HealthConnect

HealthConnect is Australia’s planned system of electronic health records. The aim of HealthConnect is to improve quality and safety in health care by ensuring important clinical information is available in a high standard, when and where it is needed. Doctors will have access to software on their desktop which will allow them to enter all of the patients information into a Queensland Health database, avoided the slower postal method for information exchange.

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HealthConnect was trialed in a number of states and areas during 2004. The joint contract with the Department of Health and Ageing includes an EHT pilot in Brisbane South. In another trial in North Queensland the model was based around GPs receiving and sharing information about surgical patients with the Townsville Hospital. In 2005 trials were conducted in Tasmania at the Launceston General Hospital and across the Northern Territory.

Research consortium, Distributed Systems Technology Centre (DSTC), has been awarded a $2.9 million contract to develop technology for HealthConnect. The project’s vision is to establish a system for all Australian health consumers by 2010, although HealthConnect is facing practical challenges.

After the first round of project tests, the vision for project 2 was greatly altered. In 2007 a second phase of testing will begin using the Argus email client.

There has been some criticism of the validity of projects funded as part of HealthConnect.

See also

HealthConnect is also a brand name for Kaiser Permanente's (a leading US based Health Care provider) multi-billion dollar medical record automation initiative.

What is the KP HealthConnect Program?

The Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect Program is a multi-billion-dollar systemwide Kaiser Permanente initiative focused on using a common software system for all KP regions and facilities.

Implementation began in 2003. Complete deployment of inpatient billing, ADT and pharmacy applications should be complete by spring 2007. As of mid-2005, every region of Kaiser Permanente has implemented some part of KP HealthConnect, which includes electronic registration and scheduling, billing, clinical information systems (both inpatient and outpatient), laboratory and X-ray information, pharmacy records and information, and online patient access.

Kaiser Permanente Hawaii was the first region to begin implementation of the system, and the first to go live with KP HealthConnect online for patients in early September 2005. Online patient information screenshotMany online capabilities are in place in the other regions, including e-mail your doctor, view lab test results, view immunization records, order prescription refills, schedule appointments and view past office visit information. All online patient access programs will be available via Kaiser Permanente's member website.

KP HealthConnect will help provide the best care to the patients and real-time medical information to the doctors, nurses and others who care for them.

Why is Kaiser Permanente investing in the KP HealthConnect Program?

The KP HealthConnect program will help improve the quality of health care provided across our national system. Combining its advanced technology with our clinically-integrated system will eliminate the inefficiencies and error-proneness of paper-based systems.

Patients, doctors, nurses and other authorized health care staff will have immediate access to complete, up-to-the-minute medical records. Those will include test and lab results, prescribed drugs, allergies and interactions and medical history.

Clinicians will also have immediate, real-time access to the latest medical information and guidelines that apply to a patient’s diagnosis, and the fully-integrated system will help eliminate unnecessary repetitions of tests and avoid drug interactions and allergic reactions.

What makes KP HealthConnect different?

  1. Integration of all of a patient's information in a single system. The system links medical information with billing, scheduling, and registration data. That means referrals to specialists can be made on-the-spot, prescriptions are sent to pharmacies electronically, and two doctors treating the same patient from different locations can share information in real time.
  2. Our organizational structure makes us uniquely able to set up a system like KP HealthConnect. We do it all: from handling the administrative side of healthcare (enrolling, billing, handling non-clinical information) to providing the care our members need when they need it.
  3. The size and the scope of the system. KP's sheer numbers make a system like this necessary and make its information important. (8M+ members, ±12,000 physicians, ±150,000 employees)

The KP HealthConnect Program includes:

   * Inpatient and outpatient clinical information and treatment guidelines for physicians
   * Pharmacy operations and information
   * Patient registration and scheduling with providers
   * Emergency and operating room access
   * Online access for members and health care providers
   * Inpatient and outpatient billing

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