Quote Of The Year

Timeless Quotes - Sadly The Late Paul Shetler - "Its not Your Health Record it's a Government Record Of Your Health Information"

or

H. L. Mencken - "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

I Am Not Sure I Can Stand Too Much More of This! The PCEHR Seems To Have A New Name!

What on earth is going on (that is the polite way of saying it I really meant WTF!).
I came across this today.

Clinical E-Newsletter

Welcome to the fourth clinician e-newsletter brought to you by the Clinical Unit of the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) providing information on key issues and current events related to e-health in Australia.
Edition:   04 Date:  Tuesday, 27 September 2011
The lead item is this:

Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records (PCEHR) aka (Personal Electronic Health Record Summary (PEHRS)

NEHTA has commenced preliminary work on developing the concept of operations for a PCEHR: bringing together many ideas about what could be on an Electronic Health Record Summary. The Clinical Leads and other stakeholders participated in a two-day workshop in Brisbane in mid-July to contribute to the development of a hymn sheet to which there was some agreement and therefore a fixed ‘target’ PEHRS which could then be socialised and e-health architecture built around it. This document will form the basis for drawing in consumers and clinicians in particular into the developments. A workshop will be held in August to complete this work. Additional workshops involving the NEHTA Clinical Lead group and consumers to discuss options for the proposed PCEHR/ PEHRS are planned.
-----
Go here for other news:
What on earth does this mean? Who has slipped their moorings? Do we need any more acronyms? Does aka mean ‘also known as’? Where has this come from?
And WTF does this mean?
“The Clinical Leads and other stakeholders participated in a two-day workshop in Brisbane in mid-July to contribute to the development of a hymn sheet to which there was some agreement and therefore a fixed ‘target’ PEHRS which could then be socialised and e-health architecture built around it.
How are hymns involved and so on?
Walks off shaking head! They have utterly lost the plot is the only viable conclusion!
David.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 26th September, 2011.

Here are a few I have come across this week.
Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. 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

An interesting diverse week for news. From my perspective we have had a major warning with the failure of the UK National Program for Health IT to be delivered as planned. As I noted earlier in the week there are real lessons here but sadly the evidence that we are noticing is yet to emerge:
See here for link:
Another report and comment on all this appeared late Friday.

UK health IT debacle a lesson for Canberra

  • Karen Dearne
  • From: Australian IT
  • September 23, 2011 4:06PM
THE plug has been pulled on Britain's massively costly, long-delayed and significantly under-delivering National Health Service IT reform program.
The Conservative government has announced "the dismantling" of the 11.5 billion pound ($18.14bn) project that commenced under Labour in 2002 and was this year condemned by unflattering findings from the National Audit Office, the parliamentary public accounts committee (PAC) and a Cabinet Office review.
In August, PAC chair Margaret Hodge urged the government to cut its losses and use the remaining funds to "buy systems that work".
Earlier this year, the auditor found the original vision of a fully integrated electronic records system holding an individual care record for every NHS patient "had no hope" of ever being realised.
And now the Major Projects Authority (MPA) has concluded that the program "has not and cannot deliver to its original intent".
-----
I will provide a wrap up of all this later in the week.
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eHealth deadline may be a bad imperative

Techno Blog | 16 September 2011
BY KAREN DEARNE
HEALTH Minister Nicola Roxon is one brave lady.
Not many politicians would be willing to stake their credibility on the uncertain notion that a huge and complex IT project will be up and running on a certain date - a target set not by those who have to deliver but a political deadline set by the minister herself.
Ms Roxon has unsurpassed confidence in those who advise her, it seems. Maybe they have crystal balls, maybe they are smoking something stronger than no-label tobacco.
But what if they’re wrong, and the personally controlled e-health record (PCEHR) project is not ready for go-live on July 1?
Is it really worth risking a $500 million program - intended to transform the way sensitive medical information belonging to every Australian is shared among 850,000 healthcare providers nationwide - by rushing so the minister can say, “Well, the deadline was met”?
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Slashing hospital time with self-serve kiosks

By Suzanne Tindal, ZDNet.com.au on September 22nd, 2011
Patients in the out-patient departments of three Queensland hospitals now follow kiosks that direct them between different services within the departments, cutting down on the amount of time they need to spend in clinics.
Redcliffe Hospital's specialist out-patient department (SOPD) offers orthopaedics, surgical, gynaecology, fracture, medical and private practice to 45,000 patients per year.
It was having problems with patient flow, with patients getting stuck in the hospital for hours on end, being transferred from one section of the hospital, such as medical imaging, to another. Patients arriving would face a queue of 20 to 30 people, just to register their presence at the hospital. Then they would have to wait while nurses alerted the consultants that the patient had to see. A patient's visit might also involve multiple visits back to the administration desk to facilitate their moving between service areas. In order to tackle the issue, the hospital decided to hold a tender process to see what vendors had on offer to handle patients' visit from referral, through consultation to discharge.
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http://www.medicalobserver.com.au/news/gps-expected-to-set-up-ehealth-roxon

GPs expected to set up e-health: Roxon

23rd Sep 2011 Mark O’Brien
GPs are considering charging patients, billing Medicare or demanding yearly registration fees to work on electronic health records, while Health Minister Nicola Roxon has reiterated the government’s expectation that the profession would do the bulk of the work on the new system.
National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) clinical lead Dr Emil Djakic said in the absence of funding for GPs’ time, it could be the patient who footed the bill.
“[If the person benefiting from a service is the patient], the patient is going to be bearing the cost of it,” he said.
RACGP national e-health standing committee chair Dr John Bennett said GPs might try to recoup costs by billing longer Medicare consultations or through rebates for care plans, but direct incentives would be a much better option.
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Plea to back e-health records

20-Sep-2011
Paul Smith
Clinicians leading the rollout of e-health records have offered assurances the records are safe, despite patients being free to delete potentially critical clinical information without their GP’s knowledge.
Last week, the Federal Government unveiled its blueprint for the $467 million system due to be launched by July next year.
Patients will be able to remove clinical documents, including event and discharge summaries — a concession the AMA dubbed “reckless and dangerous”.
“It appears that the [personally controlled e-health record] has effectively been ‘de-medicalised’,” AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton said. “Medical input has been ignored, while the government has caved in to noisy minority consumer groups.”
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Varying mortality rate in private hospitals data

