PSA Calls For Accelerated Implementation Of E-Health, Australia

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 17 Aug 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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A suggestion that the implementation of e-health infrastructure across Australia be funded from the Health and Hospitals Fund has been supported by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.

Chairman of the Health and Hospitals Fund's advisory board, Bill Ferris, was reported as saying the country's e-health ambitions could be funded form the remaining $1.8 billion in the Health and Hospitals Fund.

President of the PSA, Warwick Plunkett, said it was essential that the introduction of an e-health system in Australia be fast-tracked.

"The PSA strongly supports an accelerated timetable for the implementation of e-health initiatives such as electronic prescribing and electronic health records and believes that the 10-year horizon envisaged by the National E-Health Strategy is far too long," Mr Plunkett said.

"We know that e-health initiatives have the potential to make our health system safer and more efficient, we know that the technology works, we know that privacy can be protected, so what is holding Australia back?"

Mr Plunkett said the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed more than three years ago to a national approach to developing, implementing and operating systems for individual and health-care provider identifiers as part of accelerating work on electronic health records to improve the safety of patients and improve efficiency for health-care providers.

"However, while work on the individual identifiers is finally underway, we are yet to see any agreement from Health Ministers or COAG on the adoption of electronic health records," Mr Plunkett said. "Indeed, even if the recommendation in the final report of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission for the introduction of personal electronic health records by 2012 is actually adopted, this would still be a full six years after COAG's 2006 agreement.

"Discussions on national uniformity around health privacy have been underway between governments since at least 2000 and we still appear to be no closer to resolving jurisdictional differences.

"It is time to stop delaying and start acting."

Source
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia

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