e-Health Echoes is a quarterly publication that aims to provide you with timely and current e-health stories from around the world, largely focusing on Australian developments.
Formerly the Eclipse newsletter, which detailed the advancement of IT solutions in clinical pharmacy, this circulation will present a range of stories to paint a picture of the broader e-health situation.
If you would not like to receive e-Health Echoes, please email us at echoes@healthcaresoftware.com.au. Otherwise, we hope to use your feedback and comments to develop a comprehensive e-health news source.
Deloitte release highly anticipated report COAG money panned by experts Pressure on NSW Health ERx to slash drug spend HCS News
Deloitte release highly anticipated report
NEHTA needs to be replaced with a more powerful organisation that can be built upon its existing structure, according to an independent report released by Deloitte late last week.
The report stated that only "marginal" progress has been made towards the electronic exchange of health information, despite the Australian Government spending $5 billion in the field over the last 10 years.
While the report was only partially published, which was suspicious to some industry members, it has been endorsed by the state and federal ministers as a key document for the rebuilding of Australia�s outdated and dysfunctional health IT systems.
One of the major themes in the Deloitte report was that healthcare in Australia still revolves around �pen, paper and human memory."
"The relative lack of maturity of information technology within the health sector has important implications for patient safety ... studies have found that up to 18 per cent of medical errors are due to the inadequate availability of patient information".
"In NEHTA, Australia has created and invested in a vehicle for the progression of the national E-Health agenda and, whilst the journey to date has at times been problematic, it represents the best foundation upon which to build momentum behind a national E-Health work program," the consultancy wrote.
View a ZDNet story (15/12/2008)
COAG money panned by experts
The recent COAG health funding announcement has drawn criticism from those active in the progression of e-health in Australia.
It was recently announced that the National e-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) will receive $218 million in funding for the period July 2009 to June 2012. According to the Australian Government, this signifies a vote of support for the rollout of a national electronic health record for all Australian residents.
It was part of $8.6 billion in additional funding for health programs that was announced at the COAG meeting.
However, criticism has come from a number of high profile industry members who feel additional funding with the current structures and processes will stifle change and encourage minimal progress.
John Menadue AO, board director of the Centre for Policy Development, believes there should be no more money introduced into the Australian health system without reform.
�The introduction of e-health has been glacial despite the potential benefits in patient satisfaction, reduced costs and fewer mistakes with modern information technology.�
�Each week we have about 200 avoidable deaths in our hospitals, and I estimate that the cost of avoidable mistakes in our hospitals is over $6 billion pa.�
�During the COAG summit, targets were set to cut the number of adverse events, or errors, in hospitals and to reduce unplanned or unexpected re-admissions to hospitals � goals that could be achieved through improved access to information.�
Many e-health luminaries have been very active in criticising NEHTA over the past 12 months after a particularly damning report was released by the Boston Consulting Group, following an independent review.
View the John Menadue statement (2/12/2008)
View a MIS Australia article (1/12/2008)
Pressure on NSW Health
NSW Health has received advice for it to drastically increase their e-health spending forecasts.
Special commissioner Peter Garling recently proposed the additional spending of $705 million - on top of the currently committed $315.5 million for projects scheduled until July 2011 � for a future IT plan.
Following a 10 month enquiry into the state�s acute care services he has recommended that NSW adopt a whole new approach to IT, with the following time-based objectives:
- 12 months - new IT infrastructure;
- 18 months - uniform e-medical record and patient administration systems;
- 2 years - human resources, business information strategies, medical imaging, intensive care and hospital pharmacy systems;
- 3 years - medical records available through a redeveloped community health system, and the introduction of automated rostering, clinical documentation and medication management;
- 4 years - provision of critical infrastructure, hospital and community information systems and a statewide e-health record system.
While these improvements are all on the roadmap for NSW Health, Mr. Garling�s four year plan currently has an eight to 12 year time frame for completion.
"The adoption of (upgraded) IT within four years is necessary if NSW Health is to provide, safe, quality care for patients. Just as a railway system becomes dangerous for passengers when the signal network is old and out of date, so too a public hospital system becomes dangerous for patients when information about risky practices is lost in the clerical maze."
View the Australian IT article (27/11/2008)
ERx to slash drug spend
Complete e-prescribing use could result in US$3.91 million in savings per 100 000 patients.
A recent study in the US, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, determined that physicians are more likely to electronically prescribe less expensive medications, which could therefore reduce overall drug spending.
The study categorised the drugs according to cost and separated them into three groups, or �tiers�. Over an 18 month period more than 17.4 million prescriptions were studied and during this time the use of the least expensive drugs (tier 1) increased by 3.3%. The more expensive (tier 2) and most expensive (tier 3) brand name drugs decreased by 1.9% and 1.5% respectively.
The use of less-expensive drugs resulted in a savings of 70 cents per patient per month, or US$845,000 annually for every 100,000 patients requiring medications.
It was also determined that these savings would grow as the availability and use of e-prescribing increased.
View the Archives
of Internal Medicine (Vol. 168 No. 22, Dec 8/22, 2008) abstract
HealthCare Software (HCS) is currently implementing components of the HCS Clinical Suite across South Australia and Tasmania. The state-wide implementation contracts were announced early in 2008 and include multiple software solutions for use in 15 major hospitals across both states.
In more recent news, HCS PharmCare has been included as an option in the West Australian Pharmacy Management Solution contract. iSOFT�s iPharmacy will be rolled out across 21 major public hospitals and will provide all the administrative functions; while the option involves HCS PharmCare making the transition from dispensing system to Pharmacy Management solution by delivering clinical decision support and advanced medication management processes.
Finally, HCS was named a finalist in two categories at the recent Tasmanian ICT awards. Each category had only five finalists from hundreds of applicants and the categories in which HCS was successful were 'eSolutions' and the 'President�s Award for Excellence in IT'.
Merry Christmas from HealthCare Software!!!!
Thank you to everyone who has taken time out to speak with us in 2008. The most important group of health professionals to us has always been the software users themselves, and we thank you for all your feedback, encouragement and advice over the last 12 months. Have a Merry Christmas and a safe holiday.
Healthcare Software will be attending:
The HIMSS AsiaPac Conference
in Kuala
Lumpur on February 24-27
The NZHPA Conference 2009
in Nelson
on September 11-13
The The 35th SHPA National Conference
in Perth
on November 5-8
We look forward to seeing you there.
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