Artificial Intelligence

The revolution changing the face of healthcare delivery

Telstra on Cloud9 with primary and acute software acquisition

16 December 2014

Telstra Health has added another string to its bow with the purchase of Australian-based cloud software developer Cloud9 and its partner company IdeaObject. In acute care, Cloud9 offers a health information exchange system called Spine and an integration engine called Synchronicity, adding a hospital information system called HealthObject following its strategic merger with Indian firm […]

NT hospitals now live with PCEHR but SA switches off

16 December 2014

The Northern Territory’s five hospitals now have the capability to send electronic discharge summaries to the PCEHR, representing a full slate of jurisdictions connected to the system. However, the roll-out of South Australia’s new Enterprise Patient Administration System (EPAS) has meant that three of its hospitals have had to switch off. A spokesperson for SA […]

The 2014 eHealth year in review: part one

15 December 2014

In 2014, as in previous years, the trials and tribulations of the PCEHR dominated developments in the eHealth sector, although this year there was the added frisson of a new government, an independent review and the very real prospect that the whole thing would be dumped by a minister with his eye on the bottom […]

Using portals to prevent people from becoming patients

15 December 2014

It might send shivers of horror down many a GP’s spine, but allowing patients to access clinical notes has the effect of improving patient/doctor relationships as well as adherence to medications and recommendations. Andrew Miller, who was named as one of seven eHealth ambassadors earlier this year as part of the National Health IT Board’s […]

Diabetes care by telehealth up and running in Eastern Bay

15 December 2014

A nurse-led diabetes telehealth clinic has been launched in the Eastern Bay, offering consultations via video link to a nurse practitioner. Part of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board’s (BOPDHB) telehealth project, the clinics are held weekly at Opotiki’s Church Street Surgery, with cases discussed with BOPDHB nurse practitioner Isabel Raiman from her office […]

ATC 2015 rescheduled for April

15 December 2014

The date of next year’s Australian Telehealth Conference (ATC 2015) has been rescheduled from February to April. The program will also be compressed to two days rather than three, but the speaker line-up will remain the same. The conference, which has the theme of integrating care: bringing health services and people together through telehealth, will […]

Wearable device with GPS tracking to provide clever care

15 December 2014

A Hamilton-based entrepreneur has developed a new mobile health service to assist carers of elderly people or those with disabilities at home. The idea for the Clevercare medical alarm was inspired by Maria Johnston’s mother, who was struggling to care for her husband, who had dementia and Parkinson’s disease. The Clevercare service provides carers with […]

App to nudge drinkers in the right direction

15 December 2014

The Hello Sunday Morning (HSM) organisation plans to release a mobile app to help participants more easily stick with the program, which aims to change their relationship with alcohol. Medibank Health Solutions New Zealand has donated $50,000 to the development of the app, which should be available in April next year, through its Medibank Community […]

Blacktown shows how to go Paper-Lite in under two years

12 December 2014

Blacktown Mt Druitt Hospital (BMDH) in Sydney’s west has achieved the remarkable feat of converting a 500-bed acute facility with 2000 staff from a paper to a digital environment in less than two years, with no extra resources and with a minimum of fuss. From first discussions in February 2013 to go-live in all 17 […]

Practical patient apps

11 December 2014

This article first appeared in the November 2014 issue of Pulse+IT Magazine. Do a search on iTunes or Google Play and you’ll be inundated with apps for health, fitness and wellbeing, most aimed at ‘the worried well’ and many of dubious worth to say the least. For patients with a chronic illness, there are some […]

Systems restored following Queensland Health outage

11 December 2014

Queensland Health has announced that technical issues that caused a widespread outage of some clinical systems yesterday have been rectified. The problems were first noticed at about 11am yesterday, forcing many hospitals to revert to paper-based contingency plans, Queensland Health said. “All hospital and health services have experienced some level of interruption to services but […]

Integrated apps for medicines

11 December 2014

This article first appeared in the November 2014 issue of Pulse+IT Magazine. There are any number of apps available that consumers can use to keep track of their medications, but the real value in an app is the ability to order script repeats or set up a convenient time to pick up their medications. For […]

