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Health IT News Updates
HISA News 18/02/08
Dear HISA Member
This newsletter begins on a sad note. A few weeks ago, Moya Conrick, one of the pioneers of the health informatics' movement in Australia, and a tireless worker for its further development, passed away. Moya's contribution to health informatics and nursing has been recognised in her long list of awards and publications, her contribution to those who worked with her also lies in the warm memories of a kind and generous person. She will be sadly missed by all who knew her. To find out more about Moya go to www.hisa.org.au/moya
e-Health Strategy
Over January, there were some subtle but significant changes to eHealth policy management in Australia. The Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council's (AHMAC's), National Health Information Principal Committee was renamed to the National e-Health Information Principal Committee (NEHIPC), and from that point the group set a new task for the creation of an Australian e-Health Strategy (click here to see the AHMAC/NEHIPC Structure). Just last week the tender was released through the Victorian Department of Health, acting as the secretariat for the NEHIPC (you can click here to download a copy of the tender).
Michael Legg, HISA President, made the following public comment on this announcement.
"HISA is pleased to see the attention to the development of a National eHealth Strategy shown by this Victorian led AHMAC initiative. Whoever wins the Tender to develop the strategy, it is vital that it be built on broad consensus among the wide group of stakeholders that make up healthcare in Australia and in particular that it has the support of Australian Health Informaticians. It is also imperative that all of the resources required to achieve the strategy are identified"
This is an important step for the development of eHealth in Australia, but it is also important to note that it is a strategy plan that is to be delivered in under 4 months and so its scope is going to be relatively limited. The need in Australia is to have a vision for an Australian eHealth system and an associated plan to achieve that vision which is understood and broadly accepted across the stakeholder groups. This task will require the comprehensive engagement of the Australian healthcare and consumer communities, and the further development of the debate on the needs, benefits and trade offs both within and across these groups.
HISA is providing leadership to this broader process through convening the Coalition for Health Informatics. Over 40 representatives of the leading health and consumer related associations in Australia will be meeting on Tuesday February 19th to discuss the issues of e-Health strategy and vision and how best to guide its development in Australia.
New Board Members
Gary Morgan (CEO, eHealth Research Centre) has been selected to fill the vacancy resulting from the resignation of Michael Hurse. The HISA Board thanks Michael for his contribution and welcomes Gary to its membership. Nilva Egana has also agreed to join the Board and brings a fresh perspective and experience in public health.
Gary Morgan is the founding CEO of The Australian e-Health Research Centre, a joint venture between CSIRO and the Queensland Government. Established in 2003, The Australian e-Health Research Centre is a leading national research facility in ICT for healthcare innovations.
Prior to this, he was the founding CEO and President of Wedgetail Communications, a spin-off company from the CRC for Distributed Systems Technology Centre (DSTC). Wedgetail's identity management solutions were deployed in leading global financial services firms, technology corporations and government agencies. Gary holds an Adjunct Associate Professor appointment with the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Queensland and currently serves as a Board Member of the Health Informatics Society of Australia, Ltd. Gary is also a member of the Cancer Australia National Data Strategy Advisory Group. He has a MBA and a Graduate Diploma from Queensland University of Technology and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Griffith University.
Nilva has worked in the health sector for 20 years. She was introduced to the wonders of databases in 1996 as a public health nurse in the Northern Territory. She is currently a Victorian Public Health Training Scheme Fellow interested in having the disciplines of public health and health informatics work together for important work such as 'closing the gap' in Australian society and for the control of communicable diseases. Qualifications: Dip.App.Sc(Nursing)RN, MPH&TM (JCU), MHSc-Health Informatics (University Of Sydney)
HISA NSW Conference
Think Globally, Act Locally
HISA NSW State Conference: Friday March Friday 14 at the Crowne Plaza Coogee Beach NSW
Click here to go to the conference web page
This conference will focus on what local health informatics specialists are doing to support the delivery of high quality healthcare using both local and global solutions in this time of rapidly increasing healthcare costs, rising demand on services and persistent workforce shortages. The HISA NSW Conference is a well established event that brings together health professionals, IT practitioners, researchers and others who share a common interest in the use of information technology in its multiple facets to support patient care and service delivery. Speakers and delegates come from many sectors from clinical practice, to tertiary hospitals, from universities, community health venues, area health services and indeed any area involved in the use of information technology for the delivery of healthcare.
To find out more and for online registration click here.
Privacy Submission
The HISA, Health Information Privacy and Security group (HIPS) has just released it latest submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) looking at eHealth elements of the ALRC final discussion paper. Thanks to all those who attended the HIPS privacy seminar in November last year, and those who participated in the online discussion to develop HISA's submission.
