The first of the new long-term satellites that will bring high-speed broadband to remote parts of Australia will launch into orbit on October 1, although actual services will not be available until early next year.

Nicknamed Sky Muster, the first of NBN Co's next-generation ka-band satellites will launch from French Guiana and will provide internet to more than 200,000 homes and businesses.

Pulse+IT's weekly weekend round-up of international health IT and eHealth news:

NantHealth acquisition targets data exchange, interoperability
Health Data Management ~ Joseph Goedert ~ 16/07/2015

NantHealth, which has designed genomic and protein-based molecular diagnostic testing services to support personalized cancer treatment, and recently aligned with software vendor Allscripts, has bought the commercial Healthcare Solutions unit of Harris Corporation.

Lane Fox to focus on digital health
Digital Health News ~ Rebecca McBeth ~ 16/07/2015

Internet entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox will develop proposals to improve take-up of digital innovations in health, the health secretary has said.

Pulse+IT's weekly round-up of Australian and New Zealand health, IT and eHealth news:

NBN fixed wireless rollout to bush on track as dialup hangs up
ABC News ~ Peter Ryan ~ 16/07/2015

While the rollout of the National Broadband Network, or NBN, is ramping up in metropolitan Australia, many people in the bush are still dealing with diabolically slow dialup connections.

Five South Island institutions to host new ICT grad school together
The Press ~ Jody O'Callaghan ~ 16/07/2015

Three new graduate computer schools will produce 350 skilled workers each year to an ICT industry in which supply is failing to keep up with demand.

The high upload speeds being promised as the National Broadband Network's (NBN) fixed wireless offering is rolled out to regional areas will be able to support more symmetric applications such as video conferencing and cloud services as well as improving the consistency of application performance, a new research report has found.

The "Fixed Wireless Broadband: A Global Comparison" report, commissioned by Ericsson and conducted by Ovum Research and published last week, has found that not only does the NBN fixed wireless network compare very positively with global offerings but that users of the network are able to access substantially higher data allowances and speeds than elsewhere.

Training provider eHealth & HL7 Education Partners has launched Australia's first courses in evaluating and implementing the FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) standard, which has been described as a 'paradigm shift' in connecting healthcare IT systems.

The first one-day course will be held in Brisbane next month and will be taught by health informatician Brett Esler, who has built his own independent middleware platform called Hiasobi that uses FHIR to allow easy integration of apps to general practice management systems such as MedicalDirector and Best Practice.

Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) has repeated previous calls for the PCEHR to be integrated with any health-related records being established under the My Aged Care Gateway system in its submission on the Department of Health's legislation discussion paper.

The submission states that ACSA and its members support any proposals to increase the number of individuals and healthcare providers using the PCEHR, the benefits of which it says will only be truly realised when it is widely used.

The National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) has launched an automated application tool for healthcare providers looking to register for eHealth services such as the PCEHR.

The eHealth Online Forms tool is available on the NEHTA website and is intended to be an additional channel to the Department of Human Services (DHS) through which to apply for several eHealth services, including the Healthcare Identifiers (HI) Service, the National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) and the PCEHR itself.

DHS remains the first port of call for non-eHealth related matters such as Medicare PKI certificates and Health Professionals Online Services (HPOS), and the NEHTA tool is an addition to rather than a replacement for DHS eHealth services.

The Emergency+ smartphone app developed by the national Triple Zero Awareness Work Group (TZAWG) is now compatible with Windows phones.

The app was first launched in 2013 for iOS and Android devices and has been downloaded more than 270,000 times since then, NSW Police say. The launch on the Windows phone store means the app is now available to more than 98 per cent of smartphone users.

The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) has expressed its disappointment that the federal government has yet to release details on the structure of the proposed Australian Commission for eHealth (ACeH), which is due to be up and running by July 2016.

In its submission on the government's electronic health records and healthcare identifiers legislation discussion paper, the AIIA has also called on the government to ensure ACeH’s board and advisory committees have representatives from a wide range of backgrounds, including expertise in IT, innovation and informatics.

The Queensland government allocated $179 million to the continued statewide roll-out of clinical and administrative support systems in yesterday's state budget as part of the overall $14.2 billion health spend.

Extra money has also been allocated to ensuring that the operational commissioning of the Sunshine Coast Public University Hospital, due to open in late 2016, does not face the same problems as those faced by the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital when it opened last year.

Microsoft is gearing up for the release of the Windows 10 of its Windows operating system at the end of the month but healthcare providers are being urged to check with their clinical and practice management software vendors that their software is compatible before installing the upgrade.

