According to Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, a general practitioner and national clinical lead for Nehta; “The need for incentivisation is a given and was in the business case for COAG”. While this week’s Federal Budget did not allocate additional funds to pay doctors to update their IT systems, it didn’t strip money away from the e-health programme either, which has already been funded to the tune of $467 million.
Asked where the financial incentives could come from Dr Haikerwal told iTWire; “Some can come from the $467 million or from other appropriations.” Nehta will have to move quick smart to get an incentive programme up, as the $467 million allocated thus far is supposed to be used by June 2012.
Speaking at an Australian Information Industry Association healthcare briefing in Sydney today, Dr Haikerwal was part of a panel discussion examining the PCEHR, and the preparedness both of the health sector and ICT industry to implement and use the records.
Bruce Pederson, consulting director for the Checkley Group, said that to date NSW was the furthest along in terms of implementing health IT systems.
But Adam Powick, managing partner at Deloitte warned that there was still a long road ahead and that; “There is no industry with a greater need for new IT than health which is 20-30 years behind other sectors.” He said that to date; “Providers have found it easier to spend money on everything but IT.”
That however may be changing. A report released this week by Ovum found that 42 per cent of Australian hospital CIOs will increase spending on IT this year – 22 per cent significantly increasing their IT budgets.
Dr Haikerwal told attendees at the AIIA event that Australia had; “Never been in a better place than we are today. There have been a number of false starts but we are not at a point where we can deliver what we have wanted to for decades.
“The fact that it wasn’t struck from the Budget…means that IT can increase its fire power in the e-health space”
But he acknowledged that the timelines demanded by the Government, in terms of the Stage One and Stage Two trials now selected were tough and the stakes were high.
Mr Powick noted that “If we fail it will drive cynicism and lead to the continued fragmentation of the health system.”
Hanging like a sword of Damocles over Australia’s adventures in e-health is the UK experience. There a £13 billion project to install the iSoft developed Lorenzo system is by some estimates running five years behind schedule and has yet failed to deliver the benefits and savings anticipated.
Dr Haikerwal said that the biggest lesson from the British experience was the mistake of uncoupling GPs from the e-health initiative.
He said that in Australia 98 per cent of GPs now had some form of clinical IT systems, and given that 89 per cent of people saw their GP at least once a year, it was important GPs remained a cornerstone of the PCEHR and e-health initiatives. Hence the need for incentives to ensure they participated early and fully.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Beverley Head
Quelle/Source: iTWire, 12.05.2011
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