Artificial Intelligence

The revolution changing the face of healthcare delivery

Making the most out of Skype

8 November 2012

The popularity of Skype within Australia’s telehealth community has sparked the interest of two Australian-based companies that have developed applications for the VoIP service that they believe could help clinicians make the most out of Skype. Advansys is a small Australian software company that has developed RecollX, a search and archiving app that uses the […]

Pulse Rate

7 November 2012

As detailed by our email software provider, Mailchimp, each Pulse+IT email subscriber receives a rating out of 5 stars. This rating is computer generated by Mailchimp (not Pulse+IT) and is calculated based on the subscriber’s level of engagement with our eNewsletters. Mailchimp allocates its ratings using the following methodology. 1 Star (negative rating) – This […]

Genie Solutions fully compliant with PCEHR

5 November 2012

Genie Solutions has released version 8.3.4 of its practice management software, which includes full HI Service integration and the ability to upload shared health summaries and event summaries to the PCEHR. The company can also produce specialist and referral letters in CDA format and is planning to complete formal testing for this functionality in November. […]

Argus to be deployed with Best Practice

5 November 2012

Best Practice Software is working with Database Consultants Australia (DCA) to integrate DCA’s Argus secure messaging service as the default messaging capability in Best Practice. The integration will mean that all Best Practice users can be connected to Argus and meet the secure messaging requirements of the new eHealth PIP. Argus will be deployed with […]

2014 and beyond: New Zealand’s eHealth agenda

5 November 2012

This article first appeared in the October 2012 edition of Pulse+IT Magazine. New Zealand is at the half-way stage of implementing its National Health IT Plan, an overarching implementation strategy to improve patient care and information sharing throughout the country. At the Health Informatics New Zealand (HINZ) conference in Rotorua this week, National Health IT […]

St Vincent’s the first hospital to connect to the PCEHR

1 November 2012

Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital has become the first hospital in Australia to connect to the PCEHR, and has achieved another first in uploading an electronic discharge summary to the system. Late last week, St Vincent’s accessed the PCEHR of one of its patients, allowing the hospital to see a recent and up-to-date summary of his […]

Clinicians set the challenge at HINZ

1 November 2012

This article first appeared in the October 2012 edition of Pulse+IT Magazine. The head of New Zealand’s National Health IT Board, Graeme Osborne, and Bill Pascal of the Canadian Medical Association are two of the headline speakers at the 11th annual HINZ Conference and Exhibition, being held in Rotorua in November. New Zealand’s premier event […]

Zedmed releases v20 with full PCEHR functionality

31 October 2012

Zedmed has announced that version 20 of its clinical and practice management software, which includes full functionality to access and upload documents to the PCEHR, is available for general release. Zedmed is the first full clinical system to allow users to access the PCEHR, and was the first system to upload a document natively, having […]

Telehealth to go high tech for aged care

31 October 2012

University of Queensland researchers have received a grant for almost $1 million from the National Health and Medical Research Council to conduct a four-year study into the use of telehealth in residential aged care facilities, involving a web-based clinical support system and clinical-grade video conferencing technology. The Centre for Online Health (COH) and Centre for […]

Victoria showcases eHealth capability

30 October 2012

The Victorian eHealth Network (VeHN) is holding an event in Melbourne on Friday to showcase new developments in eHealth capability from member companies. Guest speakers including NEHTA CEO Peter Fleming, Telstra’s CTO Hugh Bradlow, eHealth policy and engagement advisor at the Victorian Department of Health Peter Williams and Kathy Coultas from the Department of Business […]

Cross-Tasman collaboration for clinical communities

30 October 2012

This article first appeared in the October 2012 edition of Pulse+IT Magazine. Australian company EpiSoft has developed a software platform that is being used by a network of specialist clinicians in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore to improve the management of patients with inflammatory bowel diseases. Called IBD.Net, the network is one of several clinical […]

Next challenge for eHealth is acute: CSC

29 October 2012

CSC’s Healthcare group is currently working on the final conformance tests for the interface to the PCEHR for its practiX general practice management software, and is now turning its focus on getting the acute care sector up to speed. CSC, which bought the GP and hospital software assets off iSOFT last year, has recently been […]