ATC 2015 to explore the uberfication of healthcare

10 December 2014

Technologists and clinicians will demonstrate how technology is reinventing the house call through the “uberfication” of healthcare at the Australian Telehealth Conference 2015 (ATC 2015), being held in Sydney in February. The conference, which has the theme of integrating care: bringing health services and people together through telehealth, will feature a number of practical demonstrations […]

Appointments in the palm of your hand

10 December 2014

This article first appeared in the November 2014 issue of Pulse+IT Magazine. The ability to book an appointment online – and preferably through a smartphone app – is usually in the top three when patients are asked to rate what they value most in electronic interactions with their healthcare providers. There are now a number […]

Putting stroke rehab technology through its paces

9 December 2014

The University of Tasmania is running a new study on the use of Canadian-designed software called Jintronix, which uses the Microsoft Kinect for Windows and virtual games to help people recovering from stroke to complete – and enjoy – their physiotherapy. Led by UTAS lecturer and physiotherapist Marie-Louise Bird in association with Launceston General Hospital […]

GP co-pay now ‘optional’ but rebates to be cut and frozen

9 December 2014

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced the government will modify its original $7 co-payment scheme to rule out charging bulk-billed concession card holders and children under 16, but has also announced that the rebate will still be cut by $5 for non-concessional patients and indexation will be frozen until July 2018. Describing it as an […]

EPAS instability, lateness and cost blow-out to affect new RAH

8 December 2014

The implementation delays, cost-blow outs and inadequate clinical usability being experienced with the roll-out of South Australia’s Electronic Patient Administration System (EPAS) is likely to have an effect on the design of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital (nRAH), which will now need to plan for paper record storage, the SA Auditor-General has warned. In a […]

St Stephen’s Hervey Bay to trial paperless prescribing

8 December 2014

The federal government has given special authorisation to St Stephen’s Private Hospital in Queensland’s Hervey Bay to trial paperless medications prescribing, dispensing and claiming as a forerunner to the introduction of a national hospital electronic medication chart this financial year. The special authorisation under section 100 of the National Health Act 1953 – which regulates […]

Telstra enters acute phase with Emerging Systems buy-out

5 December 2014

Telstra Health has made another investment to add to its growing portfolio of health IT companies, announcing today it had purchased acute care EMR specialist Emerging Systems. Emerging Systems has developed and markets the EHS clinical information system, elements of which were first designed by clinicians at St Vincent’s Private Hospital in Sydney in 1992. […]

AMA Victoria lobbies new govt over secure messaging, RTPM

4 December 2014

The Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) has called on the newly elected state government to address four key health issues in addition to its long list of pre-election promises, which included building two new hospitals. The Labor government today named Jill Hennessy as health minister and Martin Foley as minister for mental […]

Hills licenses home brands to Woolies to focus on technology

4 December 2014

Hills has signed a strategic deal with Woolworths to license 240 of its household products, allowing the SA-based company to shift its entire focus to the technology side of its business, which includes healthcare and security. Hills set up a healthcare division two years ago to develop a portfolio of technology solutions aimed at the […]

RACGP calls for urgent national roll-out of ERRCD

3 December 2014

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has released a discussion paper outlining the computerised systems currently available that can assist doctors with monitoring of potential prescription or doctor ‘shoppers’, but has ultimately supported the national roll-out and expansion of the Electronic Recording and Reporting of Controlled Drugs (ERRCD) system. The ERRCD aims to […]

uHealth looking at telco and pharmacy partners for QardioArm

3 December 2014

Digital healthcare company uHealth has partnered with smart heart health solutions developer Qardio to introduce the QardioArm smart blood pressure monitor to Australia and New Zealand.

QardioArm is a clinically validated and TGA-approved blood pressure monitor that connects wirelessly to an app to allow users to measure, record and share systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate measurements.

QardioArm won a 2014 RedDot product design award for its elegant design, which aims to make a medical device look like a daily object that is simple and convenient to have around at all times for daily measurements.

The Qardio App also works with Apple’s HealthKit, enabling the sharing of blood pressure, heart rate and other health data. Apple’s Health app lets users access all their health and wellness information in one place and keep it under control.