PATIENTS using 12 leading private hospitals in Australia have a far higher than average chance of dying, a contentious analysis of private health insurance data shows.
The study by Flinders Medical Centre professor David Ben-Tovim also reveals nine top performing private hospitals with a much lower than average mortality rate.
Because the identity of both sets of hospitals remains secret, the 2008 study has fuelled debate about the right of patients and taxpayers who subsidise private care to information on hospital performance.
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Dangers of de-medicalising the PCEHR

21-Sep-2011
Guest editorial by Dr Steve Hambleton
The Federal Government has released the final version of the Concept of Operations for the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) system — a document that is very similar to the draft version. The AMA is extremely disappointed in both versions.
For a health record that is being promoted as revolutionary for patients and health professionals, including doctors, it is sadly bereft of sufficient medical input to its design and intended purpose.
It appears that the personally controlled e-health record has effectively been ‘de-medicalised’. It appears that consultation has been merely conversation. Medical input has been ignored, while the government has caved in to noisy minority consumer groups.
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GE and HP latest to clamber on e-health bandwagon

The Government’s e-health initiative, for which it has so far earmarked $467 million worth of investment is acting as a lure for the big names of IT with HP and GE the latest to bring new healthcare solutions to Australia.
GE this week announced that its Health Information Exchange, already being used in 17 sites in the US to allow clinical data to be stored and viewed, would be available for Australian clients early in 2012. The company has been tweaking the product for the local market including adding fields to allow management of Australia’s 16 digit health identifier numbers which were introduced last year.
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Working Towards an Integrated System

Interview with GE Healthcare’s Vice President of eHealth Solutions, Blair Butterfield.

GE Healthcare announced to launch its eHealth Information Exchange in Australia this week which is seen will make an impact on eHealth in Australia. As current aspirations and concerns about the development of eHealth in Australia continue to unveil, Blair Butterfield shares his experience working on eHealth projects internationally and how Australia could learn and benefit from this.
Interview conducted by Rebecca Merrett
Transforming the Nation’s Healthcare: Explain how the eHealth Information Exchange works and how you see it being adopted in Australia?
Blair Butterfield: How the eHealth Information Exchange works is it’s based on global standards for sharing documents which can be either structured or unstructured and we believe that the architecture is very compatible with what NEHTA has chosen for the Australian national infrastructure. Our hope is that it will be able to provide some of the regional solutions that are needed to connect up to that national back-bone.
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Motion Announces The Winner Of Its First Annual Excellence In Mobile Point Of Care Award – Asia Pacific

September 20, 2011
Austin Health Awarded for Enhancing Clinician Satisfaction and Delivering Quality Patient Care
Motion Computing, a leading global provider of tablet PCs and supporting mobility solutions, recently announced from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Asia Pacific 2011 Conference that Austin Health is the first recipient of its Excellence in Mobile Point of Care Award – Asia Pacific. The annual award program recognises commitment and dedication to deploying mobile point of care solutions that focus on enhancing clinician satisfaction and delivering the highest quality of patient care possible.
Austin Health is a major tertiary academic hospital that services the northeast suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. Comprised of three hospitals, Austin Hospital, Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital and Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre and a full-time staff over 5,200 employees, Austin Health has over 900 inpatient beds and treats around 95,000 inpatients, 172,000 outpatients and 59,500 emergency attendees per year. Its major services include a liver and gastrointestinal transplant unit as well as spinal cord injury, cancer and respiratory services.
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HIMSS Asia Pac’11 focuses on eHealth records

Published on September 21, 2011 at 12:02 AM
The HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) Asia Pac ’11 Conference and Exhibition incorporating the HIMAA 2011 National Conference, opened on Tuesday, bringing together leading international experts in healthcare information systems and technology.
The three-day event, which is being held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, is particularly relevant to the city, given Australia’s National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) is establishing a national eHealth infrastructure. The organisers have put together a special Australia and New Zealand track for country-specific sharing and learning opportunities.
“It is the first time that we’ve held the HIMSS Asia Pac conference in Australia and we’ve brought together some of the world’s best health IT practitioners. It’s great to be able to facilitate an information exchange for effective deployment of healthcare IT solutions to improve patient care and delivery across the region," said H. Stephen Lieber, CAE, HIMSS President/CEO.
Dr. Mukesh Haikerwal (AO), National Clinical Lead for NEHTA, who delivered the keynote address to open the conference, said that the release of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) Concept of Operations in September was a major step forward for eHealth in Australia and all Australians will have the opportunity to register for an eHealth Record from 1 July 2012.
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Better Health Channel goes mobile       

20 September 2011: Deloitte, and the Victorian Department of Health, have jointly created an iPhone and iPad application for the award winning Better Health Channel. This free app will help Victorians conveniently locate health services anytime and anywhere across Victoria and learn more about medical conditions and treatments.
Frank Farrall, National Leader of Deloitte Australia’s Online practice said: The Better Health Channel is a multi-award winning website and making it mobile will encourage consumers to take even more control of their own health. They can now receive up to date health and medical information whenever they need it and wherever they are within Victoria.”
Deloitte’s Online practice utilised their extensive mobile development expertise to help the Department of Health deliver an app which places up to date, easy to understand and trusted information, which has been quality assured by medical experts in the palm of people’s hands.
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Primary care quality indicators launched

A series of 34 practice-level indicators of safety and quality for primary health care have been drawn up and released for consultation.
The indicators (link), which cover aspects of care such as waiting times, adherence to evidence based guidelines and monitoring of adverse events, are not intended to be performance indicators, says the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.
“These indicators will be designed for voluntary inclusion in quality improvement strategies at the local practice or service level and may be used by organisations and individuals providing primary health care services,” it says of the draft indicators released this week.
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Privacy override could ‘undermine confidence’ in e-health system

20th Sep 2011 Mark O’Brien
GPs and consumers are at odds over a ‘break glass’ emergency provision that will allow doctors to override patient privacy settings in the government’s personally controlled e-health record (PCEHR) system.
The debate comes as Health Minister Nicola Roxon last week ruled out paying GPs to help establish and curate patient records in the system.
Ms Roxon, unveiling the system’s concept of operations last week, told reporters the government was “not contemplating” a special rebate to compensate GPs for the time it takes to create and maintain the records.
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Shift to medical e-records worries majority of Australians with sensitive medical information

