Senate Recommends Passage of HI Service Legislation With Some Amendments.

Read the outcome here:

http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/clac_ctte/healthcare_identifier/report/report.pdf

The key is here:

Recommendation 1

1.1 The committee recommends that NEHTA, in partnership with the Department of Health and Ageing and Medicare Australia, take steps to more effectively engage all healthcare stakeholders in the establishment of the Healthcare Identifiers Service. These steps should include at least the following elements:

(a) involvement of key healthcare stakeholder groups, including state and territory governments, private and community health providers, and healthcare consumer groups, in the development of a Healthcare Identifiers Service implementation plan which covers the period from the successful passage of the bills to 30 June 2012;

(b) the publication of this plan for public comment prior to its finalisation; and

(c) the development and implementation of a targeted education and communication strategy which targets both healthcare providers and healthcare consumers, and which clearly lays out the facts behind healthcare identifiers and provides contacts for people to access further detailed information. This strategy should be implemented prior to the Healthcare Identifiers Service coming into effect on 1 July 2010.

It is pretty clear the Committee is not happy with the implementation planning and communication with the public. What a surprise!

It is really pretty sad that the Senate has not taken more seriously the advice of those who point out the lack of implementation skills and privacy understanding of those who contributed.

My view is still that this is a fatally flawed organisation attempting something that is way beyond its competence and that still does not understand what it exists for - serving the Health Sector. We shall see if I am right or wrong - but not soon - given what we will see in the implementation plan is hardly a beginning by 2012.

Passage of this legislation, with the recommendations, might give us a fighting chance of getting it right, but sadly I doubt it. We shall see and will be watching!

David.