This appeared in the Daily Telegraph a day or so ago.
Taxpayers spent $1.7 billion on a health record doctors don�t use
Sue Dunlevy, National Health Reporter, News Corp Australia Network
January 18, 2018 10:44pm
Taxpayers have spent nearly $1.7 billion on an internet based My Health Record that doctors are refusing to use and which can�t be emailed or shared with digital health apps.
Every Australian will get a My Health Record in 2018 unless they opt out of the system but doctors are warning of major issues with its ease of use and fear patients don�t understand the privacy implications.
Five years after it was launched five million Australians have opted to set up a My Health Record.
However, fewer than one in twelve of Australia�s 31,000 medical specialists are registered to use the My Health Record and they still rely on GPs faxing them referral letters and patient information.
For the records to be useful, GPs have to upload a summary of a patient�s health condition, but this has happened in fewer than one in four cases.
The government has offered incentive payments to upload these summaries, but 1,440 GP practices had to repay this cash because they failed to meet the criteria.
Dr Rob Hosking the deputy chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners e-health committee supports the concept of a digital record but he questions who uses it.
�None of the hospitals my patients attend have access to the My Health Record,� he says.
None of the specialists he sends his patients to use the record either and he has to use a separate private secure messaging service to communicate with specialists because he can�t do it through the My Health Record, he says.
�It�s quicker to pick up the phone and call the pharmacists to find out what medicines the patient is on because the (My Health Record) user interface is difficult to use,� he said.
If doctors do put a shared health summary on a patient�s record there is no incentive or even reminder to update it if a new medicine is prescribed or if the patient develops a new health condition which means it could be out of date, Dr Hosking says.
The Australian Medical Association has also warned in its budget submission the record is plagued with problems.
�Problems uploading specialists� letters, poor search functionality, time-consuming adaptations to existing medical practitioner work practices, or inappropriate workarounds will erode clinical utility and deter doctor use � and, more importantly, take time away from focusing on the patient,� the submission says.
The problems with the record will reach a critical mass this year as the government switches from an opt in system and sets up a digital My Health Record for every Australian unless they opt out.
The Australian Digital Health Agency says there will be no television, radio or print advertising campaign to make Australians aware of the fact they are getting a digital health record or how they can opt out, instead patients will learn about it from social media and posters in doctor�s offices.
The AMA has told the government in its budget submission that doctors don�t have the time to educate the public about the new record.
�Doctors do not have time to talk their patients through the My Health Record arrangements for opt-out, privacy, setting access controls in standing consent for health providers to upload health information. This is the work of the government. Doctors must be allowed to focus on what they do best � caring for patients,� the submission says.
�Some Australians will be surprised to learn that a My Health Record has been created for them without their explicit consent,� the AMA says.
More here:
I have seen e-mails from the ADHA claiming this reports are inaccurate but I can see nothing here that is in any way in error or unfair.
To me there seems to be some serious clinician dissatisfaction with the way the myHR is going and to them the apparent uselessness of the system contrasted with the rather large cost. This is despite the Memorandums these organisations have signed with the ADHA and Government on usage etc.
See here:
Lack of clinician conviction that the myHR is a useful and valuable initiative is a pretty certain indicator of where the myHR is ultimately headed.
We all know the most certain way to have a Digital Health initiative fail is to not have the clinicians locked in and committed from the start!
David.
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