Source: The Australian
MORE than 80 per cent of Australians with sensitive medical information are concerned about the shift to electronic records.
A Harris Interactive survey of 5246 people living in Australia and in the US and Britain found a remarkable correlation of results, with 83 per of Australians, 80 per cent of Americans and 81 per cent of Britons indicating a range of worries.
The May survey, commissioned by US-based identity management specialist SailPoint, noted healthcare organisations were sharing information electronically, and asked respondents: "What are you most concerned about in relation to your own personal medical information?"
In Australia, 37 per cent said they were most concerned about the potential for identity theft, while almost 30 per cent feared their information would be exposed on the internet.
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HP wins ICT deal for Royal Adelaide Hospital

HP will supply and maintain a portion of the ICT systems for the new $2.1 billion hospital
HP Australia has won a contract to supply and maintain ICT services to a portion of South Australia’s new $2.1 billion digital Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH).
Under the contract, HP will work with the SA Health Partnership (SAHP) consortium, which encompasses Leighton Contractors, Hansen Yuncken, Macquarie and Spotless, to design, build and maintain the hospital’s ICT infrastructure for the facility throughout its construction, which is scheduled to be completed in 2016. It will also operate and maintain the ICT systems for the following 30 years.
HP South Pacific vice president of enterprise services, Alan Bennett, said he could not disclose the exact figure the contract is worth, but told Computerworld Australia the new 800-bed hospital would be the first recipient of HP’s “version 2.0 digital hospital solution”, which includes software applications that link conventional building engineering systems to the communications systems and their mobile devices.
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Privacy of patients breached by Professional Services Review

  • Sean Parnell, FOI editor
  • From: The Australian
  • September 19, 2011 12:00AM
PATIENT privacy has been compromised in the federal government's bid to control health spending, with a key agency found to have illegally merged data from Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
In a case likely to fuel privacy concerns over planned electronic health records, the embattled Professional Services Review has been ordered to add computer system and practice changes to a growing list of reforms.
The PSR investigates alleged doctor rorts, but a wave of legal challenges has this year forced 39 potential cases to be abandoned and left about 50 completed cases at risk of collapse. The government, which is preparing an appeal to the High Court, has ordered an independent review and a parliamentary committee is also examining the PSR.
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Trusted identities model for online security

WHEN Paul, a retired grazier from central Queensland, began an online relationship with "Selina" from Ghana, he had no idea that over the next several months this scammer and her accomplices would fleece him of more than $200,000.
Online scams are big business. A study by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found about six million people a year are exposed to scams or frauds, with more than 800,000 robbed. The Australian Federal Police puts the cost of such scams at more than $1 billion.
Security firm Symantec says 69 per cent of Australians have been the target of online fraud, despite the fact that they are more careful than most when considering online transactions.
According to a Symantec survey of 7000 people in 14 countries, few Australians feel safe online, with 98 per cent expecting to be caught out by cybercrime.
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Tragic script will be repeated

By Martin Whitely
September 18th, 2011, 12:54 pm
Methadone is meant to save lives by preventing drug abuse. Other prescription drugs are supposed to improve physical and mental health.
So when the WA Coroner Alastair Hope told me in writing that an otherwise healthy 40-year-old woman died from an overdose of methadone, prescribed to prevent her continuing to abuse prescription drugs, it was obvious something had gone terribly wrong.
And when he added that "in recent times this office has become aware of a number of cases of methadone overdose", it became obvious something is going terribly wrong far too often.
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Gamers beat boffins to enzyme code

  • From: AFP
  • September 19, 2011 8:58AM
ONLINE gamers have achieved a feat beyond the realm of Second Life or Dungeons and Dragons: they have deciphered the structure of an enzyme of an AIDS-like virus that had thwarted scientists for a decade.
The exploit is published on Sunday in the journal, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, where - exceptionally in scientific publishing - both gamers and researchers are honoured as co-authors.
Their target was a monomeric protease enzyme, a cutting agent in the complex molecular tailoring of retroviruses, a family that includes HIV.
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Particles found to break speed of light, challenging laws of physics

September 23, 2011
  • Finding could overturn laws of physics
  • Scientists confident measurements correct
An international team of scientists says it has recorded sub-atomic particles travelling faster than light - a finding that could overturn one of Albert Einstein's long-accepted fundamental laws of the universe.
Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the researchers, said that measurements taken over three years showed neutrinos pumped from CERN near Geneva to Gran Sasso in Italy had arrived 60 nanoseconds quicker than light would have done.
"We have high confidence in our results. We have checked and rechecked for anything that could have distorted our measurements but we found nothing," he said. "We now want colleagues to check them independently."
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Enjoy!
David.

AusHealthIT Poll Number 89 – Results – 26th September, 2011.

The question was:
What Do You Believe Is the Chance Of Successful Delivery of the PCEHR?
100%
- 9 (18%)
80%
- 3 (6%)
60%
-  3 (6%)
40%
-  6 (12%)
20%
-  8 (16%)
0%
-  20 (40%)
Votes 49
A pretty clear  vote. 68% give the chance of successful delivery at less than evens on a good number of votes.
Again, many thanks to those that voted!
David.

The Pharmacy Guild Has Gone Over The Top Here. Using Health IT Help Them Up-Sell Blackmore’s Products!

I am sorry but this plan of having a dispensing system suggest complimentary medicine to take with your prescription is really just astonishing.
See here:

