Artificial Intelligence

The revolution changing the face of healthcare delivery

Prescription exchanges achieve interoperability

7 February 2013

The two electronic prescription exchange services, eRx Script Exchange and MediSecure Script Vault, have achieved interoperability, meaning electronic prescriptions generated by one system can be read and dispensed by the other. The developers of the two exchanges announced last year that they were working towards interoperability, and have been provided funding to the tune of […]

Rural patients to get faster broadband

7 February 2013

The National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) has announced it will double the wholesale broadband speeds for the fixed wireless and long-term satellite services being deployed to areas that can’t be connected to the planned fibre network. Download speeds of up to 25 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 5 Mbps will now be […]

Austco combines with Sedco for nurse call

7 February 2013

The owner of Australian nurse call system manufacturer Austco Communications has acquired the assets of rival Sedco Communications, which went into voluntary administration in late November. Sedco manufactured nurse call systems and paging systems and had offices in Australia and New Zealand. Its customer base and manufacturing facilities have now been taken over by Austco, […]

Stroke researchers launch Wiicycling program

5 February 2013

Researchers are asking gamers who have recently upgraded to the new Nintendo Wii U to donate their old Wii consoles to a stroke rehabilitation project. The Wii U was released in Australia last November and features high-definition graphics and a new wireless control panel. Original Wii consoles are still in demand, however, particularly by a […]

Aged care turns to WiFi for communications

5 February 2013

The aged care sector has often been slow to adopt new technologies, but the advent of WiFi networks capable of handling clinical data along with communications devices like WiFi-enabled nurse call systems is seeing the sector increasingly hooking up to the technology, even in hard to refurbish facilities. Bart Williams, general manager of Australian company […]

MMEx implementing PCEHR specs, targeting allied health

4 February 2013

The developers of the MMEx web-based electronic health record and secure messaging service are working on implementing the specifications that will allow it to interface with the PCEHR, and are also targeting the large numbers of allied and mental health professionals that don’t currently use clinical software. MMEx, developed some five years ago by the […]

Real-time clinical notes at the bedside

4 February 2013

CSC’s Healthcare Group recently won the vendors’ award in the Clinicians’ Challenge competition at the Health Informatics New Zealand (HINZ) conference in Rotorua with a ready-made answer to one clinician’s needs: design a system that would allow several users to access and edit a ward round or admission note in real time, preferably using open […]

AMT v3 released for beta testing

4 February 2013

NEHTA has released a beta version of the Australian Medicines Terminology (AMT) version three, which it says has been designed to simplify version two to make it easier to align with SNOMED CT. The AMT has been created to align with SNOMED-CT specifications and to describe unique identifiers for generic and brand name medications, their […]

Coalition to do a stocktake on the PCEHR

1 February 2013

A Coalition government would do a “stocktake” on the PCEHR system should it win this year’s election to determine its level of functionality and what if anything should be done to improve it in future. Opposition spokesman for primary care, Andrew Southcott, said that while the Coalition agrees with eHealth in principle and voted to […]

Best Practice fully PCEHR-compliant for February roll out

31 January 2013

Best Practice Software has been listed on NEHTA’s ePIP register for full PCEHR compliance, with the company soldiering on amid Queensland’s devastating flood. The Bundaberg-based company will begin rolling out its PCEHR-compliant version later in February, but users will already qualify for the first four ePIP requirements – due by tomorrow – as long as […]

AutumnCare readies for PCEHR pilot and consumer-directed care

29 January 2013

Aged care software vendor AutumnCare will begin beta testing its eHealth-enabled solution at a pilot site in Sydney next month. AutumnCare, a member of NEHTA’s aged care software vendors panel, has already achieved a number of its milestones under the NEHTA contract, including passing its notice of connection (NOC) with the Healthcare Identifier Service last […]

Stroke telemedicine delivers evidence-based care to Victoria

28 January 2013

A telemedicine project piloted in Victoria’s Loddon Mallee area for early intervention in stroke is now being rolled out to the major hospitals of regional Victoria, allowing emergency clinicians to communicate immediately by video call with neurologists in Melbourne and share clinical images. Stroke is Australia’s second biggest cause of death and greatest cause of […]

