The following segment was heard on The World Today at around lunchtime. 12:18:00 17/05/2012 AMA flags problems with E-records, six weeks before roll-out The Australian Medical Association says 'all singing, all dancing' patient controlled electronic health records won't be available, when the new system starts in July. The AMA's president Dr Steve Hambleton says he suspects most practices don't have the right software to use the system. The Government says it's already paid millions to help doctors upgrade their systems  You can download the audio for the story from this link. http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/twt/201205/20120517-twt03-health-records.mp3 As always there will be a transcript available - probably by the time you read this. This report seems to follow up on a couple of speeches at a conference made by the Health Minister and the AMA President. Here is a report of what went on. E-health rollout likely to be slow: Labor From: AAP May 16, 2012 5:17PM ...

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As I reported a few days ago we are in the twice yearly process of Senate Estimates Committee hearings. This is an opportunity for Senators to ask bureaucrats and responsible Ministers probing questions on just what is going on behind the scenes in their Department and to try and winkle out some information and accountability. Both NEHTA and the E-Health Team from DoHA attend and are questioned for about 1 hour. It is likely this will be happening in the sessions between Monday  28 May to Thursday, 31 May 2012. It would be fair to say that my experience of having watched the live feeds of the last few years of these Q & A sessions suggests the bureaucrats are really first cousins of Sir Humphrey Appleby of ‘Yes Minister’ in terms of their capabilities to talk for the hour and say essentially nothing despite the best efforts of those asking the questions to have some light shone in the dark internal holes of the Department. From this I have concluded that what is needed...

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Here is the press release - (I have highlighted the important and not delivered bits in italics): Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records for All Australians Australians will be able to check their medical history online through the introduction of personally controlled electronic health records, which will boost patient safety, improve health care delivery, and cut waste and duplication. 11 May 2010 Australians will be able to check their medical history online through the introduction of personally controlled electronic health records, which will boost patient safety, improve health care delivery, and cut waste and duplication. The $466.7 million investment over the next two years will revolutionise the delivery of healthcare in Australia. The national e-Health records system will be a key building block of the National Health and Hospitals Network. This funding will establish a secure system of personally controlled electronic health records that will...

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Here are a few I have come across the last week or so. 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 Clearly the big news of the week was the recent Federal Budget. It seems overall that over the forward estimates e-Health (very broadly defined) are being cut back just a little. Go here to see the overall picture. (E-Health is about 1/3 way down the page) http://www.health.gov.au/internet/budget/publishing.nsf/Content/budget2012-glance.htm My sole remaining question is to wonder just what the $33.4M for the present financial year is to be spent on. Seems like a lot for about six further weeks. I guess we will find out in due course. ----- http://www.rustreport.com.au/issues/latestissue/transforming-healthcare-it/ Transforming healthcare IT May 7, 2012 Healthcare is the fastest...

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The question was: Should NEHTA and The E-Health Group From DoHA Be Merged To Form A New E-Health Agency Under Standard Federal Government Controls? For Sure -  16 (45%) Probably -  6 (17%) Maybe -  5 (14%) Definitely Not  - 8 (22%) Votes 35 Quite an interesting outcome with almost ½ the votes saying for sure and a good deal more supporting the idea - only 22% strongly against. Again, many thanks to those that voted! David.

This is the initial part of the post - read more by clicking on the title of the article. David.