Weekly Australian Health IT Links - 15-11-2009

Here are a few I have come across this week.

http://www.medicalobserver.com.au/News/0,1734,5623,13200911.aspx

Reward GPs for selling e-health to specialists

Elizabeth McIntosh - Friday, 13 November 2009

GPs are best placed to drive the e-health agenda and should be incentivised to encourage specialists and other health professionals to sign up to e-health systems, experts argue.

NSW Rural Doctors’ Association president Dr Ian Kamerman said while GPs were early adopters of e-health solutions, until other professions came onboard the system would not reach its full potential.

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http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26350950-952,00.html

New technology to save vision

Suellen Hinde

November 14, 2009 11:00pm

IT'S the Queensland medical breakthrough that could save some of our most vulnerable infants from a life of darkness.

In an Australian first, neonatal nurses at Brisbane's Mater Mothers' Hospital are using hi-tech camera equipment to photograph the eyes of premature babies, to identify a debilitating condition which can lead to blindness.

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http://www.theage.com.au/national/sick-of-secret-doctors-business-20091113-ietf.html

Sick of secret doctors' business

MARK METHERELL

November 14, 2009

SOMEWHERE in Australia is a private hospital where patients die at nearly twice the rate considered normal. In the three years to 2006, 199 more people died there than would have been expected for a hospital of its size and patient variety.

In the same 36 months, seven of 54 private hospitals categorised as ''high mortality'' had death rates at least 30 per cent higher than normal. At least 20 had death rates significantly lower than normal.

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http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=9647&page=0

Enhancing healthcare

Australia’s health system has an enviable record internationally. There are, however, significant sectors in the community where lack of access brings with it inequities. A growing demand for healthcare reform has been recognised to prepare Australia for the future and to maintain the high standards we have and demand. Drivers include an ageing population, an increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases, advances in medical technology and knowledge, better informed health consumers, and a need to strengthen the safety and quality of healthcare.

To ensure a sustainable future Australia’s governments have promoted healthcare reform. Integral to this is e-health - for the system, the individuals who will use it and those who work within it.

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http://www.motioncomputing.com/about/news/cs_dr_murrell_au.asp

Medical Practice Reclaims Space Once Used for Paper Records, Adding Room for Teaching and Patient Care

Dr. George Murrell, after renovating a 1920s church adjacent to his existing facilities, has transformed the aging building into a modern, paperless, technology-driven orthopaedic practice.

Overview:

In a unique blend of the old and the new, innovative Australian specialist orthopaedic surgeon Dr. George Murrell has worked with Motion Computing’s Tablet PC technology to create a cutting-edge paperless medical practice in a renovated old church in southern Sydney.

Dr. Murrell is the Director of the Orthopaedic Research Institute at St George Hospital and a Professor at the University of New South Wales, dividing his time between academic work, conducting and supervising research in his specialist area of shoulder surgery with his students and Fellows; and seeing patients.

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http://www.livewire.org.au/parents/

Join Livewire Parents

An online community where parents and carers of people living a serious illness, chronic health condition or disability can support and connect with one another.

At Livewire Parents you can:

- Connect with other parents and carers

- Post in forums and share advice

- Create a journal about what you're going through

- Find relevant information and resources

Livewire Parents is an online community where parents and carers of someone living with a serious illness, chronic health condition or disability can support and connect with one another.

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http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/326022/open_source_key_successful_national_e-health?eid=-255

Is open source the key to successful national e-health?

Open source provides flexibility and agility but questions have been raised over the likelihood of implementation

Kathryn Edwards and Tim Lohman 12 November, 2009 13:23

The Federal Government and healthcare industry bodies should abandon proprietary software and embrace open source software if Australia is to have a successful national e-health platform, argues e-health academic, Professor Jon Patrick.

Professor Patrick, who heads up the health information technology research laboratory at the University of Sydney, said the existing proprietary software used in the health industry lacked the flexibility and cost-effectiveness to meet the demands of emergency department clinical situations.

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http://www.smh.com.au/national/warning-of-risks-in-national-gp-register-20091112-icgb.html

Warning of risks in national GP register

NATASHA WALLACE HEALTH

November 13, 2009

DOCTORS have criticised a NSW law that paves the way for national registration, saying its mandatory ''dob-in-a-doctor'' requirement may deter doctors from getting help for drug and alcohol abuse.