MediSecure to launch real-time prescription monitoring

2 December 2014

Electronic prescription exchange service MediSecure is currently trialling new software that could provide a simple and inexpensive way to introduce a real-time prescription monitoring (RTPM) system to crack down on prescription or doctor shopping. Called Dr Shop, the software uses the existing capabilities of the MediSecure prescription exchange and will allow information on specific drug […]

IT capability a concern as aged care comes to grips with CDC

2 December 2014

The relative lack of IT capability in the community aged care sector is causing concern as the first moves are made towards a full consumer-directed care (CDC) model, with some providers still looking for solutions to how they will manage the new reporting requirements. From July 1 next year, all Home Care Packages – which […]

Practice manager accounts added to MEDrefer

1 December 2014

Online referral service MEDrefer has added new functionality for practice managers to its system, allowing them to handle incoming referrals for all of a practice’s specialists. MEDrefer was launched early last year as a streamlined system that allows GPs to refer patients to up to five appropriate specialists electronically, with specialists able to accept or […]

PCEHR five goes live as PHN tenders released

1 December 2014

Release five of the PCEHR has gone live, featuring two new capabilities in the clinical documents section to view diagnostic imaging and pathology reports. As expected, the government’s preferred model that pathology and DI reports will be automatically loaded after seven days has gone ahead, with a notice to consumers informing them that reports will […]

Orion Health makes impressive stock exchange debut

1 December 2014

Orion Health made an impressive debut on the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges last week, with shares settling well above the issue price and valuing the company at $NZ1 billion. Shares of Orion Health began trading on the NZX Main Board and the ASX last Wednesday following an initial public offering (IPO) that raised […]

Vendor community support for NZ Health IT Plan

30 November 2014

This article first appeared in the October 2014 issue of Pulse+IT Magazine. Considerable progress has been made in achieving the overall objectives of New Zealand’s 2010 health IT plan, with an update released late last year. The health IT vendor community is supporting the updated plan’s priorities, which include electronic medication management, national clinical solutions, […]

Exactly the same but entirely different

30 November 2014

This article first appeared in the October 2014 issue of Pulse+IT Magazine. We may share a common language, historical ties and healthcare systems based on a similar model, but the way Australia and New Zealand has gone about automating those health systems over the last two decades is very different. While Australia continues to struggle […]

Challenges of interoperability with medications management

28 November 2014

St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney’s Darlinghurst is further down the track than most in terms of using electronic medications management (EMM), having first piloted the MedChart system way back in 2005. The system was implemented in all wards of the hospital by 2010 and then in emergency in 2011, and is now being used for […]

Telstra and Dimension Data launch government cloud services

28 November 2014

Telstra and Dimension Data both launched cloud environments aimed specifically at the government sector this week in moves showing governments are taking ‘cloud-first’ policies seriously. Telstra has named its service the Government Cloud, which it said will significantly increase the ability of government organisations to access highly secure and compliant cloud services for both unclassified […]

Workforce, eHealth and classification

27 November 2014

This article first appeared in the November 2014 issue of Pulse+IT Magazine. In addition to a number of workforce issues, eHealth and clinical classification emerged as key themes at the HIMAA NCCH National Conference in Darwin in October. Research was also high on the agenda, with a number of speakers urging the health information management […]

NSW eHealth plan finalised with release of rural strategy

26 November 2014

Improving rural eHealth has been named as one of three strategies to implement the NSW government’s new rural health plan, with an experienced IT manager appointed as director of eHealth NSW’s rural eHealth program. The five-year rural health plan is aligned with the statewide health plan released earlier this year as well as the Blueprint […]

Closing the Gap dashboard to help indigenous health outcomes

26 November 2014

The Improvement Foundation (IF) has added a new Closing the Gap dashboard to its online quality improvement portal qiConnect. The new dashboard, combined with IF’s Closing the Gap: Measure and Act initiative, is available for free to general practice users. The dashboard enables GPs to see at a glance how many of their patient population […]

AIIA special interest group gets set for new year

26 November 2014

The NSW Healthcare special interest group (SIG) of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) has chosen a new chair and set out its priorities for 2015. The SIG, which among other events staged the widely reported eHealth NSW forum earlier this year, will be chaired by Berne Gibbons, managing director of Slainte Healthcare. Former co-chairs […]

Frustration grows for aged care, the forgotten child of eHealth

25 November 2014

The aged care sector is frustrated at its position as the “forgotten child” of the national PCEHR roll-out and has called on the government to provide clarity over the central client record due to launch next year as part of the Aged Care Gateway. CEO of Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) Patrick Reid has echoed […]

