Jon David Patrick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Tim, is there a role/need for developing an open source API for > accessing the HCN databases?
Given the dominance of HCN software in Australian general practice, yes, I think such a facility would be very useful. Legal advice would need to be taken about such a thing, but my reading of the Copyright Act suggest that it would be permissible. However, HCN has tried to sue a competitor previously because the competitor happened to use the same column names as HCN's product in one or a handful of databases tables. They dropped the law suit in the end, but it demonstrates their litigousness. Of course, the first thing to do would be to talk to HCN, but I can guess what theur reaction would be. Tim C > jon > -- > Jon Patrick > Chair of Language Technology > Australian R&D Centre for Health Informatics > School of Information Technologies > University of Sydney > > > Quoting Tim Churches <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > Andrew Patterson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > > The benefits of participation would need a social marketing > > campaign. > > > > But GPs agree to participate in the CARDIAB programme, don't > > > > they? I think what I had in mind was a next generation platform > > > > for CARDIAB or something very like it. > > > > > > Tim, > > > > > > Sorry, I wasn't really up on what CARDIAB did so I didn't > > > immediately see the connection.. > > > > > > But you are right that it could be used to populate a > > > fair bit of the chronic disease data. I'd still argue that consumers > > > would want a bit more out of a PHR than that. What about > > > an accurate up to date list of _all_ my medications? A record of > > > _all_ my encounters with coded diagnoses? All my PSA results > > > for the last 10 years. I don't think any of this information would > > > be captured in any chronic disease program like CARDIAB (and > > > also - I'm a healthy male - I don't think I'd be enrolled in > > > a program like CARDIAB but I still might be interested in having > > > a PHR). > > > > Yes, a PHR (personal health record) needs to go beyond the CARDIAB > data > > items, but they would be a start. Could be a bit more ambitious in the > > first instance, perhaps. > > > > Officially you probably should not be in CARDIAB which is designed for > > high-risk patients but that doesn't mean that your risk of CVD won't > be > > reduced even further if you get your BP down from 120/80 to 110/70 and > > your total chol down from 4.9 to 4.2 - there's no magic threshold > below > > which no benefit accrues (obviously, only up to a point, as very low > BP > > may be a risk factor for other things). > > > > > My GP is the one that has the master copy of > > > all that information - I don't pay them enough to force > > > them to type it in again into my PHR, I don't have the medical > > > experience to enter it in myself accurately, and HCN has no > > > interest in automating the whole process. I don't really see what > > > the driver is that will change any of that.. > > > > Re-keying data won't fly. But I thought that key results were already > > being streamed as HL7 messages to CARDIAB via Argus Connect? And if > HCN > > won't play ball, then legally there is nothing stopping third parties > > from extracting the data from GP's databases which are contained in > HCN > > products (with both GP and individual patient consent, of course). But > > co-operation by HCN and other software vendors would be nicer. I must > > say that the absence of any open plug-in architecture in HCN or any > > other GP clinical information systems is an issue - it stifles > > innovation and trammels many potentially very useful public health and > > preventive medicine programmes. > > > > Tim C > > _______________________________________________ > > Gpcg_talk mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program. _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
