Aust healthcare IT in critical condition - News - Business

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Aust healthcare IT in critical condition

By Angus Kidman, 0
January 13, 2004
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/Aust-healthcare-IT-in-critical-condition/0,139023166,120282621,00.htm

The healthcare industry faces a major crisis and could place patients at risk if it doesn't significantly enhance its use of information technology, an Australian expert has warned.

"Health is without a doubt the most backwards industry in the world in its use of IT," Dr Peter Schloeffel told attendees at the Linux and Open Source in Government conference in Adelaide. Dr Schloeffel works as a GP and also runs a consultancy, Ocean Informatics, specialising in open electronic healthcare standards.

Others agree that the health industry needs urgent remedial treatment for its technology systems. "Healthcare generally lags (and therefore can learn from) the business and IT initiatives of other industries," Gartner analyst Janice Young wrote last year.

The industry-wide lack of IT savvy is particularly surprising the critical role that patient information plays in healthcare. "Health happens to be one of the most information-intensive industries in the world," said Schloeffel. Information processing accounts for between 30 and 40 per cent of total healthcare costs, he said. Spending on healthcare in Australia in 2004 is expected to top AU$60 billion.

A critical reason for the healthcare IT crisis is the lack of a generally accepted form for electronic health records (EHRs), Schloeffel said. Australia is relatively advanced in this field, with perhaps 10 per cent of records stored in electronic form. However, the US -- which dominates many aspects of the world healthcare market -- is performing less impressively. "The level of EHR use in the US is less than 1 per cent," Schloeffel said.