Aussie e-Health a step closer
July 8, 2011
HEALTH minister Nicola Roxon has
appointed a consortium to drive
“National Change and Adoption” of
electronic health records in
Australia, saying the move is a key
milestone in the development of
the country’s e-health system.
The group is headed by consulting
firm McKinsey and Company, and
will “help educate and support the
training and information needs of
the health workforce who will use
the system,” said Roxon.
“The consortium will plan, design
and develop training, guidance and
tools in collaboration with clinicians
and software providers,” she added.
There is now less than a year until
the 01 Jul 2012 deadline for
Australians to be able to choose to
have a personal eHealth record,
which Roxon said would give
individuals a “level of control over
their health information never
previously available”.
The implementation contract is
worth almost $30 million, with
other members of the consortium
including PricewaterhouseCoopers,
Hill & Knowlton, Workstar, Event
Planet, Ocean Informatics, Alfred
Health, Salmat and the Australian
General Practice Network.
MEANWHILE a new issues paper
on the legislation governing the
Personally Controlled Electronic
Health Record (PCEHR) was
released for consultation yesterday.
The document canvasses a range
of measures around the scheme to
particularly focus on safeguarding
personal health information.
“People need to have confidence
in the safety and security of their
medical information, and strong
legislation will be at the heart of
this protective framework,” said
Minister Roxon.
The issues paper can be viewed at
www.yourhealth.gov.au, and
submissions will be accepted until
5pm on Wed 03 Aug.
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