Healthbase Blog

Critical Safety Issue for the PCEHR

Australia is poised to produce a system of Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records (PCEHRs) from July 2012, some 6 months from now. According to the recently published Concept of Operations, each person’s PCEHR will comprise a set of electronic documents, … Continue reading

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Surfing the PCEHR Waves

Well, it’s just a little over 14 months till the launch of Australia’s Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR). And we have already seen two ‘waves’ of grant funded ‘implementations’ announced by Health Minister Nicola Roxon. The PCEHR draft ‘Concept of … Continue reading

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Bridging the Gaps

Implementing a national Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) system through grant funded proposals submitted by interested parties seems to me a strange way to implement national infrastructure of any kind. It might be a common mechanism for funding projects … Continue reading

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Patterns in pathology

I think it is important to lay out some principles for the capture, storage, display and communication of information derived from diagnostic tests – commonly labelled in Australia as pathology and radiology. In particular, I’m concerned about maximising the reuse … Continue reading

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The squandering of wisdom

I started out titling this post “the getting of wisdom”, but slowly came around to acknowledge that there has been some real wisdom generated in health informatics over the years – it just seems to mysteriously dissipate like dry ice … Continue reading

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A plea from one patient

I’ve just had a consultation for blocked ears, with a GP at a busy Adelaide clinic. People have told me I don’t listen, but this was definitely a hearing problem. GP took a swab, cleaned me out, gave me a computer-printed prescription … Continue reading

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Global Hl7 CDA Challenge

In my previous posting on this blog, I cited hospital discharge summaries as a potential barometer of broader e-health capability. I’m sure there are significant organisational and “change management” factors that have impeded the deployment  of information sharing typified by … Continue reading

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Discharge Summary inertia

The inertia embodied in the Australian health system is immense. Attempts to change it have mainly foundered over the years. Portents of failure are writ large, almost everywhere one turns. In this context, let’s look at a favourite topic of … Continue reading

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Indeed a puzzle…

Sorry to harp on about this, but I do believe this is an extremely serious issue. The US Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HiMMS) recently put out a call with Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) for an Interoperability Showcase … Continue reading

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Incoherence

A few days ago I singled out Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE), perhaps unfairly, in a posting about what seems to me to be widespread ignorance of  a profound issue in e-health – that of information usefulness ( or the … Continue reading

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