It Seems Large Scale EHealth Failures are Happening All Over. I Wonder Why We Imagine The Outcome Here Will Be Any Different?

These appeared in the last few days:

Editorial: The eHealth money pit

By Ottawa Citizen Editorial, Ottawa Citizen January 3, 2014

Ontarians are likely to groan at the news, reported by the Toronto Star, that more than 700 employees at eHealth Ontario are getting a little extra in their paycheques this month, as they share $2.3 million in performance bonuses.

This is the agency tasked with creating a system of electronic health records in Ontario. In 2009, the province’s auditor general found that a lack of oversight and planning meant that Ontario was “near the back of the pack compared to most other provinces,” and found disturbing evidence of favouritism, sole-sourcing, inefficiencies and overspending. One consultant, paid $2,700 a day, famously billed for expenses right down to a few dollars for Choco Bites. But the real scandal is that despite all the money paid to develop electronic health records — more than $1 billion from 2002 to 2009 — the province still does not have an integrated, universal electronic health system.

There has been progress made in several elements of the patchwork: in the records systems in doctors’ offices and hospitals, for example. And there has been some stitching together of the pieces. Many things that used to happen on paper now happen digitally, allowing for quicker transfer between institutions. But the services available lag the technology and the culture. We are now where we should have been a decade ago.

That is not the fault of the employees, who filed and won a class-action lawsuit to restore performance bonuses after the Liberal government cancelled them in a panic.

The full editorial is here:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/eHealth+money/9347757/story.html

We also have - in French - bad news from there as well.

Dossier médical partagé : un coût excessif pour un succès mitigé

Le Monde.fr avec AFP | 04.01.2014 à 08h50 • Mis à jour le 04.01.2014 à 13h56

Selon des informations du Parisien publiées samedi 4 janvier, la mise en place du dossier médical personnel (DMP) a coûté 500 millions d'euros pour seulement 418 011 ouvertures sur les cinq millions prévus. « Selon un document interne du Conseil national de la qualité et de la coordination des soins, chargé d'arbitrer les financements destinés à l'amélioration de la médecine de ville, 500 millions d'euros ont été versés depuis 2004 », indique le quotidien qui a pu consulter le document.

Le Parisien souligne que c'est la première fois qu'un document officiel mentionne le chiffre exact du financement du DMP. Ces fonds proviennent en grande partie de l'assurance maladie, précise le journal.

The full article is here:

http://www.lemonde.fr/sante/article/2014/01/04/dossier-medical-partage-un-cout-excessif-pour-un-succes-mitige_4342961_1651302.html

Google does a great job of translation:

Shared medical record: an excessive cost for a mixed success

The Monde.fr with AFP | 04.01.2014 at 8:50 • Updated 04.01.2014 at 1:56 p.m.

According to information from Parisien published Saturday, January 4, the introduction of personal health record (DMP) cost € 500 million to only 418,011 of the five million openings planned. "According to an internal document of the National Council of the quality and coordination of care, to arbitrate the funding for the improvement of general practice, 500 million euros have been paid since 2004," the paper says who could view the document.

Le Parisien points out that this is the first time an official document mentions the exact amount of funding DMP. These funds come largely from health insurance, the newspaper said.

Here is the link:

http://translate.google.com/#fr/en/

It is hard to think of much to add - other than to be amazed at just how much better Google is than my schoolboy French and how history just keeps repeating.

David.