SimDay adds wristband printing, pre-admission module

29 October 2012

Advanced Computer Software Supplies (ACSS) has partnered with Zebra Technologies to integrate specialised printers that can automatically print patient wristbands that comply with national standards, and is also working on a pre-admission module for its SimDay private and day hospital patient management system. Integration with Zebra will mean wristbands can be generated directly from the […]

Medical-grade network for Lifehouse

26 October 2012

The new integrated cancer centre being built at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital will install a medical-grade network to allow clinicians to access patient information at any time through wireless-enabled and remote-ready applications and devices. The Chris O’Brien Lifehouse at RPA – known as Lifehouse – is due to open in mid-2013 and has chosen […]

Private payers may step up for telehealth: experts

25 October 2012

The cuts to the MBS telehealth scheme announced in Monday’s mid-year economic and fiscal outlook are disappointing and will probably slow the momentum of the rollout of telehealth provision, advocates say, but some remain positive about its future. The federal government has clarified which metropolitan areas will lose eligibility for the MBS telehealth item numbers, […]

GP advocates funded to spread the PCEHR word

25 October 2012

The federal government will fund 30 “GP clinical peer advocates” to encourage uptake of the PCEHR among the general practice community as part of a $2.25 million grant announced today. Health Minister Tanya Plibersek told the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ annual conference on the Gold Coast that the college would undertake three programs […]

Jenny O’Neill heads up MSIA

24 October 2012

EpiSoft’s director of business development Jenny O’Neill has been elected president of the Medical Software Industry Association (MSIA), the first woman to hold the position. Ms O’Neill takes over from Smart Health Solutions’ Jon Hughes, who was elected the new treasurer. The new secretary is Emma Hossack, CEO of Extensia. Together they make up the […]

Medical One and Zedmed upload first document to PCEHR

23 October 2012

A doctor at Victorian-based medical centre group Medical One has uploaded the first clinical document directly from a practice management system to an individual’s PCEHR. Medical One, which has nine centres in Victoria and one in South Australia, uses Zedmed’s clinical and practice management system throughout its operations. Its founders and owners, Peter Stratmann and […]

Govt cuts telehealth MBS items for urban areas

22 October 2012

GPs and specialists will no longer be able to claim MBS telehealth item numbers for outer metropolitan areas in the new year following cuts to the program announced in today’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook papers. The item numbers will only apply to services for patients of an Aboriginal Medical Service or a residential aged […]

NEHTA terminates NASH contract with IBM

22 October 2012

The National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) has confirmed it has cancelled its $23.6 million contract with IBM to build the authentication service for the PCEHR system. IBM won the contract to build the National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) in March 2011. It promised to create a security and access management system to enable healthcare […]

ePIP registers begin to populate

22 October 2012

The four registers listing which software products have passed conformance tests and meet the requirements for the eHealth Practice Incentive Program (ePIP) are beginning to be populated. General practices wishing to apply for payments under the ePIP must fulfil five requirements with their software, including interfaces with the Healthcare Identifier (HI) Service, secure messaging delivery […]

Electronic prescription exchanges to be connected within months

18 October 2012

GPs and pharmacists will soon be able to send and receive electronic prescriptions from either eRx Script Exchange or MediSecure Script Vault following an agreement between the two vendors to allow interoperability. In what will be seen as a major breakthrough for eHealth in Australia, it is understood that the two vendors have been working […]

HCN prepares for PCEHR connectivity as users adopt eHealth

18 October 2012

Medical Director will have full interface capability with the PCEHR in advance of the deadline to qualify for the eHealth Practice Incentives Program (ePIP), according to Health Communication Network (HCN). HCN CEO John Frost said Medical Director would have full PCEHR connectivity in place for users well before the May 2013 deadline. The company has […]

AARNet enters the health domain

17 October 2012

The AARNet high-speed internet service for Australia’s education and research sector will provide staff and students from the University of Queensland with access to its eduroam service at major Queensland hospitals. The eduroam service provides secure international roaming for Australian university students and staff visiting participating universities and institutions across the country and around the […]

Summer school for health informatics

15 October 2012

The University of Western Sydney is holding the third in its annual health informatics summer school series next February. The summer school consists of short courses in the week of February 4 to 8, 2013, each held as a full-day intensive workshop session. The morning session will provide an introduction to the topic while the […]