AMA calls for step-by-step toolkit for PCEHR

28 January 2013

The Australian Medical Association has called on the federal government to design a standardised, step-by-step toolkit to assist medical practices to participate in the PCEHR. In the AMA’s pre-budget submission, president Steve Hambleton said that while the organisation supported the PCEHR, the legal framework behind it had imposed additional red tape on practices. “The government […]

ePIP register: your software’s current status

28 January 2013

Pulse+IT has prepared this quick guide to the current status of commonly used GP clinical software products on NEHTA’s eHealth Practice Incentive Program (ePIP) product register. We will update it every week in the lead up to the commencement of the new ePIP. Readers should be aware that several software companies have achieved or are […]

Cloud-based solution for secure mobile clinical photography

27 January 2013

Taking a quick photo of a patient’s injury on an iPhone and emailing it to a specialist for advice seems like a wonderfully efficient way of using contemporary mobile technology, but it is a lot more complicated than that. Clinicians can be liable for fines of up to $100,000 under federal privacy laws if they […]

Direct Control and HTR team up for eHealth compliance

24 January 2013

Billing and business management software vendor and service provider Direct Control and cloud-based clinical management software vendor HTR Business and Technology Services have joined forces to offer a solution to healthcare professionals and organisations looking to become eHealth compliant. The partnership is not just aimed at general practices wanting to qualify for the ePIP incentives, […]

Clinical hub allows GPs and radiologists to collaborate

24 January 2013

Intelerad has launched a new clinical portal that will allow radiologists to communicate with referring doctors in real time. InteleConnect Clinical Hub is an extension of Intelerad’s InteleConnect product, which was launched about two years ago to allow referring doctors to view images and reports without having to install local software. The web-based system works […]

GPs needed for TechWatch critical incident study

24 January 2013

The team behind the TechWatch study of critical incidents in healthcare IT is inviting more GPs to join the project to help track computer-related problems that can affect patient safety. TechWatch, jointly led by Farah Magrabi, Michael Kidd, Teng Liaw and Enrico Coiera from the University of NSW and Flinders University, aims to evaluate the […]

Grey Book app takes out public choice award for apps4nsw

24 January 2013

The winners of NSW Health’s apps4nsw competition have been announced, with JFM Solutions winning a number of categories including the public choice award for its Grey Book app prototype. JFM Solutions is a collaboration between health informatics researcher Joanne Curry of the University of Western Sydney, health IT executive Frank Dorrian and data warehousing and […]

50% of general practices assigned HPI-O as ePIP deadline nears

23 January 2013

Slightly less than half of all of Australia’s general practices have applied for or been assigned a Healthcare Provider Identifier – Organisation (HPI-O), one of the requirements to be eligible for the eHealth Practice Incentives Program (ePIP). According to the latest figures from the Department of Health and Ageing, 2867 HPI-Os have been assigned to […]

COH expands clinical telehealth training

23 January 2013

The University of Queensland’s Centre for Online Health (COH) has introduced a new graduate certificate in clinical telehealth, aiming to equip current and future healthcare professionals to use telehealth in practice. The new clinical telehealth program is an addition to the COH’s ongoing education and training activities, which include postgraduate and undergraduate level courses in […]

First steps in aged care gateway initiative

23 January 2013

The federal government has issued a request for tender for contact centre services as the first step in its $198 million aged care gateway plan. The aged care gateway aims to create an entry point for the aged care system and enable timely and reliable information to be accessed by older people, their families and […]

St John Ambulance officers embrace BYOD

21 January 2013

Last year, NEC Australia won a WA iAward for the innovative development of an iPad interface to an electronic patient care record for St John Ambulance WA. 850 ambulance officers have now been issued an iPad that they can also take home with them, and while there may be a bit of Angry Birds playing […]

Online referral system closes the gap for specialists and GPs

21 January 2013

A new online referral service has been launched allowing GPs to easily refer patients to the most appropriate specialist while allowing specialists to accept or reject a referral with the click of a button. MEDrefer has been designed by a Queensland company to streamline the referral process, particularly for GPs new to an area who […]

Abaki nears PCEHR compliance, enters day surgery market

21 January 2013

Practice management and clinical software vendor Abaki has completed the majority of its compliance certification for the new eHealth Practice Incentive Program (ePIP), and is now turning its attention to developing specific software modules for the day surgery sector. Abaki’s practice management software Practice 2000 has been listed on NEHTA’s ePIP product registry as certified […]

Barwon ML moves into patient PCEHR registration

18 January 2013

Barwon Medicare Local in Victoria has begun assisting general practices to sign up patients to the PCEHR system, with the organisation confident it will have close to 100 per cent of practices ePIP-ready by the end of the month. Barwon ML CEO Jason Trethowan said a number of students had been recruited on a casual […]

iPad app for CT scan interpretation

17 January 2013

The developers of the Crit-IQ critical care education website have launched a new iPad app that replicates a training session for medical students, registrars and consultants to learn the art of CT interpretation. The CT scanning in critical and emergency care app contains 70 fully scrollable CT scans along with audible radiology reports and allows […]

mHealth gives specialists what they want

17 January 2013

As the executive director of medical services at Cabrini, part of Associate Professor Simon Woods’ job is to keep his 1200-strong list of accredited specialists happy and engaged. So when he noticed many of them turning up with iPads, he and his team decided to give them what they want and put access to their […]

Global Health listed for ePIP, launches cloud-based SMD service

17 January 2013

Global Health, the Melbourne-based vendor of the ReferralNet secure messaging service, has been listed on NEHTA’s ePIP product register as being SMD-compliant, and has also launched a cloud-based secure messaging solution for specialists and allied health practitioners. ReferralNet joins HealthLink, Argus and Medical-Objects on the ePIP registry for secure messaging, allowing practices that have installed […]

Aged care IT gears up for eHealth

16 January 2013

Leading aged care software specialist iCare has recently completed testing several components of the national eHealth system in the field, working with three lead sites to deploy software that will allow the aged care sector to link to the PCEHR. iCare managing director Chris Gray said the company had gone through testing with NEHTA to […]

Pulse+IT launches aged care IT news service

16 January 2013

Pulse+IT is today launching a new aged care IT news service, bringing you a weekly round-up of developments from this part of the health sector. As iCare managing director Chris Gray says in our lead story, residential aged care is a vast consumer of information from community care nurses, hospitals and general practice, but the […]

TeleStrong delivers allied health to aged care remotely

15 January 2013

Allied health services provider HealthStrong has launched a new telehealth service to provide healthcare by video conference to the aged care industry. HealthStrong has provided allied health services such as physiotherapy and podiatry to residential aged care facilities for over a decade under the company’s former name Clinicall. It has now branched out into providing […]

Medtech32 fully PCEHR-compliant

14 January 2013

Clinical software vendor Medtech Global has passed its testing for Medtech32’s interface with the PCEHR system and has been listed on NEHTA’s ePIP register as PCEHR-compliant. Medtech32 has been able to integrate the Healthcare Identifiers (HI) Service since last year, and its most recent version, v9.0.0, has electronic transfer of prescriptions (ETP) capability using both […]

Best Practice confident of reaching ePIP deadlines

14 January 2013

Best Practice Software is confident that users will be eligible for the eHealth Practice Incentives Program (ePIP) payments as the company nears its compliance approval for the new requirements. Best Practice has been listed on NEHTA’s PIP eHealth product register for compliance with the integration of the HI Service and the electronic transfer of prescriptions […]

Collaboration drives increase in electronic communication

13 January 2013

Electronic distribution of specialist letters to GPs from Southern Health Outpatients clinics has grown from zero to around 30 per cent over the past 12 months under a pilot project that has now become practice. South Eastern Melbourne Medicare Local (SEMML) is inviting GPs within its catchment to join in. In August 2011, a pilot […]

Medical Director ready for the ePIP and PCEHR

10 January 2013

Health Communication Network (HCN) has announced that users of its Medical Director and PracSoft software will qualify for the new eHealth Practice Incentives Program (ePIP) following its listing on NEHTA’s online product register as complying with the requirement for full interface with the PCEHR. Medical Director and PracSoft have been listed on the registers for […]