Life story on an iPad for people with dementia

25 November 2014

A Perth-based occupational therapist has developed a new app for people with dementia that can record their life stories and be used as a tool to guide person-centred care. The My Life Story app allows users to create a photo slideshow accompanied by music and voice recordings and loaded onto touchscreen devices like the iPad. […]

Guidelines for taking clinical images on personal devices

24 November 2014

The Australian Medical Association has released a guide for doctors and medical students in the proper use of personal devices such as smartphones when taking and transmitting clinical images. The guide, Clinical Images and the Use of Personal Mobile Devices, was developed jointly by the AMA and the Medical Indemnity Insurance Association of Australia (MIIAA). […]

Private hospitals need to support GP uploads for PCEHR funds

24 November 2014

Private hospitals looking to apply for funding from the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) to assist them in connecting to the PCEHR will be required to outline proposed activities to support eHealth activity by local healthcare providers such as GPs, as well as supporting their own clinicians. NEHTA has released the details of its Private […]

eMessaging gateway to GPs part of the west side story

20 November 2014

Melbourne’s Western Health is gearing up to enter phase two of a project to securely deliver notifications from its hospital systems directly into GP desktop practice management software through an SMD-compliant eMessaging Gateway. Western Health’s executive director of ICT, Jason Whakaari, told the eHealth Interoperability Conference in Sydney recently that the organisation had worked with […]

Opinion: connected care means connected technology

20 November 2014

The health system evolved to deal with the health problems of the day, but the needs of our population have changed dramatically in the last 40 years. New models of person-centred, connected care are an emerging response to a health system struggling to cope with larger numbers of elderly and people with chronic illnesses. The […]

Incentives on offer for private hospitals to link to PCEHR

19 November 2014

The National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) will offer funding to private hospital groups to begin integrating their systems with the PCEHR. NEHTA has announced it will shortly release an invitation to apply for its Private Hospital PCEHR Rapid Implementation Program (RIP) to offer funding to allow private hospitals to deploy PCEHR viewing and clinical document […]

Aged care record to go live with no link to the PCEHR

19 November 2014

The central client record that is due to become available from next July as part of the roll-out of the Aged Care Gateway system will not be linked to the PCEHR, but there are plans to do so in future. The aged care sector has become increasingly concerned that the Department of Social Services (DSS) […]

Seven-day model for PCEHR will make for good practice: CHF

18 November 2014

The proposed model of a seven-day delay to upload pathology and diagnostic imaging reports to the PCEHR can be seen as a way of encouraging better communication between consumers and healthcare providers, the Consumer Health Forum (CHF) chief says. The CHF recently released a special eHealth edition of its Health Voices journal and took the […]

MedicalDirector adds vaccine ordering app to widget store

17 November 2014

Clinical and practice management software vendor MedicalDirector has added a vaccine ordering app to the Widget Store on its sidebar. The widget allows practices to order vaccines, consumables and drug screening kits from pathology providers’ online stores from within the MedicalDirector Sidebar. Widgets are available from QML (Queensland), Laverty (NSW/ACT), Dorevitch (Victoria), Abbott (SA) and […]

Opinion: Why wearable tech will change how health is delivered

17 November 2014

When some people think of wearable technology, they often consider devices such as Bluetooth headsets. While this is certainly true, the modern expectation is that a wearable device for the medical industry will not just perform a function but will provide information that aids healthcare professionals based on sensor data. It is in this area […]

Telstra buys aged care market leader iCareHealth

17 November 2014

Telstra Health has added another software vendor to its growing healthcare portfolio, acquiring the aged care market-leading firm iCareHealth. Telstra Health has bought the company outright, with the Australian arm to become part of Telstra and the UK arm to separate, iCareHealth’s managing director Chris Gray said. iCareHealth bought UK community care specialist h.e.t Software […]

Health IT Board working on next five-year plan for NZ

16 November 2014

New Zealand’s National Health IT Board (NHITB) is developing a national health IT plan for the next five years, with a draft due to be released in March 2015. NHITB director Graeme Osborne told the Health Informatics New Zealand (HiNZ) conference in Auckland last week that he hoped the plan would be finalised and in […]

Clinicians’ challenge winner, new board announced at HiNZ

16 November 2014

Emergency department physician Tom Morton from Nelson Marlborough DHB has won this year’s Clinicians’ Challenge, picking up a prize of $10,000. Dr Morton’s pitch for the challenge was for ‘Emergency Department at a Glance’, an information system that displays data for managing patients’ journey through the ED. Announced at the Health Informatics New Zealand (HiNZ) […]

Patient access to diagnostic test results: the RACGP’s view

14 November 2014

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has long been an advocate for the personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR), recognising the significant benefits a national electronic health record could bring to patient healthcare outcomes, and in improving safety and quality. The imminent implementation of diagnostic imaging, pathology and other diagnostic results into the […]

Towards eHealth Liberation Day: the recovery

13 November 2014

In part two of her journey towards recovery from her injury and some of the most tumultuous years in eHealth in living memory, EpiSoft’s Jenny O’Neill finds a silver lining in her other journey towards eHealth Liberation Day. Hypothesis 6: PCEHR participation improves productivity. It was a hot summer that year. My mother, my sister […]

Towards eHealth Liberation Day: the falling

13 November 2014

This is the tale of one person’s eHealth journey, from laundry basket to hospital to the PCEHR and beyond. A goat makes an appearance, as does a handsome ED doctor, but for EpiSoft’s Jenny O’Neill, the day-to-day business of eHealth continues as the experience of 2010-2013 fades into memory. Are you tired of those conference […]

NBN commits to fixed wireless and satellite

13 November 2014

Those rural and remote communities promised a connection to the National Broadband Network (NBN) either by fixed wireless or satellite under the scheme’s original plan will remain part of the roll-out, but other areas hoping to receive fibre to the premises (FttP) are likely to miss out. NBN Co today released a statement of principles […]

Telstra takes a stake in Orion Health

13 November 2014

Telstra Health has invested $NZ20 million ($A18m) in Orion Health, representing about two per cent of the company’s shares. Orion Health completed a book build last week to set a price for its stock in advance of its initial public offer (IPO, which it has now set as $5.70, at the top of its indicative […]

Myco promises quick access to alarms without the fatigue

13 November 2014

Ascom Integrated Wireless has officially launched its new Myco mobile device, specifically designed to improve nurse workflow and reduce alarm fatigue, to the Australian market. Myco is a smartphone that can be integrated with communications technologies such as nurse call systems and patient monitors to receive alerts and alarms, but also to a secure messaging […]

One health app to rule them all?

12 November 2014

This article first appeared in the November 2014 issue of Pulse+IT Magazine. While the effectiveness of health and fitness apps and associated hardware devices varies widely, the sheer amount of activity in the space has not escaped Apple’s gaze. With new bathroom scales shipping with Wi-Fi capabilities, pedometers being worn as fashion accessories, and many […]

AMA, Labor slam move to prepare for disputed GP co-pay

11 November 2014

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the federal opposition have both criticised moves by the government to begin work on changing Medicare electronic claiming and practice management software to accommodate the proposed GP co-pay before the legislation has even been introduced to parliament. As reported yesterday, the Department of Human Services (DHS) has notified medical […]

Bubble and hype: the reality of health apps

11 November 2014

This article first appeared in the November 2014 issue of Pulse+IT Magazine. The saying that “there’s an app for that” has quickly become a cliché, but that doesn’t mean there is not a lot of truth behind it. As health apps and fitness devices proliferate, it is timely to take a considered view of their […]

Opinion: Practices need customised IT, not sales pitches

10 November 2014

Selecting the best IT provider is perhaps the biggest challenge for practices that need to outsource their IT support or are simply unprepared to invest in their own IT team. Initial interaction, whether by phone or in person, must involve a two-way conversation rather than a prepared monologue or quick elevator pitch from the prospective […]

GP co-pay software changes going ahead despite deadlock

10 November 2014

The Department of Human Services (DHS) is proceeding with changes to electronic Medicare claiming to accommodate the proposed $7 GP co-payment despite the legislation not having been introduced to parliament. In an email sent to software vendors from DHS’s eHealth and government to business systems branch last Friday and seen by Pulse+IT, DHS says vendors […]

