[LINK] Building the Australian National Health Network

[Roger Clarke]

At 8:30 +1100 11/3/10, Tom Worthington wrote:
... [Interesting summary of an interesting presentation] ...
>  ... A NHN Co (Australian National Health Network
>Company) could make similar decisions for e-health standards and the
>implement them. ...

[Jan beat me to it, but I'll say it anyway]

The tragedy is that HealthConnect (a large-scale program within the 
Dept of Health) and now NEHTA, have wasted 15 years.  One and then 
the other has wasted their time working towards a great, 
virtually-centralised database in the sky, complete with national id 
number.

What was their real job?  Inter-operability, incl. technical 
standards and protocols, inter-organisational (i.e. human) protocols, 
demonstrators and reference code, and support for priority 
applications.

Yesterday, several organisations (APF, PIAC and CLPC) had to pour 
cold water all over NEHTA, DOHA and Medicare, in front of a Senate 
Committee.  The Bills before the Senate are solely to create a 
national healthcare identifier.  No substance.  Just an enabler of a 
national id scheme.

The great promise that the Rudd regime seemed to offer is turning out 
to be completely vacuous.  Plural EHRs have been reduced to a 
singular EHR.  eHealth has been reduced to a national identifier 
followed by a national database.  None of this has anything to do 
with patient care, or even with public health.  It has everything to 
do with admin, insurance and research.

Added to that, the hospitals take-over proposal contains nothing at 
all that's relevant to health care - it's just money and politics.

The fiasco in the Dept of Environment demonstrated the total 
incapacity of federal bureaucrats to run anything more complicated 
than a turkey raffle.  And, even in matters of policy, they're so far 
removed from the real world, and so committed to simple-minded 
centralisation and top-down management, that little that they 
initiate bears fruit.


-- 
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