Coalition to review PCEHR
June 24, 2013
THE federal
opposition
will conduct
a “stocktake
and review”
of eHealth in
Australia if it
takes power at
the upcoming
election.
Shadow
Parliamentary
Secretary
for Primary
Healthcare, Andrew Southcott,
told a Pharmacy Guild function in
Sydney on Fri that the government
has already spent $1 billion on its
Personally Controlled Electronic
Health Record, but currently the
system has less than 2000 shared
health summaries uploaded.
Southcott said the Coalition is
keen to ensure that “something
useful comes out of this
investment,” with plans to focus
on items identified as “quick wins”
when electronic health was last
reviewed five years ago.
These include electronic discharge
summaries, pathology results and
e-Scripts, which he said have the
potential for “massive benefits”.
“We want to do everything
possible to accelerate the uptake
of e-prescriptions and electronic
dispensing,” he said, praising the
Guild and FRED IT for their work on
electronic scripts.
In his speech Southcott also
reaffirmed the coalition’s support
for a “strong pharmacy sector,”
as well as a desire to restore
confidence in the PBS listing
process which had been “lost
because of cabinet interference”
under the current government.
Pictured above at the event,
which was part of the NSW
Pharmacy National Convention &
Exhibition are, from left, FRED ceo
Paul Naismith, Andrew Southcott
and Guild President Kos Sclavos.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 24 Jun 13To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 24 Jun 13