State by state: Victoria considering state telehealth network

7 November 2014

As Victoria moved into caretaker mode in advance of the November 29 election, the state’s manager of telehealth strategy and development, Geraldine McDonald, provided an overview of the telehealth sector at the RMA conference. Ms McDonald said Victoria was at an earlier stage than most of the other states in its provision of telehealth on […]

State by state: clinical portals in the ACT

7 November 2014

The ACT’s manager for national eHealth initiatives, Ian Bull, outlined the capital’s progress in developing access portals for both clinicians and consumers at the RMA conference. Using Orion Health technology, the ACT has developed a consumer portal called My eHealth through which people who receive care from the Canberra Hospital and its community-based services can […]

Tablet computers in healthcare settings: novelty or necessity?

6 November 2014

This article first appeared in the November 2014 issue of Pulse+IT Magazine. Australian hospitals are increasingly encouraging the use of mobile devices such as tablet computers for clinical purposes beyond laptops and computers on wheels, and evidence suggests this is a popular move. Recent research shows that while tablet computer use at the bedside is […]

State by state: PCEHR and HWAN roll-out for NSW

6 November 2014

NSW has been very active in eHealth developments following the launch of the Blueprint for eHealth in NSW in December and the establishment of a new eHealth NSW division in June. Rural health has also been high on the agenda, with an eHealth strategy for rural and remote NSW developed in association with the wider […]

State by state: radiology reports through Queensland’s Viewer

6 November 2014

Queensland has had an added focus on telehealth since the announcement in last year’s state budget that $30.9 million would be allocated over four years to set up a rural telehealth service. In September, a parliamentary committee made a number of recommendations on how to improve telehealth provision, including that the Minister for Health, Lawrence […]

State by state: AMT-coded prescribing events in Tasmania

6 November 2014

ACRRM past president Jeff Ayton provided an update on Tasmania’s progress in eHealth and telehealth at the RMA conference on behalf of Tom Simpson, acting CIO for the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services and former executive director for the state’s acute care pharmacy services. Dr Ayton said there had been significant advances in […]

NEHTA confident it’s a going concern

5 November 2014

The National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) has set aside cash reserves to cover its liabilities in case it fails to receive funding beyond June 30, 2015. In its 2013-2014 annual report, the organisation alludes to uncertainty over its future beyond the next financial year but says it expects that further funding will be provided to […]

State by state: telehealth growth in rural SA

5 November 2014

Country SA Health’s executive director for mental health, Rebecca Graham, outlined the growth in use of telehealth in the state at RMA 2014 and briefly touched on some of the problems being experienced with the roll-out of the $422 million EPAS system. Ms Graham said the Country SA Local Health Network had more than 170 […]

State by state: eHealth at the bush bedside in WA

5 November 2014

WA Country Health’s executive director of medical services, Tony Robins, outlined the four core elements of connecting healthcare in the state at the RMA conference: people, the human-ICT interface, data transmission and software applications. Dr Robins said it needed to be remembered that in the bush, both patient and clinician moved between health settings. “It […]

State by state: eHealth and telehealth in the NT

5 November 2014

The Northern Territory’s chief clinical information officer, Leonie Katekar, told the Rural Medicine Australia (RMA) conference that the NT was concentrating on four main areas in eHealth: telehealth, the implementation of its shared electronic health record, point-of-care testing and a refresh of its clinical information systems. Telehealth has seen a lot of activity recently with […]

HIPS for private hospitals as states outline eHealth progress

4 November 2014

The National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) is in discussions with the private hospital sector about using middleware designed by the South Australian Health Department to link private hospitals to the PCEHR. SA Health’s Healthcare Identifier and PCEHR Services (HIPS) product has been designed to support PCEHR interfaces for document upload, retrieval and management as well […]

Patient access to pathology results

3 November 2014

This article first appeared in the November 2014 issue of Pulse+IT Magazine. The ability for patients to access their pathology results through a patient portal or potentially through Australia’s PCEHR has been a topic of intense discussion over the last year or so. However, the evidence for the efficacy of this approach has been mixed. […]

Opinion: How medical practices can reduce data breaches

3 November 2014

Health records and financial information are juicy targets for hackers, as they can use the harvested data for financial gain or for fraud, creating other accounts using personal data or using that data to compromise existing accounts. In August of this year, a US-based hospital chain lost 4.5 million health records and these attacks are […]

Solution underway to prevent pathology posts to PCEHR

3 November 2014

The Department of Health (DoH) says it is working with the pathology sector to develop a way to ensure certain pathology reports are not uploaded to the PCEHR if a patient withdraws consent. A DoH spokesperson confirmed that the sector had agreed to a model in which pathology and diagnostic imaging reports are uploaded to […]

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman to address HiNZ conference

2 November 2014

New Zealand’s new minister for health, Jonathan Coleman, will speak at the Health Informatics New Zealand (HiNZ) conference in Auckland next week. Dr Coleman, who has a medical degree and worked as a general practitioner for some time but is no longer registered, will provide a short presentation on Tuesday, November 11, necessitating a slight […]

Health Informatics New Zealand: where to from here?

2 November 2014

This story first appeared in the October 2014 issue of Pulse+IT Magazine. Health informatics underpins a nation’s ability to deliver an affordable, flexible health system that will provide better health outcomes to its citizens, but how do you create a health informatics expert? Do you teach a clinical person about IT, or do you teach […]

Opinion: the future of health is mobile

2 November 2014

This story first appeared in the November 2014 issue of Pulse+IT Magazine. Everyone these days seems to have a mobile phone, and most these days are smartphones, providing consumers with a portable computer wherever they go. This high penetration of smartphones means they can be harnessed for public health interventions, and evidence is increasingly showing […]

Three finalists announced for Clinicians’ Challenge

2 November 2014

Ideas for a smartphone app to give advice to people with chronic kidney disease, an emergency department at a glance information system and a tool to electronically record information on clinical consultations about sick kids make up the three finalists in this year’s Clinicians’ Challenge. The annual challenge, organised by Health Informatics New Zealand (HiNZ) […]

Medtech gears up for version 20.12 as Evolution gathers steam

2 November 2014

New Zealand’s market leading general practice clinical and practice management software vendor Medtech is getting ready for the release of version 20.12 of Medtech32 this month as its ultimate replacement, Evolution, begins to gain traction. MT32 v20.12 will feature a number of enhancements such as changes to the display of elements like cross reactivity interaction […]

Orion Health sets the price for its IPO

2 November 2014

Orion Health is set to launch its long-awaited initial public offer (IPO) and list on the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges at the end of November. Orion Health is looking to raise between $NZ120 and $150 million in the offer, with the intention of boosting its research and development capabilities. It says it expects […]

Integrated operations centre goes live at Capital & Coast

2 November 2014

Capital & Coast District Health Board has opened its integrated operations centre (IOC) for Kenepuru and Wellington hospitals to manage activity and coordinate responses. Over the next nine months, the TrendCare patient acuity, workforce planning and workload management system will be rolled out, along with electronic whiteboards at the ward level to assist clinical decision […]

Self check-in kiosk for Thames Hospital ED

2 November 2014

Thames Hospital is running a pilot involving a self check-in kiosk in its emergency department to see if it can speed up triage. The kiosk has been adapted by New Zealand firm Health Kiosk from its current kiosk technology, which can provide fast and accurate health measurements. The kiosk will be offered to patients who […]

Pathology on the PCEHR: seven-day delay v authority to post

30 October 2014

Debate over the best method to upload pathology and diagnostic imaging reports to the PCEHR is continuing just a month away from the Department of Health’s preferred deadline for the functionality to go live. Pulse+IT understands that the next release of the PCEHR is set for November 30 or December 1 and will feature a […]

Fixes are in for PCEHR data breaches

30 October 2014

The Department of Health (DoH) has reported two data breaches of the PCEHR, one in which healthcare providers were technically able to view a consumer’s personal health notes and another in which individuals were able to inadvertently link a family member’s PCEHR to their own myGov account. Revealed in the Office of the Australian Information […]

State-wide registry for Victorian cardiac care benchmarking

30 October 2014

Information on every patient undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), better known as coronary angioplasty, in Victorian public and most private hospitals is being collected and analysed to benchmark performance and improve care through the Victorian Cardiac Outcomes Registry (VCOR). While the VCOR project has been underway for several years, it was officially launched today with […]

Drag-and-drop data visualisation for big data discovery

29 October 2014

Data visualisation specialist Qlik has released a new, self-service version of its software that it says will allow any information worker to do data analytics and business intelligence (BI) more easily and on any device. Originally a Swedish firm, Qlik has been a market leader in data visualisation for BI for a number of years […]

