010-hmedia09.htm

Comment later ? but I do note there is no mention of leadership, governance or technologies to be used.

David.

Government Proposes Some Vague e-Health Ideas, or is There a Plan? Who Knows!

This is what is in the Budget for e-Health.

National Health and Hospitals Network ? eHealth ? personally controlled electronic health records

Expense ($m)

2010?11 185.6 Million

2011?12 281.2 Million

The Government will provide $466.7 million over two years to establish the key components of the personally controlled electronic health record system for Australia. This secure online system will enable improved access to health care information, commencing in 2012?13.

This funding will provide the capability to produce nationally consistent patient health summaries from existing and compliant information sources. Patients who choose to participate will be able to securely access, and permit their healthcare providers to access, their health information. Personally controlled health records will over time be capable of incorporating a range of health information, such as a patient's general health history, pathology and radiology summaries and prescription information. This will support more informed clinical assessments and decision making, improve continuity of care for patients and introduce efficiencies in health care service delivery.

The measure builds on the Healthcare Identifiers Service, which is being developed as a foundation service for eHealth initiatives in Australia. Healthcare identifiers will allow for accurate identification of patients and health care providers and provider organisations. Subject to the passage of legislation, $0.5 million per annum in existing funding will be provided to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for regulatory support in relation to health care identifiers in 2010?11 and 2011?12.

In order to fully realise the significant benefits of this Commonwealth investment, State and Territory governments will also need to continue their planned or expected investments in core health information systems. The States and Territories will also need to provide the complementary investments to build their capacity in readiness for connection to this national system.

Sounds fine ? I wonder what the business case for this vagueness it. Maybe it is there is a lot more detail somewhere else, and we will see it in due course!

There is also an item for the Pharmacists:

The measure will also provide funding of $375.3 million over six years (including $91.8 million in 2014?15) to implement new initiatives under the agreement. These include:

a range of new patient?focused pharmacy programs including patient medication monitoring (at a cost of $285.5 million);
a 15 cent payment to pharmacists for every prescription processed electronically with a National E?Health Transition Authority specifications (at a cost of $82.6 million); and
collection of data on pharmaceuticals that are priced below the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme general co?payment (currently $33.30) including patient, prescriber and dispenser demographic data (at a cost of $7.2 million).

Does anyone know if that specification actually exists and has been tested etc?

I guess we will have to wait for more detail, but note how there is no mention of the Private Sector, just the States and Territories!

I wonder who is going to manage all this money. Not clear right now!

Can they possibly start spending all this money in less than 2 months? That may be a real prescription (forgive the pun) for waste and mismanagement!

You can read the detailed press release here:

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/budget/publishing.nsf/Content/budget2010-hmedia09.htm

David.

The Government’s E-Health Announcement is Really Bizarre and Very Incomplete.

So we are to have $460+Million to be spent over 2 years, with the possibility of some more if success is seen as coming, to develop Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records (or maybe Individual Electronic Health Records (IEHR) or maybe something in between).

As with all such announcements the only thing that is missing is any detail. Until that becomes clear this is so much hot air.

Worryingly, the lack of information on the following issues leave one wondering just how seriously all this has been planned and developed.

1. How on earth can a program of this size be kicked off and undertake useful work starting in only seven weeks?

2. What will happen after two years and who would bother if there is no confidence of some reasonable follow-on?

3. Who is going to deliver this national system? Public sector, private sector, a PPP or what?

4. Where is the information that is to apparently populate these records come from?

5. What will be the governance framework for these records?

6. What is the evidence for the actual value of these records to health outcomes ? as opposed to provider EMRs?

7. What is NEHTA?s role and what is DoHA?s role to be?

8. What will be the management and organisational framework for delivery of these plans?

I anticipate the Department will make the answers to these questions available over the next week or so. They must know or how else can they say the spend ? over 2 years ? will be exactly $466.7 Million.

If this information is not forthcoming promptly we will all be able to draw our own conclusions about all this.

David.

The Senate Has Apparently Failed to Get to Health Identifier Legislation.

The Senate rises this afternoon / evening and does not seem to be considering the Bill today and didn?t over the last two days.

Here is today?s program.

http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/DynamicRed/Index.html

The next sitting day is June 15, 2010 so it will be all on hold until then I guess.

See here for sitting days:

http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/work/sitting/2010/sitting.htm

I wonder what happens next as we have been told not much can happen prior to the legislation passing?

David.

University of NSW – Centre for Health Informatics - 10th Anniversary e-Health Research Seminar.

Here is the announcement.

A decade of Australian e-health research

It is with great pleasure that I invite you to join us at Centre for Health Informatics (CHI) 10th Anniversary Symposium. CHI is Australia's largest and longest running academic e-health research group. The Symposium will provide us with an opportunity to reflect on a decade of Australian research in e-health, as well as look to the future. All our guest speaker are nationally recognised leaders in their fields.

This symposium is for everyone with an interest in e-health, and promises to be a stimulating and entertaining day. I do hope you can join us to celebrate the many achievements of e-health researchers across Australia.

Seminar Details Are:

Date:

Tuesday 15th June, 2010

Time:

9.00am - 4.30pm

Location:

Law Theatre, Law Building

University of New South Wales

(Map Reference F8)

Lower Campus

RSVP by Friday 4th June, 2010 to:

Danielle Del Pizzo

Phone: (02) 9385 3165

Email: d.delpizzo@unsw.edu.au

All the speaker details are on the website:

http://www.chi.unsw.edu.au/CHIweb.nsf/page/CHI%2010th%20Anniversary

Please consider attending if you are interested in the work being done!

David.

We Really Need To Work Out How These Lessons Might Be Used in OZ!

(Note: This was developed just before the 2010 Budget was released.)

The following appeared a few days ago.

Studies: When Doctors Take More Responsibility, Care Becomes Cheaper And Better

By Andrew Villegas

KHN Staff Writer

May 04, 2010

Some health policy experts and clinicians have long maintained that, in the effort to reduce health care costs and improve patient outcomes, there's no place like (a medical) home.

A new study in the May issue of the journal Health Affairs seems to validate that notion.

