Hi Tony, I actually just finished an article that references "Mercury" from MedTech. The following page has the companies blurb, but essentially it is a lightweight, purpose built program that can send HL7 messages around. It has been designed to function like a simple email client, but relies on a secure comms provider to send and receive the message (via drop box integration). As such, I reckon it would be suitable for the secure messaging needs of most allied health health professionals, and other health care providers (e.g. most specialists) who may be using software with poor comms, or those that aren't using software at all.
http://www.medtechglobal.com/corp_MERCURY.htm Regards, Simon (no affiliation with MedTech) > > > Tony Eviston wrote... > > Tom, > > How would model 1 cater for allied health practitioners (eg podiatrists, > OTs etc) who don't use a defined messaging-capable software program but > who want to send us secure mesages? > > > > Tony, > > This is a good question. I will refer you to the NZ experience where > this model is pretty much all pervasive. > > In NZ nearly all serious community care providers have an EMR > (electronic medical record) system which can support messaging. In > response to this demand there are some very low cost EMR systems > available ($200-300), some of which can work well for allied health > providers with minimal electronic systems in place. The same is now > true in Australia. > > All NZ physios, all chiropractors, and approx 75-80% of specialists in > private practice now use EMRs (and the proportion is growing rapidly) > with a number of specialised niche applications vendors popping up out > of the woodwork all over. > > I guess we take the view that unless the provider has a sufficiently > well organised patient management system, then getting them involved in > a fairly regimented messaging system is going to be a bit of a waste of > everyone's time. So getting some form of EMR in place is a prerequisite > step. > > We used to get calls from providers wanting to exchange messages without > using EMRs but these seem to have dried up as they have bitten the > bullet and automated. There is so much pressure on the NZ health system > from all angles to get organised that providers are being forced into > automation. > > We are now sending approximately 250,000 REF messages monthly to and > from NZ GPs (and growing at approximately 5% per month), the vast > majority are from hospitals but a very large number come from allied > health providers and specialists. > > Kind regards, > > > Tom Bowden > CEO HealthLink > > _______________________________________________ > Gpcg_talk mailing list > [email protected] > http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