UWS to offer health information management specialisation

28 October 2014

The University of Western Sydney (UWS) will offer a new specialisation in health information management (HIM) as part of its Bachelor of Information and Communications Technology (B.ICT) degree from next year. UWS said the decision to offer the specialisation within the B.ICT domain was based on the increasing use of electronic medical records and other […]

Bug in MetaVision ICU system potentially catastrophic

27 October 2014

A bug in the MetaVision intensive care software package being rolled out in several Brisbane hospitals has been identified as having the potential to seriously harm or even kill patients, several media outlets are reporting. Fairfax’s The Brisbane Times reported that a risk assessment by the Metro North Hospital and Health Service – which covers […]

Microsoft opens up the cloud to sensitive healthcare data

27 October 2014

Microsoft has officially opened two new data centres in Victoria and NSW for its Azure cloud platform, hoping to encourage organisations in the government and healthcare sectors to further adopt the cloud while easing concerns over data sovereignty. The two new Azure Australia geographies bring to 19 the number of regions around the world with […]

Opinion: Cloud adoption stimulates telemedicine growth

27 October 2014

Healthcare professionals in today’s internet age have access to a wide variety of tools that previous generations could only dream of. Unfortunately, many are unaware of the benefits technology can bring to their practice, are unwilling to make the transition from paper-based data to a digital format or are intimidated by a myriad of IT […]

Doing away with Skype for remote specialist care

24 October 2014

Telstra Health hopes to replace the need to use Skype for specialist telehealth consultations as part of the infrastructure it is building in association with the Northern Territory government. Telstra Health announced this week it had been chosen by NT Health to build a National Telehealth Connection Service, which has been devised by the state […]

Telstra hoses down AMA concerns over continuity of care

24 October 2014

Telstra Health has responded to criticisms from the Australian Medical Association (AMA) over its new ReadyCare telehealth service, saying the plan is to offer it to GPs to use with their existing patients. AMA president Brian Owler criticised Telstra’s plan following its launch this week, telling AAP that it was a “cynical and inappropriate way” […]

State-by-state overview of eHealth and telehealth at RMA 2014

23 October 2014

The states and territories are each sending a representative to the Rural Medicine Australia (RMA 2014) conference in Sydney next week to provide an overview of eHealth and telehealth programs in the jurisdictions. The whole of health sector panel includes the acting chief technical officer for Queensland’s Health Information Services agency, Paul Carroll; the director […]

Metadata problem with summary views of PCEHR documents

23 October 2014

The Department of Health (DoH) has issued a warning through clinical software vendors that problems are occurring in summary views of certain clinical documents on the PCEHR. Both Genie Solutions and MedicalDirector have issued statements to users that there is a potential risk in that some documents, while uploaded correctly, are not being displayed in […]

Telstra to launch direct-to-GP, 24-hour telehealth service

22 October 2014

Telstra Health has announced a joint venture with Swiss company Medgate to establish a new telehealth service called Telstra ReadyCare in which patients can consult directly with GPs over the phone or by video conference 24 hours a day. Telstra also announced it was partnering with the Northern Territory government to build a National Telehealth […]

Hossack heads MSIA as it enters 20th year

22 October 2014

Extensia CEO Emma Hossack has been elected as the new president of the Medical Software Industry Association (MSIA) as it gets set to celebrate its 20th year in 2015. At the MSIA’s annual forum and general meeting last week, a new board was elected to see the organisation through the next two years, with a […]

UTS hosts social robotics conference as Woz joins faculty

22 October 2014

A special session on social robots for therapeutic purposes will be held at next week’s International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR 2014), being hosted by the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) from Monday. The University of Auckland’s Robotics Research Group, led by Bruce MacDonald, will present results from randomised cross-over trial it has conducted using […]

HealthEngine shakes up online booking with free AGPAL deal

21 October 2014

Online appointment booking and directory service HealthEngine has struck a deal with Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited (AGPAL) to offer its online booking system to AGPAL-accredited practices for free. HealthEngine, thought to be the market leader in the consumer online medical appointment sector, will also identify practices that meet AGPAL quality accreditation in its online […]

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