Medical homes ? where primary care doctors are held responsible for coordinating care for individual patients ? are seen as a model for lowering costs without sacrificing quality. (Related story: Living In A Medical 'Home?).

Dr. Rob Reid and colleagues from the Group Health Research Institute examined the costs and patient outcomes from a team of medical professionals providing care for 10,000 patients at a Seattle-area Group Health "medical home." The conclusion? The medical home produced significant cost savings.

For example, during the two years studied, the team's patients had 29 percent fewer ER visits and 6 percent fewer hospitalizations compared with other Group Health clinic patients. There were start-up costs ? $16 per patient per year ? and results took a couple years to provide the bulk of the savings. But, ultimately, Reid said that for every $1 it invested in the system, Group Health saved $1.50 by keeping patients out of the ER and the hospital. And the medical home patients "reported better care experiences" as well.

The strategy is now being expanded to all 26 of Group Health's Washington state medical centers ? covering more than 400,000 patients. Reid, in an interview, called primary care "a real team sport where the primary care clinician is the quarterback."

If such plans sound like managed care organizations such as Kaiser Permanente, that's because they have a lot in common, including the primary care doctor at the center. But patients at Group Health can self-refer to certain specialists and the approach rewards doctors, not simply the organization, to improve health outcomes.

There's evidence that the medical home, "works and works very well," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, at a Tuesday Health Affairs briefing. She also noted that primary care will be important to transitioning to a lower-cost health care system in America. But historically, it's been difficult to attract the necessary workforce needed to provide that type of care. "The reimbursement system clearly has penalized primary care providers over the last several decades," she said.

More here:

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2010/May/04/medical-home-shorttake.aspx

It seems that this approach is really working and is cost effective in the US. The parts of the model that are workable in OZ certainly need to be applied as we press forward with the planned Primary Care Reforms.

If the budget leaks we see here are close this may be a much more effective attempt that the earlier Hospital Reforms.

Every doctor's practice to get a nurse

Sue Dunlevy
From: The Daily Telegraph
May 09, 2010 10:13PM

Key Points

Every practice to get full-time nurse
Nurses to lead medical revolution
GPs to concentrate on complex care

EVERY doctor's practice in the country will get its own nurse to help treat patients, make home visits, write prescriptions and co-ordinate follow-up care, under a medical revolution in tomorrow's Federal Budget.

Each GP will be eligible for $25,000, worth up to $75,000 a year to a three-doctor practice, enough to hire a full-time nurse.

The nurses will lead a revolution in healthcare, teaching patients with chronic problems like diabetes and heart disease how to manage their conditions, dressing wounds, and carrying out asthma tests and vaccinations.

They will also carry out pap smears, test blood sugar and cholesterol and co-ordinate follow-up care with specialists and health carers.

The care they provide is expected to come at no cost to the patient and it will free up GPs to carry out the more complex medical care.

Currently, government incentives for employing nurses are capped at $40,000 per practice and only apply in rural areas or those with a workforce shortage. About 40 per cent of practices do not employ a nurse.

More details here:

http://www.news.com.au/business/federal-budget/every-doctors-practice-to-get-a-nurse/story-fn5dkrsb-1225864264442

Let?s hope this has been properly planned and the necessary Health IT support has also been factored in! (Post budget comment ? we now know it wasn?t. Personal EHRs were funded to some degree ? not provider systems apparently)

David.

ABC Radio National - Background Briefing Alert.

I just heard that Background Briefing is running a show of Privacy in the Digital Age - including e-Health at 9:10 am Sunday May 16, 2010.

The show was promoted on Breakfast this morning.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2010/2899170.htm

E-health database: breakthrough or big brother?

In Tuesday's Budget the government announced $466 million for a new e-health system and made a big deal about how it was going to protect our privacy when medical records go online. The government is at pains to placate privacy advocates because down the track it has big plans to give all Australians a 16-digit healthcare number. That number would link various health databases that contain our sensitive medical details. Privacy in the digital age is this week's focus on Radio National's Background Briefing.

Enjoy

David

information technology security policy |medical information technology |healthcare information technology |information technology companies |information technology jobs |

Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 24 January, 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:

I have to say I think the best thing was the discussion that followed the bog on the excellent article on the state of the Health IT software industry last Tuesday from Karen Dearne in the Australian.

See here for the link and to read the comments - currently 27 of them.

http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2011/01/causes-of-this-mess-are-pretty-clear-in.html

It was also good to note that NEHTA was sufficiently connected to the rest of the world to note the debate that had been triggered by the PCAST report on just how health information should be managed and secured.

I first covered this report in mid-December, 2010 and you can read that coverage here:

http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2010/12/is-this-really-major-change-for-health.html

It is fair to say that a lot of discussion has indeed followed and that the Office of the National Co-ordinator for Health IT is now conducting formal consultations on the report.

See here:

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20110110/NEWS/110119997/

Deadline for comment have also been extended so I think this is being taken pretty seriously - as one might imagine a Presidential Commission report would be!

I suspect I will have a few comments on the news that the Victorian HealthSmart Project might be canned tomorrow.

See here:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/health-myki-faces-axe-20110123-1a17g.html

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/record-system-is-back-on-track-defence/story-e6frgakx-1225989788681

Record system is back on track: Defence

Karen Dearne
From: The Australian
January 18, 2011 12:00AM

DEFENCE has kick-started its overdue e-health record system for armed forces personnel, awarding a $6.1 million three-year project management contract to consultant and IT services provider Oakton.

DEFENCE has kick-started its overdue e-health record system for armed forces personnel, awarding a $6.1 million three-year project management contract to consultant and IT services provider Oakton.

The successor to HealthKeys, sidelined in 2009 after years of work with only 40 per cent of medical files converted from paper, was to be a commercial off-the-shelf system.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/electronic-health-market-value-proves-unclear/story-e6frgakx-1225989800859

Electronic health market value proves unclear

Karen Dearne
From: The Australian
January 18, 2011 12:00AM

THE Gillard government's personally controlled e-health records and telehealth incentives are expected to be hotspots for health IT this year.

But potential market size and speed of uptake are still uncertain.

IDC Australia senior market analyst Emilie Ditton is re-examining the prospects, after the research firm forecast in the middle of last year that the local health technology market would reach $2.4 billion this year.

