Articles
MeHR - PCEHR
MeHR - PCEHR
NT ACCHSs have been active participants in eHealth for over 5 years, with all NT ACCHSs using a Clinical Information System for recording patient history and managing follow up care and reporting on health care activity. NT ACCHSs were early adopters of the Health Connect system - the Shared Electronic Health Record, which in 2012 became the My eHealth Record (MeHR). The MeHR is now an integral component of NT ACCHSs health care procedures to securely share patients diagnosis, treatment, medications and follow up required.
AMSANT, on behalf of NT ACCHSs, is a partner in the MeHR to PCEHR transition project. Other partners are the NT DoH, Aboriginal Health Council of SA, NT Medicare Local and the WA Country Health Service. Sponsoring bodies are the Australian Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) and the National eHealth Transition Authority (NEHTA). The aim of the project is to transtion the usage of the NT based My eHealth Record (MeHR) to the Australian Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR).
PCEHR
The PCEHR uptake has been increasing steadily since it went live on 1/7/2012, with now 56,000 people registered to it throughout Australia. There has been a strong push through Medicare Locals to register people and health services. Many clinical software vendors are now PCEHR compliant and as a result of the Medicare ePIP incentive, there are 1171 healthcare organisations and 1325 individual practitioners who are authorised to access the system.
Uptake in the NT has been at a slower rate due to many health services in the NT already participating in the My eHealth Record (MeHR) and the changes required for the Clinical Information Management Systems (CISs) to be both MeHR and PCEHR compliant. Even though Communicare will be fully PCEHR compliant by May 2013, the NTG remote health “PCIS” software and the hospitals “Caresys” software won’t be PCEHR enabled until January 2014.
In effect this means that NT health services who are MeHR participants (ACCHSs, NTG remote health centres, hospitals) won’t be able to exclusively use the PCEHR until January 2014. If for example NT ACCHSs send clinical information to just the PCEHR, NTG remote health centres and hospitals wouldn’t be able to access that information.
AMSANT is looking at a strategy whereby NT ACCHSs will be able to access information in the PCEHR so that they can benefit from clinical information sent to the PCEHR from services outside of the NT – eg NT residents visits to interstate hospitals or interstate residents visiting the NT. AMSANT will keep NT ACCHSs updated on this.
MeHR
My eHealth record (MeHR) usage continues within the NT with new registrations still happening. MeHR Release 2a will go into MeHR production Wednesday 20th February so the following changes will be available to all MeHR users:
- eRegistration to the MeHR
- Print function from every page
- Synapse Portal – ability to view Medical Imaging (See 'Synapse Link' manual below)
- And quite a few back end functions.
The My eHealth Record Helpdesk phone number is 1800 247 430 (0800 – 1800 hrs). The link to the MeHR Training page is MeHR Training.
PCEHR Registration
Since 1/7/12 there have been 4 methods for people to register for the PCEHR
- By phone on 1800 723 471
- By internet at www.ehealth.gov.au
- By applying in person at a Medicare Office and
- By paper form found at www.ehealth.gov.au.
DoHA have recently approved a 5th method, streamlined assisted registration enabling health services to assist their known patients to register to the PCEHR. This greatly simplified process is achieved by using a standalone Assisted Registration software program, recording the patient’s basic identifying details (name, address, Medicare number) and obtaining the patient signature on a 1 page consent form. A known patient is defined as a person who has attended the same health centre more than 3 times or is MeHR registered. It is hoped that Communicare will be developing the Assisted Registration process within their product to make the process easier. AMSANT is planning to assist NT ACCHS's in this engagement and registration process.
Follow the link PCEHR Registration for more information. The ATSI national ehealth record brochure is listed in documents below.
Communicare PCEHR Update
Communicare version 12.5 is now mostly PCEHR compliant as clinicians are able to view the PCEHR from a patients file, and send Shared Health Summaries to the PCEHR. The ability to send Event Summaries will be developed over the next few months. Communicare is keen to get clinician feedback on the functionality of this module and how it could be improved.
Currently Communicare’s MeHR and PCEHR modules are configured so that when an organisation turns the PCEHR module on, the MeHR module turns off. It is planned to change this so that both can exist on Communicare at the same time. This would help NT health services transition to the PCEHR, as some clients will be PCEHR registered, some will be MeHR registered and some registered to both.
AMSANT would therefore advise NT ACCHSs not to turn the PCEHR module on at this time, as they will lose access to the MeHR.
Other CIS Vendors Update
GP Information Systems such as Best Practice, Medical Director, ZedMed, Genie, etc, either now are PCEHR enabled or will be by May 2013, so many GP services throughout Australia are now or will soon be able to interact with the PCEHR.
NTG remote health and hospital Information Systems (PCIS, Caresys) will be PCEHR enabled by January 2014.
Greg Henschke, AMSANT M2N Project Officer,
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
89446651
Further PCEHR Information
- eHealth.gov.au Webpage – Information for consumers and health professionals on the PCEHR.
- PCEHR Learning centre – Australian Govt site to assist health providers and consumers to understand the PCEHR.
- eHealth records explained - Cartoon video by Metro North Brisbane Medicare Local which explains the PCEHR (Length - 2 1/2 mins)
- eHealthAus YouTube channel - The eHealthAus YouTube Channel that includes videos demonstrating many features and benefits of eHealth.
- PCEHR Glossary - Definition of terms (in documents below - Glossary - eHealth record system)
