[LINK] Hospital use of SMS for Appointment Reminders

[Tom Worthington]

Birch, Jim wrote:
> Tom Worthington wrote:
> 
>> Perhaps something as simple as authorised staff being able to
>> access the other hospital's records using a secure web interface would be sufficient.
> 
> Even this is problematic. ...

Yes, but keep in mind that there are only two major public hospitals in 
Canberra, funded by the same ACT government, operating under the same 
ACT legislation. It should not be difficult to have their staff share 
records.

However, if you want an even simpler system, what about e-referrals? 
This would emulate the current paper system with an electronic letter, 
plus medical record attachments, secured by a code carried by the 
patient. When I was being referred from one medical centre to another 
the doctor would type a letter on their computer as usual and attach any 
needed records. As well as a printed copy an electronic version would be 
created. The electronic version would be secured with a code on the 
printed letter. The patient would hand the printed letter to the 
referred doctor, who would enter the code into their computer to access 
the electronic records. A e-referral would not be as efficient as full 
e-health records, but far more efficient, secure and safer than the 
current paper system.

> Would you require authorisation from the patient? ...

The consent could be included in the boilerplate form which patients
have to sign to be treated in hospital. In the case of doctors 
referrals, the patient handing over the referral letter would indicate 
consent.

> For the full (online) eHealth record you will need authorisation for
> patient/provider pairs. ...

If the patient is considered to own their medical records, then you 
would only need their permission to release the information.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science, The
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/