A few weeks ago your humble scribe was told that the Australian Health Information Council (AHIC) was not dead but that it was, as we were told in Monty Python, “just resting”! More recently I have heard that there have been soundings taken regarding the membership of the new improved AHIC and who might be a suitable chair. It thus seems just possible there will be some good news soon and that AHIC will have only suffered a “near death experience”.
For those who came in late AHIC is the peak advisory body for Health Ministers in the domain of Health Information and E-Health and so has a critical role in developing a sensible national E-Health Agenda. If any serious progress is going to be made on a National E-Health Agenda and Plan AHIC will be an important player.
It is interesting the note that in the US, there is also a peak E-Health body whose acronym in AHIC. In the US AHIC stands for the American Health Information Community. This body was established about a year ago and has already commenced work and established very productive working parties in a large number of key areas (Privacy and Security, Quality, Biosurveillance, Consumer Empowerment, Chronic Care and Electronic Health Records).
Refreshingly the US version conducts monthly public meetings that are available both in transcript and web-cast with a lot of industry, consumer and technical input. The Community is also chaired by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Mike Leavitt who is a member of the Bush Cabinet and who is responsible for the disbursement of one quarter of the Federal Budget.
With this in mind it would seem to be reasonable to hope the new improved AHIC might have the following attributes:
1. Be chaired by a Cabinet Level person (The Federal Minister for Health would be the obvious choice) so its importance is clear.
2. Operate in public with public testimony provided by relevant domain experts on a monthly basis so progress can be properly tracked.
3. Be made up of members with relevant senior specific E-Health or Health Service Delivery expertise on the Committee as well as having appropriate “super-expert” sub-committee’s to develop policy and plans in areas of need.
4. Have a clear charter and set of objectives around the need to better use Information Technology to provide patients with safer and higher quality care.
5. Be commissioned to develop a National E-Health Business Case and Implementation Plan within nine months.
6. Have a substantial secretariat to ensure the routine detailed work can be achieved quickly and with high quality.
7. Have a good mix of old and new blood to ensure the failed strategies of the past (and we have had nearly a decade of those) are not repeated.
8. Have NEHTA directly accountable, in public, to the new AHIC for all its recommendations and decisions.
I wonder what we will actually see when the new AHIC is announced – if it ever is?
David.
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