Artificial Intelligence

The revolution changing the face of healthcare delivery

Up to half of all GP2GP transfers fail, support limited: survey

19 June 2024

As many as half of all patient records sent through the GP2GP electronic transfer system are failing, a recent survey has shown. The GP2GP survey of practice managers showed most practices transferred up to 50 patients a month, with a similar rate of transfers out. The survey results indicated that failure rates for both inward […]

CareMonitor adds ePrescription capability to virtual healthcare platform

19 June 2024

Digital health platform provider CareMonitor has added electronic prescription capabilities to its real-time remote monitoring and shared care system, leveraging eRx Script Exchange for electronic transfer of prescriptions and with plans to add active script list (ASL) capability in future. CareMonitor provides enterprise-level services for healthcare environments including hospitals, healthcare networks, general practices, and insurers […]

NSW Budget 2024: $480m for ED relief, patient flow and single digital front door

18 June 2024

A package of more than $480 million over four years has been allocated in today’s NSW state budget towards relieving the strain on emergency departments, with funding going towards its innovative new Single Digital Front Door initiative, extra Urgent Care Centres, and a new patient flow concierge role to better co-ordinate discharge processes. There was […]

Significant IT investment needed to ‘keep the lights on’ at Health NZ

18 June 2024

Half of Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora’s critical IT hardware is past its intended lifecycle, according to advice to Health Minister Shane Reti and first reported by RNZ. Part of the advice, seen by Pulse+IT, says the ‘legacy estate’ of New Zealand’s hospital IT systems is a ‘particular concern’. “Significant near-term effort and […]

Personify Care and Novari Health partner for interoperable solution

18 June 2024

Digital patient pathways specialist Personify Care has formed a strategic partnership with waitlist and referral management technologies vendor Novari Health to offer the Personify Care platform to the Canadian and UK markets under a new brand of Novari Patient Engage. The partnership will also see a fully interoperable solution involving Personify Care’s digital pathways offered […]

DoHAC releases care minutes, RN coverage data dashboards

18 June 2024

The Department of Health and Aged Care has released new dashboards showing the first quarter figures for its care minutes and 24/7 nursing coverage initiatives, which were recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. It has also released a new 24/7 nursing API into its production environment that can be integrated […]

Blog: End to information blocking as sharing by default becomes standard

14 June 2024

Canada is the latest country to introduce legislation to enable its citizens to securely access their own health data in a welcome move that will also see a prohibition on IT vendors from “information blocking” and a requirement that all IT companies providing digital health services in Canada adopt common standards. Canada’s new health data […]

Hambleton now special adviser as ADHA appoints new chief advisory roles

14 June 2024

Former AMA president and long-term chief clinical adviser to the Australian Digital Health Agency Steve Hambleton has moved to a new special adviser position at the agency, with telehealth pioneer and fellow GP Amandeep Hansra taking over the chief medical advisory role. The agency also plans to add a new chief nursing clinical adviser position […]

Best Practice founders hand over the baton to new CEO

14 June 2024

Frank and Lorraine Pyefinch, the founders of Australia’s market-leading general practice software vendor Best Practice Software, have appointed long-time deputy Craig Hodges as the company’s new CEO. Dr and Mrs Pyefinch will continue to steer the company at a board level as chair and board director respectively. The duo first developed what became Australia’s leading […]

Ascom signs on with CHI for national children’s hospital

14 June 2024

Clinical communications specialist Ascom is the latest vendor to sign on with Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) to roll out its technology, signing a five-year deal to implement its alerts and notification management system (ANMS) at the €2.2 billion national children’s hospital when it opens next year. The system has been designed to send alerts and […]

All eyes on Belfast as Epic encompass system goes live

14 June 2024

Belfast Health and Social Care Trust went live last week with the new encompass electronic patient record from Epic that will roll out across Northern Ireland in a £275 million implementation designed to provide a single digital record for every person. The new system first went live at South Eastern HSC Trust late last year […]

Austin Health’s virtual wards now business as usual

13 June 2024

Melbourne’s Austin Health’s Virtual Ward at-home healthcare service is set to become permanent, following a successful pilot program. Launched in July 2020 with state funding of $10.5 million, Austin Health’s Hospital in the Home and Virtual Care (HITH-VC) service allows clinicians to monitor up to 10 patients with serious conditions at any time. The service […]

Positive pilot study of I Know Me app for people with cystic fibrosis

13 June 2024

A pilot study by Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) has found that a patient app designed for people with cystic fibrosis (CF) delivers significant benefits in terms of patient empowerment and reduced stress. The I Know Me app allows patients and their carers to record and track symptoms, key clinical metrics, vaccines, nutrition, physiotherapy, treatments […]

