At 09:19 AM Saturday 1/11/03 -1000, you wrote:
I think it is a bit higher than this although I cant find the latest figures just now. The figures need a bit of caution. From memory the figures do not correspond to " a computer on each GP desk and used for all aspects of each consult "Gee, if only the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (and their German equivalent) could sponsor GnuMed... The general practice computing scene in Australia is, err, interesting. There is quite a high usage of computers in general practices - latest estimates are around 60%-65%, IIRC.
From memory Medical Director was initially free and only charged for updates - this resulted in high initial penetration.But it is the business model of Medical Director which is most interesting. Each license only costs about AUD$250 per annum, which is probably below at very near to cost,
The Practice Incentives Program (and a few other bits and pieces through Divisions etc) gave practices either direct grants for "computerisation" - close to free access to IT persons at Divisions and incentive / $ and points on various quality programs for "computerisation" - in addition there has been the odd free printer and such for certain commitments with HIC etc I think. Not to mention the occasional incentives <wink nudge> from path and radiology companies.
They publish the aggregate results in
the local medical press ("Australian Doctor" magazine, also owned and
published by HCN), as well as making the data "..available to other
organisations to support research and development in general practice."
- you can guess who the "other organisations" are likely to be.
Last time I tried to access any information for research and development we clearly weren't an "other organisation"
