Health Information Management Association of Australia Ltd

February 2010 eNews Brief 

HIM NEWS BRIEF  Members Visit the complete HIMAA Newsletter pages (here)

FROM THE EO

In this month's CEO column:

• HIMJ International Advisory Panel. 
• HIMAA National Conference. 
• NSW Branch PD Seminar. 
• RTO accreditation. 
• Branch Websites.

HIMJ International Advisory Panel.
The next edition of HIMJ will shortly be "on the streets" and this edition will feature for the first time the journal's newly established International Advisory Panel. The panel will give HIMJ increased international standing and broaden its reach in terms of editorial input and potential articles. This initiative has been under development for the best part of 12 months and the HIMJ Editorial Board is to be congratulated on bringing it to fruition.

HIMAA National Conference.
Planning for the conference is powering ahead with about 50% of invited keynote speakers having already responded, with all but one confirming their participation. The conference committee aims to have the keynote speaker list finalised within the next month. The greatest surprise, however, has been the strong, early response of exhibitors with 11 exhibition booths already confirmed. This sends a clear message that the exhibitors believe it important to connect with the profession.

With keynote speakers and exhibitors well advanced we are now looking for papers to fill the program (the submission of abstracts closes on 30 April 2010) and delegate registrations.

NSW Branch PD Seminar.
The first NSW Branch education seminar in a long time will be held on 8 March 2010 at 9.00 a.m. at the Bankstown Sports Event Centre, 8 Greenfield Parade Bankstown NSW (members free, non-members $10). Presentations will be given by Mr Ric Marshall of NSW Health on Episode Based Funding in NSW and Vicki Bennett (HIMAA National President) on Current Topics in Health Information Management in Australia. Registrations have been very strong, so don't miss out on a chance to network with colleagues and undertake professional development at the same event. If anybody needs further details please contact Rose Wong (himaa@himaa.org.au) 

RTO Accreditation. 
On 26 February 2010 HIMAA will undergo an audit for accreditation as a Registered Training Organisation, for the delivery of clinical coder training. HIMAA's Education Services team has put in a great deal of work to get us to this stage. Hopefully I can report accreditation in the next newsletter. 

Branch Websites. 
All of HIMAA's Branch websites are being progressively redeveloped on a common content management system, which makes it much easier for the branch to keep their own website up to date. The Victorian Branch has done a great job with its new website and it is worth a visit, here, to see what can be done. Thus far Victoria and South Australia have "gone live" with Western Australia, New South Wales and the National capital Network (ACT) soon to follow.

NEWS IN BRIEF

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Govt moves closer to national e-health system 
The federal government plans giving every patient and healthcare provider a unique identifier as a major step towards setting up an Australia-wide e-health system. Health Minister Nicola Roxon told parliament on Wednesday an e-health system would improve safety, quality and patient convenience by ensuring the right people can get the right information at the right time. Ms Roxon was introducing a bill to set up a national healthcare identifier system. Australian IT.
 
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Software firms ill-informed on health ID plan 
Software makers are yet to see full technical specifications for the planned healthcare identifier regime due to start on July 1 provided enabling legislation introduced by Health Minister Nicola Roxon last week is passed by parliament. The Medical Software Industry Association says members are also yet to see a working demonstration of the system, developed by Medicare Australia in conjunction with the National E-Health Transition Authority…MSIA president Geoffrey Sayer said software-makers were in the dark about changes they would need to make to their products, beyond knowing to allow for a number in forms and databases. Australian IT

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Agencies plus into eHealth systems 
The Minister for Health, Nicola Roxon, has visited the offices of Medicare Australia in Canberra to see for herself how a new, secure eHealth system would work for health care patients and professionals. Ms Roxon said her visit showed how useful tools such as electronic health records, medications-management systems and electronic discharge, referrals and prescriptions would be. .. She said unique healthcare identifiers would be assigned to all health consumers and professionals by the middle of the year, following the passage of the Healthcare Identifiers Bill 2010. PS News

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Public worried about health data privacy 
A recent poll suggests that as federal officials move forward on expanding the role of IT in the healthcare sector, they need to make sure that public is on board when it comes to who gets access to patient data. The poll, conducted by the Michigan-based Ponemon Institute, clearly indicates that, while the public is largely inclined to allow physicians to share patient data, they are much more wary when it comes to allowing federal officials or non-healthcare private companies the same access. Healthcare IT News.
 
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