Click here to download the HIPS Submission
The ALRC has thanked HISA for its contribution and we are now awaiting the release of the final ALRC report. The date for the release of this report has been has been extended by two months to the 30th of May 2008.
HIC'08 Consumer Day
One of the innovations at HIC'08 will be the staging of an eHealth Consumer Day. The e-Health Consumer Day is a separate event linked to HIC'08. It will be held in the same venue on the day prior to the HIC'08 conference (Sunday August 31st).
The event will be focused on educating health consumers with engaging, audience interactive presentations on the increasing empowerment of health consumers and how they can take better control of their health using e-Health resources. There will also be a forward looking content stream, educating consumers on future e-Health technologies and the opportunities they provide for improved health management. The Consumer Day event will target both the general heath (wellbeing) market as well as the high need chronic care markets.
If you want to see some of the international activity in the rapidly developing area of consumer e-Health have a look at the annual conference of the Center for Information Therapy which will be held in Washington, DC. Titled "Wired: Next Generation Patient Care", the conference will include tracks on health disparities and patient-centered medical home. Click here to go to the event website
Best regards
Brendan
Brendan Lovelock
CEO
Health Informatics Society of Australia
Ph: 613-9388-0555
Australian Health IT News
Useful Reaction to E-Health Tender in the Financial Review.
Just a brief heads up that the Financial Review has published two articles on the National E-Health Strategy Tender. They can be found at: http://www.misaustralia.com/viewer.aspx?EDP://20080215000020304888&magse... and http://www.misaustralia.com/viewer.aspx?EDP://20080214000020301439&magse... Your humble blogger is mentioned along with some other e-Health contributors. The summary is that the need to do the strategy is agreed but that there are some major issues with the approach proposed and the timeframes. I hope some common sense will prevail. As a colleague often says in the Health Sector “there is no time to do things properly, but always time to do the same thing again” Finally – just why isn’t the Commonwealth Department running this tender and why is the Victorian Preference Policy in place on a national tender? David.
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Read more [Australian Health Information Technology Feed]
Greater focus needed on prevention
The Rudd Government believes prevention should play a far greater role in the health system and has already taken steps in this direction. The Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, was responding to the release
Read more [Australian Policy Feed]
A National E-Health Strategy for Australia is Coming! Can it Succeed?
Well, blow me down! I have just had one of my core suggestions taken up! We are to have a National E-Health Strategy developed! The important parts of the tender are as follows: (Sorry for the formatting - useful comments are at the end.) Part A. Information for Tenderer Purpose of this Document This document is a Tender Brief and has been prepared to provide information to assist prospective Tenderers in the preparation and submission of proposals for the development of a national e-health strategy. Project Overview On behalf of the National e-health Information Principal Committee (NEHIPC) the Department of Human Services is seeking suitably qualified and experienced parties to develop a national e-health strategy that: · Provides a vision for and desired outcomes of national action in e-health over the next 5-10 years · Identifies priorities and next steps for development and implementation of a national e-health system · Provides advice on the governance arrangements needed to oversight and manage national e-health projects and infrastructure Key dates for this proposal are indicated below. These dates are advised as a guide to projected...
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Read more [Australian Health Information Technology Feed]
NEHTA calls health experts to assist in health reform
Clinicians are invited to provide input into the development of a national e-health system.
Read more [NEHTA News Feed]
e-Prescribing – A Strong Case Put for Adoption.
The following article appeared a few days ago. ePrescribing and its Impact on Care ManagementMarybeth Regan, PhD, for HealthLeaders Media, January 28, 2008 New technology is being introduced every day in the healthcare industry, which impacts the manner in which providers deliver care. Impacts may be positive or negative, depending on the technology and the way in which it is implemented and supported. The goal is to implement the right technology at the right time, in the right way, so patients are receiving higher quality care, delivered in a safer environment and in a more efficient manner. In the ideal scenario, prescriptions would be checked against a patient's current medications, allergies, diagnoses, body weight, and age for possible interactions, appropriateness, and dosage. Prescriptions would be legible and patient information about their medications, including indications, properties, side effects and instructions for administration, would be dispensed with the medication. A permanent record would be created that included all of the patient's medication history over time. Not only would prescription data be available on orders, but also that the prescription...
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Read more [Australian Health Information Technology Feed]
Roxon in Alice to assess Indigenous health needs (ABC)
Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon is going to the source today to find out about the health needs of Indigenous people.
Read more [Australian Policy Feed]
Helping Close The Gap Through Innovative Home Visit Program
Nicola Roxon - Minister for Health and Ageing - Media Statement - 05-02-2008
Read more [Australian Policy Feed]
Major funding for Australian health and medical researchers
More than $124 million will be invested by the Australian Government in new medical and health research projects, the Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, announced today. The funding is a significant
Read more [Australian Policy Feed]
It’s time Oz health ministers looked to the US
Australians love to deride the American health system but it may have a few lessons for us, writes Melissa Sweet.
Read more [Australian Policy Feed]
The Institute of Medicine and Clinical Effectiveness – Relevant to OZ?
The following press release came from the US Institute of Medicine (IOM) a few days ago. http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12038 IOM Recommends New National Program To Evaluate Effectiveness Of Health Care Products And Services And End Confusion About Which Work Best WASHINGTON — Solutions to some of the nation's most pressing health problems hinge on the ability to identify which diagnostic, treatment, and prevention services work best for various patients and circumstances. Spending on ineffective care contributes to rising health costs and insurance premiums. Variations in how health care providers treat the same conditions reflect uncertainty and disagreement about what the standards for clinical practice should be. Patients and insurers cannot always be confident that health professionals are delivering the most effective care. A new report from the Institute of Medicine offers a blueprint for a national program to assess the effectiveness of clinical services and to provide credible, unbiased information about what really works in health care. The report recommends that Congress direct the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services...
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Read more [Australian Health Information Technology Feed]
Health Minister considers hospitals initiative (ABC)
The State Health Minister, Lara Giddings, says she has an open mind to the idea of using scorecards to measure the performance of hospitals.
Read more [Australian Policy Feed]
Rural Health positive about new healthcare agreement (ABC)
The peak body working to improve health across country Australia says rural patients should benefit from improved relations between state and federal governments.
Read more [Australian Policy Feed]
Future doctor's challenge to Federal Health Minister
Nicola Roxon must put health back on the national agenda.
Read more [Australian Policy Feed]
Federal govt pushes for hospital reports
The federal government will continue with plans to introduce a national reporting scheme for hospitals, but has ruled out a controversial ranking system.Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said detailed work on what form the reporting system would take was continuing.
Read more [Australian Policy Feed]
Study backs state health woes
COMPLAINTS by states and territories that the commonwealth is forcing them to do the heavy lifting on healthcare have been bolstered by new data.
Read more [Australian Policy Feed]
International Health IT News
links for 2008-02-18
The internet: friend or foe when providing patient education? The Internet has changed how patients with cancer learn about and cope with their disease. Newly diagnosed patients with cancer often have complex educational and informational needs related to diagnosis and treatment. Nurses frequently encounter time and (tags: consumer+health+search) MedWorm: Medicine RSS "the medical RSS filter engine over 5000 authoritative RSS feeds go in hundreds of new RSS feeds by category come out" (tags: consumer+health+search healthcare+search+engine findability) Medical 2.0 "Our main goal is to create a state of the art directory for the use of physicians, researchers in the fields of medicine and life science, nurses , others professionals in the field and consumers (patients). We are listing tools and web platforms in man (tags: consumer+health+search healthcare+search+engine) health search engines for patients | Medical 2.0 Interesting personal filtering going on here - non-US viewpoint. Cool! Healia, Medstory, and the new health information-related extensions to Google and Windows Live Search are not... Hunscher
Read more [FutureHIT]
Developing a Working Definition for Consumer Diagnostics
Spurred on by a recent report from Cambridge Consultants (see: Balance between consumer and healthcare providers expected to shift as home medical testing expands), I thought that it would be useful to post a note about consumer diagnostics with a working definition of the term. Here is an excerpt from the report (boldface emphasis mine):
The shift in the relationship between patients and medical providers will continue to change the healthcare landscape as the ease of use and reliability of consumer self-diagnostic products advance....Yet, as the expansion of consumer diagnostics and monitoring products empower consumers to actively manage their own healthcare, new challenges and responsibilities for both consumers and the diagnostics technology industry are emerging.
Here is what I came up with as a first effort:
Consumer diagnostics can be defined as a product, service, or device purchased or managed by a healthcare consumer and intended for one of the two following purposes (1) to diagnose or assess the status of a disease or degree of wellness (2) to analyze the underlying physiological, biochemical, or genetic cause(s) of a current or future disease. The most common type of consumer diagnostics is laboratory consumer diagnostics. Another category that is not as well developed is imaging consumer diagnostics.
At the present time, there are four basic categories of laboratory consumer diagnostics:
- Direct access testing (DAT). I have posted many previous notes about DAT. Such testing is generally performed by the same national reference labs that provide clinical lab testing for physicians' offices. Therefore, the major differences between DAT and office testing is that the consumer initiates the test order, the results are sent directly to the consumer, and the consumer [currently] pays for such testing out-of-pocket. There will be few practical limits on the DAT test test menu because all tests offered to physicians are potentially available for direct purchase by consumers.
- Home-based lab test kits and instruments. The details of this form of consumer diagnostics are well-known, consisting of such common examples as the use of glucometers for home testing by diabetic patients and home pregnancy testing. Thee key feature of this category of consumer diagnostics is that the test is both performed and "interpreted" by the consumer.
- Consumer-collected send-in lab specimens. The classic example here is home HIV testing. A finger-stick blood sample is mailed to the performing lab and the results are reported back to the consumer in about a week. Testing is anonymous with HIV testing and the customer is identified only by a code number that comes with the test kit.
- Walk-in point-of-care testing (POCT) centers. This is a category of consumer diagnostics that is still in the early stages of development but has been discussed for a number of years. One such example is the pharmacist-staffed coagulation clinics of the Geisinger Health System (see: Pharmacist-Staffed Coagulation Clinics in a Large Health System). I have also suggested that the walk-in clinics being developed by health systems to compete with those operating in retail pharmacies and big-box stores such as Wal-Mart might begin to offer POCT to enhance the quality of their services (see: Health Systems Launch Walk-In Clinics).
Europe's Biggest Research Event for Information and Communication Technologies
25-27 November, 2008, Lyon, France The biennial ICT Event (formerly called the "IST Event") is the most important forum for discussing...
Read more [eHealth News EU]
Congress, Networking Opportunities and Exhibition - All Under One Roof
At this year's TeleHealth exhibition and conference, which for the first time is fully integrated into the annual trade show...
Read more [eHealth News EU]
new Essential IT Skills Programme - EITS
It's a refreshing change to learn of something IT on a mental health nursing list, but that is the case with a new IT skills initiative:
NHS Connecting for Health (NHS CFH) has announced that it will be introducing the Essential IT Skills (EITS) Programme on 3 March 2008, to replace its European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) Service which is due to close on 21 March 2008.Source: http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/newsroom/news-stories/eits
The PSYCHIATRIC NURSING list is 10 years old and currently deliberating upon its future, wider membership and the state of IT skills.
Ack: Thanks to Clive Simpson for his post.
Read more [Hodges' Model: Welcome to the Quad]
Denial Engine Vendor Ingenix Keeps more than Usual and Customary Dollars
In my warnings to providers about denial engines -- those sophisticated analytics tools that payers are increasingly using to reduce, deny, or re-collect claims payments -- I try to emphasize that they can be used ethically. One of the common features of such tools is that they allow the payer to produce a detailed "defense" for the dollars they are refusing to remit. The argument I've been trying to focus on is that providers and their vendors need to understand these tools and respond -- not that this is some Good vs. Evil battle over payments that all providers unquestionably deserve. It's not necessarily that the payers aren't fighting fair, I say. It's that the providers aren't fighting back. UnitedHealthcare and its Ingenix division seem to want to give the lie to that even-handed approach. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has accused them of employing "convoluted and dishonest systems for determining the rate of reimbursement" for use by both UHC and a lot of other insurers, including Aetna, Cigna Corp., Empire Blue Cross & Blue Shield and Humana. This post isn't about that issue. The phenomenon I'm concerned about is probably a lot bigger, since it applies to all claims and thousands of discount and denial codes, not just out-of-network "usual and customary" adjustments.
Read more [HITransition]
States Progress on Privacy Issues
The nation's states are making progress to address variances in privacy and security laws and policies that may adversely affect the exchange of health information, according to a new report.
Read more [Health Data management Online Current News]
AHRQ Proposes Health Care I.T. Study
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is requesting approval from the Office of Management and Budget to conduct a study that will assess how health care information technology can improve care delivery and outcomes in community health centers.
Read more [Health Data management Online Current News]
Learning anatomy on the web
Nextdimension released lately their new version of Anatomy lab - Anatomy labll
Application features :
1. High level resolution models -3D models
2.Full detailed sections including several thousand parts of bones, muscles and ligaments.
3. Ability to Add your own anatomical content and share it with students, colleagues or other AnatomyLab users globally.
4. Ability to Dissect the model and create your own customized building blocks
Etc.
Single liscence costs 540 Euros
There are package deals for groups/ classes
This is another interesting application among others in the anatomical e-learning sector.
