By April 30, it will require them to have, or have applied for, a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificate, as well as provide practitioners from the practice with access to key electronic clinical resources, the government information brochure states.
By 31 July, the program will also require them to have a secure messaging capability provided by an eligible supplier.
Whilst the makers of widely used medical software Medical Director 3 have confirmed their compliance with the criteria, other softwares manufacturers such as Best Practice which does not include messaging in its core product functionality, says it has been ‘rushed’.
CEO, Dr Frank Pyefinch, told 6minutes: “We knew nothing about this until about a week ago.
“The Department of Health has poorly outlined the process and has not made any mention of how it will fund the software companies in their development processes.”
Dr Pyefinch claimed that practices using Best Practice should not be worried about qualifying for PIPs (which to date, can be up to $50,000 per annum) as the software links to three other systems which include messaging – Argus, Healthlink and Medical Objects.
“I think these companies should be careful about what they sign up to,” he said.
Ehealth consultant Dr David More said the government was acting like ‘a bull at the gate’ in its handling of the issue. “The government do not even have the full standards in place yet, so how can they tell suppliers what to do?”
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Louise Durack
Quelle/Source: 6minutes, 20.03.2009
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