While several vendors are reporting that most users will not notice a major difference with Windows 10 besides improvements to usability, most clinical and practice management software used in primary care is integrated with a number of third-party products that also need to be compatible with the upgrade.

Pharmacy IT solutions vendor Fred IT will roll out its cloud-based Fred NXT platform throughout the Advantage Pharmacy Group this year in what is the first national implementation of the market leader's new platform.

The group includes both the Advantage and the Chemist Discount Centre retail pharmacy banners, with company-owned and franchised stores predominantly in Victoria and NSW.

The concept of recording an older person's health measurements via an automated telephone service for later analysis has won the Hack Ageing hackathon held in Melbourne at the weekend.

Organised by IBM and health technology agency HealthXL, the hackathon was aimed at developing solutions that would improve the quality of life for the elderly in the areas of dementia, malnutrition, social isolation and physical activity.

Pulse+IT's weekly weekend round-up of international health IT and eHealth news:

Wales rolls out patient portal
Digital Health News ~ Thomas Meek ~ 08/07/2015

Wales is nearing the complete roll-out of its My Health Online portal for online bookings and repeat prescriptions.

2015 'Most Wired' hospitals turn to new priorities
HealthcareITNews ~ Bernie Monegain ~ 09/07/2015

Health data security and patient engagement are top priorities for the nation’s hospitals, according to results of the 17th annual Health Care’s Most Wired survey

NHS developing PHR adoption strategy
Digital Health News ~ Thomas Meek ~ 09/07/2015

NHS England is working on an adoption strategy to support the use of personal health records.

Pulse+IT's weekly round-up of Australian and New Zealand health, eHealth and health IT news:

Fiona Stanley Hospital theatres closed, ambulances diverted after 'serious leak' causes more flooding
ABC News ~ Jessica Strutt ~ 09/07/2015

Operating theatres have been closed at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth and ambulances diverted after more flooding at the $2 billion health facility.

DHB firm inherits deficit, deals to do in HBL's wake
NZ Doctor ~ Virginia McMillan ~ 09/07/2015

The Government’s health cost-cutter Health Benefits Ltd has passed a debt of almost $2 million to its DHB-owned successor.

GPs have taken to a new capability to lodge work capacity medical certificates to Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ) through HealthLink secure messaging with alacrity, with upwards of 60 per cent of practices having used the new service since its launch a month ago.

GPs previously had to print out and sign the certificates and give them to the patient, who then had to lodge them in person with WINZ. The Ministry of Social Development receives over 400,000 work capacity medical certificates each year.

The Australasian College of Health Informatics (ACHI) has put together 30 recommendations that it says can be put into immediate action by the government to make substantial improvements to the functioning of the PCEHR.

As part of its submission on the recent Electronic Health Records and Healthcare Identifiers legislation discussion paper, ACHI has also taken the opportunity to pose questions about the broader issues raised by the Royle review of the PCEHR and whether the system complies with existing Australian and international standards.

The National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) has introduced new guidelines for medical software vendors looking to integrate their products with the PCEHR, which NEHTA says will make conformance with the national system faster and cheaper.

Software vendors have in the past undergone a conformance, compliance and accreditation (CCA) process that involved NEHTA observing vendors' software performing functions to show it conformed with requirements.

IT consulting firm Ajilon has taken out the health category at the NSW iAwards for its work on a population health intervention system for NSW Health.

National ICT Australia (NICTA) also shone at the awards with its Coviu WebRTC-based digital service delivery platform taking out the regional, inclusion and community category, and its tactile vibration sensory substitution device VibroMat winning the undergraduate tertiary student award.

The after hours GP helpline that was initially thought to have been axed by the federal government in the May budget is set for a return.

The helpline was first introduced by the Labor government in 2011 as a free, national service that was intended in part to relieve after hours pressure on regional and rural GPs as well as to provide medical advice to patients unable to see their regular GP.

Callers to the helpline were triaged by a nurse who then referred the patient on to a GP if appropriate. The service was fully funded by the federal government and was managed by Healthdirect Australia on its behalf, with the service delivered by Medibank Health Solutions.

Dental Health Services Victoria (DHSV) plans to introduce a tele-dentistry service for public patients living in rural and remote parts of the state.

The project will involve a clinical alliance between dentists at community dental agencies and specialist staff from the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne (RDHM).

DHSV plans to develop pathways to allow RDHM specialist services to work with community dental clinics to develop the most appropriate treatment plan for patients who would have traditionally had to travel to Melbourne for care.