Read more [Medical 2.0]
Amalga = Amalgation
Earlier this week, Microsoft announced the release of its new product suite for the healthcare sector, Amalga. Almaga includes the Azyxxi solution, which they acquired from Medstory, and the Global 2000, hospital information management (HIS) solution being used at the medical tourism destination, Bumrungrad International Hospital. A relatively minor announcement in the grand scheme of [...]
Read more [Healthcare IT: Analyst's Views]
NYU Medical Center Launches "Doc Talk" Radio Show
Based on my observations about hospital marketing in my local area, there seems to be three broad campaign approaches. The first of them emphasizes the quality of care delivered in the system. A previous marketing slogan used by a local academic center was based on the slogan: Knowledge Heals. A second type of campaign runs to the more pragmatic. One hospital system in the region advertises a no-wait emergency department experience on billboards. A third type that I have noticed emphasizes the human/emotional element of healthcare with images of patients battling adversity and dedicated nurses who bond with their patients and support them through their illnesses.
Staying with this idea of hospital marketing and branding, the NYU Medical Center has come up with a novel idea that has great appeal to me. It's launching a 24-hour "doctor radio" talk show on SIRIUS, one of the satellite networks (see: NYU Med to start doc talk radio station). Below is an excerpt from the article announcing this initiative (boldface emphasis mine):
SIRIUS Satellite Radio and the NYU Medical Center have announced that they will launch a new, 24-hour radio channel called "Doctor Radio." ...[T]he channel will feature medical experts speaking on a wide range of topics in taped and live shows around the clock and call-in shows that allow people to speak to real doctors in real time about their health issues. A recording studio will be set up at the NYU Medical Center to make it more convenient for working doctors to contribute to the project....The show will have a panel of about two dozen doctors that will be "regulars" on various programs, but a variety of guest experts and specialists have already been approached to be included in the line-up..."Doctor Radio on Sirius represents the wave of the future for personal medical advice and knowledge," NYU Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Robert Grossman said in a press release....SIRIUS is planning on launching Doctor Radio by early 2008. It will be aired on SIRIUS channel 119.
This idea strikes me as a very clever way for a medical center to both enhance its prestige and also perform a service to the community. It's no surprise to me that such an idea surfaced at a New York medical center -- New York is one of the country's media centers. I wonder, however, about some of the basic financial and management challenges associated with such a project. How will the physician "talent" be recruited from among the medical center physicians? Although many academic physicians are accustomed to lecturing to medical students, are these skills transferable to talk radio? Although call-in shows would be a natural for such radio programming, I suspect that some of the hypochondriacal callers could also get a little tedious. Finally, I wonder if such a project is revenue-generating for the medical center or whether it would need to be subsidized as part of the hospital marketing budget.
Read more [Lab Soft News]
Calif. docs participate in remote monitoring program for diabetics
Local physicians in Southern California will be part of a remote monitoring project of patients with diabetes.
Read more [Healthcare IT News]
ONC study: States make headway on privacy
Most states have made progress in establishing privacy and security for electronic health information exchange over the past year and a half, according to a federal report released Thursday.
Read more [Healthcare IT News]
Information Therapy Conference
Coming up in June, the annual conference of the Center for Information Therapy will be held in Washington, DC. Titled "Wired: Next Generation Patient Care", the conference will include tracks on health disparities and patient-centered medical home.
The Center has a website section on Information Therapy for Consumers which is worth checking out.
Technorati: ht ehealth
Read more [eHealth]
CCHIT Readies Network Certification
The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology is seeking industry input as it develops criteria for health information exchanges, regional health information organizations and other network initiatives under the new Network Certification program.
Read more [Health Data management Online Current News]
New Informational Technologies at TeleHealth 2008
What future role will information technology play in the medical care of patients in hospitals and general practices? How can...
Read more [eHealth News EU]
Health IT Implementation Stories: A Clearer Picture: Sharing PACS Helps Improve Care in Maine
A shared Picture Archiving and Communications System in Maine that allows hospitals to store and transmit a patient's imaging records in real-time may form the basis of electronic sharing of other medical information across the state.
Read more [AHRQ Health IT News and Events]
Health IT Implementation Stories: Chicago Alliance of Community Health Centers Pioneers EHR Implementation with AHRQ Support
An AHRQ-supported project is transforming population and disease management for safety net providers using electronic health record and clinical decision support systems.
Read more [AHRQ Health IT News and Events]
Two Laptops Gone from Blood Center
Lifeblood, the only full-service blood center serving the Memphis region, has reported two laptop computers containing data on 320,000 donors are missing from its main office and presumed to be stolen.
Read more [Health Data management Online Current News]