Archived News for IT Professionals
The Australian Government has announced nine Second Wave sites for the implementation of its $467 million national Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records (PCEHR) project.
The nine sites will receive Commonwealth funding of up to $55 million. They will be operated by:
- Medibank Private (nationwide) to implement a consumer-oriented portal, which integrates consumer entered information into a ‘Health Book’. The ‘Health Book’ will be initially made available to all Medibank Private customers and their healthcare providers enrolled in Medibank’s Health Management and Chronic Disease Management programs;
- FRED IT MedView Project (nationwide, with a focus on Geelong, Vic) - will demonstrate the ability for up to 2 million individuals and their healthcare providers to access their prescribing and dispensing history via a medicines repository using national electronic prescription and other standards. The project will deploy MedView to all pharmacies and GPs in the Geelong region and to a further 10% of this target market nationally. The project will bring together a grouping of private sector eHealth vendors including FRED, eRx, Best Practice, Zedmed, iCare, Microsoft and SIMPL.
- Brisbane South General Practice Division – aimed at enrolling 25,000 people in the Brisbane and Ipswich region, with a focus on individuals with disabilities and their carers, war veterans and war widows, and children commencing school. The project will bring two Division’s of General Practice onboard, Brisbane South and Ipswich and West Moreton, and public and private hospitals, allied health and GP’s. It will leverage wave 1 infrastructure.
- Mater Misericordiae Health Services Brisbane, focusing on mothers and newborns, the project involves three GP Divisions (South East Alliance, Brisbane South and the South East Primary HealthCare network) and local specialist obstetricians. The project will leverage wave 1 infrastructure.
- St Vincent’s and Mater Health Sydney - will establish a lead eHealth site based around St Vincent’s and Mater Health Sydney, in conjunction with partnering Divisions of General Practice, participating specialists and software vendors including Smart Health, Precedence, HCN and Best Practice. The project has a population reach of 1 million individuals attending the St Vincent’s campus and aims to improve clinical communication across the project’s footprint through the delivery of key PCEHR components.
- Greater Western Sydney e-Health Consortium (NSW Health) - will implement key building blocks for state-wide eHealth infrastructure that will allow NSW Health to connect to the PCEHR System when it becomes available. The initial focus will be on priority consumer groups in the Greater Western Sydney region. The project includes four GP Divisions (WentWest, Nepean, Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury-Hills) and will leverage previous technology investments. With a population reach of 1,750,000, the project will be able to expand to encompass ultimately the whole of NSW.
- Northern Territory Department of Health and Families will deliver a lead eHealth site for Indigenous Australians living in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia, leveraging the existing NT shared electronic health record and extending the existing service to all Northern Territory residents and Indigenous individuals in Western Australia and South Australia.
- Calvary Health Care ACT - will support a cross-border population of approximately 800,000 individuals in the ACT and regional NSW by bringing together a major grouping of private sector eHealth vendors. The vendors involved include iSoft, HCN, HealthLink, Smart Health Solutions and Precedence HealthCare.
- Cradle Coast, North-West Area Health Service Project, Tasmania - targets aged and palliative care patients and their families, palliative care medical specialists and clinical nurse consultants. The project will use off-the-shelf care planning software to share the advance care directives until the national PCEHR infrastructure is in place.
The nine second-wave sites will develop their plans by the end of May 2011. The first round of sites, currently being implemented, were awarded to
- Hunter Urban Division of General Practice
- GP Partners Ltd (Brisbane)
- Melbourne East General Practice Ltd.
New centre for green telecommunications
A new Centre for Energy Efficient Telecommunications (CEET) has been launched in Melbourne with the focus on innovation in energy efficient networks and telecommunications infrastructure with the aim to reduce the industry's impact on the environment.
Australia's internet subscribers exceed 10 million
Internet subscribers in Australia climbed to 10.4 million in the six months to December 2010, according to a report released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). This is up from 9.5 million in June 2010, which represents a growth of nearly 10% in the last six months.