The majority of respondents to a survey of industry views on the proposed changes to the PCEHR were in favour of the opt-out model and a name change to My Health Record, but there were significant areas of concern over secondary use of information, privacy and security.

The survey (PDF), organised by the Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA) and the Health Information Management Association of Australia (HIMAA), was in response to the federal government's discussion paper on proposed changes to the legislation governing the PCEHR and the Healthcare Identifiers (HI) Service.

A contingency plan is being developed alongside the current build of the Enterprise Patient Administration System (EPAS) for the new Royal Adelaide Hospital (nRAH) that would see some legacy clinical software retained and a hybrid paper/electronic medical record used should EPAS not be ready in time for the hospital's opening next year.

A report tabled in the South Australian Parliament last week by SA auditor-general Andrew Richardson shows that despite a stabilisation phase being implemented by SA Health to fix some of the issues plaguing the roll-out of EPAS, more delays have been experienced including in the deployment of version 14.3 of the software from December 2014 until May this year.

Version 14.3 was meant to fix many of the bugs – from billing problems to lack of clinical usability – that have caused a massive reduction in the initial scope of the roll-out of EPAS.

Publicly listed practice software and secure messaging service vendor Global Health has bought Abaki, the Melbourne-based vendor of the Practice 2000 system for GPs and specialists.

The deal, worth $500,000, will add about 400 customers to Global Health's client base, including over 300 GPs and about 80 specialists.

In addition to the Practice 2000 practice management product, Abaki also markets the MediNet clinical system that includes electronic orders and results, case notes, prescriptions and medication management.

Online appointments booking service 1stAvailable has signed an agreement with Digital Health Ventures, which is half-owned by health insurer NIB, to use 1stAvailable's appointment booking system for NIB's allied health practitioner directory whitecoat.com.au.

whitecoat.com.au is a moderated site that allows allied health practitioners to list a profile of their services and also allows consumers to publish reviews of their experiences. In addition to dentists, it includes a range of disciplines such as physiotherapy, exercise physiology, dietetics and speech pathology.

Under the agreement, Digital Health Ventures will work exclusively with 1stAvailable on a range of activities to add functionality to both the Whitecoat and 1stAvailable websites, along with new marketing channels for 1stAvailable.

The NZ Ministry of Health has released a five-year action plan to implement the Medicines New Zealand strategy, focusing on seven “impact areas” that includes the My List of Medicines initiative to provide a single, accurate, shared and complete list of a consumer’s medicines.

The Implementing Medicines New Zealand 2015-2020 (pdf) plan follows a previous plan that saw the establishment of the New Zealand Formulary and changes to prescribing rules.

The new plan will include an enhanced role for pharmacists and may lead to certain prescribing rights that are also shared by nurse practitioners and midwives.

Orion Health has signed two new contracts to supply software solutions to public and private hospitals in Vietnam, adding to its existing footprint in the Philippines and Thailand.

Orion Health will roll out its Enterprise software solution to Vinmec International Hospital, a private healthcare provider headquartered in Hanoi that services a large number of medical tourists. Vinmec plans to implement a single, integrated, multi-site interface that will enable a single view of the patient record across all of its sites.

These include Vinmec Hanoi, Vinmec Phu Quoc, Vinmec Central Park and in two clinics: Vinmec Royal City and Vinmec Saigon. The initial deployment will then be followed by a further six sites as part of the group’s bid for accreditation by the patient safety and quality accreditation organisation the Joint Commission International (JCI).

Medical and scientific publishing firm Elsevier has bought InferMed, the UK-based company that produces the Arezzo clinical decision support system widely used by GPs in New Zealand.

Arezzo technology supports clinicians in choosing the most appropriate treatment path for each patient by matching the appropriate evidence-based guidelines with patient information and evaluating best-practice options in the light of current patient and disease information.

InferMed clinical decision support systems are installed in several regional and national health systems that provide patient-facing self-care advice, such as the NHS's symptom checker, as well as supporting nurse triage telephone services including those provided by Medibank Health Solutions.

Christchurch-based medical device firm ARANZ Medical is taking part in a road trip across the US organised by distribution partner Iron Bow Technologies to showcase telehealth innovations to the US Department of Veterans' Affairs.

ARANZ Medical signed an agreement with Iron Bow in September last year to market and sell its Silhouette wound surveillance system to US government customers including the VA, the country's largest healthcare provider.

Iron Bow is hosting ARANZ Medical and other partners including Microsoft, Intel, Verizon, Cisco and Samsung on its Telehealth Education Delivered (TED) truck, which is aiming to make 200 stops across the country, including at 150 VA hospitals.

