Security fears may delay e-health patient identifier reforms until
after election
Date: March 22 2010
The Sydney Morning Herald
Mark Metherell
http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2010/03/21/1269106215100.html
A CENTREPIECE of the Rudd government's health reforms - the
electronic patient identifier system - is at risk of delay until
after the election amid concerns over security and privacy.
To shore up support for the e-health scheme, advocates have compiled
dozens of examples of how the patient identifiers would save lives
and end long delays in locating patient records for effective
treatment.
They cite errors in the labelling of pathology results that have been
linked to an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 identification mistakes
every year.
The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia has warned that such
mistakes can endanger lives and have called for the urgent use of the
identifiers.
Patient mix-ups, treatment errors because of inadequate patient
records and the loss of several thousand patient records being
transported in a truck that was stolen have been given as examples of
the problems with the present paper-based system.
But the chief clinical adviser to the e-health scheme, Mukesh
Haikerwal, has warned the project is in danger of sinking before the
federal election because of the failure of governments and doctors to
promote the benefits.
''Obviously we have not done a good job of explaining this,'' said Dr
Haikerwal, a member of the National Health and Hospitals Reform
Commission.
Dr Haikerwal, who advises the National E-Health Transition Agency,
said the e-health agenda had been ''hijacked by those who are out
defending the privacy of the agenda to the exclusion of all thought
of benefits to the individual brought about by better healthcare''.
[A response to this wild flail is on its way to Dr Haikerwal. The
APF's policy and recent submission are very clearly **supportive** of
the application of information technology to health:
http://www.privacy.org.au/Papers/eHealth-Policy-090828.pdf (Aug 2009)
http://www.privacy.org.au/Papers/HI-Senate-100304.pdf (Mar 2010) ]
Experts including the Victorian Privacy Commissioner, Helen Versey,
and professor in cyberspace law at the University of NSW, Graham
Greenleaf, have called for a rethink of the legislation.
Their concerns include the compulsory nature of the scheme, the
possibility of the identifier system being operated by a private
company and of ''function creep'' in which the identifier could be
accessed by other agencies.
Professor Greenleaf told a Senate committee that ''the fundamental
problem with the bill is that it is incomplete, covering only a small
but central element of a much broader health identification and
surveillance system which includes electronic health records''.
The federal opposition says it is too early to say whether it will
support the legislation when it goes back to the Senate in May.
Coalition members of a Senate committee examining the legislation
have called for significant amendments.
But Dr Haikerwal said that, every day, doctors and patients are
losing out because the nation lacks an e-health system that would
have the same transforming effect as electronic banking.
He said criticisms of the scheme failed to balance the huge benefits,
including safer, more efficient and higher-quality care.
--
Roger Clarke http://www.rogerclarke.com/
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University