Welcome to the first issue of Connectivity

HealthLink's monthly e-newsletter will update Australia's health professionals on developments in e-health across the nation. We hope you will find Connectivity of interest and would be pleased to receive your feedback and suggestions for topics for coverage in future issues. Please contact us anytime at any of the e-mail addresses listed in this newsletter.

Australian Health Sector - Going Electronic At Last!

At last real progress is being made to implement electronic communications to link the complex web of computer systems used in the Australian health sector. Hospitals in every State and Territory are introducing electronic discharge summaries and many GPs and Specialists are developing electronic links enabling them to send and receive patient information.

Secure electronic data exchange is the core of HealthLink's business and through our experience at the coal-face we are ideally placed to update health professionals on the current state of play in health sector information technology.

In this first issue of our newsletter we offer a range of articles on e-health topics that we hope will interest you and your colleagues. We also provide a State and Territory round-up of recent e-health initiatives enabled by HealthLink.

Why is Health sector connectivity important?

Australia's health sector consists of a huge number of disparate but interdependent organisations that need to exchange complex and confidential patient information efficiently, securely and speedily. Each individual organisation needs to be able to be able to send and receive via its computer systems. Today some healthcare providers re-key data from printed information, some scan information and hold it on patient files, while others send electronic "snapshots" that can be attached to their patients' notes and opened for reference at a later date. None of these are satisfactory ways of managing information transfer.

What is needed is a coordinated and secure system that exchanges structured information and stores it in the practice's patient database as part of the patient's medical record. This is an enormous undertaking but will deliver real and permanent benefits. Integration of healthcare systems increases the efficiency of day-to-day practice and significantly improves the overall quality of patient care.

All About RSD: Referrals, Status reports and Discharge summaries

Electronic communication between GPs, Specialists, Midwives, Physiotherapists and Hospitals

HealthLink is absolutely passionate about RSD and sends more than 2.5 million items annually between GPs, hospitals, midwives, specialists and other providers using a messaging type "RSD" (Referrals, Status reports and Discharge summaries).

RSD uses an HL7 message between the systems of the providers. Every GP system in New Zealand uses this system routinely.

In Australia HealthLink has begun to implement this system in several regions, closely integrated with practice management system vendors. Most recently HeathLink has been awarded a contract by WA Health to roll the system out across WA, expanding on a successful pilot with Royal Perth Hospital. The Company is contracted to Queensland Health to develop the same in that State and is working with clusters of specialists plus some hospitals in various parts of the country including North Queensland, rural and urban Victoria and Tasmania. Several other State Health Departments have indicated a keen interest.

HealthLink is working with NEHTA, HESA and colleagues at E-Clinic and Medical Objects to develop interoperability. These systems are progressing well and problems are not expected.

The implementation of RSD is steady and methodical. Key issues are to:

Develop a highly robust and dependable system capable of working reliably in a range of different environments and with a multiplicity of systems
Design a system that is integrated with the hospitals'/specialists' workflow (ie not a time-consuming 'add-on')
Implement effective technical integration with a number of vendors, enabling full use of the HL7 message acknowledgement system (from the recipient's application as well as from the messaging system). This creates the robustness required to enable all participants to have confidence in a paperless system.
Forge viable business relationships with the practice management system vendors so that they become active supporters of high quality electronic messaging rather than view it as a cost imposed upon them.
Select appropriately motivated specialists and hospitals to work with, people who will work actively with HealthLink to get the gremlins out of the system.

Once ALL of these building blocks are firmly in place it becomes a very simple decision for Specialists and Hospitals to send information electronically to GPs and vice versa. There really is no sensible alternative.

It is taking time to get this formula exactly right in Australia. But good things take time and good things done well will add huge value to a health system that needs all the help it can get.

HealthLink is forecasting that the Company (and its partners) will have RSD working on a widespread basis all over Australia within the next 12 months.
Would you like to know more about RSD in your area? If so, please let us know by email at enquiries@healthLink.net.

HealthLink - Enabling Australian E-Health Initiatives

New South Wales

HealthLink has been selected for the Health-e-Link trial, a Government-led project to trial the use of an electronic health record in Western Sydney and The Hunter Valley. Currently more than 850 practices in NSW are connected to HealthLink, using a variety of available services.

Western Australia

Nearly all of WA's GPs and most of the pathology and radiology providers are connected to HealthLink's services. The Company has recently been awarded a major government contract to deliver electronic discharge summaries to GPs from government-owned hospitals. This contract builds on a highly successful trial undertaken with Royal Perth Hospital.

Victoria

More than 1100 practices in Victoria use a range of HealthLink services. HealthLink has two significant electronic discharge summary pilots - on the Mornington Peninsula and at Wangaratta

Queensland

Queensland is also on the move with nearly 1200 practices connected to HealthLink. HealthLink is contracted by Queensland Health for the delivery of pathology reports from Queensland Health Pathology and Scientific Services. Electronic discharge summaries are also being delivered from the State's hospitals. In North Queensland, HealthLink now provides the communication for the Townsville Health Connect pilot and is driving the rapid development of paperless Specialist to GP communications to reduce substantially the amount of paper being received by GP practices. .

South Australia

More than 350 General Practices in South Australia now benefit from HealthLink services, particularly the receipt of pathology and imaging reports, with a broadening of services over coming months as other service providers coming on board.

Tasmania

The recent HealthConnect trials in Tasmania employed HealthLink systems. These are now used by more than 150 Tasmanian practices for the delivery of pathology reports and electronic discharge notifications. Admission notifications from Launceston General Hospital are being well-received and provide a reliable method of informing patients' GPs in a timely and secure manner.

ACT

More than 140 ACT practices use HealthLink and use of the service and the number of applications is growing quickly. Given the near complete coverage of General Practice in ACT HealthLink is the logical choice for diagnostic services and Specialist - GP communications.

Northern Territory

While only a handful of Northern Territory practices currently use HealthLink, the Company is keen to assist practices and health organisations in the NT who need the reliable, competitive and well-managed services that HealthLink provides.

If you are interested in joining in these pilots or would be keen on assisting in the setting up of a pilot in your region, please contact us by emailing to enquiries@healthlink.net.

Next Issue - Prctice Survey Results

We have recently surveyed nearly 1,000 practices in each of Victoria and Queensland. We asked them their views on electronic communication and in particular the importance of integrating a range of electronic information from a range of sources.

In our next newsletter we will outline the findings of this survey and discuss the implications for general practice.

If you would like to unsubscribe from this mailing list please click here.

More than 7,500 healthcare provider organisations across New Zealand and Australia use HealthLink

HealthLink systems are used to exchange more than 50 million items of clinical information annually

HealthLink is a world leader in the development of electronic referrals and discharge summary systems

HealthLink strictly enforces and supports use of health IT standards

HealthLink uses electronic signatures to correctly identify the senders or requesters of information

HealthLink's electronic communications service is used by medical practices in every State and Territory

Are you an IT Savvy GP who is really interested in the latest technical developments? Join our list of early adopters please .

Would you like to know all of the organisations that use HealthLink in your area? Please .

If there is someone who you think would be interested in receiving Connectivity, please ask them to or pass on their details.

HealthLink offers a FREE program of accreditation to train and certify technicians. This is an opportunity for a technician or IT Contractor to become an accredited HealthLink Technical Partner through a program which includes practical training and the opportunity to have close involvement with the team at HealthLink.

We believe in training technicians to fully understand the details of our product including:

Installation
Support
Practice Management Software

To find out more please contact Bhavesh Daya, HealthLink Implementation Coordinator on 1800 125 036 extn 3782 or contact Bhav by email .