Doctors hit out at pharmacists' deal with Blackmores

Barbara Miller
Updated September 26, 2011 12:25:36
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has accused the Pharmacy Guild of Australia of putting commercial interests ahead of patients' health under a new deal which will see pharmacists prompted to recommend supplementary medicines to consumers.
The guild has struck an agreement with the company Blackmores to promote the company's products alongside certain prescription drugs.
Under the deal, pharmacists dispensing medicines for several common conditions will receive a prompt in their computer system reminding them to promote a complementary Blackmores product.
The AMA says it appears commercial interests are being put ahead of patients' needs.
But the association has previously been accused of doing the same, and the Pharmacy Guild says it is thrilled about the deal.
The guild says the four Blackmores products in the range have been designed specifically to offset possible side-effects of common prescription drugs.
But AMA president Steve Hambleton says the agreement is just an opportunity to up-sell and increase profits.
"We rely on our pharmacy colleagues to actually assist us in healthcare of the patient," he said.
"It is a very good relationship between doctors and pharmacists, and I'd hate to see anything undermine that.
"That sort of advice from a professional pharmacist will have a great impact on patients and they may well decide to choose those products.
"We know some patients won't even take all of their medicines because of the price - I'd hate to think that they'd substitute one of their prescribed medicines for one of these companion products."
Dr Hambleton says there is potential to sell companion products with around 58 million claims for PBS prescriptions.
"This is a big financial deal. We can't put finances ahead of the health of a patient," he said.
More here:
Talk about giving the concept of electronic Clinical Decision Support a bad name and worse using such systems to improve pharmacist and Blackmore’s revenue where there is such clear conflict of commercial interest. We need to know the pharmacist isa cting totally in the interest of the patient and not to have them conflicted by the possibility of extra and possibly un-necessary sales.
Note that the patient will not be aware that the pharmacist has been reminded to provide ‘fries with that’!
I am not saying pharmacists don’t act in the patient’s best interest but to avoid the obvious perception they are simply commercially motivated, this idea should just be dropped.
If it is important for the extra complimentary medicine to be provided it should be on the recommendation of the clinical prescriber not the pharmacist.
David.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

The Troubles In Qld Health (QH) IT Really Seem To Be Building - QH Seems To Be Ignoring The Lessons of History!

Last week I reported on some issues the Opposition was raising with the Government regarding the procurement of the planned Hospital Information System for Qld Health.
Here is the link.
At the very least from a political perspective this certainly seems to be a story that is keeping on giving!
At the earlier post I had not seen this press release from the Opposition health spokesman.
Tuesday, 20 September 2011 15:14

Labor's $182m health IT contract suspect

The State Opposition fears a repeat of Labor's health payroll debacle is looming with internal State Government emails raising serious questions over how a $182 million health records IT contract will be awarded.
Emails obtained through an Opposition right-to-information application have revealed senior Queensland Health bureaucrats made requests to the author of a Gartner market analysis report that may have excluded competition for the multi-million dollar integrated electronic medical record system (ieMR).
LNP Shadow Minister for Health Mark McArdle said Paul Lucas, who was Health Minister at the time, must make a full explanation of why he signed off on this procurement strategy.
"An email between senior bureaucrats reveal Queensland Health had contacted the "Gartner author" to make changes to the "market scan report"," Mr McArdle said.
"By narrowing the scope of the market analysis after the draft was circulated, potential competitors may have been unfairly excluded from bidding for the ieMR platform contract."
Queensland Health is currently in contract negotiations with Cerner Corporation over the procurement of an integrated electronic medical record system, worth a reported $182 million in 2011-12.
"We should be opening the ieMR tender up to domestic and international competition to ensure we get the right platform at the right price for the taxpayer, and to avoid repeating the mistakes of the health payroll system," Mr McArdle said.
"This approach is unspeakably stupid by a Labor government that has already given our health workers a $220 million failed payroll system."
There are already reported concerns in both New South Wales and Victoria over the performance of Cerner platforms in their hospitals.
Mr McArdle also said he received a letter from LNP Candidate for Stafford Dr Chris Davis today, refuting claims by Health Minister Geoff Wilson that Dr Davis supported Labor's approach to procuring the eMR platform. (Letter attached)
"Dr Davis is a man of principle and believes a well functioning e-Health program, just like a payroll system, is an essential part of our health system," Mr McArdle said.
"The Bligh Labor government has adopted a blinkered approach to pursuing a single product, corner cutting the tender process with a poorly defined business case, which may end in disaster for patient care."
The latest revelations support a string of leaked documents showing Queensland Health's IT system was plagued with problems, with 'extreme' risks of poor patient care and reduced Federal funding for health services.
A leaked Queensland Audit Office report also found Queensland Health at odds with the independent auditor over recommendations to increase accountability and transparency of the troubled IT program.
"The Bligh government is the greatest risk to getting our health system back on track as the IT crisis spreads from payroll to patients," Mr McArdle said.
"We have never seen such gross mismanagement and a total failure of leadership in a portfolio than we have seen in Queensland Health under Labor.
"A CanDo LNP Government will be open and transparent and get action on the basics."
Download attachments:
The release is here:
This was followed by these reports in the Courier Mail.

Queensland Health eyes software system despite red flags

QUEENSLAND Health is poised to sign a multimillion-dollar contract for computer software similar to that labelled "defective" by an IT expert who audited its use in southern hospitals.
University of Sydney's Professor Jon Patrick said electronic medical records systems built by Cerner Corporation for the NSW Government crashed frequently and risked patient safety.
A similar Cerner system installed by the Victorian health department also has been plagued by glitches and is five years behind schedule.
"I don't think there's any reason for optimism that they can be improved," Prof Patrick said.
Leaked internal documents have surfaced detailing problems already looming within Queensland, as bureaucrats negotiate with US-based Cerner to build a $243 million electronic medical records system in Queensland hospitals.
Technical information for the proposed Cerner system and existing IT platforms that it must work with was "often incomplete, not-comprehensive, inaccurate and out-of-date", a leaked position paper found.
Another email addressed to chief information officer Ray Brown, released to the State Opposition under Right to Information laws, warned of the increasing need to document potential risks "even if we can't find the resources to remove them" in case of disaster and patient death.
"The no-surprises rule may be applicable and would help in a Coroner's Court," the clinical adviser wrote.
More here:
And then this:

Queensland Health's new electronic medical records system already year behind schedule, leaked documents reveal

QUEENSLAND Health's controversial new electronic medical records system already lags almost a year behind schedule, leaked documents reveal.
Internal timelines show a "gold build order", indicating the software was configured and ready for rollout, and should have been issued last December.
But months later, the troubled department remains locked in contract negotiations with Cerner Corporation as technicians battle potential system risks.
In a further blow to QH, which had tried to keep the platform's cost under wraps, more leaked reports show the spend will hit $194 million by next June.
Chief information officer Ray Brown this week scrambled to show the hi-tech system was on time and budget, after a series of damning reports in The Courier-Mail.
He insisted the gold build was "prototyped" last December and said a subsequent risk assessment took several months "as we were extremely thorough".
But his office was yesterday unable to say when the Cerner contract would be signed, allowing the software to roll out across Queensland hospitals.
Health Minister Geoff Wilson said: "I make no apology for taking a few extra months now to ensure a strong result and save time in the long run."
More here:
Mark McArdle MP
Shadow Minister for Health
LNP Member for Caloundra
24 September 2011

