Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Enhancing healthcare

By Mukesh Haikerwal - posted Tuesday, 10 November 2009


A commissioner with the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission and an executive councillor with the World Medical Association, I have been a Melbourne general practitioner for more than 20 years and am also a former Australian Medical Association President.

My role with NEHTA is to ensure that the “health” is put firmly back into e-health, ensuring that the e-health developments are clinically relevant and meaningful and that they are safe and do work. We have to show benefits from the use of this new technology that supports and enhances clinical method - not replaces it!

E-health systems are already in use across Australia. To maximise the benefits and for the future, we should have a truly national system operating to the highest standards of safety and security, a focus of NEHTA’s work is to develop the specifications that will underpin a national e-health system.

Advertisement

Healthcare patients need to see information relating to their healthcare managed in such a way that there is no risk to their care, confidentiality or safety due to mismanagement of health records or poor systems. NEHTA’s work is helping to achieve this.

The information that will be exchanged electronically across the healthcare sector includes discharge summaries and referrals, pathology and radiology requests and reports, prescriptions and patient medication histories. There are benefits too from use of clinical decision-support information and patient self-care options.

Defining a set of secure messaging protocols for e-health will ensure that data exchanged between healthcare providers remain just that - secure but also accurate.

A requirement for a safe and secure e-health system is the ability to uniquely identify everyone involved in a single healthcare transaction.

In March this year the Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council (AHMAC), announced that all Australians will be allocated an Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI) number for healthcare purposes. NEHTA has contracted Medicare Australia to develop a new service to provide identifiers for patients and healthcare providers. An IHI is a unique 16-digit identifier that will be assigned to all Australian residents and others accessing healthcare in Australia. The IHIs will enable important health information about a patient to be more readily and securely linked with other information about that patient. IHIs will be available for use midway through 2010.

To ensure that only the right authorised person can access the information the National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) will provide the first nationwide authentication service for healthcare organisations in Australia.

Advertisement

Having an e-health system that uses a “common language” which can be interpreted accurately is critical for patient safety. The “common language” is SNOMED CT (Systematised Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms). NEHTA is customising SNOMED for the Australian healthcare environment by developing supplementary terminologies for clinical concepts and conditions unique to Australia, recognising nomenclature systems currently in use.

To achieve a national interoperable e-health system vendors and healthcare providers require certification to be a part of the system. This brings with it surety for system designers and those that purchase and use them that the system is fit for task, will communicate with other systems and that the data stored and exchanged maintains safety, quality, accuracy and confidentiality.

Compliance ensures e-health specifications have been met and leads to the correct use of relevant international standards. Compliance also relates to the adherence of an individual or organisation to regulatory requirements and standards. Conformance relates to how products and services accurately implement the National e-health specifications and standards. Accreditation is associated with the recognition that an organisation or person is competent to carry out a set of tasks or functions.

Through understanding the factors affecting patient safety and being able to demonstrate the benefits of e-health and the value that the electronic exchange of information can provide to improving patient safety, NEHTA’s work as the lead organisation supporting the national vision for e-health in Australia is positioned to help overcome the challenges facing our healthcare system.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. All

For further information on NEHTA’s work go to www.nehta.gov.au



Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

4 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Dr Mukesh Haikerwal is a practicing General Medical Practitioner, Commissioner to the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission and Professor in the School of Medicine in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia. He is currently working with the National e-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) as the National Clinical Lead, leading a team of healthcare providers from multi disciplinary backgrounds, to assist in NEHTA’s liaison with the healthcare community and to provide input into the development of the NEHTA work program to deliver e-health for Australia. He was also the former head of the Federal Australian Medical Association (AMA) that is responsible for national policy development, lobbying with federal parliamentarians, co-ordinating activity across the AMA State entities and representing the AMA and its members nationally and internationally.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Photo of Mukesh Haikerwal
Article Tools
Comment 4 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy