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Welcome to the second edition of eHealthNT Happenings. Our project to transition registered consumers and healthcare providers from the My eHealth Record service to the national eHealth record system (M2N), continues to be one of our leading projects and this publication will highlight some of the changes that have occurred so far and our next steps.
This publication is produced by eHealthNT in collaboration with the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT) and the Northern Territory Medicare Local (NTML).
Northern Territory Department of Health
On 3 July 2014, the Department took the first steps to connect to the national eHealth record system by deploying software that enables us to use national healthcare identifiers for patients (Individual Healthcare Identifier or IHI) attending our facilities and to check whether a patient has a national eHealth record.
The IHI is an integral part of eHealth communications between different healthcare provider organisations, helping to ensure the right information is matched with the right patient’s records in different clinical information systems.
The IHI is the patient identifier used to find their national eHealth record.
Having a patient’s Medicare number recorded in our clinical information systems, together with the patient’s name and date of birth that match Medicare’s, are key to successfully finding a patient’s IHI. Since July, 14% of patients that attended a NT public hospital did not have a Medicare number recorded and where we had a Medicare number, the names and/or dates of birth did not match Medicare’s in 13.9% of cases. We identified that 1 out of 10 patients who attended had a national eHealth record.
Checking Medicare cards and personal details regularly when patients present, will reduce the risk that we miss that someone has a national eHealth record.
Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory
AMSANT is continuing to inform Aboriginal people in the NT of the transition from the My eHealth Record service to the national eHealth record system (or PCEHR system) so informed consent for registration can be attained. Over the next month AMSANT will be engaging with people in the Barkly, East Arnhem and other parts of the Katherine region.
The health centres at Amoonguna, Santa Teresa, Areyonga, Barunga, Pintubi and Danila Dilba have turned the PCEHR on and are able to assist their patients with registering to the PCEHR. Their clinicians have also started uploading some clinical documents. Health Services and staff are being encouraged to begin using the national eHealth record so the transition is a smooth, planned process rather than a forced activity when the NTG ceases sending to My eHealth Record, for patients who are registered for the PCEHR.
For the majority of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS), the assisted registration process for the PCEHR system using an electronic form in Communicare is now available and is fairly seamless. However, we failed to
Important Dates
October 2014
eHealth Interoperability Conference
Expressions of Interest are being invited by the Northern Territory Medicare Local for a
healthcare practitioner to access a financial assistance grant to attend the eHealth Interoperability Conference, held in Sydney on the 28- 29 October 2014.
Click on the link for further details:
Expression of Interest application form
Statistics
National eHealth Record The figures below show the number of consumers already registered up to 27 August 2014.
National Northern Territory 1,815,661 22,107
Since July 2014, 9.62% of patients who presented at NT public hospitals had a national eHealth record.
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successfully find a patient’s IHI in up to 30% of cases due to the patient’s details not matching those held by Medicare. AMSANT is working with the Department of Human Services to improve the success rate.
AMSANT has posters, FAQ sheets and brochures on the PCEHR for your patients’
information and are working with the NT Department of Health to produce a short DVD about the PCEHR, to be distributed soon. If NT ACCHSs have any questions about the PCEHR and how AMSANT can help in the transition, please call either Shirley Spicer on 8944 6677 or Greg Henschke on 8944 6651.
Northern Territory Medicare Local
Information about medication usage is currently one of the most fragmented types of health information available. The National Prescription and Dispense Repository builds on electronic Transfer of Prescription (eTP) programs such as eRx and Medisecure, which are used by over 96% of community pharmacies in the Northern Territory. It is part of the national eHealth record system and provides added functionality by storing prescription and dispense information in a patient’s eHealth record. This information can be accessed by treating practitioners, pharmacists and patients connected to the national eHealth record system.
To date, 44% of community pharmacies in the Northern Territory have registered to participate in the national eHealth record system, with 40% connected to the system.
Telehealth
In 2012, the Telehealth NT service network was launched and is currently delivering clinical services comprising of Tele-Specialist Clinics, Tele Preadmissions, Tele-Rapid Assessment, and Tele-Critical Care.
Telehealth not only creates opportunity to deliver effective participatory models of care to remote and regional NT, but also to build partnerships and networks from around Australia. The Telehealth NT service network has been growing since launching in 2012 and is currently delivering clinical services comprising of Tele- Specialist Clinics, Tele Preadmissions, Tele-Rapid Assessment, and Tele-Critical Care.
Telehealth Converge is designed to be a ‘click and connect’ service, connecting desktop Video Conferencing software (Polycom CMA Desktop software) to all other Video Conferencing equipment acting as a one stop directory listing. This service is now available off network for users who are required to deliver on call support, such as Remote Medical Practitioners and retrieval teams.
Learn more about Telehealth on the NT Dept. of Health webiste.
Websites
eHealthNT
www.ehealthnt.nt.gov.au Aboriginal Medical Alliance NT www.amsant.org.au
NT Medicare Local www.ntml.org.au My eHealth Record www.myehealthrecord.com national eHealth record www.ehealth.gov.au
Glossary
ACCHS – Aboriginal Controlled Community Health Services ACIS - Acute Care Information Systems (includes CareSys, Clinical Workstation, etc used in NT Public Hosptials)
AMSANT – Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory
M2N Transition Project – project to transition from the My eHealth Record service to the national eHealth record system NTML – Northern Territory Medicare Local
PCEHR – Personally Controlled eHealth Record or national eHealth record
PCIS – Primary Care Information System