Auditor-General called to investigate Labor’s $182m IT program

The Bligh Labor Government’s troubled integrated electronic medical record program has been referred to the Auditor-General.
Shadow Minister for Health Mark McArdle yesterday wrote to the Auditor-General asking him to step in and conduct a full audit of the health IT program to ensure future patient care is not placed at risk, and taxpayers’ funds are not wasted.
“Labor Health Minister Geoff Wilson has lost control of his department’s IT division – and the result is a massive waste of taxpayers’ money,” Mr McArdle said.
“These are the same people that gave us the controversial health payroll system that squandered $220 million of Queenslander’s money, and now Labor’s got patients’ records in their sights.
“It’s time we had an urgent independent audit into the program.”
This week there have been revelations that the proposed medical record program is over 12 months behind schedule – and more disturbingly, the $182 million contract may have unfairly excluded potential competitors from bidding.
“The medical record system Queensland Health want to purchase has already been subject to criticism for its pitiful performance in New South Wales and Victoria,” Mr McArdle said.
“People want the truth not more deceitful spin from Geoff Wilson and his army of taxpayer-funded media advisors.”
Mr McArdle wrote to the Auditor-General asking him to examine whether the ieMR program had been open to market competition, whether approval was given by the Minister’s office, how much the program had spent to date and the estimated future costs, and whether the program was open and accountable.
“Queensland can’t afford for another expensive Labor IT bungle like the health payroll system,” Mr McArdle said.
“We need to act now and undertake a full audit.
“Only a CanDo LNP Government will be cut waste and be open and accountable,” he said.
---- End Release.
While all the political attempts to score points and seek advantage is always a great spectator sport there is actually a serious issue which needs addressing - and soon.
It is clear that the substantial hospitals in Queensland (and they have some of the biggest in the country) need their core information systems replaced and there is no political issue on this point - the old ones being at their life’s end - indeed they genuinely reached beyond that point years ago!
The key issue is how this replacement - and hopefully significant upgrade - should be achieved.
I have to say the colour drains from my face when I read about ‘gold build’ contracts and state-wide rollouts!
It really seems to me that there is a risk with all this that Queensland is again trying to replicate a state-wide implementation approach that has been shown to cause a great deal of pain and frustration in the southern states.
Frankly to approach large complex teaching hospitals with other than a totally locally managed implementation process where the vendor and the hospital work together to implement a system that suits the client (the large hospital NOT the Department of Health) is just very stupid and very, very risky.
It really does not matter which of the major vendors is chosen (indeed in the very large hospitals, as long as the hospital is happy having more than one is hardly a disaster) as long as they are allowed to use their own implementation methodology directly within the target organisation and work unconstrained to obtain implementation success with that organisation. This way the politics, structures and workflows can all be properly addressed and the chances of success rise exponentially.
(Note: the above does assume selection of any vendor (single or not) has been with full input from clinicians and administration at all levels - and agreement the system will do what they need as well as appropriate technical due diligence etc. has been undertaken.) 
Any ‘gold build’ will not fit the Royal Brisbane and PA anywhere near as well as a local implementation done directly with the vendor and the hospital jointly. Sure it costs more initially - but the long term costs and pain are certain to be lower.
Bureaucrats know nothing about Health IT implementation in large complex organisations compared with HIT providers and the major hospitals (anything more than about 200 beds) should work directly with the vendors to get the success they both want as painlessly as possible! They simply do not need a Health Department in the middle messing things up!
I really don’t understand why we refuse to learn this basic lesson - to our ongoing cost!
David.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Weekly Overseas Health IT Links - 24 September, 2011.

Note: Each link is followed by a title and few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
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After 9/11: Health IT lessons that followed

September 12, 2011 | Dr. John Loonsk
With the 10th anniversary of 9/11, there have been many personal and political remembrances of the events that scarred families and jarred the country that day. Health IT had its own significant events a decade ago, but they began about a week after 9/11 when letters with Anthrax in them were mailed. What followed was a series of emergency health events some of which, like the largely unsuccessful Smallpox vaccination program, can be traced to 9/11, the wars that followed, and fears of bioterrorism. Other events turned out to be largely unconnected emergencies like Anthrax, SARS, and Katrina but still showed additional emergency preparedness and response health IT requirements.
All of these events demonstrated the need for a broadly interconnected health system that includes many different health-related organizations exchanging critical and processable information. Each event helped make the case for a national health IT network infrastructure that can electronically exchange such information among computer systems from different jurisdictions, health departments, other government agencies, labs, pharmaceutical companies and others - in addition to just provider Electronic Health Records (EHRs).
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Walked Into a Lamppost? Hurt While Crocheting? Help Is on the Way

New Medical-Billing System Provides Precision; Nine Codes for Macaw Mishaps

By ANNA WILDE MATHEWS

Today, hospitals and doctors use a system of about 18,000 codes to describe medical services in bills they send to insurers. Apparently, that doesn't allow for quite enough nuance.
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PHRs: What's a realistic expectation?

September 15, 2011 | Jeff Rowe, HITECH Watch
The problem with health IT policymakers and stakeholders is that they are dedicated to the idea that effective, widespread use of IT can lead to a healthier population.
Now that we have your attention, allow us to explain. Or, more specifically, allow us to use that radical contention to highlight the questions we have about Personal Health Records(PHRs).
Here’s a piece that provides a good look at the headache PHRs give policymakers and providers alike.
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HHS Consumer Health IT Summit power-charged for progress

September 13, 2011 | Diana Manos, Senior Editor
WASHINGTON – Sept. 12 was a big day for healthcare IT. Federal officials hosted a consumer health IT summit, jam-packed with new initiatives to advance HIT. The event was charged with a wave of energy toward grass roots change, specifically supporting patient-centered care.
The summit, held at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C. was part of the Sixth National Health IT Week, a collaborative event hosted by the Health Information and Management Systems Society.
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Blue Button: Driving a Patient-Centered Revolution in Health Care

Posted: 9/13/11 06:05 PM ET
A lot can happen in a year.
Last October, I wrote about a promising new offering for people looking to take control of their own health and health care decisions. Known as "blue button," this simple (but rather revolutionary) technology offers individuals the ability to download their own health information with just the click of a mouse. They can then use and share this information however they may choose -- with doctors, care providers, or even third-party applications designed to help them track and make sense of their own personal data.
Born out of a collaborative working group convened by the Markle Foundation, the blue button was beta-tested and then implemented by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The immediate demand from their patients and beneficiaries was inspiring.
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Is The Cloud Safe For Health Apps?

Some healthcare providers are still hesitant to put patient data and clinical apps in the cloud. Here's how they cope with their angst.
By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee,  InformationWeek
September 13, 2011
Healthcare organizations are slowly turning to the cloud to run applications. That's especially true for smaller healthcare providers who don't have the IT staff or resources to roll out and support new in-house applications, let alone the hardware, networking, or other IT infrastructure that goes along with it.
Yet, while some healthcare providers are beginning to sign up for SaaS subscriptions for business- and administrative-related applications, they're holding back, still refusing to move clinical software and patient data.
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Summary and Comment

Computerized Decision Support System for Fluid Management Lowers Mortality in Burn Patients

Use of the system reduced crystalloid volume and increased urine output.
Fluid management significantly lowers mortality in patients with severe burns, but formulas are complicated and overresuscitation is common. Researchers developed and evaluated a computerized decision support system (CDSS) for fluid management in patients in a burn intensive care unit (BICU) who had >20% total body surface area burns. Researchers compared outcomes in 32 patients who were treated with the aid of the CDSS and 38 historical controls. The CDSS was linked to the electronic medical record and was automatically executed on bedside computers.
Mortality was significantly lower in the CDSS group (29% vs. 44%).
Reference:
Salinas J et al. Computerized decision support system improves fluid resuscitation following severe burns: An original study. Crit Care Med 2011 Sep; 39:2031.
Medline abstract (Free)
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Thursday, September 15, 2011

From No Doctor to E-Doctors in Rural India

A telemedicine company brings $1 virtual checkups to poor countries.
By Emily Singer
There aren't too many doctors in the village of Hari Ke Kalan, in the Punjab region of northern India. But for $1, residents who bicycle to a new health clinic can get an appointment with a physician appearing on a large-screen television and beamed in over broadband Internet.
The clinic, built by a startup called Healthpoint Services, is one of a network of eight "e-health points" that the for-profit company has built in India as part of a growing effort by entrepreneurs to capitalize on the rapid expansion of cellular and broadband access in the poorest parts of the world. With successes such as text-message-based mobile payments taking off in some countries, many experts see medicine as the next major application of technology in poor nations.
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Model PHR Privacy Notice Available for Vendors

HDM Breaking News, September 14, 2011
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has released a model privacy notice for vendors of personal health records.
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Telemonitoring Saves Money When Combined With Traditional Care

Despite the significant benefits reported in this Health Affairs study, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services questions whether the benefits are real.
By Ken Terry,  InformationWeek
September 12, 2011
Combining telehealth and care management tools significantly reduces the costs of treating Medicare patients with chronic diseases, even after factoring in program costs, according to a new study published in Health Affairs. While the study focused on the use of the Health Buddy, a decade-old technology that must be used at home, it has implications for the use of the newer mobile applications for telemonitoring. Equally important, it signals the lag between studies of telehealth and its application in the field, according to a noted expert.
The researchers, who included Laurence C. Baker of Stanford University, analyzed data collected in the course of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) Care Management for High-Cost Beneficiaries Demonstration. The Health Buddy program was one of six interventions that this demonstration investigated, focusing on patients with diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or congestive heart failure.
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HIMSS announces Davies winners, aligns criteria with EMR model

September 13, 2011 | Molly Merrill, Associate Editor
CHICAGO – The 2011 HIMSS Davies Award Winners were announced Tuesday during a conference that was part of National Health Information Technology Week. Officials have also changed the criteria for next year's awards, aligning them with the HIMSS Analytics EMR adoption model.
Officials said the six winners deliver quality and consistent care to the patients and populations they serve with information technology – specifically the electronic health record.
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Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Your Heartbeat on an iPhone

An innovator delivers a cheap, instant, and mobile way to monitor heart problems.
By Antonio Regalado
At around 11 a.m. last December 30, from his office in Oklahoma City, an inventor named David Albert uploaded a webcam video in which he demonstrated how to obtain an electrocardiogram with an iPhone.
Opening his shirt and white lab coat, he placed the phone against his chest. "Now you will see a very clean ECG," Albert explained, as a heart rhythm pulsed across the screen. "I am detecting and storing, wirelessly transmitting, and storing locally in real time. It's being analyzed, beats are being identified."
By noon, the video had 10,000 views. Three days later, it had 100,000. Bloggers and online commenters were insisting the iPhone ECG was a fraud. That was enough to impress Albert's 12-year-old son. "Dad, you've made it. You have YouTube haters!"
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America's Next Top HIE Model...

Greg Freeman, for HealthLeaders Media , September 13, 2011

There are three different models for health information exchanges, with each varying according to how the patient’s data is stored and accessed by participants. Randy McCleese, FHIMSS, CHCIO, vice president of information systems and CIO at St. Claire Regional Medical Center, Morehead, KY, offers this summary of the three types in use across the country.
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Invited or not, tablets are coming to your workplace

By Bob Violino
Created 2011-09-12 08:30
Health IT professionals don't need an analyst report to know that tablet computing devices are catching on – a morning rush-hour train ride suffices just fine to prove that point.
The likes of Deloitte, Gartner, IDC, Forrester and others, however, have compiled them just in case. Their projections agree: Tablets and smartphones together will outsell PCs, possibly as soon as this year.
Federal, state and local health IT shops may or may not be ready to support the new devices. No matter, those tablet-toting commuters, part of a growing BYO (Bring Your Own) movement, will be carrying their devices along just the same.
But will the mobility-related advantages offered by tablets become a bane to your IT efforts or a boon? That depends on how you handle them.
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New Rule: Individuals Can Get Test Results from Labs