The birth of ELIoT

15 October 2012

This article first appeared in the October 2012 edition of Pulse+IT Magazine. Many health organisations refrain from developing in-house applications and purchase established applications off the shelf. The Eastern Load Interface Tool (ELIoT) is an excellent example of a small application developed at Eastern Health that has positively changed the workflow of many staff. Background […]

Cautious approval for ePIP from medical groups

15 October 2012

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and the Australian Medical Association (AMA) have given a cautiously positive response to the new requirements recently announced for the eHealth Practice Incentives Program (ePIP), saying that while the incentives are welcome, there are still some issues to be ironed out. Mike Civil, eHealth spokesman for the […]

Medicare Local hubs to get $600,000 for PCEHR uptake

11 October 2012

The Department of Health and Ageing has issued an invitation to apply (ITA) for funding to Medicare Locals to act as ‘support hubs’ to increase the adoption of the PCEHR. The successful bidders will work with clusters of other Medicare Locals (MLs) to deliver training and advice to general practices, community pharmacies, allied health professionals […]

iExaminer puts the eye on iPhone

11 October 2012

Medical device manufacturer Welch Allyn has released an adapter and app that allows users of its PanOptic ophthalmoscope to capture, store and email retinal images using their iPhone 4. The PanOptic is a portable ophthalmoscope that gives a wider view of the retinal area, or fundus, than normal devices. It is mainly marketed at GPs […]

Lync links to Skype, but not for video yet

10 October 2012

The forthcoming release of a major new version of Microsoft’s Lync unified communications software will see it “federated” with the Skype voice and video conferencing service that is popularly used for telehealth provision in Australia. While Microsoft has not disclosed a specific date for the release of Lync 2013, it did release a preview in […]

DVA looks to link up with PCEHR

9 October 2012

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) will hold a formal briefing in Canberra tomorrow for software vendors looking to bid for its Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service management information system (VMIS) replacement project. The DVA is replacing its current system with a web-based solution that interacts with the PCEHR. The tender calls for a […]

Customised app gives a view of problem veins

8 October 2012

Melbourne-based vascular surgeon Gary Frydman has launched an app for his patients containing pre- and post-operative information for the management of varicose veins. The app allows the patient to take a photo of the problem area if they have follow-up questions and upload them to a secure patient gateway, where Mr Frydman can then view […]

Australasian telehealth celebrates its coming of age

8 October 2012

This article first appeared in the October 2012 edition of Pulse+IT Magazine. The injection of funds into local telehealth provision through the MBS telehealth item numbers and the NBN-enabled telehealth pilots program means the more widespread adoption of telehealth in Australia is beginning to take shape. The potential of these initiatives, and the strategic directions […]

Stat Health integrates SMS, prepares for IHIs

8 October 2012

Stat Health is currently beta testing the integration of the SMS service from SMS Central into its clinical and practice management software. Users will be able to choose between a dedicated or shared number for the service, with the dedicated number costing a one-off set-up fee and $25 per month rental, Stat Health CEO Carla […]

InterSystems positions HealthShare for connectivity

4 October 2012

InterSystems will release an upgrade of its HealthShare strategic integration platform this month, featuring a number of embedded international standards designed to encourage its use to connect to regional and national eHealth initiatives such as the PCEHR. InterSystems’ group commercial director Steve Garrington said the company had spent the last year working with existing customers […]

Strategies to improve medicines management at home

4 October 2012

A new research project looking at how to reduce demands on the community aged care workforce while also improving the safety of medication use will investigate a range of strategies, including the potential use of new technologies. The project, part of a number that will share in $10.2 million in funding announced by the federal […]

ePIP product register goes live

3 October 2012

The National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) has launched an online PIP eHealth Product Register to allow clinical software vendors to register their products as conforming with the five requirements for the new eHealth Practice Incentives Program (ePIP). Practices intending to apply for ePIP payments from February 2013 can check the register to ensure their clinical […]

Victoria aims for more open ICT strategy

2 October 2012

The newly formed Victorian Information and Communications Technology Advisory Committee (VITAC) has released a draft strategy (PDF) describing how the state government should manage and use ICT to better provide government services. The strategy recommends that the government engage more closely with the ICT sector and move away from customised products in favour of existing […]

Customer feedback for apps on the go

2 October 2012

Health insurer Medibank has released details of recent research into how its customers are using its mobile applications. A few surprises have emerged, including a tendency for users of its Symptom Checker app to spend time late in the evening browsing different symptoms and disease states. Medibank also offers a free Energy Balancer app, which […]

Where to for telehealth?