Irish start-up scores NHS first with WhatsApp+AI appointment system

13 June 2024

Irish start-up Spryt is partnering with North Central London Integrated Care Board and the Islington GP Federation to pilot a new appointment scheduling system that uses WhatsApp combined with AI, the first time WhatsApp and AI have been approved by the NHS for appointment scheduling. Pulse+IT can also exclusively reveal that the company is currently […]

RFDS Victoria to roll out MMEx for its primary and allied health EHR

13 June 2024

The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Victoria has chosen ISA Healthcare’s MMEx platform for its new primary and allied health electronic health record, with the implementation set to kick off next week and go live at the end of the year. ISA Healthcare won a hotly contested tender for the new EHR, which will enable […]

NQPHN using GoShare Voice AI to help register patients for MyMedicare

13 June 2024

General practices in North Queensland are using Healthily’s GoShare platform and its new GoShare Voice AI technology to identify and contact eligible patients for MyMedicare registration. Healthily has partnered with Northern Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN) to offer general practices in the region the AI technology to help them prepare for changes to chronic disease […]

Nationwide radiology software upgrade part of $30m funding to improve access to diagnostic imaging

12 June 2024

The New Zealand government’s $30 million investment in the 2024 budget aimed at making radiology services easier to access is being backed by a nationwide upgrade and stabilisation program for radiology software solutions. Health Minister Shane Reti last week announced $30 million through Health New Zealand baseline funding to enable faster access to radiology services, […]

TMG Cloudland acquires Primary IT in boost to primary care IT services

12 June 2024

Technology services and support provider TMG Cloudland has acquired Wellington-based Primary IT, in a move both companies said reinforced a commitment to enhancing New Zealand’s health technology sector. Primary IT provides tailored IT services to more than 60 primary healthcare practices and more than 1300 healthcare professionals, and is the largest IT provider for the […]

Money for delayed SA Ambulance ePCR in state budget

11 June 2024

The South Australian government has allocated $23.5 million over two years in last week’s state budget for its promised electronic patient care record (ePCR) system for the SA Ambulance Service, a tender for which opened and closed in 2022 without a winning bidder being announced. Extra funding has also been allocated to expand SA Ambulance […]

Queensland invests in referral pathways, hospital discharge initiatives, cyber security

11 June 2024

Queensland will continue its funding for a statewide licence for the HealthPathways patient management and referral resource with extra funding announced in today’s state budget, along with additional funding of $20 million over four years to enhance patient flow initiatives. There is also $13.6 million over four years to ensure security capabilities and technologies keep […]

Cardihab adds Bupa to growing list for cardiac rehab digital therapeutics

11 June 2024

Health insurer Bupa has been added to the growing list of providers of the Cardihab cardiac rehabilitation program, which offers an app for medication tracking and care plan reminders as well as telehealth support from the health fund and support from nurse-led provider Honeysuckle Health. Bupa joins fellow health funds Medibank, which uses it in […]

PenCS launches men’s health QI program in Practice Cloud

10 June 2024

Primary care population health solutions vendor Pen CS has added a new quality improvement (QI) program targeting improvements in men’s health to its Practice Cloud digital health platform. The QI program encompasses heart health, chronic disease, and diabetes risk assessments, which are being highlighted as part of Men’s Health Week this week to raise awareness […]

International health IT week in review: June 9

9 June 2024

NHS England scraps £300m GP tech framework, Indigenous-led virtual health hub, Synnovis hack, VA Health Chat’s on demand virtual care, minority patients and virtual wards, US nurses protest unproven AI, ChatGPT and racial bias in radiology, Epic leads new effort to democratize health AI validation NHS England scraps £300m digital pathways framework for GP tech […]

Blog: Abrupt end for MediSecure a long tale of Australian eHealth

8 June 2024

It didn’t come as a massive surprise when we learned earlier this week that electronic prescription exchange service MediSecure had entered voluntary administration, with its operational arm going into liquidation. The data breach it suffered recently was just the lightly toasted maraschino cherry atop the ice cream nuked from orbit that had laid waste to […]

Russian RaaS gang blamed for London pathology cyberattack

7 June 2024

A Russian criminal gang specialising in ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) is being blamed for an ongoing cyberattack that crippled four major London hospitals and local primary care this week. The Synnovis pathology reporting system used at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust appeared to be the victim of the […]

Transparency needed from healthcare AI vendors, expert says

6 June 2024

Vendors of healthcare AI solutions must be prepared to share the original data set on which their technology is based. That was the message delivered by Rob Bart, chief medical information officer (CMIO) at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) in the US, to last week’s Future Health Summit in Dublin. Dr Bart said […]

Big plans, big solutions, big innovations: HSE to release implementation plan

6 June 2024

The imminent HSE Digital Health Strategic Implementation Plan will open up a world of opportunities for technology innovators and vendors, according to the HSE chief information officer Fran Thompson. Pulse+IT can reveal that the implementation plan, which is expected to be published later this month, sets out close to 1000 individual digital health projects within […]

Seamless patient journey at heart of new Dunedin Hospital’s digital project

6 June 2024

With bricks-and-mortar construction at Dunedin Hospital’s new outpatient building nearing its halfway mark, plans for a seamless patient journey aided by digital infrastructure are taking shape too. The new build will include digital components including wayfinding services, check-in kiosks and information displays in a project pulled together by global tech giant NTT as the digital […]

Fiona Stanley Hospital replaces paper with Charm for centralised oncology record

6 June 2024

Fiona Stanley Hospital has become the first of several sites across Perth’s South Metropolitan Health Service to go live with the Charm Evolution oncology information management system from Magentus. The new system promises to allow clinicians to draw all vital information about a cancer patient and their care journey into a single digital record, accessible […]

HIC 2024: Timely workshop on cyber attack simulation for digital health execs

6 June 2024

Cyber security training firm the SANS Institute Australia will lead digital health executives through a simulated cyber event in a workshop aimed at understanding what it takes to respond to a cyber incident from a strategic perspective at the Australasian Institute of Digital Health’s Health Innovation Community (HIC) conference this year. The simulated exercise will […]

MediSecure in voluntary administration following data breach

5 June 2024

Former electronic prescription exchange provider MediSecure has entered voluntary administration following last month’s data breach, in which personally identifiable data was stolen and a subset posted on the dark web. Business consulting firm FTI Consulting’s Vaughan Strawbridge and Paul Harlond has been appointed administrators of MediSecure, as well as liquidators of the company’s operational arm […]

Benetas St George’s aged care residents meet Abi the robot

5 June 2024

Residents at the Benetas’ St George’s residential aged care home in Melbourne’s Altona Meadows are set to make a new friend named Abi, an AI-powered robot that speaks 90 languages. Abi is a product of Andromeda Robotics, which has partnered with Benetas in a trial that will see Abi making the rounds at the Altona […]

Foxo and Personify Care join forces for patient management solution

4 June 2024

Two of Australia’s leading digital health platforms have signed a strategic alliance to enable shared use of their technology platforms to improve pre-admission and post-discharge workflows. The agreement between clinical communications platform Foxo Technology and digital patient pathway specialist Personify Care will provide access to Foxo’s enterprise communication technologies within Personify Care’s digital patient pathway […]

Consultmed releases Consultpilot AI with Advice & Guidance

4 June 2024

Australian digital health SME Consultmed has developed an AI-powered assistant called Consultpilot AI that transforms paper/PDF referrals, and it has just released an Advice & Guidance AI capability that allows clinicians to instantly search through clinical guidelines based on the presentation and reason for referral. Consultmed is best known for its electronic referral system that […]

Northern Queensland rolling out Visionflex telehealth carts with live speech-to-text

4 June 2024

Northern Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN) is helping to provide remote access to GPs and specialist care in 36 residential aged care homes in the region through the roll-out of Visionflex telehealth carts. The technology comes complete with accessibility options such as live speech-to-text transcription and closed captioning for patients with hearing and vision impairment. […]

Health New Zealand signs extension with Telstra Health for medications content

4 June 2024

Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora has signed an extension to its long-standing contract with Telstra Health for its Clinical Content service, including access to drug information sources such as Micromedex, AusDI and Don’t Rush To Crush (DRTC). Health NZ has used Clinical Content managed services for almost 20 years to provide clinical resources […]

HL7 and openEHR considering closer ties and standards alignment

3 June 2024

International standards bodies HL7 and openEHR are considering aligning some of their standards and specifications, with an initial look at how working together could affect initiatives such as the international patient summary (IPS) and the European Health Data Space (EHDS). In a joint statement, HL7 International CEO Charles Jaffe and openEHR International CEO Rachel Dunscombe […]

NZ budget: $330m cut from health budget for data, digital and innovation

3 June 2024

More than $330 million in funding allocated to data and digital in the 2021 and 2022 budgets has been cut in New Zealand’s 2024 budget, with unspent funds put aside for the Hira program and data and digital foundations returned to the treasury and now contingent on investment-ready business cases. There is also a cut […]

Blog: Forward march for digital scribes in clinical practice

31 May 2024

The last 18 months in digital health globally has been dominated by the astounding capabilities that AI is likely to bring – and in some cases already has – to healthcare, and none more so in the area of digitising clinical documentation. One area that has been completely transformed is speech recognition, which has been […]

Opinion: How can digital scribes improve healthcare? Hard-learnt lessons from a trial at SMHS

30 May 2024

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the way clinicians document patient visits. Combining speech-recognition technology and AI, digital medical scribes hold promise for streamlining workflows and freeing up valuable clinician time. However, unlocking the potential of this technology requires more than just the tech itself. The challenge lies in creating a seamless human-machine interface, one that […]

Hopes for Ireland’s shared care record platform to be operational in 2025: Watt

30 May 2024

Developing a national shared care record platform will be a priority for the Department of Health over the next six to 12 months, according to the Secretary General, Robert Watt. The procurement process is already underway for the platform and the system is expected to be operational next year. Speaking at the Future Health Summit […]

CoreContingency plays crucial rostering role during RMO strikes

30 May 2024

Amid ongoing junior doctors strikes across New Zealand, roster management provider CoreSchedule’s contingency module is keeping hospital staffing disruptions workable. CoreSchedule’s contingency module was first set up to deal with Covid pandemic disruptions, but is finding new life as staff schedulers plan for resident medical officer (RMO/junior doctor) strikes over pay and conditions, which are […]

Govt funding for digital health to target EHRs, telehealth, interop, cyber resilience

29 May 2024

Future State investment in digital health will prioritise initiatives that align with the core principles set out in the new digital health strategy, Digital for Care: A Digital Health Framework for Ireland 2024-2030. The focus will be on more patient-focused solutions, data analytics, and cyber resilience, as well as clinical tools, foundational infrastructure, and core […]

Telstra Health to acquire remaining 50 per cent stake in Fred IT

29 May 2024

Telstra Health will acquire the additional 50 per cent share of pharmacy software developer Fred IT that it does not already own, adding the digital health innovator to its extensive portfolio of assets. Telstra Health first purchased a 50 per cent interest in Fred IT in 2013 in a joint venture with the Victorian branch […]

Zedmed in beta testing for Cubiko data insights integration

29 May 2024

Practice management software vendor Zedmed is gearing up to allow users to access Cubiko’s data insights platform, with the integration currently in beta testing for a June full release. The integration comes thanks to Zedmed’s implementation of the Halo Connect interoperability platform, which will allow Cubiko users to connect to and interpret data from Zedmed. […]

Independent evaluation of aged care star ratings, survey on QI for home care

29 May 2024

Consulting firm Allen + Clarke has been appointed by the Department of Health and Aged Care to evaluate the Star Ratings system for residential aged care to see if they have had an effect on improving the quality of care in residential aged care homes. Star ratings were a recommendation of the Royal Commission into […]

eHealth Queensland to take a systems integrator approach for Digital Capital Program

28 May 2024

eHealth Queensland (eHQ) has set up a Digital Capital Program (DCP) to take the lead for the delivery of digital technology and solutions for all new, expanded or redeveloped facilities under Queensland’s $9.785 billion Capacity Expansion Program, which will see an extra 2200 beds added to existing hospital capacity over the next six years. The […]

Glenelg Community Hospital to adopt Vitro Software’s MyHR discharge summary solution

28 May 2024

South Australia’s Glenelg Community Hospital will implement Vitro Software’s discharge summary solution with My Health Record upload capability before a gradual roll-out of the Vitro digital medical record (DMR) over time. The 46-bed not-for-profit hospital undertook a search for a secure, efficient and user-friendly system for managing medical records where the patient discharge summary is […]

First two virtual wards on the way for hospital care at home

28 May 2024

The country’s first virtual wards will be operational in a matter of weeks, Pulse+IT has learned. University Hospital Limerick and St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin will begin offering the service to patients in the coming weeks. Initially the service will be offered to suitable patients who are admitted to either hospital with a respiratory […]

St Vincent’s Private Dublin to roll out AGFA enterprise imaging for radiology

28 May 2024

Diagnostic imaging technology vendor AGFA HealthCare will implement its Enterprise Imaging platform for St Vincent’s Private Hospital in Dublin under a five-year agreement that will see it roll out Enterprise Imaging for radiology and breast imaging. It also includes structured and precision reporting modules; the XERO Universal Viewer for a single, federated view of imaging; […]