HDM Breaking News, September 13, 2011
The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a proposed rule enabling patients to electronically access their laboratory test result reports directly from labs.
The rule, available here on Sept. 13 and being published Sept. 14 in the Federal Register with a 60-day comment period, affects labs that are covered entities under HIPAA. The rule amends the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 that exempted labs from provisions that give patients the right to access their protected health information.
The rule specifies that "upon a patient's request, the laboratory may provide access to completed test reports that, using the laboratory's authentication process, can be identified as belonging to that patient," the proposed rule states.
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By Joseph Conn

On lab results, it's "Show me—first"

The CMS this week published what it described as a proposed rule that I'm calling the "Me First" Lab Rule.
Today, patients can obtain their laboratory test results from their healthcare providers under guarantees in the Heath Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. In a few more years, the CMS' own electronic health-record incentive programs should spur widespread provider adoption of interoperable EHRs, and that should speed up patient access to lab results considerably. By then, the torrent of an estimated 6.1 billion test results per year will pour automatically into those provider EHRs. From there, lab results should flow automatically to patients by way of personal health record systems "tethered" to providers' EHRs.
The CMS' proposed rule, however, reinterprets both the flow-controlling Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 and the HIPAA privacy rule in a way that pre-empts many state lab-access laws and procedures. It changes who gets to see test results first, the physician or the patient.
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Clinical Decision Support and Malpractice Risk

Published in: The Journal of the American Medical Association, v. 306, no. 1, Commentary, July 2011, pp. 90-91
Clinical decision support (CDS) refers to electronic technology used to enhance clinical decision making. An important feature of CDS in computerized physician order entry (CPOE) involves automated warnings issued whenever potential drug interactions or other contraindications arise. In practice, many CDS systems have often been overinclusive in the warnings they generate, such that physician "alert fatigue" may undermine the utility the systems offer. One paradoxical result of overly abundant warnings may be to exacerbate malpractice risk for physicians who either ignore or turn off CDS alerts.
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Wales outlines IT achievements

9 September 2011   Fiona Barr
Wales’ emergency summary record now covers almost 50% of GP practices and will cover all patients by the end of the year, the NHS Wales Informatics Service has announced in its first achievements report.
The report provides updates on ten information services that the Welsh IT service has been working on since it was set up in April 2010, following a merger of five Welsh’ informatics organisations including Informing Healthcare and the Primary Care Informatics Programme.
The IHR project aims to provide out-of-hours clinicians with access to summary information from the patient record held in the GP systems used in Wales.
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Aetna Web Tool Lets Members Get Electronic Medical Records

By Carol Eisenberg - Sep 12, 2011
Aetna Inc. (AET), the third-largest U.S. health insurer, said 9 million customers can more easily download electronic versions of health records from a company website as part of a government push to promote online data.
The insurer expects by next year to give its members the ability to send personal health records directly to doctors and other providers across a secure system, said Brian Kelly, head of informatics and strategic alignment for the Hartford, Connecticut-based company.
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Scotland goes for patient-access to electronic health records

The Scottish Government has unveiled a new electronic strategy for its health service. Under the proposals, patients will become more involved in their own healthcare and services and have direct access to their electronic records.

Launching the initiative, health minister Nicola Sturgeon said she wanted the latest e-health technology used across frontline services. She cited the example of a pioneering electronic record for renal patients. "The electronic renal patient record has allowed consultants to share health information freely with patients and improve the care that patients receive."
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Scottish govt recasts e-health strategy

13 September 2011   Shanna Crispin
The Scottish Government has published an e-health strategy for the next six years that focuses on five new strategic health aims.
The strategy mandates all health boards to use information and technology to maximise efficiency and savings; enable people to communicate with NHS Scotland; contribute to care integration; improve the availability of information; and improve the safety of people taking medicines.
Speaking at the opening of the Health Informatics Scotland conference in Edinburgh, acting director general of health and chief executive of NHS Scotland, Derek Feeley, said the government expected all health boards to prove they were delivering on the aims by the end of 2014.
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Capital Punishment

Gary Baldwin
Health Data Management Magazine, 09/01/2011
When it comes to financing health care operations, Juan Ruiz knows the importance of getting the best deal. He's the director of finance at St. Patrick's Home, a 264-bed skilled nursing home in the Bronx. The home is mid-way through an EHR implementation, from HealthMedx. The project represents nearly a $250,000 outlay, software, hardware and network infrastructure included.
And that's just one financial ball Ruiz has to juggle. Two years ago, the home replaced its boiler system, which came to $500,000. And looking ahead, the 20-year-old facility will need to upgrade its laundry facilities, install a new generator, renovate its bathrooms, and replace about 100 of its beds.
The beds alone represent a $120,000-plus hit to the checkbook. "We have to project our costs three to four years down the road," says Ruiz. He takes a conservative approach to financing, setting aside money each year to fund depreciation of assets-despite the fact that the state eased such requirements a few years ago in light of the economic downturn. "It is extremely expensive running a nursing home."
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ONC launches twin pilots for metadata standards

September 8, 2011 — 4:06pm ET | By Ken Terry
Following an advance notice of rulemaking on metadata standards to support health information exchange, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) has announced two pilot programs to test the recommendations on these standards.
The first project, called the Query Health Initiative, will test standards for querying widely distributed databases such as those of electronic health records and community records originating in the course of patient care. The other program, the Data Segmentation Initiative, will assess standards designed to let patients block the release of sensitive healthcare information.
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Government cracks down on misleading medical apps

September 9, 2011 — 9:57am ET | By Sara Jackson
In its first enforcement action in the mobile health market, the Federal Trade Commission has forced two app companies to stop making health claims for their smartphone apps.
The two apps, AcnePwner and AcneApp, claimed that they emitted light from a smartphone screen to kill bacteria that causes skin blemishes. In total, the apps have been downloaded nearly 15,000 times, FTC officials say.
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Cash-strapped health IT vendors a danger for hospitals

September 12, 2011 — 11:59am ET | By Marla Durben Hirsch - Contributing Editor
Financial issues for a software company could result in medical procedures going unscheduled and needy patients going without beds at a hospital across the pond, providing a cautionary tale for U.S. hospitals about the importance of vendor selection.
Late last month, IMS Computers Ltd., in bankruptcy proceedings in Ireland, discovered that it can't stay in business without an influx of investor capital, according to an article published in the Irish Examiner. The company, which manages 10 million patient records throughout Ireland and the UK, also owns software that controls both the operating schedules and the bed allocation processes at several hospitals.
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Private sector influence not lacking in government's health IT push