28 September 2012

Describing what’s needed for telehealth as the “eHarmony for eHealth” is certainly one way of getting people talking, and that’s exactly what the RACGP’s eHealth manager Judy Evans did after the recent Australian Telehealth Conference. Chris Ryan, principal telehealth consultant at Attend Anywhere and part of the steering commitee of the conference, said the description […]

Zedmed ready to roll with PCEHR-compatible software

27 September 2012

Clinical software company Zedmed has achieved its conformance certificate to interface with the PCEHR and is gearing up to roll the capability out to the practices of early adopters shortly. Zedmed received notification that it had passed its Conformance, Compliance and Accreditation (CCA) certificate to both view the PCEHR and to upload shared health summaries […]

What GPs will need for the ePIP

25 September 2012

The National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) will establish an eHealth product register to allow practices to check whether their software adheres to the new requirements of the eHealth Practice Incentive Program (ePIP). Health Minister Tanya Plibersek issued a statement after the May budget saying the new ePIP requirements for general practices would include secure messaging, […]

ACT My eHealth portal to target chronic care

24 September 2012

The ACT’s My eHealth portal, launched recently by Chief Minister Katy Gallagher, is part of a plan to provide consumers with improved interactions with the ACT Government Health Directorate and will provide secure online access to appointment information, appointment notifications and referral renewal reminders as well as discharge summaries. The My eHealth trial is a […]

Emergency app a win for St John Ambulance

24 September 2012

St John Ambulance NSW has won the Vodafone Foundation’s 48-hour App Aid event for its app to assist volunteers to access patient treatment guidelines in an emergency. The App Aid competition involved 10 charity teams building their app in 48 hours and presenting to a judging panel. The Vodafone Foundation will make a $30,000 donation […]

Implementing the PCEHR from the bottom up

21 September 2012

Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) Australia is planning a seminar for healthcare service providers and health IT vendors to discuss how to use IHE’s cross enterprise document sharing profile XDS. IHE-XDS integrates standard workflows and eHealth communication standards to support patient health record exchange and other health communication. The seminar, to be held at the […]

HTR to hook up aged care to the PCEHR

21 September 2012

Cloud-based electronic health record vendor HTR has officially launched its Telhealth clinical information solution and is working with a large aged care provider to connect it to the PCEHR. HTR, which provides a number of custom solutions for the healthcare industry, formally launched Telhealth at the Health Informatics Conference (HIC) in Sydney last month. It […]

ABF and PCEHR on the agenda at HIMAA 2012

20 September 2012

This article first appeared in the August 2012 edition of Pulse+IT Magazine. The introduction of activity-based funding (ABF) and the PCEHR are high on the agenda at the 2012 Health Information Management Association of Australia (HIMAA) conference, being held on the Gold Coast next month. For the first time, there will also be a clinical […]

Canterbury GPs to get free text messaging system

17 September 2012

General practices in New Zealand’s Canterbury region are being offered a free installation of Vensa Health’s TXT2Remind messaging system, funded by the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB). Approximately 40 per cent of practices in Canterbury already use the system, which allows GPs to deliver appointment, screening and immunisation reminders as well as key health messages […]

NHSD to develop endpoint location, telehealth directories

17 September 2012

The recently launched National Health Services Directory (NHSD) will include the ability to hold endpoint location service (ELS) information for secure messaging by the middle of next year. The NHSD, developed and managed by the National Health Call Centre Network (NHCCN), is a shared infrastructure project that aims to provide one all-encompassing directory for consumers […]

MSIA: Software standards and eHealth

17 September 2012

This article first appeared in the August 2012 edition of Pulse+IT Magazine. In the last few months there have been a number of significant, and for the standards community at least, exciting, developments in the health software standards arena. Software standards in general and eHealth software standards in particular provide a methodology and governance framework […]

Medtech Global to launch patient portal, PCEHR functionality in v9

13 September 2012

Medtech Global is in beta testing for a major upgrade of its Medtech32 clinical information system, which will feature the company’s ManageMyHealth patient portal along with new PCEHR capabilities. The ManageMyHealth portal is one of the company’s flagship products, chief technology officer Rama Kumble said, allowing patients to book appointments online, receive email or SMS […]

Specialist letters go electronic in south-east Melbourne

13 September 2012

A pilot project to increase the use of electronic messaging to send specialist letters to GPs from Southern Health Outpatients clinics has seen electronic distribution grow from zero to around 30 per cent over the last year. The project, which began in September 2011 and initially involved 15 general practices, has now become part of […]

HISA: Workforce demands and health informatics professionals

13 September 2012

This article first appeared in the August 2012 edition of Pulse+IT Magazine. Of the 482 unique job titles that HIC2012 delegates listed as their occupation, 19 of them had the term informatics in them. Amongst them were academic titles, clinical roles and some managerial titles. Is this good enough in raising the profile of our […]

Guest editorial: the critical importance of messaging quality

12 September 2012

This article first appeared in the August 2012 edition of Pulse+IT Magazine. Having recently discovered deficiencies in some implementations of clinical messaging in electronic medical record systems, an initiative to improve the quality of such functionality – particularly HL7 message acknowledgements – is being launched by HealthLink. There is a great deal of focus on […]

Patient’s shared health summary uploaded to PCEHR

11 September 2012

Well-known Sydney GP Raymond Seidler has uploaded a patient’s clinical document to the PCEHR as part of the St Vincents & Mater Health Sydney Wave 2 project. Following last week’s announcement that a doctor at Inala Primary Care in Brisbane had uploaded a shared health summary belonging to the CEO of software vendor Health Industry […]

ACT launches consumer eHealth portal

11 September 2012

The ACT has launched a pilot scheme to provide Canberra residents with a portal to access their health information online, which will be integrated with the PCEHR. The My eHealth system has been designed using Orion Health’s consumer portal technology and will allow users to view and update their personal demographic information, view and print […]

Guest editorial: Collaborative care: come together, right now

11 September 2012

This article first appeared in the August 2012 edition of Pulse+IT Magazine. Every major conference has a series of themes, but hidden among them are the unexpected jewels that can often be transformative. At HISA’s Health Informatics Conference 2012 (HIC2012) there were a number, covering a great deal more than just the PCEHR. Three major […]

Guest editorial: national eHealth record systems – the Singapore experience

10 September 2012

This article first appeared in the August 2012 edition of Pulse+IT Magazine. Singapore went live with its National Electronic Health Record (NEHR) on schedule on July 1, 2011. This article documents Singapore’s eHealth journey up to then and beyond, and highlights the lessons that other countries, including Australia, can learn. First, some context. Singapore is […]

“Qualified” support for PCEHR: MDA National

6 September 2012

Medical defence organisation MDA National has given its “qualified support” to the PCEHR, saying the medico-legal concerns that were seen as a barrier to doctors’ participation in the system had been appropriately addressed. In an article in the Medical Forum WA magazine, MDA National president Julian Rait said while the organisation and other doctors’ groups […]

Patient Connect to expand remote health monitoring service

5 September 2012

Remote health monitoring provider Patient Connect is working with secure messaging companies to expand the use of HL7 messaging when coupled with remote vital sign management, and is also expanding its service throughout south-east Queensland and the greater Sydney region. Patient Connect provides 24/7 monitored medical alarms and Bluetooth-enabled individual home health monitoring for people […]

Motion upgrades C5t tablet

5 September 2012

Motion Computing has released a new version of its C5t tablet PC for point of care use, featuring extended battery life and next generation Intel Core processors. The tablet comes standard with Microsoft Windows 7 Professional and will be eligible for a Windows 8 upgrade when it is released in October. They are available with […]

HL7 to offer its standards for free

5 September 2012

HL7 International has announced it will make much of its intellectual property, including its widely used V2.x, V3 and CDA interoperability standards, free under licence to the international healthcare community. In what is being touted as one of the most important breakthroughs in interoperability in a decade, the global healthcare standards-making body said it will […]

First clinical document uploaded to PCEHR

4 September 2012

A doctor in Brisbane’s western suburbs is the first person to upload a clinical document to the national PCEHR, using Health Industry Exchange’s (HIE) Companion application in conjunction with Best Practice clinical software. Dr Suzanne Williams of Inala Primary Care uploaded a shared health summary to the PCEHR of Brett Silvester, CEO of HIE. The […]

Emerging Systems completes interface to PCEHR

4 September 2012

Clinical software vendor Emerging Systems has successfully achieved its Notice of Connection (NOC) with the PCEHR infrastructure, and has also completed testing for NEHTA’s Certification, Compliance and Accreditation (CCA) program for packaging and rendering electronic documents and interfacing with the PCEHR. Emerging Systems is thought to be the first hospital software vendor to go through […]

DocAppointments to release app for Android

4 September 2012

Online doctor appointments provider DocAppointments.com.au will officially launch its new Android application at the GP Conference and Exhibition (GPCE) in Brisbane this month. The Android app is in addition to the free iPhone and iPad app released six months ago. The apps enable patients to book an appointment with their doctor through their mobile phone […]

Doctor-shopping service not new: DHS

3 September 2012

The prescription shopping hotline run by the Department of Human Services (DHS) has not recently been extended and is different to the Electronic Recording and Reporting of Controlled Drugs (ERRCD) initiative launched earlier this year. Contrary to several media reports last week, the DHS’s prescription shopping program, which offers a Prescription Shopping Information Service (PSIS) […]

Interim NASH certificates available for PCEHR access

31 August 2012

Healthcare providers who are registered with the Healthcare Identifier (HI) Service can now apply for an interim National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) certificate and begin viewing their patients’ personally controlled electronic health records. As reported by Pulse+IT last week, interim NASH tokens are being posted to healthcare providers and organisations who have registered for […]

Complex role for radiology in the PCEHR

30 August 2012

The Australian Diagnostic Imaging Association (ADIA) is urging the federal government not to conflate radiology with pathology when formulating standards and specifications for their involvement in the PCEHR simply because they are both focused on diagnosis. The challenging question of how to integrate diagnostic imaging with the PCEHR and with Australia’s broader eHealth agenda will […]

PSR seeks to streamline data extraction

30 August 2012

The Professional Services Review (PSR) agency has issued a statement of requirement looking for a vendor who can provide clinical data extraction software to speed up the lengthy process of extracting patient records for review. The PSR, which has the power to review cases of practitioner claiming and prescribing under the MBS and the PBS, […]

Blood glucose measurements sent via app

29 August 2012

Pharmaceutical company Sanofi Australia has launched a blood glucose meter with a free app that allows people with diabetes to store and monitor their results on an iPhone or iPod Touch and email the results to healthcare providers or carers. Called iBGStar, the blood glucose meter can act as a stand-alone device but also provides […]

iCare to develop aged and community care solution, integrate with PCEHR

28 August 2012

Aged care clinical software vendor iCare has acquired UK-based community and home care specialist h.e.t. Software, with plans to integrate the two technologies to provide one solution for aged care providers active in both the residential and community care sectors. iCare is also rolling out version 2.10 of its clinical, care and medication management software, […]

National CDA specification for obstetric information under development

28 August 2012

Queensland’s Mater Health Services is continuing the development of its shared electronic pregnancy health record and is currently completing a transitional contract with NEHTA that will help formalise a national Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) specification for obstetric information. Mater’s Shared Electronic Health Record (EHR) for maternity patients is one of the projects funded under the […]

Genie to go mobile for smart devices, readies for PCEHR

27 August 2012

Clinical and practice management software vendor Genie Solutions is developing a mobile app for both smartphone and iPad/iPhone users to remotely access patient files. The app will allow users to connect back to the practice server wherever they are, with the ability to both read and write information, Genie’s managing director, Paul Carr, said. “You’ll […]

Plibersek gives way on pay for PCEHR

22 August 2012

The federal government has acceded to the demands of doctors’ groups to be adequately remunerated for work on the PCEHR, announcing at a function in Canberra this evening that doctors can count time spent on a patient’s PCEHR towards the total time of the consultation. The government had previously stated that doctors could only claim […]

iPad next stop for ClinicalKey

22 August 2012

Medical and scientific publishing company Elsevier is planning to release an iPad-optimised version of its recently launched ClinicalKey online search engine. The Australian version of ClinicalKey includes local content including Australian brand and generic drug names as well as additional terms from the SNOMED CT Australian release and the Australian Medicines Terminology (AMT), under licence […]

Complete national infrastructure for PCEHR now implemented: DoHA

21 August 2012

The Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) has announced that “the complete national infrastructure for PCEHR has now been implemented”. Components of the system not available at its initial launch in early July including healthcare provider PCEHR registration, the healthcare provider portal, MBS and PBS claim information, immunisation records and organ donor registration details are […]

Dentists get training in full 3D

21 August 2012

The Australian Dental Association (ADA) is trialling a high-definition video conferencing system (HDVC) that will enable practitioners undergoing training to study procedures live and in 3D. The ADA’s Centre for Professional Development in Sydney’s St Leonards has installed Panasonic’s new 3D HDVC to demonstrate the practicalities of streaming 3D content as part of dental and […]

Medical Director opens up to third-party apps

21 August 2012

Health Communication Network (HCN) has launched an integration framework that will allow third-party developers of medical apps and widgets to integrate directly with Medical Director, Australia’s market leading clinical software. Widgets that are approved for use with Medical Director will be available to users in a Widget store, similar to Apple’s App Store, through which […]

Medicare details added to PCEHR

20 August 2012

Details of Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) history as well as organ donor registry status have been added to the PCEHR. As reported by Pulse+IT last month, a new wave of functionality is being prepared for August, with MBS, PBS, organ donor and childhood immunisation details available. MBS, PBS and organ […]

cdmNet to go national with collaborative care plan

17 August 2012

A pilot project to evaluate the effectiveness of collaborative care for chronic disease using Precedence Health Care’s cdmNet web-based technology has been declared a success and will now be offered nationally. The Collaborative Care Cluster Australia (CCCA) project has been trialling cdmNet as a platform to improve chronic disease management in a number of healthcare […]

TWEQ connects client management to healthcare system

17 August 2012

Victorian-based early childhood and parenting centres QEC and Tweddle have completed a rollout of a new client and clinical management system based on HSAGlobal’s CCMS platform. The two organisations, which provide a range of residential and community-based nursing and support services to parents and families in Victoria, have replaced a number of different systems with […]

Houston Medical integrates with MedSpeech voice recognition

17 August 2012

Houston Medical has integrated Speech Solutions’ MedSpeech voice recognition and dictation system into its VIP.net practice management software. MedSpeech is a cloud-based platform that allows users to dictate patient notes or letters to be converted straight to text. It has also been integrated into Genie Solutions’ software and HCN’s Blue Chip. Houston Medical’s managing director, […]

GP Psych Support gets a makeover

16 August 2012

The RACGP’s GP Psych Support online advisory service has added improved usability features and a simple registration process using QI&CPD website login details in a recent revamp. GP Psych Support is an advisory service for GPs needing specialist guidance from a psychiatrist within 24 hours to manage the mental health issues of patients in their […]

CPOE could signal last orders for unread test results

15 August 2012

Almost half of all test results ordered on the day of discharge from hospital are not reviewed, even when using a computerised test-reporting system, new Australian research shows. In a study of a 370-bed metropolitan teaching hospital that used such a system, researchers from the Centre for Health Informatics at the Australian Institute of Health […]

Shexie to roll out PCEHR-compatible version

14 August 2012

Clinical and practice management software provider Shexie is undertaking an overhaul of its product, adding PCEHR capability, SMD standards and a new server database. Shexie, which is used mainly by surgeons and specialists, along with a few GP and day surgery sites, is swapping over to a SQL Server database and rebuilding the underlying architecture […]

GP software heads for the cloud

14 August 2012

Sydney-based health IT firm REND Tech Associates has launched a new service offering general practice clinical and practice management software hosted in the cloud. REND Tech’s technical consultant Rob Khamas said the new service, Cloud for Health, would allow users of clinical software, including commonly used packages such as Medical Director and Best Practice, to […]

Drug-herb interactions added to eMIMS

13 August 2012

MIMS is offering a trial of a new complementary versus mainstream drug interactions module to subscribers of its eMIMS service. The information has been sourced from fully referenced, evidence-based data collected by professors Basil Roufogalis and Andrew McLachlan of the Herbal Medicines Research and Education Centre, part of the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Pharmacy. […]

DCP hits 100,000 mark for online test results

10 August 2012

A collaboration between Doctors Control Panel (DCP) software and the open source Wedgetail portal for the online distribution of routine test results to patients has chalked up the milestone of 100,000 results uploaded. The free service, designed by Melbourne GP Anton Knieriemen as an added extra to his DCP software, allows patients to view their […]

Automatic notification of test results: what doctors think

10 August 2012

Missed or delayed test results are a significant safety problem, particularly in ambulatory and emergency department settings, and ICT has been proposed as one way to help solve it. Patient empowerment is another, with several trials underway around the world being undertaken to study whether automatically notifying patients of abnormal results would encourage them to […]

ICPC-2 Plus takes SNOMED for a test drive

8 August 2012

The developers of the ICPC-2 PLUS general practice terminology have completed a test set of common general practice terms that has been mapped from the terminology to SNOMED CT AU for testing by software vendors in the Wave 2 sites for the implementation of the PCEHR. The Family Medicine Research Centre (FMRC) at the University […]

Medibank reveals details of healthbook uptake

6 August 2012

Health insurer Medibank has reported a pleasing uptake of its new healthbook personally controlled health record, with eight per cent of its target group using the new service regularly since its launch at the end of May. The development of healthbook was one of the projects funded by the federal government as part of the […]

Orion Health signs up as reseller for Caradigm

6 August 2012

Orion Health has signed a letter of intent to become a reseller and services provider for Caradigm, the joint venture between GE Healthcare and Microsoft formed last year. Orion Health will be able to resell Caradigm’s Amalga enterprise health intelligence platform, which aggregates electronic data from multiple sources into one repository, as well as Caradigm’s […]

NSW to go live with clinical repositories

3 August 2012

NSW Health will go live this month with three new clinical repositories it has been building as part of its work as a lead site for the implementation of the PCEHR. Part of ongoing work that NSW Health has badged as HealtheNet, the repositories include one for electronic discharge summaries, one for shared health summaries […]

HISA board, award winners announced at HIC2012

3 August 2012

The Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA) has named its new board members for the next two years along with the award winners from this week’s Health Informatics Conference (HIC2012), held in Sydney. Katerina Andronis was re-elected chair of the HISA board, along with David Hansen, who was re-elected secretary. The other board executives – […]

Deloitte maps health data with future projections

3 August 2012

Deloitte has launched a new online service allowing users to create localised maps of current disease prevalence and incidence, along with forward projections to 2050, to allow for better health services planning. Called HealthEdata, the site went live at 2pm on Wednesday, August 1, at the Health Informatics Conference (HIC2012) in Sydney. Deloitte’s lead partner […]

Mobile audit app for hand hygiene

2 August 2012

A mobile audit app based on the World Health Organisation’s 5 Moments of Hand Hygiene principles that was successfully trialled in two Sydney hospitals is now commercially available. Developed by Kimberly-Clark Professional and Visibility Solutions, the iCombat healthcare associated infections (HAIs) app has been designed for iPads and is aimed at capturing data about hand […]

PCEHR implementation to be slow and methodical: Halton

1 August 2012

NEHTA and the Department of Health and Ageing will roll out the PCEHR in a slow, careful and methodical way with further functionality to be added later this month, DoHA secretary Jane Halton told the Health Informatics Conference (HIC2012) yesterday. Ms Halton reiterated the department’s and the federal government’s intention to aim for consumer registration […]

Health Informatics postgraduate student gathering

31 July 2012

The inaugural ‘Health Informatics postgraduate student gathering’ will be held this evening during the HIC2012 Networking Reception, providing Health Informatics students, colleagues and mentors with an opportunity to network in a social setting. Short speeches will be given by Prof. Anthony Maeder, Dr. Louise Schaper and Prof. Enrico Coiera, with the gathering to commence at […]

The fear factor: dispelling myths about BYOD

30 July 2012

Consulting firm Deloitte has released a report dispelling what it says are the top 12 myths about technology use in digital hospitals now and in the future. Officially released at today’s Digital Hospital Design conference, part of the Health Informatics Conference (HIC2012) being held in Sydney this week, the Untangling the Truth report dismisses some […]

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