"The government has committed to spending $467m on an electronic medical records system by 2012," Ms Ditton said.

"A number of vendors I have spoken to have identified this as an area of opportunity for them," Ms Ditton added.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/poor-prognosis-for-medical-software-sector/story-e6frgakx-1225989797345

Poor prognosis for medical software sector

Karen Dearne
From: The Australian
January 18, 2011 12:00AM

THE medical software sector hit the wall last year, with large and small players that had geared for expansion hit by a triple whammy.

Long-anticipated e-health projects did not materialise, the global financial crisis had people scrimping every last penny, and currency exchange losses added insult to injury (see table).

Medical Software Industry Association president Geoffrey Sayer said it had been a tough period for the sector.

"The outlook for e-health in 2011 is challenging for everyone, to say the least," he said. If we are to be successful, we will need to establish a transparent leadership partnership between all stakeholders that delivers tangible and measurable benefits."

Australia's largest health IT company, iSoft, crashed hard, but it was by no means the only local firm to bleed red ink in a year that also brought a retreat from the sector.

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http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/gamer-danger-kinect-xbox-injury-alert-20110118-19umx.html

Gamer danger: Kinect Xbox injury alert

Louisa Hearn

January 18, 2011 - 2:13PM

It has inspired a legion of gamers to abandon joysticks and couches in favour of jumping and gyrating their way around the lounge room, but doctors warn that Microsoft's Kinect controller may spell the start of a new generation of gaming injuries.

Collisions, sprains, ruptured ligaments and even broken bones now seem as likely to occur in the home as on the sports field for the 8 million people who have bought the new Kinect Xbox 360 controller since its release late last year.

Physical injuries first became associated with computer gaming after the release of Nintendo's Wii motion sensitive controller, which revolutionised game play and, wisely, the Wii remote was always sold with a rubber outer designed to limit the damage from contact with home furnishings and other players.

Now Kinect has dispensed with a controller altogether, replacing it with motion tracking technology, and freeing up gamers' movements completely. With the accompanying release of action-oriented games such as Dance Central and Kinect Sports, the injury count appears to be mounting.

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http://delimiter.com.au/2011/01/19/health-departments-shun-official-ipad-trials/

Health departments shun official iPad trials

Consumers love it. Business professionals in a wide range of fields love it. Politicians (hello, Mr Turnbull) love it. Even babies love it. And increasingly, doctors and other medical professionals love it. But six months after the iPad launched in Australia and with the hyped Apple tablet selling like hotcakes, Australia?s health departments don?t yet appear to be that interested in the device.

In separate statements issued over the past week, the health departments of most of Australia?s largest states have made it clear they have so far shunned official trials of the device in medical facilities round the nation.

The Northern Territory, New South Wales and South Australia health departments have no formal proposal for clinical use of the device. Even Victoria ? where former Premier, John Brumby, had promised to deliver an iPad to each Victorian public hospital doctor if re-elected, and where 500 devices were already handed over ? seems to be far from considering an official trial in the healthcare field.

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http://www.seek.com.au/Job/stakeholder-engagement-analyst/in/sydney-cbd-inner-west-eastern-suburbs/18925060

Stakeholder Engagement Analyst

CBD location, some interstate travel
Internal & external stakeholder management

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.

This is an exciting opportunity for an engagement professional with a proven track record of effective engagement with internal and external stakeholders.

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http://www.zdnet.com.au/health-appoints-new-cio-339307430.htm

Health appoints new CIO

By Josh Taylor, ZDNet.com.au on November 22nd, 2010

The Department of Health and Ageing has announced the appointment of former Australian Taxation Office business solutions manager Paul Madden as its new chief information and knowledge officer.

The appointment was announced by department secretary Jane Halton in an email to staff on Friday.

"I am pleased to announce the outcome of the recent Chief Information and Knowledge Officer ? recruitment process. As a result of this process, Mr Paul Madden has been promoted to this position," Halton said in the email provided to ZDNet Australia.

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http://www.zdnet.com.au/healthscope-looks-for-growth-focused-cio-339308619.htm

Healthscope looks for growth-focused CIO

By Suzanne Tindal, ZDNet.com.au on January 17th, 2011

Healthscope is on the lookout for a new chief information officer, advertising for an executive with at least 15 years IT experience to take the reins of its technology.

The employer of 18,000 staff is currently undergoing rapid growth, according to the advertisements on MyCareer and Seek, with the new CIO to be tasked with overseeing growth in the IT division.

According to a more detailed position description on Healthscope's website, the CIO will be directing a unit with around 60 staff and a budget of $25 million annually.

The department services 45 Healthscope-owned hospital facilities and three facilities managed for the Adelaide healthcare alliance. Healthscope also has an international pathology business comprising of 60 laboratories in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/electronic-health-market-value-proves-unclear/story-e6frgakx-1225989800859

Consultant fills in key role in e-health pilot

Karen Dearne
From: The Australian
January 18, 2011 12:00AM

BUREAUCRAT turned private consultant Anthony Honeyman is overseeing the federal Health Department's handling of more than 90 proposals for grants under the $55 million e-health pilot fund.

A partner of government consultancy specialist Apis Group, Mr Honeyman is filling in for e-health systems branch head Sharon McCarter this month.

Apis won a $1.4m select tender to provide project management services to Health for the personally controlled e-health record (PCEHR) initiative for six months to June 30.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/web-of-services-helps-battle-the-blues-depression/story-e6frg8y6-1225991969173

Web of services helps battle the blues: depression

* Paul Christensen

* From: The Australian

* January 22, 2011 12:00AM

FROM online men's sheds and iPads to data mining for diagnosis, the national depression initiative beyondblue has seen it all since it was established a little more than 10 years ago.

"It's been a wonderful journey," recalls beyondblue's chairman, former Victorian premier and Hawthorn Football Club president Jeff Kennett. "I never expected it to be a period of enlightenment for me, but it's certainly been that."

For Kennett, that means enlightenment about human nature above all: "There have been some sad stories, there have also been a lot of good stories."

