Now Here Is An Issue or Two NEHTA and DoHA will Really Need to Address.

And now from the real world we find out about the quality of data in Shared EHRs in the UK where there have been efforts and incentives in place for years to improve the problem!

GPs confident their data is fit to share

24 Jun 2010
Four out of five GPs believe the quality of their practice data is fit for sharing, according to a survey on the future of general practice IT.
More than 500 GPs took part in a survey by doctors’ magazine Pulse which looked at GPs use of IT systems now and their views on access to information out-of-hours.
The survey found that 82% of GPs thought the quality of the data held in their practice’s clinical system was of sufficient quality to share with other healthcare. Only 7% thought their data quality was not fit for sharing and 11% said they were unsure.
The survey also found that 56% of respondents had received electronic records through the GP2GP transfer project. Just under one in three GPs (30%) thought that the quality of the records was good enough to ensure seamless delivery of a high quality service but 25% said that the quality of the records was not good enough.
GP data quality was described as one of the ‘wicked problems’ delaying implementation of the Summary Care Record in the independent evaluation of the SCR LINK published two weeks ago with researchers finding that SCRs did sometimes contain incomplete or inaccurate data.
More here:
Put another way one in six GPs were not sure their records were up to scratch. Not really great news given the efforts over five + years to get the data quality up. A survey asking similar questions now in Australia is needed I reckon the see how much work we have ahead to lift the Australian GP (and specialist) game.
And if that issue is not enough, here is at least some thinking on another contentious issue.
The other issue is consent management so that only what should be shared is shared!
I found this very all interesting.

Govt., vendors show off consent-management tools

Posted: June 30, 2010 - 12:15 pm ET
There are at least seven computerized consent-management software systems either operational or under development that let patients segment their sensitive healthcare information and control and audit who sees or uses their electronic health records.
Today's existing messaging standards are sufficient for allowing patients to communicate their privacy preferences to these systems, according to government and private-sector developers of privacy-protection software systems who testified and demonstrated their wares Monday in Washington at a daylong, HHS-sponsored hearing.
The most sophisticated of these consent management systems let patients exert unprecedented levels of so-called "granular" control over their medical information.
The missing link to wide deployment of these systems, many of the developers said, is not the technology but the lack of a uniform national policy on what level of control patients should enjoy as providers continue to adopt EHR systems and regional and state organizations seek to link them in a proposed national health information network.
The hearing was held before the Privacy & Security Tiger Team, a new work group of the federally chartered Health IT Policy Committee. The committee and its companion Health IT Standards Committee were created pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to advise the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at HHS on health IT issues.
Links to the written presentations of participants and a webcast of the hearing is available at the Tiger Team Web page.
Three of the seven systems featured during the hearing were open-source or public-domain software projects. Two were government-sponsored initiatives.
Lots more here:
It seems on both sides of the Atlantic people are battling with these complex issues.
No one can accuse me of not warning all that will listen that this whole shared patient record business has a zillion wrinkles which might come back and bite you! Care, learning from others and careful planning are vital if you are to have a hope in hell of succeeding!
David.

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