HISA extends deadline for Big Data submissions

10 January 2013

The Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA) has extended its deadline for submissions of abstracts for its Big Data conference, being held in Melbourne in April. Abstract submissions for both the scientific and the industry streams are now due by Monday, January 21. The conference, Australia’s first on the topic of big data in biomedicine […]

Fast connections through iPads and the NBN

8 January 2013

A Tasmanian project is aiming to bridge the gap between general practitioners, an aged care facility and the public community hospital using iPads and a secure remote desktop connection linking three sites through the NBN. In rural areas of Australia, GPs often provide medical services for the public community hospital, and the general practice is […]

ACRRM agrees in principle to share telehealth data with NHSD

8 January 2013

The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) has agreed in principle to work with the operators of the National Health Services Directory to consider a direct feed of provider information from the ACRRM Telehealth Provider Directory into the NHSD. While the details of the agreement are still being worked out, it is hoped […]

Monet users to be eligible for ePIP

7 January 2013

General practice users of the Monet patient management and clinical software package will be eligible for the government’s new eHealth Practice Incentive Program (ePIP), with confirmation from the product’s vendor, Cloud9 Software, that it is close to achieving its compliance certificates for the initial requirements of the new program. Monet, first developed by Monet Technologies […]

GP to patient video consults part of the mix: Skype2doctor

7 January 2013

The founder of the new Skype2doctor telehealth service has moved to allay fears that it will disrupt the traditional doctor-patient relationship, saying it will not detract from face-to-face consultations but will be simply another way to deliver healthcare to patients. Dr James Freeman, who founded the GP2U telehealth service for specialist consultations that are currently […]

Guideline to secure messaging requirements for ePIP

7 January 2013

The National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) has released a guide for general practices to verify that their secure messaging service complies with the requirements of the eHealth Practice Incentive Program (ePIP), due on February 1. The guidelines also contain advice for secure messaging companies and for IT support companies or Medicare Locals on the steps […]

The eHealth year in review: part 2

21 December 2012

July 1 was planned to herald the beginning of a new era in eHealth in Australia with the consumer launch of the PCEHR, but the inevitable delays that seem to haunt all large IT projects had a sobering effect on the big day. As the year moved on and software vendors rushed to integrate new […]

The eHealth year in review: part 1

21 December 2012

In what has been a ground-breaking year for the eHealth sector in Australia, Pulse+IT takes a look back at the biggest developments of the year, the headlines dominated in the first six months by the imminent launch of the PCEHR, and by the fallout in the second. When then-Health Minister Nicola Roxon introduced the long-awaited […]

Data security and the new privacy laws

20 December 2012

The recent extortion attempts by hackers against general practices in Queensland have brought into focus the effect that the new privacy laws will have on the healthcare sector, with particular ramifications for breaches of data security. The Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Bill 2012 passed both houses of Parliament late last month and has since […]

Orion wins South Island PAS tender, launches mobile app

20 December 2012

Orion Health has won the tender to supply a single patient administration system to all hospitals and the five district health boards in New Zealand’s South Island. The South Island Alliance, a collaboration between the five South Island DHBs, officially announced it was replacing the eight independent PASs in June this year. It issued an […]

Waikato goes live with revamped path lab

20 December 2012

Waikato Hospital in New Zealand has completed a $10 million revamp of its pathology laboratory, involving building a special containment lab for testing for infectious organisms and a new laboratory information management system (LIMS) that it says is the first of its kind in Australasia. Waikato’s lab service, which carried out more than seven million […]

South Australia new target of ransomware attackers

19 December 2012

Two businesses in South Australia have become the latest targets of ransomware attacks, following several incidents affecting Queensland medical practices in the last month. South Australia Police issued an alert about the attacks this morning, saying the attackers are known to use the remote desktop protocol (RDP) as an entry point. The attacks in SA […]

Govt reveals take-up rates for NBN

17 December 2012

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has released details of the rate consumers are taking up the National Broadband Network, confirming recent reports that in areas where the service has been available for more than a year, one in four premises have elected to connect to the service. Senator Conroy said the take-up rate of 25 per […]

Practice guide to clinical software PCEHR functionality

17 December 2012

The new requirements of the eHealth Practice Incentives Program (ePIP) have seen clinical software vendors progressively adding extra functionality to their products to help ensure their client practices will meet the requirements by the deadline of May 1 for full PCEHR integration. Pulse+IT has spoken to most of the market-leading vendors to see when they […]

One-stop-shop for medication adherence

17 December 2012

A consumer health advocate has launched a new website to provide information for patients and healthcare providers on support programs for medications. freepatientsupport.com aims to be a one-stop-shop for the multitude of patient support programs provided by pharmaceutical companies and non-government organisations to help improve adherence with medication regimens. Devised by healthcare communications specialist Michael […]

Touch-optimised support for TrakCare on mobile devices

13 December 2012

InterSystems has released a new version of its TrakCare unified healthcare information system, with clinical enhancements including support for family care and intravenous prescribing, and touch-optimised support for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. TrakCare’s touch-optimised support now enables gesture scrolling, pagination and change-of-device orientation on mobile devices. The system can automatically detect device types […]

Hacked Gold Coast GP had data back-up but RDP suspected

13 December 2012

The Gold Coast general practice that was hacked and held to ransom by suspected eastern European cyber criminals had an external data back-up system in place and is close to being fully functional, but the case provides a salutary lesson in following security best practice, its IT consultant said. Jason Fillmore of Essential IT Services […]

Medical-Objects now ready for the ePIP

12 December 2012

eHealth software vendor Medical-Objects has been listed on NEHTA’s product register for the secure messaging requirement of the eHealth Practice Incentives Program (ePIP) for its Capricorn secure messaging product. Medical-Objects will transition its entire network infrastructure to the SMD standard – starting with the rollout of Capricorn v3.0 – for February 2013, when the first […]

Hacked medical centre not the first

11 December 2012

The Queensland medical practice that has become the victim of a ransomware attack is not the first, with four other medical centres in the state understood to have been similarly targeted two months ago. As reported by ABC Online yesterday, the Miami Family Medical Centre on the Gold Coast has become the latest victim of […]

Revised standard for pathology messaging released

11 December 2012

Standards Australia has published a revised standard for the electronic exchange of pathology and diagnostic imaging orders and results using HL7 v2.4, the NEHTA preferred specification. The standard, AS 4700.2 2012, is a revision of the existing standard and provides requirements and guidance for the implementation of electronic messages using the Health Level Seven (HL7) […]

Practitioners can assist patients to register for a PCEHR

10 December 2012

The federal government has published the rules under which healthcare providers can assist their patients to register for a PCEHR. The rules are aimed at encouraging vulnerable consumers such as the elderly and those with chronic illnesses to register for a PCEHR and share their healthcare information with a range of healthcare providers. Consumers can […]

Telehealth rebates crucial for aged care: AMA survey

10 December 2012

An increase in the Medicare rebate for visits to residential aged care facilities along with the introduction of new rebates for GP video consultations and improved IT infrastructure could help slow the decline in GP visits to RACFs, a survey has found. The Australian Medical Association’s 2012 aged care survey, conducted in July and released […]

Update: how to use Medicare PKI on Windows 64 bit

10 December 2012

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article for Pulse+IT to share my experience on how to make Medicare PKI tokens work on Windows 64-bit systems, especially over a remote desktop connection. Since then, there have been some developments. I have obtained the latest installation CD from Medicare, version 1.3 (May 2012) which still […]

Medical students recruited to set up practices for ePIP

10 December 2012

The National eHealth Transition Authority (NEHTA) is recruiting third-year medical students to assist general practices in Melbourne to register to participate in the PCEHR. Participants are due to attend a training session in Melbourne tomorrow and to work for the week of December 12 to 19, visiting general practices to help them register for the […]

Script exchanges get the interoperable go-ahead

10 December 2012

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has granted interim authorisation to a contract between eRx Script Exchange and MediSecure Script Vault allowing the two prescription exchanges to work towards interoperability. eRx applied to the ACCC last month for authorisation to proceed with the agreement, which has the backing of the Department of Health and […]

App heralds official launch of health services directory

6 December 2012

A free smartphone app to access the National Health Services Directory (NHSD) has been launched by the federal Minister for Health, Tanya Plibersek. The app is suitable for both iPhone and Android devices and will enable consumers to enter a location into the directory to search for local health services such as GPs, emergency departments […]