The initiative originally was envisioned as a five-year project, but Kennett believes that what kept it going is a willingness to embrace new forms of communication, such as the Shed Online, an electronic version of the men's shed movement.

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http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/373575/tasmanian_department_health_ditches_paper_goes_digital/?eid=-6787&uid=25465

Tasmanian Department of Health ditches paper, goes digital

Over 60,000 patient records to be converted

Hamish Barwick (Computerworld)
17 January, 2011 12:38

As part of its goal to introduce electronic health records, The Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services is to shortly convert 60,000 paper based records into a digital format.

The records, which are held at North West Regional Hospital and Mersey Community Hospital in Tasmania, will be scanned and put into the North West Area Health Services digital records system. An additional 140,000 records will be digitised in the future.

North West Regional Hospital currently uses a paper-based patient record system that is managed electronically by a software system called iPatient Manager (iPM). This is used state-wide as the Department?s Patient Administration System (PAS). iPM will still be used once patient records are scanned.

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http://ehealthspace.org/news/obama-ehealth-report-ignites-controversy

Obama ehealth report ignites controversy

Posted Thu, 20/01/2011 - 15:37 by Josh Gliddon

A report issued to US president Barack Obama on health information standards has caused controversy in health informatics circles.

Written by the President?s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the report calls for a single universal standard for the electronic exchange of health information within the US. It also calls for a national infrastructure to facilitate the creation of the standard.

?It is a controversial report,? said NEHTA chief architect Andy Bond. ?It is very broad in its coverage, and is based on a presumption that you can create XML to create the building blocks of a universal exchange language. It?s a nirvana vision, and it disregards the fact that people have been working in this area for the last two decades.?

The President?s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has a glittering membership, including Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft, and Eric Schmidt, chairman and chief executive of Google.

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http://www.mjainsight.com.au/view?post=juanita-fernando-privacy-lags-as-e-health-rolls-out&post_id=1414&cat=comment

Juanita Fernando: Privacy lags as e-health rolls out

CONCERNS about e-health privacy are growing around the world.

Most recently, the British Medical Association Scotland called for stronger measures to protect patient confidentiality, particularly with the way patient information can be shared between medical users.

The Australian Privacy Foundation (APF) has highlighted similar concerns about the situation in Australia.

Empirical research findings show clinical end-users frequently covertly share credentials such as user names and passwords so they can share health data.

This may occur because the clinician who has the necessary password access to health data is absent or a particular system has not been used for a while and their password has expired.

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http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Vodafone-security-still-vulnerable-report-pd20110116-D648Y?OpenDocument

Vodafone security still vulnerable: report

Published 2:47 PM, 16 Jan 2011

Telecommunications provider Vodafone has moved to urgently overhaul its security systems, with a series of breaches leading the firm to order daily password changes and scrap shared access logons, according to a Fairfax Media report.

Last week, Vodafone staff in New South Wales were fired for hacking into databases to illegally access customer information, leading to NSW police being called in.

The company has launched an investigation to determine whether any of its employees sold customer database passwords to criminals.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/julia-gillard-backs-foi-exemption-for-taxpayer-funded-nbn/story-fn59niix-1225990173260

Julia Gillard backs FOI exemption for taxpayer-funded NBN

James Massola
From: The Australian
January 18, 2011 10:17AM

JULIA Gillard is standing by an exemption from freedom of information laws for NBN Co - the publicly-owned company building Australia's biggest infrastructure project.

As an incorporated company, NBN Co will avoid FOI scrutiny, unlike Australia Post, the ABC, SBS and Telstra before it was privatised.

The Prime Minister today confirmed the public would not get access to information held by the company rolling out the $36 billion National Broadband Network.

?My understanding is that this is the ordinary operation of the Freedom of Information Act; that a body like NBN Co would not be subject to it,? Ms Gillard said.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/vint-cerfs-message-to-australia-internet-censorship-isnt-effective/story-e6frgakx-1225992330849

Vint Cerf's message to Australia: internet censorship isn't effective

UPDATED Fran Foo
From: Australian IT
January 21, 2011 7:38PM

JULIA Gillard's bid to censor the internet is not an "effective move", says Vint Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the internet and Google's chief web evangelist.

Dr Cerf's advice is to attack the source of a problem at the production layer, instead of focusing on the distribution layer.

The federal government wants to force every ISP to filter websites rated with a refused classification tag, in accordance with a secret government blacklist.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/exec-tech/your-bonsai-corporate-data-centre-network-attached-storage-devices/story-e6frgazf-1225989743852

Your bonsai corporate data centre: network attached storage devices

EXECTECH: Ian Grayson
From: The Australian
January 18, 2011 12:00AM

NETWORK attached storage boxes are finding their way into growing numbers of homes and small businesses.

Essentially a box filled with hard drives, a NAS device provides the centralised, secure storage that's becoming increasingly necessary in today's digital world. With gigabytes of data stored in everything from notebook PCs and tablets to mobile phones and cameras, managing it all has become a challenge.

In large organisations, such management is the responsibility of the IT department, but in smaller businesses and the home, it often rests with the resident techie. Charged with keeping track of everything from files and documents to photos and video, they find themselves searching for a straightforward way to keep everything in order.

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Enjoy!

David.

Weekly Overseas Health IT Links 12-05-2010.

Here are a few I have come across this week.

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http://motorcycleguy.blogspot.com/2010/05/meaningful-interoperability-is-not.html

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Meaningful Interoperability is not defined by Meaningful Use

I spent an hour today on a call with NIST (along with many other HL7 leaders) regarding the testing framework they are presently developing for meaningful use. One of the issues that NIST correctly identified is that the standards selected for meaningful use are not sufficient to support interoperability. They pointed out to ONC that the SDOs have spent many person-years developing implementation guides that ensure interoperability. Because these were not selected by the IFR, NIST has been directed to fill the gaps in a few short weeks.

To resolve this problem, NIST is working with HL7 and other SDOs to identify what is enough to ensure interoperability. They are in fact, creating "baby" implementation guides. I would not want to be stuck in between their rock and hard place right now. The danger here is that years of consensus building and implementation efforts could be completely irrelevant if the wrong choices are made. Hopefully the choices that are made by NIST and the SDOs will enable use of and not conflict with existing guides; without requiring their use. Yet those same choices need to be strict enough to ensure interoperability.

