Industry News

IOM report confirms value of e-prescribing

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:39:00 GMT

The Institute of Medicine, in their recently released "Health IT and Patient Safety" report has confirmed that studies, including meta-analyses, offer strong evidence that computerization of prescribing can dramatically improve patient safety. This is in contrast to the lack of evidence of similar impact outside of medication safety. You can read more details at the IOM website.

Top 10 Most Costly, Frequent Medical Errors

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 03:44:00 GMT

Avoidable medical errors added $19.5 billion to the nation's healthcare bill in 2008, according to a claims-based study conducted by Millman, Inc. on behalf of the Society of Actuaries (SOA). The report lists the 10 most expensive errors in healthcare settings.

NEHTA pushes for greater unity

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 03:43:00 GMT

Chief Executive of the National E-Health Transitory Authority, Peter Fleming has called for a greater unison between stakeholders, in order to promote the development of Health IT infrastructure nationally.

With state and federal government bodies demanding increased levels of safety and efficiency within the healthcare sector, there is a push for the creation of uniform IT infrastructure, commencing with the incremental build-out of existing clinical and communication platforms.

After years of under-investment and fragmentation among stakeholders, Australiaï¿½s e-Health industry is overdue for the imminent shakeup which will see an increase in pilot programs in the areas of electronic medication management and hospital discharge summaries in particular.

NEHTA are working with software vendors to assess their capabilities in the move towards a unified approach to health IT. Helen Hopkins, outgoing executive director of the Consumers Health Forum, supports the move towards a national healthcare IT system stating

"Consumers want access to their health information when and where they need it, so we're continuing to push for a full e-health record,"she said.

"If that's going to take some time, they want some easier things first, such as their hospital discharge information to be sent to their GPs,"

Medication data needs to be unlocked

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 02:18:00 GMT

The Federal Government has been called upon to cross-check Medicare and pharmaceutical records of patients, in an attempt to reduce the incidences of unnecessary illness and death often occurring as a result of medication use.

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care outline in their annual report that the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and Medicare are "two of the richest health information stores in the world" and an examination of these records will assist in more rapid identification of harmful new drugs and lethal side effects, whilst assessing the appropriate use of medications in practice.

The report, which is titled, "Windows into Safety and Quality in Health Care 2008", also cites earlier commission research which found each year an estimated 1.5 million Australians suffered an adverse event from medicines, resulting in 400,000 visits to doctors and 140,000 hospital admissions. The estimated annual cost six years ago was $380 million.

It is likely this will also become more pronounced with an ageing population as a third of admitted patients over 75 had experienced a medication related adverse event.

With no systematic national approach in place to identify, document and advise on potential drug reactions and appropriate use of medications, the implementation of a national scheme has the potential to revolutionise the healthcare industry, reducing costs to healthcare facilities and unnecessary risks to patients.

Elderly over reacting

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 02:08:00 GMT

A West Australian study has shown that people aged 60 years and over are experiencing long-term or recurring health problems as a result of the medications they take. This is particularly concerning as medication use in this age group is increasing on a yearly basis - rising by five percent in 2001 alone.

According to a recent story in the Sydney Morning Herald (12/01/2009), the two decade study of medical records discovered that between the early 1980s and the late 1990s, the likelihood of hospital admissions for the same drug reaction more than doubled. This had a drastic effect on the number of hospital readmissions, which accounted for 30 per cent of all hospitalisations in 2003.

Lead researcher, Min Zhang, from the University of Western Australia, stated that drug reactions accounted for up to 10 percent of in-patient costs, with the growing use of medications cited as the main reason for this increase.

"Older patients are vulnerable to [reactions] because of the multiple drugs they receive to manage chronic diseases," and because they metabolised them differently, Dr Zhang wrote in the British Medical Journal.

Medication management is shown to be a growing concern among healthcare professionals, with medication orders frequently handled as an afterthought and inadequately documented, increasing the risk of drug reactions and injuries to patients.

EHRs to save billions

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 02:09:00 GMT

A new study conducted in the US determined that electronic health records could save the U.S. health care system more than $19 billion annually.

According to a report from the Centre for Information Technology Leadership (CITL), a non-profit research centre based in Boston, EHRs can add value to the healthcare system through a reduction of waste and error, decreased administrative costs, and decreased clinical costs.

Providing EHRs to 80% of the population would cost $3.7 billion in start-up costs and $1.9 billion in annual maintenance costs. These estimates are based on a 10-year rollout.

Some specific findings included:

$1.1 billion is expected to be saved by electronic medication renewals
$9.2 million is expected to saved by the sharing of complete medication lists

According to Doug Johnston, Executive Director of CITL, improved quality of care will be the greatest result of a wide-scale rollout.

With EHRs, patients can manage their healthcare through alerts and reminders that will enhance their compliance with medications and scheduled appointments. Involving patients more actively in their care should improve outcomes and overall satisfaction.

Finally, the report emphasised the importance of ensuring security measures are robust and reliable.

Industry News

IOM report confirms value of e-prescribing

Top 10 Most Costly, Frequent Medical Errors

NEHTA pushes for greater unity

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Medication data needs to be unlocked

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Elderly over reacting

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EHRs to save billions