The number of business and government internet subscribers grew by 26% to 2.3 million, while the number of household internet subscribers grew by 6% to 8.1 million. The growth in both sectors was driven by the continued uptake of mobile wireless broadband connections, which increased by 777,000 ( or 22.5%) to 4.2 million in the six months to 31 December 2010.
At the end of December 2010, there were 8.2 million mobile handset internet subscribers in Australia. The volume of data downloaded via mobile handsets was 4,029 Terabytes.
Further information is available in Internet Activity, Australia (cat. no. 8153.0).
IBM to handle NBN systems integration
NBN Co has appointed IBM as the prime systems integrator of its operational and business support systems under a three-year agreement.
NBN Co starts again on network construction
NBN Co has indefinitely suspended its network construction tender after construction companies were unable to provide acceptable terms and prices following four rounds of pricing negotiations.
NBN Co Head of Corporate Services, Kevin Brown said the NBN would be built, but not at any price.
“We have thoroughly benchmarked our project against similar engineering and civil works projects in Australia and overseas and we will not proceed on the basis of prices we are currently being offered.
“NBN Co is confident it can secure better value for money by going a different route. We have left the option open to continue negotiations at a later stage.
Discussion paper invites feedback from Queenslanders on National Broadband Network
The Queensland Government has released a discussion paper: Queensland’s approach to the National Broadband Network, and called for feedback from the community about ways to best use the NBN.
Government to develop National Digital Economy Strategy
The Australian Government has announced plans to develop a national strategy to guide the uptake of the National Broadband Network (NBN) with the aim of making Australia a world leading digital economy by 2020.
Call for rethink on NSW's FirstNet health information system
A survey of IT experts by the University of Sydney has supported calls to halt the rollout of the NSW Clinical Information System FirstNet, with a review finding the system should be spearheaded by an IT-savvy clinician.
Future Fund sells down on Telstra
The Future Fund Board of Guardians has announced that it has ceased to be a substantial shareholder in Telstra with the sale of shares down to a holding of 620.4 million shares or 4.99% of the company.
Queensland launches tools to help business transition to global digital economy
The Queensland Government has launched a new online toolkit and ICT database and directory to assist local businesses to take advantage of the National Broadband Network (NBN) as is rolled out.
NBN Companies legislation passes in the Senate
Amendments to the National Broadband Network (NBN ) legislation introduced by Federal Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, have been passed with some late changes.
Cloud computing offers financial services a new future
A white paper produced by the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) and Fujitsu has outlined opportunities for the financial services industry to improve its customer service by using techniques of cloud computing.
Online retailers facing supplier obstacles
Australian online retail businesses are facing road blocks from suppliers who are trying to prevent their products being sold online, according to a recent survey by eBay.
NBN rollout setback likely due to delays in Telstra agreement
Telstra has been forced to delay its extraordinary general meeting, scheduled for 1 July, due to delays in the process of negotiation over the National Broadband Network. As a result, NBN Co has indicated that the schedule for construction of second release sites may be delayed.
ACMA seeks comment on phone number allocation system
The Australian Communications and Media Authority is seeking feedback on allocation systems for telephone numbers in its third consultation paper about the future of numbering in Australia – Allocation and charging of numbers.
Korea-Australia-New Zealand Broadband Summit to be staged in Hobart
The Korea-Australia-New Zealand Broadband Summit is to be held in Hobart from 28 to 29 April this year.
Swedish ICT company opens headquarters in Australia
The Swedish-based Handheld Group has opened its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Sydney, Australia, to provide a local presence and take advantage of proximity to Asia.
Townsville wins IBM Smart Cities grant
Townsville has been selected as one of 24 cities around the world to receive a Smarter Cities Challenge grant from global technology company IBM this year.
Perth to Geraldton Fibre Optic Link completed
The new 449 kilometre fibre link between Perth and Geraldton in south-west Western Australia has been completed, becoming the the first part of the National Broadband Network (NBN) in Western Australia.
Government signs agreement with NEC on applications of National Broadband Network
The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Senator Stephen Conroy has announced an agreement with NEC Corporation to promote innovation and international excellence which capitalises on the rollout of the National Broadband network (NBN).
Inquiry into emergency and natural disaster ICT response
Under its terms of reference, the Committee will investigate: