Weekly Australian Health IT Links - 07-12-2009

Here are a few I have come across this week.

http://www.medicalobserver.com.au/News/0,1734,5714,04200912.aspx

GPs forced to provide Easyclaim the hard way as incentives end

Elizabeth McIntosh - Friday, 4 December 2009

PRACTICES will soon be stripped of thousands of dollars worth of incentives to provide the Medicare Easyclaim system and forced to bear the costs, prompting calls for an extension to the scheme.

The incentive scheme, due to end on 31 December, provided practices with a one-off payment of up to $1000 for installation of EFTPOS equipment plus an ongoing payment of 18 cents for every Easyclaim transaction made.

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http://www.coffscoastadvocate.com.au/story/2009/12/05/software-leads-to-hard-work-for-our-doctors/

Software hard work for doctors

Ute Schulenberg | 5th December 2009

SOFTWARE being introduced to hospital emergency departments by NSW Health is being described by local doctors as ‘appalling’ and the consultation process with NSW Health IT staff as ‘insulting and dysfunctional’.

One clear voice on the issue is Dorrigo doctor Horst Herb, who worked with Electronic Medical Records in both Germany and Norway and was previously a professional software developer.

“I was keen to see eMR implemented in NSW...but after two weeks of conscious effort using Cerner FirstNet to record my patients’ information I came to the conclusion the system was not only unusable but outright dangerous.

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http://www.medicalobserver.com.au/News/0,1734,5737,04200912.aspx

It's official: Ads banned in practice software

Elizabeth McIntosh - Friday, 4 December 2009

THE Medicines Australia Code of Conduct was yesterday given the final stamp of approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), spelling the official end of brand-name reminders and product advertisements in practice software.

The green light for the code comes as the Medicines Australia Code of Conduct Committee released its annual report, showing pharmaceutical companies were hit with a total of $1.42 million in fines in 2008-09. This was down from the $1.83 million recorded in 2007-08.

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http://www.smh.com.au/world/science/part-man-part-machine-amputee-gains-robotic-hand-20091203-k8r0.html

Part man, part machine: amputee gains robotic hand

ARIEL DAVID

December 4, 2009

ROME: An Italian man who lost his left forearm in a car crash has been successfully linked to a robotic hand, allowing him to feel sensations in the artificial limb and control it with his thoughts.

During a one-month experiment, 26-year-old Pierpaolo Petruzziello felt like his lost arm had grown back again, although he was only controlling a robotic hand that was not even attached to his body.

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http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,26430850-5003680,00.html

Adelaide health technology firm PSI sold to iSOFT

Article from The Advertiser

VALERINA CHANGARATHIL

December 02, 2009 12:30pm

ADELAIDE-based Patient Safety International says becoming part of global healthcare company iSOFT has given it the "marketing springboard" it needed.

The company was recently acquired by iSOFT in a deal worth $5 million.

The major drawcard for the deal was PSI's renowned AIMS incident management software. The patient safety software enables healthcare organisations to record, monitor and take relevant management action to minimise future adverse medical events.

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http://www.theage.com.au/national/new-guidelines-on-hospital-waiting-times-20091202-k6kw.html

New guidelines on hospital waiting times

JULIA MEDEW

December 3, 2009 - 12:01AM

Victorian hospitals have been inconsistently measuring patient waiting times in emergency departments - a practice that has the potential to falsely enhance their performance data.

Victorian hospitals have been inconsistently measuring patient waiting times in emergency departments — a practice that has the potential to falsely enhance their performance data.

The State Government's director of data integrity, Tim Barta, told a parliamentary inquiry yesterday that new guidelines on how to calculate waiting times had been created for the departments because previous advice had been open to interpretation.

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http://www.anzhealthpolicy.com/content/6/1/24/abstract

Medication safety in acute care in Australia: where are we now? Part 2: a review of strategies and activities for improving medication safety 2002-2008

Susan J Semple and Elizabeth E Roughead

Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Centre, Sansom Institute, University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, 5001, Australia

Australia and New Zealand Health Policy 2009, 6:24doi:10.1186/1743-8462-6-24

Published: 22 September 2009

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http://www.theage.com.au/national/biometric-tests-for-asylum-seekers-20091204-kb34.html

Biometric tests for asylum seekers

ARI SHARP, CANBERRA

December 5, 2009

A SCHEME to gather biometric data from asylum seekers is being introduced in an effort to crack down on fraud and help identify those with overseas criminal records.

Starting this week asylum seekers in Melbourne and Sydney are being asked to provide an image of their face and a scan of their fingerprints as part of a six-month voluntary trial. The data will be checked against records in the United States, Britain, Canada and New Zealand in a search for multiple identities and criminal backgrounds.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/the-hub/google-chrome-os-stakes-all-on-cloud-based-low-power-machines/story-fn4k6e9r-1225805697769

Google Chrome OS stakes all on cloud-based low-power machines

TALK about vapourware. Google lifted the lid on its new operating system, Chrome OS, for an all-new range of small computers the other day. But if you want one, you'll have to be patient, as Chrome OS won't be available until the end of next year. Still, most things Google does are innovative, and sometimes controversial: think Google Earth, Google Docs, Google Scholar, Google Maps, Google Books . . .

At its most basic, Chrome OS is based on the Chrome web browser. Initially it will run on netbooks, the low-cost mini-portable PCs that have swept the worldwide computer market in the past year or so.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/microsoft-unveils-cheaper-windows-7-family-pack/story-e6frgakx-1225805418344

Microsoft unveils 'cheaper' Windows 7

  • Andrew Colley
  • From: Australian IT
  • November 30, 2009 3:27PM

MICROSOFT has bowed to pressure from customers and retailers and introduced a local version of the three licence Family Pack upgrade deal for the new Windows 7.

From December 1 Microsoft's Australian retail partners will sell the software under a Family Pack licensing scheme that had previously only been available to its US customers.

The Windows 7 Family Pack, which includes software licences to upgrade three computers from previous versions of the software, will carry a recommended retail price of $249.

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Enjoy!

David.

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