Under an ambitious timeline set by former health minister Nicola Roxon, the PCEHR system was supposed to begin operations nationwide from July 1.
But the Health Department has confirmed that only the "core participation and registration functionality" will be available on the launch date.
Although people may be able to register their interest from July 1, the first release will support only the 12 e-Health lead implementation sites for assessments.
This will be followed by completion of the national system "design and development of a transition plan for integration" with existing IT infrastructure, the Senate community affairs committee has been told. The full digital experience
The federal government is yet to commit to any further financial support for the PCEHR and other e-Health initiatives.
Forward budget allocations for e-Health programs drop from $433m this financial year to $35m in each of the next three years.
Healthcare organisations, medical providers and the software industry say there is little chance of the programs being viable without financial support.
"Industry needs some indication we'll be able to maintain a commercially viable e-Health sector in the long term," Medical Software Industry Association president Jon Hughes said.
"Neither the department nor the National E-Health Transition Authority have been able to describe credible funding arrangements that will be sustainable across consumers, healthcare providers and technology providers.''
Mr Hughes said healthcare providers were expected to spend time enrolling patients and contributing to their records, while vendors were expected to provide and maintain new and upgraded software that delivered all the capabilities of a national information-sharing system.
"When the system is fully functional, and that might be some time away, it is projected to save the commonwealth several billion dollars a year," he said.
"It is not unreasonable to expect the commonwealth to return a portion of those benefits to the sector that achieves the savings.
"The local healthcare sector needs a sustainable commercial model that pays healthcare professionals and their technology providers fair, modest fees for helping to build the nation's e-Health records and delivering better health outcomes."
Mr Hughes said there was an urgent need to manage the PCEHR program in a "much more measured manner".
The association has written to health officials and NEHTA suggesting the deferral of non-essential elements from the first release, to reduce the current pressure and allow time for "all the issues to be resolved".
The Australian reported last week that work on GP desktop systems had been stopped at trial sites after NEHTA found software vendors had been given wrong specifications for interfacing with the infrastructure.
According to the Australian Medical Association, the PCEHR will be "an empty promise" if doctors' software is not integrated with the national system.
"Without this essential infrastructure in place, it will be very difficult for medical practitioners to deliver the benefits to their patients that motivate this legislation," the AMA says in its submission to the Senate inquiry.
The association says it is essential providers are remunerated for creating and maintaining patients' shared health records.
It says the requirement to give the PCEHR system operator details about every occasion a patient's information is accessed, or face substantial penalties, imposes a heavy responsibility.
The Senate community affairs inquiry into the PCEHR bill is expected to hold a public hearing on Monday.
Infrastructure on schedule
HEALTH: The Accenture consortium is on track to complete its construction of the national infrastructure for Australia's $500 million personally controlled e-Health record system by the end of June, says Paul Madden, IT chief of the Department of Health.
"National implementation on July 1 means that all Australians who wish to do so will be able to register for a PCEHR that over time will gather more and more records, contributed by the health professionals who look after them," Mr Madden said.
"All the work you'd expect to make that a bulletproof and implementable system is under way, and that's where all our focus is poised."
He said the department was preparing to bring local health IT vendors up to speed and aid their integration of existing software into the PCEHR system.
---
Autor(en)/Author(s): Karen Dearne
Quelle/Source: Australian IT, 31.01.2012
Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:
