[LINK] NEHTA 'ignored' global standards, claims medical software expert

Bernard Robertson-Dunn brd at iimetro.com.au
Fri Mar 12 10:34:17 AEDT 2010


NEHTA 'ignored' global standards, claims medical software expert 
Karen Dearne
Australian IT
March 11, 2010 7:00PM
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/nehta-ignored-global-standards-claims-medical-software-expert/story-e6frgakx-1225839683836
 
MEDICAL software-makers say the National E-Health Transition Authority has ignored international standards for implementation of the Healthcare Identifier service, under which Medicare will assign unique identifiers to all Australians for health record-keeping purposes. 

Dr Vince McCauley, immediate past president of the Medical Software Industry Association, says NEHTA has "implemented basic web standards but the higher level application standards that are available internationally have not been implemented".

"There are particular standards applicable to healthcare identifiers both in terms of their structure and how they are allocated and accessed," he told a Senate inquiry into the federal government's Healthcare Identifiers Bill.

"NEHTA has, to a point, used the international standards for the structure of the identifiers, and where that is not entirely the case we (MSIA) have through negotiation been able to reach a point where they are compatible.

"However they have chosen to ignore the international standards for implementation of the service. They have basically made that up."

Dr McCauley said the industry was only provided with "a basic list of functions to be implemented" a week ago, and had not yet reviewed the list in any detail.

But non-compliance with international standards has enormous ramifications for software developers, locally and overseas.

For instance, the nation's largest health software company, iSoft, which earns most of its revenues in overseas markets, will be obliged to implement NEHTA's requirements as a one-off.

"Because they are unable to amortise these development costs across their whole business, the cost to the local market will be significantly higher," Dr McCauley said.

"(Non-standard) requirements will act as a barrier not only to the export of Australian software (because international standards are not met), but also prevent us bringing in competitive software from overseas. We believe strongly in a competitive environment producing better outcomes."

Dr McCauley said the MSIA was concerned that NEHTA's structure - a private corporation owned jointly by federal and state governments - meant it was focused on the state-based hospitals, rather than the private sector which delivers two-thirds of the nation's healthcare.

"I believe the public hospital sector is actually where the need for identifiers is least, because they already have state identifiers," he said. "Most of the patients are well known in public hospitals - the so-called frequent fliers - many of them are regular attendees.

"It is in the private sector where we are not able to have identifiers of that nature (under current privacy laws).

"We do not have an identifier program where the national identifier would benefit patient care most."

Dr McCauley said MSIA members were "100 per cent in support" of the proposed legislation and the HI program, although there were concerns about NEHTA's handling of the rollout.

MSIA president Geoffrey Sayer said the industry agreed on the "urgency argument".

"Marketplace competitors who usually do not get on agree that unique identifiers are the most significant thing that is going to happen to improve health through the better management of health information," he said.

"Given the scenario where we know there are going to be tangible benefits, why would you wait?"

But not one product in the market has the capacity to work with the HI service when it is supposed to commence operation on July 1, because NEHTA had not released the technical specifications.

"We do not have the software today," Dr Sayer said.

However, the provision of a unique number that helps a clinician care for their patients is a vital first step.

"The broader e-health agenda gets much more complicated when you start talking about decision support systems, shared e-health records on the net, sharing of images, remote access and telemedicine," he said.

"All that debate has been going on for well over a decade, and nothing has been achieved. You will get tangible results today if you sort out a better way of matching patients' data that patients are already sharing with their healthcare providers."

-- 
Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
brd at iimetro.com.au

 




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