Nine small health IT projects have received $70 million in funding, as Health Minister Nicola Roxon picks up the pace on the e-health record program.
The projects, announced in March, had to undergo a second round of bidding before receiving funds under the PCEHR (personally controlled electronic record program) "second-wave" initiative. Originally, up to $55m was allocated for the program.
Most of the money has gone to well-established state government projects: NSW Health, trading as Health Administration Corp, pocketed almost $15m; Northern Territory $12.8m; and Tasmania $3.5m.
In NSW, the Greater Western Sydney e-Health Consortium is focused on high-priority consumer groups. Its project includes secure messaging, electronic referrals and a medical imaging repository.
NT Health will expand access to its shared record system in remote areas, linking with six West Australian hospitals located in the Kimberley as well as with Aborigine-controlled health services in South Australia.
In Tasmania, North West Area Health is focused on information-sharing between specialists and nursing staff in aged and palliative care, testing existing e-health services against new national PCEHR standards.
The Pharmacy Guild-controlled FRED IT received $7.9m for its MedView medication management project, based around Geelong.
In a pharmacy first, the aim is to allow doctors to see a combined list of prescribed and dispensed medications, no matter how many doctors or pharmacies a patient has attended.
Government-owned insurer Medibank Private was paid $7.5m to produce an online personal health diary for members.
Initially involving those enrolled in Medibank's chronic disease programs, Health Book will combine medical records with a diary for personal notes and reminders.
Mater Health Services in Brisbane was granted $7.1m to develop electronic records for mothers and newborns in its maternity department, while St Vincent's and Mater Health in Sydney received $6.25m to work on communication capabilities between the hospitals and local GPs.
Calvary Health Care in the ACT was granted $5.6m for its information-sharing trials in aged care and palliative care settings.
And the Brisbane South division of GPs received $4.5m to align with the work being done by GP Partners at the Brisbane lead site.
GP Partners, GP Access in the NSW Hunter Valley and Melbourne East have each received $4.8m to implement healthcare identifiers and other systems to support the planned introduction of PCEHRs in July next year.
Meanwhile, the National E-Health Transition Authority has been paid a further $525,000 to provide assistance to the three lead sites, topping up its $38.5m contract for the work for the six months to the end of June.
And NEHTA has received $580,000 to trial the clinical Emergency Department Reference Set in three locations over the next year.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Karen Dearne
Quelle/Source: Australian IT, 09.08.2011
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