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http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/technology-drastically-reduces-medication-errors-poor-history-taking-ups-mistakes/2010-05-06

Technology drastically reduces medication errors, but poor history-taking ups mistakes

May 6, 2010 ? 2:34pm ET | By Debra Beaulieu

Hospitals that deploy bar-coding technology with an electronic medication administration record (eMAR) may prevent an estimated 90,000 medication errors per year, according to Dr. Eric G. Poon, director of clinical informatics at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, whose new study appears in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

With bar-code eMAR in place, pharmacists send approved medication orders from physicians to the patients' charts electronically. Nurses then scan the bar code on the medication and the bar code on the patient's wristband before administering the drug. The system warns the nurse if the two bar codes do not match or if it is not the correct time to administer the drug.

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http://www.fierceemr.com/story/ehr-certification-becoming-too-simplistic/2010-05-06

Is EHR certification becoming too simplistic?

May 6, 2010 ? 10:52am ET | By Neil Versel

Certification of EHRs has been controversial since the beginning. For the longest time, some small vendors' stance was that the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology thought that the process was weighted in favor of large companies, and thus would put them out of business.

With the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, control over certification is passing to the federal government. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is setting rules for criteria that support "meaningful use" of EHRs, while the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology is developing testing procedures.

Along the way, certification has become highly detailed, with at least one unintended consequence. "[T]he certification process was in effect dictating particular work flows and distinct user interfaces. That was the point where the grumblings about lack of EHR usability and complaints of EHRs not being built with physicians and patients in mind, started gaining steam," Margalit Gur-Arie, a partner in St. Louis-based health IT consulting firm Gross Technologies, notes on her On Healthcare Technology blog.

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http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/ibm-data-analytics-health-status-40239-1.html

IBM Looks for Health Data to Crunch

HDM Breaking News, May 6, 2010

IBM Corp. has a launched a major multi-year research program, called SPLASH, to link and analyze huge amounts of data to better understand how to improve human health.

The program initially will focus on preventing childhood obesity. Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM recently explained the program to 150 participants during its annual Almaden Institute event at its research lab in San Jose, Calif., as the company begins to seek SPLASH partners from a wide variety of sources.

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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100506/NEWS/100509969

Federal panel OKs recommendations on certification

By Joseph Conn / HITS staff writer

Posted: May 6, 2010 - 11:00 am ET

The Health IT Policy Committee accepted by unanimous vote recommendations on certification and privacy from two of its work groups today.

The work group on the adoption and certification of health information technology systems presented a list of 12 recommendations on tweaks to the proposed permanent program for the certification of electronic health-record systems outlined in a proposed rule published March 10 by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at HHS. The public comment period on the rule ends May 10.

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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100506/NEWS/305069977

Panel urges open source policy on VistA overhaul

By Joseph Conn

Posted: May 6, 2010 - 1:15 pm ET

A Veterans Affairs Department advisory panel has issued a report recommending that the VA should commit to a policy of open source software development in overhauling its VistA health information technology system and create a not-for-profit organization to manage the new, open source ?ecosystem? that results.

The group, the Industry Advisory Council of the American Council for Technology, Fairfax, Va., which bills itself as a ?non-profit, public-private partnership,? was commissioned last year by VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker to recommend a way forward for the VA and its Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture, or VistA, clinical IT system.

The council's 101-page report was delivered to the VA on Tuesday, according to the group.

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http://www.ihealthbeat.org/perspectives/2010/social-media-in-health-care-barriers-and-future-trends.aspx

Social Media in Health Care: Barriers and Future Trends

by John Sharp

Social media has invaded health care from at least three fronts: innovative startups, patient communities and medical centers. The Health 2.0 movement has nurtured dozens of startups with creative concepts to revolutionize health care: tools from vertical search and social networks to health content aggregators and wellness tools.

Patient communities are flourishing in an environment rich with social networks, both through mainline social communities and condition-specific communities. Meanwhile, hospitals and academic medical centers are diving into the social media mix with more than 300 YouTube channels and 500 Twitter accounts. Hospitals are moving from experimentation (Twittering from the OR to Flipcam videos) to strategic use of social media to enhance brand loyalty and recruit new patients. They are taking on monitoring and monetization of social media.

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EMRs Top Priority For 58% Of Hospital CIOs

CIOs rank electronic medical records projects higher than IT managers and directors, who are focused on PC refreshes.

By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee, InformationWeek
May 6, 2010
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224700871

With $20 billion-plus worth of meaningful use bonuses from the government at stake for their organizations, E-medical records and electronic ordering systems are the top IT priorities for hospital CIOs over the next two years, according to a survey.

However, among hospital IT managers and directors, EMR projects ranked further down on the IT priority list, with only 25% naming those initiatives as "most important" for their organization over the next two years.

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http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/panel-presses-health-information-superhighway

Panel presses for health information superhighway

May 05, 2010 | Bernie Monegain, Editor

WASHINGTON ? A commission of national healthcare experts convened by the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress (CSPC) has unveiled a roadmap for better healthcare that calls for a "health information superhighway."

The commission presented the report Wednesday at the National Press Club in the nation's capital.

"Just as President Eisenhower built a Federal Interstate Highway System to connect communities, boost the economy and protect national security, so must we construct a health information superhighway system in the 21st century," said Rear Admiral Susan Blumenthal, MD (ret), co-chair of the Commission on U.S. Federal Leadership in Health and Medicine: Charting Future Directions.

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Biden: Health IT Savings Will Be Bigger Than Projected

Vice President says e-health records will save more money than Congressional Budget Office has projected.

By Nicole Lewis, InformationWeek

May 6, 2010

URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224700906

When electronic health records are fully implemented in 2014, along with health information exchanges and other technologies associated with healthcare delivery, the cost of healthcare will be significantly less than the Congressional Budget Office has calculated, vice president Joe Biden said.

"We believe there's a lot more savings in the healthcare bill that we passed. The CBO, they only count what they can feel and taste. They only count what's done before, and so we think there's a lot of additional savings to be had," Biden said.

