In the last week IBM Australia have been running very expensive full one page advertisements in the Australian Financial Review.
The theme has been “STOP Talking. START Curing.” This seems to be a small change to a more basic “Stop Talking. Start Doing”.
The advertisement then goes on to say “IBM© helps implement on line portals with consolidated, real time views of critical patient information, allowing healthcare organisations to provide better care.”
We are then referred to:
http://www.ibm.com/doing/au/healthyoutcomes
Which in Australia resolves to:
http://www-07.ibm.com/solutions/au/healthcare/healthyoutcomes/
On this page the following introduction is provided:
“The healthcare system needs a transfusion of innovation if it is to move from a fragmented, paper-based, one-size-fits-all condition to a personalised, more predictive and preventative system. The aim is to develop a system with all parts working together to incorporate patient and related medical information into clinical workflows and processes, to allow better managed healthcare costs, and to enable individuals to take an active role in managing their own well-being.”
And then some examples of some interesting projects are provided.
Virtually simultaneously we have the following from the USA.
IBM releases another piece of its Healthcare 2015 initiative
How health care providers deliver care is going to change in the future - by a lot. That's the message from Armonk-based IBM Corp. in the latest study from its "Healthcare 2015" initiative.
Community hospitals will lose patients to networks of clinics, and more consumers will become medical tourists as they turn to overseas physicians as an alternative to high U.S. hospital bills.
Edgar L. Mounib, health care lead for the IBM Institute for Business Value and a co-author of the new study, said U.S. hospitals will be competing on price not only with others in the same city and state but with facilities half a globe away.
"Health care is no longer local, it's global," he said.
At the same time, patients will seek care at nontraditional venues closer to home, like clinics at their workplace as the focus shifts to preventative care.
"We treat the sick," he said. "We should focus on improving health by engaging the citizen much earlier."
More here:
http://lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080613/BUSINESS01/806130361/-1/newsfront
You can follow up more of this work here:
http://www-03.ibm.com/industries/healthcare/doc/content/landing/2955767105.html
There are two questions in my mind. First – on the assumption that IBM never does anything that costs a fair few dollars by accident – what contract are they working to shore up or win?
This would have to be a very good candidate!
Medicare IT outsourcing deal delayed
Karen Dearne | May 29, 2008
THE planned retendering of Medicare's key ICT outsourcing services contract has once again been postponed while the Human Services Department awaits direction from the Gershon Review of federal government agencies' use and management of IT systems.
Human Services Minister Joe Ludwig says the plan to take a "more universal" approach to ICT requirements will affect the timing of approaches to the market by agencies.
"We have a number of major contracts - including the Medicare Australia ICT services contract - which are due to expire over the next 12 to 24 months," Senator Ludwig said in a statement.
"A key element of the department's service delivery reform strategy involves strategic portfolio approach. Our agencies, including Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support, are collectively among the biggest users of ICT within Australia."
IBM won a $350 million, five-year outsourcing contract with Medicare in 2000, delivering the ICT infrastructure and storage, desktop, security and support services. The contract has since been extended to March 2009.
More here:
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,23777892-15319,00.html
Another possibility is that IBM see themselves as providing a national e-health portal and that this will be the approach adopted to delivering patient held clinical records that can be integrated with Medicare Australia information. Interestingly, as regular readers will know, IBM is was central in the delivery of just such a system in Denmark. From all I can find out this system is a pretty considerable success – so I wonder why IBM does not mention it in their reference sites and project.
The scale and depth of this project can be reviewed here:
http://www-05.ibm.com/services/dk/gbs/healthcare/eng/
One way or another you can be sure they have a major project, or contract, or both in mind!
David.
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