September 11, 2011 — 3:55pm ET | By Ken Terry
While there has been plenty of grumbling about the Meaningful Use criteria for government electronic health record incentives, the Administration listened to a variety of private voices in designing those requirements. And, although the Health IT Advisory Committee arguably overestimated the industry's readiness to use EHRs in quality improvement, a New England Journal of Medicine study suggests that Meaningful Use is pushing doctors and hospitals in the right direction. That study shows that patients of physicians who used EHRs received more recommended care and had better outcomes than did the patients of doctors who relied on paper records.
Overall, the Administration--and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), in particular--have bent over backward to work with the private sector. Last week, for example, ONC announced it was testing metadata standards to move the technology of health information exchange forward. ONC has enlisted the help of experts from healthcare organizations and vendors, and is housing the initiative on the wiki for its Standards & Interoperability Framework.
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HHS: More than 5.4M patients affected by data breaches in 2010

Written by Editorial Staff   
September 8, 2011
In U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ annual report to Congress, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius reported that between Jan. 1, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2010, breaches involving 500 or more individuals were less than 1 percent of the breaches reported, but accounted for more than 99 percent of the more than 5.4 million individuals who were affected.
As part of the Health IT for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, the HHS secretary is required to annually report to Congress on the number and nature of data breaches, and actions taken to respond to the breaches.
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More Patients Collect Prescriptions In Integrated Healthcare Systems

Healthcare systems that link pharmacy data with electronic health records see better compliance with patients picking up their medications, reports Kaiser Permanente study.
By Nicole Lewis,  InformationWeek
September 09, 2011
If you are a diabetic, have high cholesterol, or high blood pressure and you receive medical care at an integrated healthcare system that has electronic health records (EHRs) linked to its own pharmacy, then you are more likely to collect your new prescriptions than people who receive care in a non-integrated system, a Kaiser Permanente study shows.
The study, Characteristics of Patients with Primary Non-adherence to Medications for Hypertension, Diabetes, and Lipid Disorders, examined pharmacy dispensing records of 12,061 men and women who were members of Kaiser Permanente Colorado in 2007 and 2008. It found that only 7% did not get their new prescriptions for blood pressure medication filled, 11% failed to pick up new prescriptions for diabetes medication, and 13% failed to collect new prescriptions for cholesterol-reducing medication. The study was published on the Journal of General Internal Medicine's website.
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Patient med adherence climbs with EHR links to pharmacy

September 15, 2011 — 9:58am ET | By Marla Durben Hirsch - Contributing Editor
Patients whose electronic health records are integrated with pharmacies are more likely to fill their prescriptions, according to a recent Kaiser Permanente study.
The study, published online in the Journal of Internal Medicine, reported that when patients receive care in an integrated healthcare system whose EHRs are connected to the dispensing pharmacy they are more likely to collect the medications they need for their newly-diagnosed chronic conditions.
In the study of 12,041 people in Kaiser Permanente Colorado with newly ordered medications for diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol, most patients followed through and picked up their medications; only 7 percent of patients prescribed blood pressure medication, 11 percent of those prescribed diabetic medications, and 13 percent prescribed cholesterol-reducing medications did not have their prescriptions filled.
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Study: CPOE Requirements in MU Stages 2 and 3 May Cut Mortality

HDM Breaking News, September 15, 2011
A new study published in Health Affairs suggests that Stage 1 meaningful use criteria for use of computerized physician order entry systems is probably too low to significantly lower mortality rates among heart patients, but higher levels of mandated use in Stages 2 and 3 "is more consistently associated with lower mortality."
Stage 1 of meaningful use requires electronic orders for at least 30 percent of eligible patients. The Stage 2 measure likely will be 60 percent with Stage 3 at 80 percent.
Researchers at RAND Corp. studied data from the American Hospital Association Annual Survey database, comparing medication orders written electronically with manual orders. "We relied on self-reported ranges--for example, 26 to 50 percent of patients--of the use of electronic medication ordering and did not have direct measures against which to validate these reports," according to the study. "It was not possible to match our data exactly to the thresholds prescribed in the meaningful use regulations because our data used ranges instead of, for example, a threshold of 30 percent of patients. Therefore, we were not able to simulate the impact of the uptake of electronic medication ordering at the exact thresholds prescribed in the meaningful use regulations. However, our data did provide thresholds that approximate those of the regulations, and we believe that the results of our simulation will be informative to policy makers."
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New Patient Access Rights Will Challenge HIM Departments

HDM Breaking News, September 10, 2011
The HITECH Act gives consumers the right to access their electronic health records in an electronic format. But many security experts believe that under final rules, giving patients the records on a CD or thumb drive won't meet the intent of the law, says Lou Ann Wiedemann, director of professional practice resources at the American Health Information Management Association in Chicago.
She believes 'electronic' will mean access to a particular patient's records in a provider's EHR via a Web portal or a cloud computing application, "and not an electronic version of your EHR," Wiedemann says. "The industry is hoping CD or a thumb drive will be okay, but everyone is waiting on the final rule before they start to plan how to do this."
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Monday, September 12, 2011

UC-San Francisco Medical Center Catches Up on EHRs

by Mari Edlin, iHealthBeat Contributing Reporter
The University of California-San Francisco Medical Center might be a late bloomer, but it's making up for lost time.
The hospital's first go at an electronic health record system in 2005 started the ball rolling toward a comprehensive system but stopped short of developing an ambulatory component.
In 2010, UCSF moved away from its custom-built General Electric EHR, which kept information only on patients who were admitted to the hospital, to a new vendor -- Epic Systems -- to link providers and patient records among its more than 100 clinics, emergency department and hospital.
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  • SEPTEMBER 12, 2011

WellPoint's New Hire. What Is Watson?

By ANNA WILDE MATHEWS

Watson, the "Jeopardy!"-playing computer system, is getting a job.
WellPoint Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. are set to announce a deal on Monday for the health insurer to use the Watson technology, the first time the high-profile project will result in a commercial application.
WellPoint said it plans to use Watson's data-crunching to help suggest treatment options and diagnoses to doctors. It is part of a far broader push in the health industry to incorporate computerized guidance into care, as doctors and hospitals adopt electronic medical records and other digital tools that can record, track and check their work.

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Enjoy!
David.