Are financial incentives they key to get the E-Health ball rolling?

When I was checking out E-Health systems from around the world, one of the things I liked about what the United States has done, was the fact that they are providing financial incentives so that the healthcare sector will be more inclined to implement the system.

I have just found an article on Pulse+IT which suggests that this could be what is missing from our own system, particularly in relation to the aged care sector.

Financial support the missing link for aged care PCEHR uptake:

http://www.pulseitmagazine.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1416:financial-support-the-missing-link-for-aged-care-pcehr-uptake&catid=67:aged-care&Itemid=332

According to the article, the Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council (ACIITC) is urging the government to consider financial incentives so that they can be PCEHR-ready, claiming that lack of important software has forced a slow uptake in the aged care sector.

Aged care is one of the areas that I believe would gain the most from the E-Health system- so this is something that I believe should be considered. Patients in this sector are often on countless medications, see several healthcare practitioners and are in and out of nursing homes and hospitals. I know I would struggle to keep up with all this information if this were me. PCEHR would make things a lot easier but if the aged care industry does not have the key software- everyone cannot get involved and the system won’t work as effectively as it could. Funding for this could help with the uptake of the system.

ACIITC chair Suri Ramanathan claims that because pharmacists receive a PBS dispense fee for dispensing medications- they should be receiving incentives too. He says that they are one of the largest industries in the country and “facilities operate on a paper-thin margin, so for them to adopt the change, they need a little bit of a hand.”

Mr Ramanathan said that financial help is the “missing link” for E-Health to really get moving in the aged care industry. However, why stop at aged care? Surely many areas in the healthcare industry could use some financial help to get E-Health up and going.

From a pharmacist’s perspective, the more people healthcare industries that get involved in E-Health, the better. Like I have said previously, PCEHR is meant to provide a whole picture of a patient’s health and the key to this happening is getting all areas of the healthcare industry involved. If funding will inspire more to get on-board, then I believe it is something to really think about.

Do you think funding would encourage more healthcare professionals to implement E-Health?

eHealth and the Elderly

I have previously blogged on my own experiences with signing up for an PCEHR, and as a young relatively healthy young person I can see how this record and overall program can be beneficial for me.

However, I believe that on a much larger scale, those who really need this program to get up and running are the elderly. Having worked on community pharmacy for quite a few years now, I have come to appreciate that along with all the other joys of ageing, one of the main things that older people have to deal with is taking in some cases more than 10 prescription items (and some probably more than that). In a time when we are living longer due to medical advancements, we are more likely to need more medications to maintain more medical conditions, both chronic and acute.

Thus, this demographic are much more likely to see multiple doctors and other healthcare professionals, have multiple hospital visits and take many medications. They may not be up to scratch with how this whole ‘internet’ thing works, but they are absolutely among those who are most likely to receive great benefit from the wide uptake and implementation of eHealth in Australia.

Greater collaboration between doctors, pharmacists and allied health professionals is invaluable to creating better health outcomes for our elderly and aging population.

This collaboration could lead to less adverse reactions and accidental over/underdosing of medications by the elderly and therefore less avoidable hospital admissions. More mutual understanding between medical professionals leads to much better health outcomes for patients.

Pharmacists play a central role in maintaining eHealth records, especially for the elderly, as they are the medication experts. Pharmacists would be able to counsel patients about their health in general and specific medications with a more rounded view of the patient history than what is provided in the dispensing databases.

More than this, pharmacists can play an active role in encouraging and even helping older people sign up for a PCEHR.

Further, clinical services provided by Pharmacists to these patients could be easily recorded and uploaded on to their eHealth record, for this information to be shared with other health professionals. Transferring of information about services provided can also be easily transferred to Guildcare for reimbursement from the government.

Our elderly population is growing and eHealth, along with pharmacy clinical services are just some of the benefits that this group in the population can enjoy if eHealth gets off the ground.

Here’s hoping.