Tasmania piloting HealthLink SmartForms integration with Communicare

28 May 2024

Tasmania’s primary health network Primary Health Tasmania is rolling out a new integration of HealthLink’s SmartForms technology for electronic referrals with Telstra Health’s Communicare solution for Aboriginal healthcare services in the state. The pilot will hopefully be extended to other states on a needs basis. The Communicare solution is used by 70 per cent of […]

Best Practice releases big update to Orchid including Lyrebird Scribe integration

28 May 2024

Best Practice Software has released a major update to its Bp Premier clinical system with Orchid Service Pack 2 (SP2), featuring the national release of Lyrebird Health’s AI transcription tool Lyrebird Scribe. Lyrebird Scribe listens to the consult and automatically generates patient notes, with comprehensive letters and referrals able to then be generated from the […]

Healthengine adds waitlist functionality to plug cancelled appointments

27 May 2024

Online appointment booking service Healthengine has released a new function that lets patients to add themselves to an appointment waiting list and to allow practices to quickly fill appointments that have been cancelled. Practices can filter the waitlist to match appointment preferences and send out a bulk SMS to suitable patients on the list, with […]

Dataset from MediSecure hack allegedly advertised for sale

27 May 2024

Australia’s national cyber security coordinator has confirmed it is investigating whether data from the MediSecure cyber incident has been advertised for sale on the dark web. First reported by cybersecurity website Cyber Daily last Friday, a dataset purporting to be from the May 16 incident as well as sample of the data has been advertised […]

Health NZ seeks non-clinical task management solution for Northern region

27 May 2024

Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora has issued a request for proposal for a service task solution to improve the efficiency of non-clinical task management in Northern region hospitals, with the potential for a roll out to other regions should the solution prove satisfactory. The RFP is aimed orderly and cleaning services including equipment, […]

International health IT week in review: May 26

26 May 2024

GenAI for healthcare roadmap, UK virtual wards, telehealth and Medicare in the US, video visits integrated with EMR, open-source AI validation, Scotland’s cloud-first plans lack funds, Zipline drones for meds delivery, NHS Federated Data Platform, EMR market share, barriers to India’s Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission The generative AI road map, its hurdles and strategies to […]

Blog: Still in the dark about MediSecure hack as light shines elsewhere

24 May 2024

It was another big week in digital health this week, with the fallout from the MediSecure ransomware attack still reverberating, some clarity on the big bucks doled out for aged care in the Australian budget last week provided, and – if you’ll indulge us – some yuge news from Pulse+IT to go with our recent […]

HL7, FHIR and openEHR at the heart of standards vision in digital health strategy

23 May 2024

Interoperability and standards are a key element in Ireland’s new digital health strategy, which features a strong focus on ensuring data from across the health service is captured in a structured form using agreed national definitions and health information standards. The Digital Health Framework for Ireland (2024-2030), released this week, emphasises that standards must be […]

Cross-agency health surveillance delayed as NDMS work continues

23 May 2024

Efforts to improve cross-agency data systems for monitoring communicable diseases in New Zealand are lagging behind schedule, with a system implementation date pushed back and a plan still being worked on. As reported by RNZ, a new communicable disease surveillance system was set to be operating by June, but latest updates gave no assurance as […]

Data Capture Experts adds integrated remote patient monitoring to DC2Vue

23 May 2024

Melbourne-based digital technology firm Data Capture Experts (DCE) has launched a new version of its DC2Vue digital health platform, including a new patient portal app equipped with fully integrated remote patient monitoring capabilities. The new DC2Vue integrates remote monitoring devices directly into the patient portal app, including blood glucose monitors, blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters, […]

Pulse+IT launches dedicated Irish edition of leading digital health news service

23 May 2024

Pulse+IT News, Australasia’s leading digital health news service, has expanded its offering to the Irish market, launching a new weekly newsletter service to cover the latest in digital health and health IT in Ireland. The launch of Pulse+IT Ireland comes as the Irish government releases its long-awaited digital health strategy 2024-2030, and as investment in […]

Digital for Care: Ireland’s national digital health strategy released

23 May 2024

The Department of Health has published the long-awaited national digital health strategy, less than a fortnight after coming under pressure from the Oireachtas Committee on Health. The Digital Health Framework for Ireland (2024-2030) promises a future that “harnesses the power of data, digital technology and innovation to widen access to health and social care services, […]