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http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/TEC-250541/51-Healthcare-Groups-Call-for-Changes-Of-Federal-EHR-Adoption-Proposal

51 Healthcare Groups Call for Changes Of Federal EHR Adoption Proposal

Janice Simmons, for HealthLeaders Media, May 4, 2010

Healthcare providers need additional time and greater flexibility to meet criteria of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' proposed electronic health record rule published earlier this year, a coalition of 51 groups told Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a May 3 letter.

They wrote that while they "fully support" the purpose of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to "encourage the adoption and use of EHRs," they are asking that it be done "in a manner that will remove barriers to and promote the widespread adoption of health information technology.?

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304703104575173952145907526.html?mod=djemHL_t

Surgical Robot Examined in Injuries

By JOHN CARREYROU

DOVER, N.H.?Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, a small community hospital in this coastal New England town, used a college hockey game to showcase its new technological marvel: a $1.4 million surgical robot named after Leonardo da Vinci.

As the University of New Hampshire battled the University of Vermont last season before a crowd of 6,000, hospital representatives invited fans to try out the robot between breaks in the action.

The da Vinci robot is a massive machine that is used to perform minimally invasive surgery. But some experts warn that the robot can do more harm than good when wielded by inexperienced doctors. WSJ's John Carreyrou reports.

The da Vinci has been billed as a breakthrough in the quest to make surgery less invasive. With its four remote-controlled arms and sophisticated camera, it enables surgeons to operate through small incisions with greater precision and visibility.

At Wentworth-Douglass, however, the robot has been used in several surgeries where injuries occurred. One patient operated on days after the hockey game was so badly injured that she required four more procedures to repair the damage. In earlier robotic surgeries, two patients suffered lacerated bladders.

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http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/health-it-beacon-communities-awarded-220-million

Health IT 'Beacon Communities' awarded $220 million

May 04, 2010 | Bernie Monegain, Editor

WASHINGTON ? The government has released the names of the 15 communities across the country from Maine to Hawaii that will serve as models for the broad use of technology.blogspot.com/" title="healthcare information technology">healthcare information technology under a $220 million program aimed at improving care and efficiency ? and creating new jobs.

Vice President Joe Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the names Tuesday. The funds for the program are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and are being disbursed through the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). The ONC received 130 applications for the program.

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http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/COM-250596/EPharmacy-Catches-Drug-Mistakes-for-Rural-Hospitals-in-Five-States.html

E-Pharmacy Catches Drug Mistakes for Rural Hospitals in Five States

Cheryl Clark, for HealthLeaders Media, May 5, 2010

It's always refreshing to hear about a big, geographically diverse hospital system that tries to find solutions for its smallest facilities, and succeeds. Especially when doing so saves tons of money and prevents medication errors that endanger patients.

Welcome to the world of e-pharmacy, and Bravo Banner Health.

The non-profit, Phoenix-based 22-hospital system that stretches across seven states, from Alaska to Nebraska, is doing just that for eight of its small, rural facilities that don't have pharmacy staff to review prescriptions around-the-clock.

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http://www.infoway-inforoute.ca/lang-en/about-infoway/news/news-releases/562-hopital-glengarry-memorial-hospital-joins-diagnostic-imaging-network

Hôpital Glengarry Memorial Hospital joins diagnostic imaging network

May 5, 2010 (Alexandria, ON) ? The Hôpital Glengarry Memorial Hospital is taking an important step towards providing improved access to medical specialties in the community by joining the Northern and Eastern Ontario Diagnostic Imaging Network (NEODIN). NEODIN is one of four Ontario diagnostic imaging repositories (DI-r) for medical images and associated diagnostic reports. Once complete, it will allow electronic transfer of images and reports between more than 60 diagnostic imaging departments in Northern and Eastern Ontario.

The NEODIN DI-r eliminates the need for patients to transport images and reports between doctors on CDs, films, or by fax. It also allows specialists at one facility to access the reports for images acquired at other hospitals, allowing for faster and more convenient information sharing between doctors.

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http://health-care-it.advanceweb.com/Editorial/Content/Editorial.aspx?CC=221161

Bridging to an Enterprise EMR

Penn Medicine shares lessons from its EMR implementation process.

By Glenn Fala

Implementing an electronic medical record (EMR) at a complex enterprise such as an academic medical center can take years to complete. The transition from legacy to end-state information systems can be eased by using integration technologies such as Web portals, single sign-on and enterprise data warehousing. The flexibility of these tools allows their usage to evolve over the lifecycle of the EMR rollout, helping organizations to maintain usability of these systems through the transition period.

It is characteristic of an academic medical center to have a wide mix of clinical information system applications. Such centers generally consist of multiple hospitals and physician practices which may have been acquired at different times. These entities are likely to have different information systems than the core entity. Even if they use some of the same information systems, it is likely that the implementations will differ because of unique individual requirements and workflows.

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http://www.who.int/goe/ehir/2010/4_may_2010/en/index.html

4 May 2010

eHealth Worldwide

:: Africa: World Bank and Pfizer Announce Initiative to Help Improve Healthcare Delivery (27 April 2010 - eHealthServer)

The World Bank and Pfizer Inc. announced they will collaborate to improve the healthcare infrastructure, specifically the supply chain, in developing countries, starting with Africa. The novel public-private collaboration will focus on enhanced use of Information and Communication Technologies' (ICT) transformative power to improve healthcare delivery. The project demonstrates both Pfizer's and the World Bank's commitment to improving healthcare delivery by creating a funding mechanism to expedite the identification of gaps in Africa's healthcare infrastructure and ultimately aid in the implementation of ICT solutions.

And many others.

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http://www.govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?nid=73639

ONC turns its attention to health reform IT

By Mary Mosquera

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Dr. David Blumenthal, the national health IT coordinator, yesterday asked his advisors to turn to one of the most vexing problems on the health reform horizon: streamlining federal and state systems for enrolling people applying for health insurance benefits under the law.

Blumenthal asked members of the Standards Committee to start to develop standards for exchanging eligibility and enrollment data electronically between what is now a hodgepodge of federal and state health and social health programs and services organizations.

In doing so, he acknowledged both a major new direction ? and workload ? for ONC.

