Well I spoke to soon!
Look what appeared in the Australian today!
ID management key to health portal
Jennifer Foreshew | March 18, 2008
THE South Australian Department of Health expects to go to tender in the next six months for an identity management system that will be part of its $375 million electronic health records program.
The program aims to link all clinicians and patient information within 10 years.
SA Health Department chief information officer David Johnston said biometric technology would deliver twin-factor authentication that would serve as a legal signature.
"The goal is to have twin-factor authentication and digital legal signatures for access to all systems," Mr Johnston said.
A web-based portal, known as careconnect.sa, would provide health professionals with access to all the information needed to do their job.
The health sector had been so scattered it was difficult to deliver electronic health information, Mr Johnston said.
"When we are replacing these outdated systems we are doing so on a state basis and ... using consistent configurations using consistent business processes," Mr Johnston said.
The first enterprise system announced under the program last week was the $17 million delivery of a web-based information system to give nurses and midwives instant access to patient records.
Sydney-based Emerging Systems has developed a system to integrate patient records in the state's public hospital system to improve the speed and safety of healthcare delivery.
The system will be installed in all SA metropolitan hospitals and four big country hospitals.
"Once we have done that, the business will consider whether we do another phase and come back and pick up some of the smaller hospitals."
More here:
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,23391561-5013040,00.html
Later on we learn of all sorts of other systems which are to be rolled out or are being procured.
Now this is all good stuff as far as it goes but one really does have to wonder why there is no public roadmap of all this published to assist all those interested (developers, suppliers, GPs Specialsists etc) have an idea of what is coming up.
I have just checked the SA Tender web site and I note the Pathology System Tender closed a month or so back so there will be an announcement soon I guess.
The issue I have with the piece-meal best of breed maybe approach is the risk of having a just humongous integration task down the track and winding up either supporting a legion of different platforms or maybe restricting the available choices to severely. I have seldom seen much good of this sort or approach.
An approach that defined a strategy, developed an enterprise architecture and then minimised the number of different providers and technologies seems to me to be more sensible.
I must say I am also wondering just what the NEHTA Identity Program thinks of the choices being made for the portal. Is twin-factor authentication with biometrics where NEHTA is going? Nothing I have seen to date suggests that. Does SA know something we don’t or is NEHTA just being ignored?
We certainly live in exciting times!
David.
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