Public comment invited on pathology units and terms

6 December 2012

The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) is inviting public comment on its draft reference sets of terminology for pathology requesting and reporting and preferred units of measurement for results. Part of the RCPA’s Pathology Units and Terminology Standardisation (PUTS) project, the draft will lead to a revised policy for the units of measurement […]

Call for papers for HIC2013

6 December 2012

The Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA) has issued a call for submissions for the Health Informatics Conference 2013 (HIC), being held in Adelaide from July 15 to 18. The submission deadline is February 18, with notification of paper status on April 5. The theme of the 2013 conference is ‘Digital Health Service Delivery – […]

NPC passes quarter of a million milestone

5 December 2012

More than 250,000 medicines, medical devices and consumables have been allocated unique identifiers and loaded onto NEHTA’s National Product Catalogue (NPC), the organisation says. The NPC has been developed by NEHTA and hosted on GS1 Australia’s GS1net data repository with the aim of providing standardised product and price data electronically to state health departments and […]

HealthLink readies its users for ePIP

4 December 2012

Secure messaging vendor HealthLink has been listed on NEHTA’s eHealth product register as conforming to the new requirements of the eHealth Practice Incentives Program (ePIP). The secure messaging requirement ensures that listed products comply with the Secure Message Delivery (SMD) standard, which will help enable interoperability between messaging and clinical software vendors. HealthLink has started […]

PCEHR upload easy but registration needs streamlining

3 December 2012

A general practice IT manager who has set his practice up to connect to the PCEHR has urged the system developers to streamline the registration process. Luke Moloney, IT manager of the Samford Valley Medical Centre near Brisbane, which uploaded its first shared health summary and event summary using Genie’s PCEHR-compatible software last week, said […]

Getting ready for the new ePIP

2 December 2012

The Australian Medical Association has drawn up a checklist to help general practices through the steps they will need to take to remain eligible for the eHealth Practice Incentives Program (ePIP). The first four requirements are due to come in on February 1, while the fifth – the ability to access the PCEHR and upload […]

Transition to PharmCIS holds up December PBS updates

30 November 2012

Doctors and pharmacists will have to manually check changes to the December PBS schedule for the next couple of weeks as the rollout of the government’s new PharmCIS system has held up the regular PBS schedule updates from prescribing and dispensing software. The Department of Health and Ageing is introducing PharmCIS to streamline the collection […]

HPI-O NASH certificates prepared for secure messaging

30 November 2012

The digital HPI-O certificates sent to GPs to securely access the PCEHR system can now be used as authentication for secure messaging. In a statement today, NEHTA has announced that the National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) certificates devised and distributed by Medicare Australia can also be used for secure message delivery (SMD) via compliant […]

Genie uploads its first documents to the PCEHR

29 November 2012

The Samford Valley Medical Centre near Brisbane has uploaded its first clinical documents to the PCEHR using Genie Solutions software. A GP at the centre, owned by Dr Trish Moloney, created both a shared health summary and an event summary for a client and uploaded them to the system yesterday. Genie has had full PCEHR […]

Telehealth over satellite broadband confronts the issue of latency

29 November 2012

The CSIRO has released a whitepaper on the potential for telehealth provision to remote parts of Australia using satellite broadband, setting out some guidelines on what is achievable within the limitations of the technology. Written by Sarah Dods and colleagues from CSIRO’s Digital Productivity and Services Flagship and launched at the Global Telehealth conference in […]

RFID and sensor device to help older people stay at home

28 November 2012

The development of a new device by Intel Research in the US that combines passive radio frequency identification (RFID) technology with movement and location sensors has led an Australian research group to begin a study into its application in health and aged care. The study, led by University of Adelaide Associate Professor Michael Sheng, will […]

$10 million for prescription exchange interoperability

26 November 2012

Electronic prescription exchange vendors eRx and MediSecure will receive $660,000 each for technical work to ensure they are interoperable, as well as a share in more than $8.3 million in transaction fees. As reported by Pulse+IT in October, eRx and MediSecure have been working together for some months under a deal brokered by the Department […]