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http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/05/04/for_some_doctors_national_computerized_medical_records_dont_pay/

Doctors not in stampede to go digital

By Catherine Arnst, Globe Correspondent | May 4, 2010

President Obama has earmarked some $35 billion in stimulus funds to spur a nationwide rollout of computerized medical records, but even a big dose of federal cash is not enough for physicians like Dr. Robert LeBow of Southbridge.

The 66-year-old internist and geriatrician cares for more than 1,000 patients, many of them elderly, with multiple ailments with multiple medications. These are the kinds of patients who produce paper records that are inches thick, making LeBow a seemingly ideal candidate to collect $44,000 in federal funds available to doctors who install a system that would digitize all that information.

But LeBow is reluctant to embrace a technology that he believes carries hidden costs, chief among them productivity losses while he and his staff master the system. Also, for many doctors, the government subsidy would cover only a portion of a new records system?s price tag, which can easily climb to $100,000 or more.

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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100504/NEWS/100509986

Privacy, security concerns for PHRs declined: survey

By Maureen McKinney / HITS staff writer

Posted: May 4, 2010 - 11:30 am ET

Consumers' concerns about the privacy and safety of online personal health records have lessened slightly, according to the newly released results of an annual healthcare survey.

In the 2010 Survey of Health Care Consumers, released by the Washington-based Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, 33% of respondents reported feeling uneasy about the security of online PHRs compared with 38% last year.

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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100504/NEWS/305049997

Feds release $220 million for IT

By Jennifer Lubell / HITS staff writer

Posted: May 4, 2010 - 10:30 am ET

HHS is distributing $220 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to 15 communities to pilot test the adoption of emerging health information technology.

These Beacon Community awards are part of a $2 billion effort to achieve widespread meaningful use of health IT, providing each person in the U.S. with access to an electronic health record by 2014.

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http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/5878/eclipsys_to_target_%E2%80%9Clost%E2%80%9D_nhs_trusts

Eclipsys to target ?lost? NHS trusts

04 May 2010

US clinical information systems provider, Eclipsys, has said that it will bring the latest version of its Sunrise Clinical Manager product to the UK and target trusts that are being left behind or opting out of the National Programme for IT in the NHS.

The US company, which provides an integrated clinical platform including electronic patient records and order communication solutions, told E-Health Insider that it will enter the UK market by approaching trusts across the country that are ?lost and searching for another option.?

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http://www.detnews.com/article/20100503/LIFESTYLE03/5030309/More-doctors-make-house-calls----online

More doctors make house calls ? online

Mich. insurers pay for consultations that can save time, money

CHRISTINA ROGERS

The Detroit News

For Dr. Earlexia Norwood, a family physician in Troy, not every office visit begins with a patient hopping up on the exam table.

Sometimes she just logs on to her computer.

"We know now there are a lot of things we can handle over the phone and electronically," Norwood said. "Doing it actually saves time and money for everyone."

It's paying off for physicians as more Michigan health insurers reimburse them for this type of care, ushering in a new era when patients will no longer have to schedule an office visit to talk to their doctors about minor concerns.

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http://www.healthimaging.com/index.php?option=com_articles&view=article&id=21970&division=hiit

Panel: How do HIEs, EMRs affect patient-physician experience?

BOSTON?Better monitoring and understanding is needed for how EMRs and health information exchange (HIE) impact the patient?s experience of care and best practices need to be shared to improve these technologies, Barbra G. Rabson, executive director at Massachusetts Health Quality Partners (MHQP) reported Thursday at the Health IT: Creating Jobs, Reducing Costs and Improving Quality national conference, hosted by Massachusetts Gov. Deval L. Patrick.

?We are still learning about the positive and negative impacts of EMRs on patient-clinician communication,? said Rabson, adding that physicians should do a better job telling patients about the value EMRs and HIE can provide.

Rabson, along with fellow Massachusetts-based panelists, sat down to discuss the role of the patient in health IT and HIE.

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http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9176157/Health_IT_funding_to_create_50_000_jobs?taxonomyId=13

Health IT funding to create 50,000 jobs

Sixty regional IT help centers will help health care facilities implement electronic medical records

Lucas Mearian

April 30, 2010 (Computerworld)

BOSTON -- Federal dollars being pumped into grant programs to spur students to enter IT careers in the health care industry should help to create between 45,000 and 50,000 jobs over the next five years, a top federal health official said on Thursday.

Speaking at the Health Information Technology (HIT) Conference here, Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, said a portion of $2 billion in discretionary spending under Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) is being targeted at education and training for electronic health record implementation.

A large part of the training is for people to staff 60 regional extension centers, which are public, private partnerships that will assist rural hospitals and physician practices with 10 or fewer doctors in rolling out electronic medical records (EMRs) and supporting technology.

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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100503/NEWS/100509998

Agencies, employers crack down on EHR breaches

By Gregg Blesch / HITS staff writer

Posted: May 3, 2010 - 11:45 am ET

It's perhaps like the urge to look through your big brother's dresser or the medicine cabinet at a neighbor's house. Some healthcare workers with access to medical records can't help but snoop, which is more than naughty?it's a federal crime.

Enforcement agencies and employers are getting increasingly serious about busting the snoops as electronic records proliferate and access becomes diffuse. Last week Huping Zhou, as far as prosecutors and observers can tell, became the first person to be sentenced to prison (four months) for just looking.

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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100503/NEWS/100509995

Researchers suggest EHRs linked to higher costs

By Joseph Conn / HITS staff writer

Posted: May 3, 2010 - 11:45 am ET

Researchers from the business school at Arizona State University say their work suggests electronic health-record systems in hospitals increase hospital costs, nurse staffing levels and the incidence of complications, but lower mortality rates for some conditions, according to a published report.

As a threatened nursing shortage looms, the ASU research team chose to test the assumption that health information technology might increase nurse productivity by improving workflow.

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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100505/NEWS/100509988

ASU researchers publish EHR study

By Joseph Conn / HITS staff writer

Posted: May 5, 2010 - 12:00 pm ET

Researchers from the business school at Arizona State University say their work suggests electronic health-record systems in hospitals can be linked to increased hospital costs, higher staffing levels for registered nurses and the greater incidence of clinical complications.

The report was not all bad news for hospital leaders embarked on an IT program.

The three-man research team from ASU's W.P. Carey School of Business also found that more-intensive EHR deployments are associated with lower inpatient mortality rates for medical conditions, according to a published report.

According to their 22-page article, ?Electronic medical records, nurse staffing and nurse-sensitive patient outcomes: Evidence from California hospitals, 1998-2007,? published in the journal Health Services Research, the ASU team looked at financial and outcomes data from 326 California hospitals supplied by the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.

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http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/blogs/blog_Gillespie_telemedicine_privilege_by_proxy-40214-1.html

Will July 15 be a Dark Day for Telemedicine?

Greg Gillespie
Health Data Management Blogs, April 30, 2010

Health I.T. is marching forward on many fronts. But July 15 might be the day, barring Congressional intervention, that telemedicine moves in the opposite direction. On that day the Joint Commission?s ?privilege by proxy? program bites the dust, which could have serious ramifications for the industry.

Privilege by proxy permitted hospitals to credential telemedicine practitioners from a distant site based on the credentialing/privileging decisions at that distant site. In a nutshell, it allowed physicians from large hospitals to provide telemedicine services to small or rural facilities without having to go through the credentialing process twice (as long as both hospitals were Joint Commission-accredited).

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http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/data-breach-notification-hospital-40217-1.html

Two Data Breaches in Kentucky

HDM Breaking News, April 30, 2010

Two Kentucky hospitals in recent days have disclosed breaches of protected health information.

Our Lady of Peace, a psychiatric hospital in Louisville, is notifying 24,600 individuals after a flash drive was came up missing on April 1. The hospital does not have a notice published on its Web site, but a notice is published on the site of corporate parent Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's Healthcare. The hospital ran a legal advertisement notifying the public in the Courier-Journal, Louisville's largest newspaper, on April 29.

The new breach notification rule under the HITECH Act requires disclosures within 60 days for breach known to affect 500 or more individuals. Smaller breaches must be reported on an annual basis.

The flash drive contained unencrypted data on patients admitted since 2002 and patients assessed, but never admitted, since 2009. Data on admitted patients included name, room number, insurer name, and admission and discharge dates. It did not include diagnoses or treatments, Social Security number, date of birth, telephone numbers or address.

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http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/blumenthal-governor-put-health-it-center-stage-boston

Blumenthal, governor put health IT center stage in Boston

April 30, 2010 | Bernie Monegain, Editor

BOSTON ? The government will announce "soon - it should be very, very soon" which 15 communities of the 130 that applied will be awarded Beacon Community grants, National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal, MD, said Thursday.

Blumenthal spoke in Boston before an audience of about 600 people at the "Health Information Technology: Creating Jobs, Reducing Costs and Improving Quality" conference called by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

Blumenthal said he was filling in for his boss, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who had been slated to deliver the day's first keynote talk.

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http://www.cmio.net/index.php?option=com_articles&view=portal&id=publication:102:article:21887

ANIA: ARRA means ?golden? days ahead for nursing informaticists

Author: Mary Stevens

Sunday, April 25 2010

BOSTON?There are mountains of problems to overcome when it comes to automating systems and getting patient health records off of paper. And the HITECH Act has added urgency to the tasks at hand, said John Delaney, RN, BSN, director of IT outreach at University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas. ?It?s a huge job and we?ve got big problems,? said Delaney during a session at the ANIA/CARING conference last week.

Delaney?s presentation on nursing informatics? role in the light of the HITECH Act focused on the opportunities that come with these problems. ?This is the time for all of us in nursing and informatics to really look at the culture and look at the environment and figure out what [we] want to do. Because there is a lot going on and a lot of new opportunity, thanks to HITECH,? said Delaney, a med/surg nurse with 23 years? experience at University Medical Center and more than 10 years in health IT.

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http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/standardizing-claims-can-save-billions-just-we-heard-2002/2010-05-03

Standardizing claims can save billions--just like we heard in 2002

May 3, 2010 ? 12:33pm ET | By Neil Versel

Editor?s Corner

You may have heard the news that Massachusetts General Hospital researchers have determined that standardizing medical billing could save physician practices $7 billion annually. "Specifically, by using a single set of payment rules for multiple payers, a single claim form and standard rules of submission, physicians and staff could spend four and five fewer respective weekly hours on this administrative burden," reports FierceHealthcare, based on a study published Thursday in the online edition of Health Affairs.

Health economist and blogger Jane Sarasohn-Kahn suggests that the savings could go as high as $30 billion if providers and payers were to follow the recommendations of the U.S. Healthcare Efficiency Index project. That's a good chunk of money, though only 1.2 percent of the $2.5 trillion spent on healthcare each year.

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http://www.auntminnie.com/index.asp?Sec=sup&Sub=ris&Pag=dis&ItemId=90461&wf=3699

Electronic medical orders may save lives: study
By Reuters Health
May 3, 2010NEW YORK (Reuters Health), May 3 - Doctors at a California children's hospital have found the first evidence that using an electronic system to communicate their orders may save lives.

After the system was introduced in 2007, the hospital witnessed a 20% drop in mortality rate, the equivalent of 36 fewer deaths over a year and a half.

"It's the lowest rate ever observed in a children's hospital," said Dr. Chris Longhurst, of Stanford University and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, California, whose findings are published in the journal Pediatrics. "It begs the question how many lives could be rescued on a national level."

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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100503/NEWS/305029987

CPOE tied to lower mortality figures, study finds

By Maureen McKinney

Posted: May 3, 2010 - 12:01 am ET

Use of computerized physician order entry systems can correlate with significant drops in hospital mortality rates, according to results of a new study published in the journal Pediatrics.

In a joint collaboration, researchers from Lucille Packard Children's Hospital and Stanford University School of Medicine, both based in Palo Alto, Calif., reviewed nearly 100,000 patient discharges from the hospital from January 2001 through April 2009. In the 18 months following the hospitals' implementation of CPOE in 2007, there were two fewer deaths per 1,000 discharges, or a 20% decrease in mortality, according to the study.

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Enjoy!

David.

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