E-health deadline ‘problematic’
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) supports e-health records, but believes it will be “a few years before it is completely up and running”. AMA president, Dr Steve Hambleton, told a Senate hearing this Monday (6 February 2012) the government’s proposed deadline for the e-health records launch for all Australians by 1 July this year is “problematic”.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) supports e-health records, but believes it will be “a few years before it is completely up and running”.
AMA president, Dr Steve Hambleton, told a Senate hearing yesterday morning (Monday, 6 February 2012) the government’s proposed deadline for the e-health records launch for all Australians by 1 July this year is “problematic”.
Stating the unrealistic launch date will not give doctors the ability to “deliver on that day”, Dr Hambleton said “even if legislation is passed [and] framework is available, there are many, many practices that will simply not be able to communicate that piece of software”.
If the AMA wanted anything delivered by 1 July, Dr Hambleton said it would be the sharing of medication lists, which he believed would “halve the consultation time for many elderly patients”.
“It would reduce confusion among health practitioners that aren’t often aware of the different names for both original and generic medications,” he said.
He described sharing “up-to-date” medication lists as a ‘life-saver’, stating it would be important to ensure “we don’t prescribe things people are allergic and sensitive to”.
According to Dr Hambleton, many medical practices would also be concerned about their risks in terms of “recording who has access to the record and when”.
“The software around today don’t have the ability to do that.
“I think we need to reset expectations both in the profession and public, so we understand there’s not going to be a comprehensive personally controlled electronic health record available, or indeed accessible, by most software on that day,” he added.