The Australian Medical Association said the legislation gave too much power to health ministers over training and accreditation and it was concerned that standards might be reduced to plug workforce gaps.

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http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/326007/health_ageing_department_implement_pharmcis?eid=-6787

Health and Ageing Department to implement PharmCIS

Pharmaceutical Consolidated Information System to support business processes associated with evaluation, pricing and listing of drugs on the PBS.

Tim Lohman 12 November, 2009 11:23

The Department of Health and Ageing is to embark on a 14 month project — the Pharmaceutical Consolidated Information System (PharmCIS) — to support the listing of drugs on the Pharmaceutical Benefit Schedule (PBS).

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/nsw-unveils-new-id-theft-laws/story-e6frgakx-1225796477366?referrer=email&source=AIT_email_nl

NSW unveils new ID theft laws

  • Karen Dearne
  • From: Australian IT
  • November 11, 2009 2:00PM

THE NSW government plans to create three new identity offences - trafficking in identity data, possession with intent to commit a crime, and possession of equipment for the purpose of identity theft - in an overhaul of the state's Crimes Act.

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http://www.ehiprimarycare.com/news/5375/lorenzo_primary_care_announced

Lorenzo Primary Care announced

10 Nov 2009

ISoft executive chairman and chief executive Gary Cohen has announced that a Lorenzo Primary Care will be launched next year.

During a live link-up to E-Health Insider Live ’09, Cohen said iSoft would continue to develop its existing primary care products: Synergy, Ganymede, and Premiere.

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http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/finance/losing-the-super-paper-trail-20091108-i3jp.html

Losing the super paper trail

November 9, 2009

WHEN the Federal Government announced late last week that Medicare would double up as a de facto electronic payments service for the superannuation industry, it stopped the $1.1 trillion industry in its tracks.

This left-field decision to let Medicare become the new super clearing house for small businesses was seen by some as a knee-jerk reaction to a multibillion-dollar problem screaming out to be fixed, and by others as a more sinister plot to one day revive the unpalatable access card/national ID card.

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http://www.medicalobserver.com.au/News/0,1734,5607,09200911.aspx

Doctor-tracking mooted for attendance at pharma events

Shannon McKenzie - Monday, 9 November 2009

A RADICAL proposal to track individual doctors’ attendance at pharmaceutical company-sponsored educational events has met with a cool reception from GPs.

Writing for PLoS Medicine, Australian academics from the University of Newcastle in NSW have suggested the establishment of a “central register or database that identifies attendees at company-sponsored functions”. The database could be compiled using information collected by pharmaceutical companies.

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http://abnnewswire.net/press/en/61711/iSOFT_Group_Limited_ASX:ISF_Boosts_Innovation_Programme_With_New_Medical_Advisory_Board.html

iSOFT Group Limited (ASX:ISF) Boosts Innovation Programme With New Medical Advisory Board

Sydney, Nov 9, 2009 (ABN Newswire) - iSOFT Group Limited (ASX:ISF) today announced the success of the inaugural meeting of its Medical Advisory Board (iMAB), which took place in England on 23 October.

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http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-technology/cloud-computing-market-14-bln-us-dollars-by-2014-gartner-20091110-i5sp.html

'Cloud' computing market 14 bln US dollars by 2014: Gartner

November 10, 2009 - 8:05AM

Industry tracker Gartner forecast on Monday that revenue from Internet-based "cloud computing" will top 14 billion US dollars annually by the end of 2013.

Revenue from businesses using software programs hosted online as services in the Internet "cloud" should tally 7.5 billion US dollars this year, a 17.7 percent leap from 2008, according to Gartner.

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http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Clouds-clearing-pd20091105-XGU9K?OpenDocument&src=sph

Commentary

Avoiding cloud catastrophe

6:45 AM, 9 Nov 2009

Isabelle Oderberg

In the second of a two-part series, we move from examining exactly what the cloud is and what it can save you to look at avoiding the major pitfalls.

When wading into the murky world of cloud computing there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The products on offer – billing structures, security measures, storage locations and capabilities, to name just a few – are wide and varied, but there are a few basic things to look out for.

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Enjoy!

David.

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