Health smartcard stalled: Labor
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20291867-23289,00.html
August 29, 2006
THE Government had wasted hundreds of millions of dollars in stalled and
failed attempts to introduce a national electronic health record system,
Labor said today.
Opposition health spokeswoman Julia Gillard said it was widely
considered that using information technology to integrate patients
health records could help prevent over-referrals, over-prescribing and
minimise medical mistakes.
But the Government had scrapped the Medicare Smart Card and its new
proposed $1.1 billion Smartcard would not provide access to patient
medical records, Ms Gillard said.
The much-lauded e-health records system HealthConnect no longer existed
as a program and had all but disappeared, she said.
"Recent developments suggest that our national e-health strategy has not
only stalled, but is dangerously close to being considered an expensive
failure," Ms Gillard said.
But the Federal Government said the HealthConnect project was on track
and a major agreement had been made at the most recent Council of
Australian Governments (COAG) meeting.
A spokeswoman for Health Minister Tony Abbott said the meeting had
agreed to have a work schedule in place by 2009, a "considerable" step
involving consensus about protocols and terminology.
The governments also agreed to accelerate the electronic health record
agenda, and for an additional $130 million to be invested in the
National E-Health Transition Authority, the body responsible for
developing the electronic records.
The spokeswoman said the Federal Government could not act alone on the
health agenda and had to collaborate closely with the states and
territories through the health ministers conferences and COAG.
"HealthConnect is still operational and on track and we are learning
some very valuable lessons from the trials that have been going on in
Tasmania and the Northern Territory," she said.
"The minister has expressed his frustration with how slow things are
moving, but it is very complicated, and it's moving ahead.
"The agreement at COAG recently is a big stem in the right direction."
HealthConnect – a national health information network designed to
integrate patient records from hospitals, doctor surgeries, nursing
homes, medical laboratories and pharmacies – was launched in 2000 with
claims it could reduce accidental mishaps in treatment by as much as 30
per cent.
Ms Gillard said "just a handful" of small HealthConnect initiatives were
running in some states.
"And there do not appear to be any reports about what we have learned
from those projects, how they might be further extended or why they
succeeded or failed," she said.
"In terms of a coordinated national initiative, we are not much further
advanced in this area than we were back in April 1999.
"The problem is that hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on
programs launched with much fanfare and then allowed to die."
Ms Gillard said changing the health care management and delivery system
was not an easy task, but the Government had missed some opportunities
and made some obvious mistakes.
She said states and territories have started their own e-health efforts,
raising fears of a fragmented and disconnected system.
Australia now had to face the reality that a national e-health system
was at least a decade off, Ms Gillard said.
"To fix the problem we will need a national, collaborative approach and
strong national leadership," she said.
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