Electronic handover means doctors no longer fly blind

26 November 2012

The introduction of an electronic system for handover notes has improved weekend discharge rates and reduced emergency calls at Barwon Health in Geelong. In a paper published recently in the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA), Barwon Health’s Boloor Rao, Gail Lowe and Andrew Hughes detail a project to test whether using an electronic handover system […]

Survey shows decline in EMR use by Australian GPs

23 November 2012

A survey of 500 Australian general practitioners has found a slight decline in the use of electronic medical records over the last three years. The survey, part of a major study of health IT use and access to medical care in 10 countries carried out by the US-based private charitable foundation the Commonwealth Fund, found […]

Health links up with app developers for apps4nsw

22 November 2012

NSW Health is holding a developers’ day this weekend for organisations involved in its apps4nsw collaborative solutions for health program, which is running a competition to develop new apps to improve service delivery and consumer engagement with the health system. Apps4nsw was initially established several years ago by the NSW government to find new and […]

Stat and Charm named as digital champions

22 November 2012

Brisbane-based medical software vendors Stat Health Systems and Charmhealth have been named as “digital champions” for Brisbane in a recent survey. The survey, carried out by Ernst & Young and the University of Queensland on behalf of Brisbane’s economic development agency Brisbane Marketing, audited over 500 small to medium enterprises and chose 25 of those […]

Getting to grips with trauma by remote simulation

22 November 2012

Training medical and nursing students using high-fidelity manikins is nothing new, but an innovative NSW program is now offering emergency departments procedural training using lifelike simulators operated remotely. Under the Emergency Department Hub and Spoke Distributed Simulation using the Education by Web-based Innovative Simulation and E learning model (EdWISE) project, hospitals in NSW are being […]

How to: Ensure your electronic message has been received

21 November 2012

How important is it to know if your electronic correspondence has been received by the intended recipient? Is it not your responsibility to ensure that your confidential patient report has been received by the intended provider in the chain of care? In the not so “old days” of postage and fax, it was very difficult […]

Q&A with Liz Schoff of HINZ

21 November 2012

Liz Schoff, the new chair of Health Informatics New Zealand (HINZ), has an abiding interest in patient self-management and citizen engagement with the healthcare system. She is looking forward to a landmark year in health IT in her adopted country. Pulse+IT: Tell me about your background. You are originally from the US? Liz Schoff: Yes, […]

NEHTA to fund secure messaging interconnectivity

20 November 2012

The National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) will fund secure messaging vendors to work together to enable their products to connect with each other and between healthcare providers, with particular emphasis on the primary care sector. In a statement, NEHTA announced that the Secure Message Delivery – Proof of Inter-connectivity and Deployment (SMD-POD) project “will provide […]

Draft standard to ensure software is fit for purpose

19 November 2012

This article first appeared in the November 2012 edition of Pulse+IT Magazine. Australia is one of 10 countries involved in an international effort to draft a new standard to ensure healthcare software is safe and ‘fit for purpose’. There will shortly be a call by Standards Australia for comment on the first public draft. There […]

UXC wins $40m contract for Gold Coast University Hospital

19 November 2012

ICT infrastructure solutions and services company UXC has won a $40 million contract to provide the full network infrastructure for the new Gold Coast University Hospital, construction of which is due to be completed at the end of the year. The $1.76 billion hospital, which has been planned, designed and constructed in only four years, […]

Intrahealth aims for PCEHR interface next year

19 November 2012

Clinical software vendor Intrahealth is working towards being fully compliant with the five new requirements of the eHealth Practice Incentives Program (ePIP), and has also appointed a new general manager to further its footprint in Australia. Intrahealth, which is also active in the New Zealand and Canadian markets with its Profile integrated practice management system […]

New Zealand goes for gold in medications management

19 November 2012

This article first appeared in the October 2012 edition of Pulse+IT Magazine. New Zealand has taken on the ambitious target of rolling out an electronic medications management (eMM) system in every hospital in the country by 2014. With only a couple of hospitals using it at the moment this might seem a tall order, but […]

Christchurch after the earthquake

16 November 2012

This article first appeared in the October 2012 edition of Pulse+IT Magazine. Nigel Millar doesn’t go so far as to recommend experiencing an earthquake in order to test the foundations of a healthcare system, but he does recommend pretending to have one. The earthquake that destroyed much of Christchurch in February 2011 has taught the […]

PAH gets serious about telehealth

15 November 2012

A dedicated telehealth centre has been officially opened at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital to provide telehealth services to patients in rural and remote Queensland. The centre is part of the $5.1 million Princess Alexandra Hospital Online Outreach Services (PAH Online) project, which is jointly funded by the federal and state governments under the Digital Regions […]

Emerging Systems focuses on clinical information systems

15 November 2012

Emerging Systems has appointed Simon Elliott as director of business development, responsible for driving increased revenue and market share with a particular focus on clinical information systems for hospitals. He will also direct and manage the sales function for all areas of the business including networks and security, eHealth solutions and software web development. Mr […]

Best Practice aims for top spot

15 November 2012

Best Practice Software has appointed Craig Hodges to the new position of general manager, charging him with a mission to become the leading medical software vendor by 2014. Best Practice says it has captured more than 30 per cent of the general practice market since it was established eight years ago. The company’s founders, Lorraine […]

How to: Use Medicare PKIs on Windows 64 bit

15 November 2012

When you buy a new computer these days, it is likely that it will come with a 64-bit version of a Microsoft operating system, either the popular Windows 7 or the newest Windows 8. The 64-bit version is a good choice, as it can support more than 4GB of RAM and it can run both […]

Green tick for the PCEHR in acute care

13 November 2012

A fortnight ago, Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital became the first hospital in Australia to upload a clinical document to a patient’s PCEHR. It is also the first to allow clinicians to view patients’ PCEHRs through its clinical information system, and it moved into production status last week to alert clinicians that the patient has a […]

MDI Radiology goes live with COMRAD RIS

13 November 2012

Radiology group MDI has installed the Comrad radiology information system (RIS) throughout its 12 imaging centres in Melbourne. The new RIS is aimed at streamlining business management and diagnostic processes, including reporting and the transfer of patient images in conjunction with MDI Radiology’s AGFA PACS system. The new RIS will allow referring doctors who use […]

HTR certified for full PCEHR access

12 November 2012

Electronic health record developer HTR has become the first software vendor to fulfil all five requirements of the new eHealth Practice Incentive Program (ePIP), having received its certificate of conformance for its interface with the PCEHR. HTR, which launched its Telhealth cloud-based solution last year, has been able to demonstrate its connectivity with the PCEHR […]

Telemedicine boost for people with MS and CF

12 November 2012

The University of Sydney has opened a new telemedicine facility in regional NSW to provide people living with multiple sclerosis with better access to specialist care. It follows the announcement that Monash University will lead the development of an NBN-enabled telehealth program for people with cystic fibrosis living in regional Victoria and the Northern Territory. […]

Genomics and the patient-led revolution

12 November 2012

This article first appeared in the October 2012 edition of Pulse+IT Magazine. New Zealand’s Orion Health has grown from its early beginnings as a health integration vendor into a full-service eHealth provider almost two decades later. For founder and CEO Ian McCrae, the next decade will bring more growth for eHealth companies as a patient-led […]

Totalcare replaces Homer at Western Health outpatients

9 November 2012

Medical management software vendor Equipoise (International) has completed the rollout of its Totalcare billing solution in several outpatient departments at Victoria’s Western Health, having at the same time decommissioned the old Homer system used for patient management and outpatient billing for many years. Homer has been gradually replaced by iSOFT’s iPM patient management system in […]

McKesson to acquire NZ’s Emendo

8 November 2012

US healthcare services and IT giant McKesson has announced it is buying Emendo, the Christchurch-based software vendor that developed the CapPlan patient flow management tool. CapPlan is used in a number of hospitals in Australia and New Zealand to help forecast patient demand and manage patient flow and staff capacity. It has been installed at […]

GP2GP initiative achieves exponential adoption

8 November 2012

This article first appeared in the October 2012 edition of Pulse+IT Magazine. With over 375,000 patient files being transferred between general practices in New Zealand using traditional paper-based workflows, a group of software developers has collaborated with the support of Patients First to deliver an electronic alternative called GP2GP. First released in the middle of […]

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