Pulse+IT's weekly weekend round-up of international health IT and eHealth news:

Nurse Tech Fund benefits evidence scarce
Digital Health News ~ Thomas Meek ~ 03/07/2015

Evidence of the benefits of many Nursing Technology Fund projects is "scarce", a report commissioned by NHS England reveals.

Over-budget GPES has no future - NAO
Digital Health News ~ Rebecca McBeth ~ 02/07/2015

Significant delays to the General Practice Extraction Service have seen costs rise from £14 million to £40 million - and design failures mean it is unlikely to have a long-term future, a National Audit Office report has said.

Pulse+IT's weekly round-up of Australian and New Zealand health, IT and eHealth news:

Internet in the land of the long trenches
The Dominion Post ~ Stephen Gale ~ 03/07/2015

On Thursday the Commerce Commission took a further step toward finalising the wholesale broadband prices Chorus can charge internet service providers (ISPs) like Vodafone, Spark and CallPlus. This process affects every New Zealand household and business that uses broadband internet.

The increasing use of smartphones will play a pivotal role in transforming healthcare, with analysts predicting the global mobile health market will grow at an impressive compound annual growth rate of 33.5 per cent in the next five years.

The rally is likely to be led by the continued growth of mobile cellular networks in Asian countries, coupled with increased affordability of compatible smartphone devices and growing awareness among patients of connected healthcare applications.

Reports suggest that by 2017, the Asia Pacific region will have nearly three billion smartphone users out of a predicted 5.10 billion across the globe.

Melbourne-based not-for-profit private health service Cabrini Health has partnered with secure messaging provider Argus to develop the ability to extract clinical documents and correspondence from visiting medical officers' (VMOs) practice software and automatically upload them to its hospitals' webPAS patient administration system.

Cabrini Health's surgical and hepato-biliary groups visiting its Malvern and Brighton hospitals are both using the capability, in which documents such as operation reports, procedure notes and discharge letters can be extracted by Argus from the specialists' Genie practice management systems and attached to the patient's record in webPAS.

They are then accessible to clinicians through Clinical Viewer, the name used at Cabrini for CSC's Mobility Suite, which allows them to connect via webPAS to laboratory, radiology, PACS imaging and medications management systems remotely and on their mobile devices.

Telstra Health has officially gone live with its ReadyCare telemedicine service, offering phone and video consultations with GPs 24 hours a day from a purpose-built facility in Sydney's Alexandria.

A joint venture between Telstra Health and Swiss telemedicine provider Medgate, ReadyCare is initially being targeted at the business-to-business market including health funds, mining companies, state governments and corporates.

It has signed its first big contract with travel insurance and medical assistance firm Cover-More, which insures 1.8 million travellers every year and handles 35,000 medical episodes. From next month, Cover-More will offer its customers the ability to call an Australian doctor 24/7 for medical assistance wherever they are in the world.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has urged the government to strengthen governance arrangements for the PCEHR and to expedite the establishment of the proposed Australian Commission for eHealth (ACeH), but has rejected suggestions that uploading documents be mandatory in order to claim certain MBS item numbers.

In a submission to the Department of Health on the PCEHR and Healthcare Identifiers (HI) Service legislation discussion paper, the RACGP says it strongly supports the establishment of the ACeH but would like more clarity around the transition arrangements and would also like the whole process to be expedited.

“Governance of the PCEHR should be streamlined and transparent and overseen by ACeH, which should be responsible and accountable for the whole PCEHR system including any product design and release,” the college says.

All new entrants to the federal aged care system will from today receive a central client record containing demographic, assessment and service information that is accessible by the person, their families and care providers.

Also from today, healthcare professionals including GPs and nurses can make a referral to aged care services through the My Aged Care contact centre by phone or online, and in an acceptance that many healthcare providers still like paper, by fax.

Referrers can also find a a searchable list of government-supported aged care organisations, their contact details and the services they provide through the My Aged Care website. For non-government services, they can consult the National Health Services Directory (NHSD).

Assistive technology specialist Tunstall Healthcare has partnered with the MedicAlert Foundation to work on sharing information sources and new technologies for clients to help them continue to live independently.

The MedicAlert Foundation has been in operation for over 40 years and provides medical ID jewellery to people with a range of conditions such as severe allergies, diabetes and epilepsy.

The jewellery is engraved with the Rod of Asclepius so it can be easily identified by emergency personnel, along with what the person's condition or medication is, an individual member number and a 24/7 emergency response number.