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."

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Senate Estimates - Community Affairs - November 20 2013 - Live Blog.

Just a few notes - Errors and Omissions my fault.

Started Late 5.48 Pm

Straight to e-Health.

Jane Halton brushing back her hair as usual..

The PCEHR Review.

Is announced. Has the 3 people we already know.

Team has started and TOR have been announced.

Quick review is happening.

How is it operating? - has a secretariat but DOH is not involved.

Review funded out of Department of Health - budget is $15,000 each per day for 2/3 consultants / reviewers.

No Global Budget.

No public submissions have been asked. Are staying quiet on who has been approached.

Review - Asked lots but did not ask me until they called!

Why was it not advertised via e-System?

Halton - no idea if it will be published when done.

Estimates Committee wants to know whether public or not.

Mr Fleming - will providing submission from NEHTA.

Halton - No idea will be made public.

Total Cost - Rapid Integration Project - lots of components - ID + interfaces - So many systems to deal with Fleming - Cost $13 Million

Middle next year 50% covered. 75% of admissions covered.

Basically ACT and only SA and maybe NSW with Qld off and running.

Total Hospitals that can view and add - for Discharge Summaries.

Hospitals upload Discharge Summaries. No one else.

Have not worked with private hospitals at all.

Madden - are creating middleware to set up communications..

Total PCEHR Registrations: 1,100,500 or so

Shared Summaries 11,036 so far

Software available since April - so very slow uptake and use.

Halton - claims very quick adoption…NT was slower - claims reasonable rate.

Boyce - asks what is needed - 1% not enough - what is happening.


Halton - claims NT works so well….but 40,000 involved.


Halton - No target users numbers.


Halton - claims lots of the $1.0 Billion is mostly spent on standards - not the PCHER. (just nonsense I reckon.)


Will middleware cause issues?


Madden says not. He had no idea in my view - testing for a few months.


He claims no problems


Halton - claims being ripped off by big vendors.


Boyce - mail out to GPs - encouraging use and input - not much of a response.


Health - No idea how many specialists are involved.


Health - Seems have no idea of take-up rate.


113 summaries to PCEHR from Qld Health in 2 days. How many discharges in Qld in 2 days - thousands (8000 per day).


Madden - looking keen to defend but has no idea given such low activity..


Madden - claims needs more information - no claiming to chat about Meaningful Use.


44383 records have been looked up of some sort of a document in the PCEHR - no idea how many users that means.


Acute care setting - no idea how many viewed


Halton - really no idea what is happening in terms of real use.


Aspen delivered 580,000 registrations!!!! NEHTA have similar contract to deliver 150,000 by end December.

They are clearly just chasing people - can’t say cost.

Accessed after registration - no idea - (Meaning - no one is really using the system).

Are asking when admitted - do you want discharge summary to happen via GP. (Grasping at straws)

System Cumbersomeness - Still bad - hoping to improve (Madden)

Madden - trying to make easier to register. No idea really how to fix…

Boyce - Accenture Payment - $1.5 Million a month - ends 30 June 2014.

Madden -Child registration downloaded 14,900 times - all of 7,000 have the app.

Halton - is giving evidence to PCHER review.

----- End E-Health 5.33pm

What a joke. Asked when will lose T in NEHTA - decision for Government says - Fleming!

David.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some general observations -

"Standards" the bureaucrats reasoning for living...

“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes nothing” Thomas Sowell...

$1.5 Million a month for Accenture, WTF... Could have built it for that if all the money has gone to the development of standards..

These people are completely off the planet and they should all hang their heads in shame...

Obviously no change from Dutton in how to stop the cash burn and deliver outcomes, very disappointing...

Anonymous said...

I would summarize it like this David.

It is appropriate that DOH is not involved in the PCEHR Review. However, the key question is has DOH had any influence on the review? – ie. Has DOH been involved in drafting the Terms of Reference?

DOH is funding the review. This suggests DOH has an influence over the review hence the outcome is likely to be compromised by the bureaucrats.

What exactly is the budget? $15,000 x how many days = $How much?

Halton - no idea if it will be published when done. That all depends on how the review will impact on Halton given she has been the person responsible for this $1billion++ eHealth failure.