Cubiko’s Touchstone data shows number of bulk billing practices plummeting

23 May 2024

The number of general practices that are predominantly bulk billing patients fell from 60 per cent in January 2022 to just 26 per cent at the end of 2023 as practices increasingly adopted mixed billing, according to figures from data analytics software firm Cubiko. There was a slight increase in bulk billing last November when […]

Future Health Summit 2024: Bon Secours Limerick and the hospital of the future

22 May 2024

The new Bon Secours Hospital due to open in Limerick early next year will feature a new electronic health record (EHR) from US vendor MEDITECH as one of the key components of the five-strong hospital group’s 2025 strategic plan, part of an overall €25 million clinical transformation project that will bring its network of hospitals […]

AI and machine learning improve outcomes after angioplasty

22 May 2024

A University of Galway professor has joined with international colleagues to call for the widespread adoption of advanced technologies to improve revascularisation outcomes after stent-based angioplasty. In a paper published in the journal Nature Reviews Cardiology, professor of interventional cardiology William Wijns has urged that artificial intelligence, machine learning and virtual reality should be used […]

GP2GP feedback seeks national standard for medical record transfers

22 May 2024

Results of a survey of GP practice managers has highlighted the need for a national standard for patient record transfers in New Zealand. The survey, which closed last week, sought feedback on the GP2GP electronic transfer system used for patient records. Addressing the survey’s findings, a joint statement provided to Pulse+IT from Health New Zealand […]

$1.4b aged care IT budget aimed at govt platforms with no cheer for providers

22 May 2024

The vast bulk of the $1.4 billion allocated in the 2024-25 budget to aged care ICT will go towards the development and sustainment of key systems that underpin the new Aged Care Act and the reform agenda, with no luck this year for aged care providers hoping for direct grants to uplift their technology. The […]

Cervical cancer centre to roll out Cirdan’s Ultra LIMS across VCS Pathology

22 May 2024

The Australian Centre for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer (ACPCC) plans to roll out a new laboratory information management system (LIMS) from Cirdan at its cervical screening laboratory division VCS Pathology. Cirdan’s Ultra LIMS will provide a new unified single LIMS system which will integrate the functionality of various existing subsystems including ACPCC’s current LIMS […]

interRAI aged care assessment elements mapped to mandatory quality indicators

20 May 2024

Queensland researchers have mapped clinical, functional and psychosocial items in the interRAI assessment system for residential aged care to the now mandatory quality indicators (QI) collected and reported each quarter by RACFs, which the researchers say could in future significantly streamline data collection if implemented. Researchers from the University of Queensland’s Centre for Health Services […]

MediSecure breach “isolated” to pre-2024 prescription data

20 May 2024

The suspected ransomware attack on former electronic prescription exchange vendor MediSecure has been “isolated” and the incident has not affected the prescribing and dispensing of medication using the national prescription delivery service, the National Cyber Security Coordinator Michelle McGuinness said. In an update to last week’s data breach report, Lieutenant General McGuinness said her team […]

International health IT week in review: May 19

19 May 2024

Research on telehealth-enabled acute care, digital health wave in India after Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, “significant overhaul” of South African medical records needed, future for virtual health in the US, LEAP in Health IT funding, digital health and the European Health Technology Assessment Regulation Telehealth-enabled acute care does not drive in-person follow-ups mHealth Intelligence ~ […]

Blog: Budget bingo for aged care IT as sharing by default back in the news

17 May 2024

The big budget largesse laid out on Tuesday night for aged care technology and the Strengthening Medicare program was somewhat overshadowed, as was the rest of the news this week, by the cyber attack on MediSecure that was reported yesterday. It’s still unclear exactly what the nature of the incident was and whether it was […]

MediSecure confirms it’s at the centre of cyber security incident

16 May 2024

Electronic prescription exchange MediSecure – which no longer acts as one of the national prescription delivery services for electronic prescriptions – has confirmed it is the organisation identified in a cyber security incident affecting the personal and health information of individuals. In a statement today, MediSecure said it was “actively assisting the Australian Digital Health […]

Budget 2024: Extra funding for Healthdirect virtual services, Sparked and MyMedicare

16 May 2024

Extra funding has been secured for Healthdirect Australia to expand its national and state-based virtual health services in this week’s federal budget, along with an extra year of funding for the Sparked FHIR accelerator and for system changes to the MyMedicare program. Healthdirect has received $47.5 million over four years – and $14.1 million per […]

Sharing by default mandate and seven-day delay lift likely in 2025

16 May 2024

The legislative changes to mandate sharing patient test results with the My Health Record system by default and the move to drop the seven-day delay for most pathology reports are likely to come into effect early in 2025, but radiology reports, histopathology and genetic test results may be exempt from the change to the seven-day […]

Future Health Summit 2024: Short-stay hospital model of care on the menu

15 May 2024

A special panel session on insights and opportunities in healthcare in the Asia Pacific has been added to the Future Health Summit being held in Dublin at the end of the month, including a presentation on the use of a cloud digital medical record – and some innovative Irish solutions – in a new private […]

Department and HSE under fire for delayed digital health strategy

15 May 2024

The Department of Health and the HSE have come under fire from the Oireachtas Health Committee for the delay in publishing the new national digital health strategy. At a sitting of the committee on in early May, Department of Health secretary general Robert Watt and HSE chief operations officer Damien McCallion were grilled by Social […]

Budget 2024: $1.4b for “significant” aged care tech, $1.2b for Strengthening Medicare

15 May 2024

$1.4 billion in “significant technology and platform maintenance and enhancements” was allocated for critical aged care digital systems in the yesterday’s Australian budget but the exact details of what the funds will be spent on remains unclear. The funding is part of a big push in the budget in preparation for the new Aged Care […]

GP lab eOrdering system to be expanded following successful pilot

15 May 2024

A GP laboratory test electronic ordering system piloted at Our Lady’s Hospital Navan is to be extended to Beaumont Hospital, University Hospital Waterford, and Galway University Hospital. The process allows GPs to place pathology orders electronically from within their practice management systems via a link to a site-specific page on the Healthlink portal. Healthlink is […]

GPs ‘dismayed’ over Health NZ Living Well leader’s telehealth vision

15 May 2024

Telehealth is coming to take your jobs – or at least half of them. That’s the message New Zealand GPs took from last week’s Health NZ – Te Whatu Ora stakeholder webinar, which included an update on telehealth uptake in New Zealand. Speaking to the meeting, Health NZ’s Living Well director Martin Hefford said up […]

Personalised My Mental Health Plan resource launched

15 May 2024

An interactive tool that aims to support mental health literacy by improving knowledge and understanding of common mental health problems as well as encouraging self-care is now available. The My Mental Health Plan personalised online mental health resource provides users with multiple choice questions on four specific issues – anxiety, stress, sleep and low mood. […]

WA budget 2024: Virtual care, real-time tracking and patient flow boosted

14 May 2024

Extra funds have been made available for the WA Virtual Emergency Department (WAVED) and the Patient Transport Coordination Hub co-located at the State Health Operations Centre (SHOC) in last week’s Western Australian budget. More money for ongoing projects such as the critical health ICT infrastructure program and the state’s digital medical record, part of an […]

Business as usual for NSW Health RIS-PACS as $85m Sectra roll-out complete

14 May 2024

NSW Health has completed the mammoth implementation of its centralised, statewide medical imaging platform, with Western NSW Local Health District and Far West LHD now fully live with the system. The project involved the replacement of an aged GE system with a radiology information system and picture archiving and communications system (RIS-PACS) solution built by […]

Agreement reached on European Health Data Space but funding falls short: EIT

14 May 2024

The proposed budget for the European Health Data Space (EHDS) is “misaligned” and “falls short” of what is needed to successfully implement the initiative, according to a new report from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Health Think Tank. The authors say Member States must increase their commitment to fund EHDS initiatives to […]

Best Practice on FHIR with mobile app for GPs on the go

13 May 2024

Best Practice Software is in beta testing for a new mobile app it is developing for GPs that uses the FHIR standard to seamlessly integrate with the company’s market leading practice management and clinical software system. The app will allow users to check their appointments for the day, access patient files and information, action their […]

Medtech partners with Zed to send GPs radiology reports in real time

13 May 2024

Less muck-around, more clarity and a ‘ton of time’ saved are being touted as some of the benefits of practice management system vendor Medtech’s real-time API connection for radiology reporting. Medtech Global has worked with Zed Technologies on the API, which can deliver radiology reports directly to doctors’ inboxes, eliminating the need for the previous […]

AWOL records accounted for in SI PICS implementation at Southern

13 May 2024

A month on from reports about lost patient records during the implementation of the South Island Patient Information Care System (SI PICS) project at Southern district hospitals, Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora says it is continuing to “address issues and refine the system”. The Southland Times reported last month on problems following the […]

