The Department of Health has publicly released a report compiled by Deloitte Australia summarising the outcomes of a series of public consultations held last year about the recommendations of the Royle review into the PCEHR.
Deloitte and the department held 37 consultation workshops around the country between July and September 2014, along with an online survey. The workshops were aimed at gauging the opinions of consumers, healthcare providers, software vendors and other stakeholders about the recommendations of the Royle review, completed in December 2013 and released publicly in May 2014.
The CSIRO has been successful in a project testing whether it can use its Remote-I tele-ophthalmology service over satellite broadband, screening over 1000 patients in remote areas for conditions such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma.
It has also licensed the technology to US firm TeleMedC, which plans to integrate it into its EyeScan diagnostic solution, which is currently being used by NASA at the International Space Station for the assessment of intracranial pressure in astronauts.
The award-winning Remote-I, which has been developed over the years by a team from CSIRO's Australian E-Health Research Centre (AEHRC) led by Yogi Kanagasingam, has been used since 2011 to deliver early screening to patients living and working in remote areas of Western Australia such as mines and indigenous communities.
Aged care software vendor Leecare Solutions is getting ready to launch a new version of its P5 Finance product that includes capabilities to handle consumer-directed care (CDC) reporting changes due to begin shortly.
Leecare has been trialling the software for over a year with aged care providers as an enterprise-based financial system. It can be paired with Leecare's clinical system, Platinum 5.0, for an integrated solution but the company also offers its modules, including medications management and P5 Exec, its operational management module, as standalone systems.
Leecare Solutions CEO Caroline Lee said P5 Finance is being rolled out across 67 facilities in Victoria as well as in a health fund's five aged care facilities.
It is also set to go live in Singapore, where it is being used along with the rest of the Leecare suite as part of the $S6.5 million Nursing Home IT Enablement Program (NHELP).
The Queensland-developed PeriCoach device that assists women doing pelvic floor muscle training for stress urinary incontinence has taken out the health category at the Queensland iAwards.
PeriCoach includes a personalised device using biofeedback sensors, an app that provides instructions and pre-programmed exercises, and a web portal where women can monitor their progress and share it with their GP or other chosen healthcare provider.
Clinicians can also send notes and develop custom protocols that can be directly sent to the app.
The device is available in Australia and New Zealand for $A298, and is also being distributed by prescription in the US, where it recently received FDA approval.
PeriCoach has been developed by ASX-listed Analytica, which is chaired by medical practitioner Michael Monsour, also principal of Godbar Software, which markets The Practice clinical and practice management software.
Pulse+IT's weekly weekend round-up of international health IT and eHealth news:
Obamacare upheld by US supreme court as conservative justices rescue law
The Guardian ~ Dan Roberts and Ben Jacobs ~ 26/06/2015
Barack Obama celebrated a decisive victory for his healthcare reforms after the US supreme court threw out a Republican-led legal challenge that could have gutted the legislation and stripped millions of Americans of their health insurance.
Direct messaging finding stride, despite hurdles
HealthcareITNews ~ Mike Miliard ~ 25/06/2015
The 2015 Direct Messaging Survey published this week by HIMSS shows growing use and appreciation for the secure, email-like method of data exchange. But there are still challenges to be ironed out – related to technology standards, cost and workflow – before it sees broader acceptance.
HSCIC confident in care.data
Digital Health News ~ Thomas Meek ~ 25/06/2015
The Health and Social Care Information Centre is confident that its current communications plans for care.data will be passed by the UK’s data guardian Dame Fiona Caldicott.
Pulse+IT's weekly round-up of Australian and New Zealand health, IT and eHealth news:
Turnbull's NBN gets ACCC green light
iTNews ~ Andrew Sadauskas ~ 26/06/2015
Telstra’s revised definitive agreements to hand over its copper and HFC networks to NBN has come into force after the competition regulator today said it had approved the telco's migration plan.
Seniors taking to the internet to reduce loneliness
Australian Ageing Agenda ~ Natasha Egan ~ 26/06/2015
A growing number of tech-savvy seniors is using the internet to reduce the impact of social isolation, according to a survey commissioned by nbn, the company building the national broadband network.
NBN network deal with Telstra sealed
The Australian ~ Mitchell Bingemann ~ 26/06/2015
Telstra will begin handing over its copper and cable networks to the company building the National Broadband Network after the competition regulator rubberstamped the two companies’ $11 billion deal.
Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) has moved to a WebRTC platform based on Healthdirect Australia's video call service for providing telehealth consultations with patients and remote clinicians.
RCH has been providing telehealth services to patients for almost four years, initially using the GoToMeeting video conferencing platform, and has seen growth of upwards of 60 per cent per year in the number of consultations it provides.
More than 20 of the hospital's departments use telehealth, 15 of them regularly, as part of a commitment to making telehealth business as usual at the hospital.
The new platform will allow any patient using the Chrome browser on a desktop or Android tablet equipped with a webcam to simply click a button on the RCH telehealth website to start a video call.
Telehealth's journey from trials to its use in mainstream practice today is up for discussion by a panel of experts at the upcoming Broadband for the Bush forum, being held in Darwin next month.
The panel is one of a number looking at how to unlock the digital potential of the bush at the forum, the fourth organised by the Broadband for the Bush Alliance.
The organisers say the forum will seek to explore and find practical outcomes that promote digital inclusion, using both fixed and mobile technologies, and explore better and innovative infrastructure in the bush.
Panellists include the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory's (AMSANT) eHealth project manager Greg Henschke, head physician at Katherine Hospital Simon Quilty, the University of Queensland telehealth technology director Liam Caffery, and Medicare Local NT clinical and public health advisor Bernie Westley.
The forum is being held in Darwin from July 15 to 16.
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