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HL7 file import, RemoteApp capability for eClaims Advanced Computer Software Supplies (ACSS) has released a major update for its eClaims practice management software, which now allows users to import patient demographic information in HL7 format directly from third-party clinical information systems. ACSS is also shortly to deploy Microsoft’s RemoteApp functionality for clients using eClaims in the cloud, and will then begin work on interfacing with the Healthcare Identifiers Service and the PCEHR, along with secure messaging capability. The company has also released a major update of its SimDay patient administration system for day hospitals, which includes a new GST report to display invoices, deposits and journals that include GST, and both eClaims and SimDay have a direct portal to Medicare Online. ACSS’s application and web systems developer Hugo de Castro said eClaims is now capable of importing patient demographics in HL7 file format from external third party applications like Best Practice. “The HL7 stuff is pretty simple, so any particular HL7 format that conforms to the standard within Australia can now be transferred across to eClaims,” Mr de Castro said. “Irrespective of what system, provided it follows that standard we can import it.” Mr de Castro said the company’s pathology clients had requested the functionality in particular, mainly so they don’t have to enter data manually. Next in the pipeline for both eClaims and SimDay is integrating the new eHealth functionality. “We are going to do some integration with the HI Service and we also need to do the PCEHR and secure messaging as well. That will be available in both applications.”
Healthcare practitioners do not register for PCEHR individually: DoHA The Department of Health and Ageing has clarified the exact number of healthcare organisations that have registered for the PCEHR, emphasising that healthcare practitioners do not have to sign up individually to the system. A DoHA spokeswoman said that as of midnight on February 17, 1233 healthcare organisations had registered for the PCEHR. The department does not keep figures on how many practitioners actually work for those organisations. The federal opposition has been tying practitioner participation numbers to the amount of practitioners registered with the Australian Healthcare Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). Opposition spokesman on primary care Andrew Southcott criticised the number of practitioner “registrations” in Fairfax and News Ltd publications recently, saying that less than one per cent of the 560,000 AHPRA registered practitioners have signed up to the PCEHR. “Individual healthcare providers do not have to register for PCEHR,” the DoHA spokeswoman said. “They are covered by their healthcare organisation registration.
“To register for the PCEHR a healthcare organisation must first register with the HI Service. There are currently 3205 healthcare organisations registered with the HI service.” Organisations must also apply for a Healthcare Provider Identifier – Organisation (HPI-O) to take part in the system.
“Individual healthcare providers do not have to register for PCEHR. They are covered by their healthcare organisation registration.” The spokeswoman said that at February 1, the Department of Human Services (DHS) had received 5400 HPI-O applications across all practice types.
issued NASH certificates, but no figures are kept on whether these are from general practice or other provider organisations. “NASH applications do not require the practice type to be included on the application. Therefore, we are unable to provide the number of applications from a general practice for a NASH certificate.” Sources have told Pulse+IT that processing times for HPI-O and NASH certificate applications have been slow, with many practices yet to receive responses. The spokeswoman said applications are processed as they are received. “However, some of the applications received do not contain all the required information,” she said.
“As at 8 February 2013, DHS has assigned 3857 HPI-Os with a major proportion of these being general practices,” she said.
“DHS staff phone the applicants to request the information required, therefore the expected timeframe to process applications is dependent on receiving the necessary information from the applicant in a timely manner.”
Healthcare organisations must also have a National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) security certificate to access the system once registered. The spokeswoman said 1205 organisations have been
An industry source who received his NASH certificate a month after applying for one said that “if the registration process wasn’t so complex, the paperwork may well have been completed properly”.