International health IT week in review: May 12

12 May 2024

Change Healthcare ransomware attack, in-app messaging with NHS App saves money, changing doctors’ perceptions of EMR data entry, NHS Scotland rolls out Rhapsody EMPI, AI $50m for AI platform for radiology, how to ensure data from monitoring devices is meaningful, Alberta Health Services expands common provincial information system Key moments from the Change Healthcare cyberattack […]

Blog: A shoebox of PDFs and the Prod Comm’s dodgy figures

10 May 2024

In what has been a massive week for digital health in Australia – a new authority set up to implement NSW Health’s $1 billion SDPR just as the CIO departs, thousands flock to a hugely successful Digital Health Festival in Melbourne, a couple of state budgets and the launch of Pulse, the podcast, which is […]

NSW Health CIO Bolevich jumps ship to AIHW

10 May 2024

NSW Health CIO and eHealth NSW CEO Zoran Bolevich has been appointed to lead the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). Dr Bolevich leaves eHealth NSW after eight years and as it sets out on one of the largest digital health transformations in the Southern Hemisphere, the massive $1 billion single digital patient record […]

DHF24: Austin Health trials telehealth booth in ED waiting room

9 May 2024

Melbourne’s Austin Health has trialled the use of a custom-designed telehealth booth within its emergency department waiting room, with a direct audio-visual link to the Victorian Virtual ED (VVED) service to see if it could divert low acuity patients who turn up at ED. The service has since recorded some impressive figures, with less than […]

DHF24: ADHA to release national health identifiers roadmap

9 May 2024

A roadmap showing the way to increase the adoption and use of Australia’s Healthcare Identifiers (HI) Service is due to be published shortly, laying out steps to take to improve uptake of the service following two legislative reviews. Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) chief digital officer Peter O’Halloran told the Digital Health Festival in Melbourne […]

DHF24: ePrescription tokens and ASL to be added to my health app

9 May 2024

The my health app will be upgraded with a number of releases over the coming year that will see a consolidated view of medical conditions added to the app as well as electronic prescription tokens by Christmas and Active Script List (ASL) functionality in the new year. There are also plans to add a barcode […]

DHF24: Sharing data with patients the Parkville Precinct way

8 May 2024

Three hospitals in Melbourne’s Parkville Precinct are set to open up access to their Health Hub patient portal to inpatients following overwhelmingly positive reviews of the technology and a recent finding that 70 per cent of people who have used the portal thought their technology experience improves their overall health. Royal Melbourne Hospital, Royal Women’s […]

DHF24: Baret teams up with Teladoc Health’s Solo with Teams virtual care platform

7 May 2024

Virtual care platform provider Teladoc Health Australia New Zealand announced at the Digital Health Festival that it had partnered with clinical messaging specialist Baret to integrate their Microsoft Teams-based solutions to support enterprise virtual care. Baret’s role-based messaging solution for Microsoft Teams, first developed by FiveP in association with Austin Health during the Covid pandemic, […]

DHF24: Five Faces launches upgrade to DX5 and Digital Front Door

7 May 2024

Digital customer experience solution specialist Five Faces has launched a major upgrade to its DX5 Framework technology and Digital Front Door solution at the Digital Health Festival in Melbourne, featuring a new user interface, end-client configurability and a platform approach. The DX5 Framework is modern, low-code technology that helps digitise complex patient journeys and is […]

DHF24: Louise Schaper and George Margelis to helm Pulse, the podcast, launching at Digital Health Festival

6 May 2024

Digital health legends Louise Schaper and George Margelis have been revealed as the co-hosts of the new Pulse podcast, launching at the Digital Health Festival in Melbourne this week. Produced by Pulse+IT, Pulse promises to be a dynamic new voice in digital and data transformation in healthcare, providing listeners with a unique, highly entertaining perspective […]

DHF24: MediRecords to deploy CSIRO’s Smart Forms for healthcare

6 May 2024

Cloud-based healthcare technology vendor MediRecords is deploying CSIRO’s open-source Smart Forms software to develop FHIR-powered forms, questionnaires and assessments for rapid deployment into clinical use. The initiative will see Smart Forms technology deployed in the MediRecords platform, beginning with a falls risk assessment this month. The assessment has been based on the STRATIFY falls assessment, […]

Wyvern Private Hospital to roll out Dedalus’ webPAS and ClinicalAide

6 May 2024

The $98 million Wyvern Private Hospital being built in north Sydney will go live with Dedalus’ webPAS and Clinical Workstation hospital patient management and documentation solution when it opens its doors later this year. The 85-bed surgical and rehabilitation hospital will also become the first hospital in Australia and New Zealand to adopt the Dedalus […]

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