Mr Flemming has repeatedly demonstrated he is all hot air ………… It’s time he got off the pot. …

Total Cost - Rapid Integration Project - lots of components - ID + interfaces - So many systems to deal with Fleming - Cost $13 Million. Oh my goodness me Mr Flemming how do you keep coming up with this rubbish which you know has no substance whatsoever? Please start telling the truth.

Oh Mr Madden - is creating middleware to set up communications. When did all this start? Have you just discovered Middleware communications?

Halton - claims very quick adoption…NT was slower - claims reasonable rate. Here she goes again – all hot air, no substance of truth, empty rhetoric +++.

Halton - No target for user numbers. Oh goodness me Ms Halton – Why not? Are you devoid of any understanding about eHealth Project Management? How much money have you spent to date?

Halton - claims lots of the $1.0 Billion is mostly spent on standards - not the PCEHR.

Rubbish Ms Hal ton, rubbish. Please stop lying.

Ah ha – here she goes - Halton - claims being ripped off by big vendors. She would say that wouldn’t she?

Anonymous said...

VHA will recommend 'opt-out' approach to PCEHRs - see
Victorian Healthcare Association vha@vha.org.au


The VHA has been invited to submit a response to Federal Health Minister Peter Dutton's review of the personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) platform.

The VHA will argue that switching to an ‘opt-out’ approach will accelerate adoption of the platform.

Anonymous said...

Those doing the review should ask themselves this question:

"Do those people who claim the PCEHR is a success have a vested interest in it being perceived a success?"

Where the answer is yes, those views should be discounted, if not totally ignored.

Anonymous said...

Opt-in OR Opt-out?

Let's face the facts - if the system does not meet the needs of clinicians and consumers it will not make a jot of difference whether it is opt-in or opt-out.

Further, reflect upon the introduction of internet banking and airline booking and luggage check--in.

Both industries experienced massive uptake of their systems which were OPT-IN. Reason, convenience, ease-of-use, flexibility, saving in time.

PCEHR has none of these essential characteristics. Consequently OPT-OUT will make no difference to PCEHR uptake.

When will people stop deluding themselves and start thinking seriously about the underlying system design issues?

Anonymous said...

I think making the PCEHR opt-out is a great idea. It will mobilise exactly the same forces that took on the Human Service Access Card and for the same reasons - nobody thinks the (claimed, if unsubstantiated) benefits are worth the cost.

And the PCEHR will go down in flames in exactly the same way.

Bring it on, ASAP.

Anonymous said...

At inception, the then minister, Roxon, said opt-out was not an option for consideration by the government. As a result, the system has not been designed, nor does it have the capacity to cope with being opt-out.

Given it is almost a dead man walking as opt-in, opt-opt would definitely be the final death knoll.

Anonymous said...

Ms Halton must have some pretty horrific photographs of some very important people to remain unaccountable for her incompetence for so very long!

Mr Fleming on the other hand personifies reality imitating art as the embodiment of Zoo lander.

If this is accountability of our Bureaucracies and their Quango clingons in-action, how on earth do we characterise our broader democracy?

If Ms Halton sleeps very comfortably within expensive sheets, surely there must be a lobotomy scar underneath that designer flickable hair of hers to enable this!

When will the rorting of the taxpayer and this monumental governance incompetence stop!

Anonymous said...

How could it be made opt out? From now on all information for everyone is posted to their pcehr, and if you don't like that then let us know and we will switch your record off? Everything gets posted, and anyone and everyone can see it. Your termination, your mental breakdown, your std diagnosis and your deepest darkest secrets. If you live in a country town, then your biggest benefit from the pcehr will be the ability to opt out. And if you do then everyone will suspect that you have something to hide. It's a lose-lose situation.
And if you think you can use the access controls to stop certain chunks of your record from being seen, think again: this will depend on the "granularity" of the organisations posting.

Anonymous said...

There will be protests in Canberra if they try and make this mandatory for everyone....I.e. opt out.

What a disaster the Fukushima of eHealth (PcEHR) is. just a smaller $1b version of the nbn fiasco.