Ms Roxon told the Health-e-Nation conference in Canberra that the Federal Government was determined to build a connected, secure and efficient health system.
"We are building an e-health system now, because a future without it is unthinkable," she said.
"It is frustrating that in a sector where technology and research drive continual innovation in patient care, paper is still king. After a decade of doing our banking – and almost everything else – online, we're still carrying our x-rays under our arm, a script to the pharmacy, and the hospital can't send a discharge summary to the family GP."
The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia welcomed Ms Roxon's comments but said the Government needed to move quicker.
"The National E-Health Strategy has pointed to a 10-year implementation phase for the introduction of e-health in Australia which the PSA believes is just far too long and has the potential to endanger patient care," PSA president Warwick Plunkett said.
"We have to speed the process up so that reforms such as electronic prescriptions and electronic health records are available as soon as possible for the wellbeing of Australian consumers.
"There is little doubt that e-health initiatives will make our health-care system safer and more efficient and there is demonstrable proof that the technology is efficient and secure."
Mr Plunkett said the implementation of projects such as Medicare and the GST, which included privacy provisions and major IT capability, showed that with Government commitment, major undertakings could be introduced in as little as two years.
"There is no reason that e-health should be any different," Mr Plunkett said.
Ms Roxon said the Government had not been sitting on its hands but had been developing national legislation for a consistent approach to privacy across Australia and the roll-out of unique healthcare identifiers.
"By the middle of next year, all Australians will have been allocated a 16 digit Unique Healthcare Identifier," Ms Roxon said.
"So whilst progress may seem slow at times, there is still a lot of work being done outside the arena of the reform process, but complementary to it."
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia said it was ready to partner with Government in e-health, promising to deliver success as it did with PBS Online.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Simone Roberts
Quelle/Source: Pharmacy News, 24.08.2009
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