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The Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Kay Patterson, today (29th January 2003) announced that Launceston and Ballarat have been selected as Field Test locations for an e-health initiative designed to help reduce health problems caused by adverse reactions to medicines.

"Each year some 140,000 Australians are admitted to hospital because of problems associated with the use of medicines," Senator Patterson said.

"MediConnect, formerly known as the Better Medication Management System (BMMS), which we will be testing, will provide health care professionals with a simple way of knowing which medicines consumers are using. It has the potential to save thousands of people unnecessary pain and suffering, and at the same time to reduce costs to consumers, hospitals and government."

The system will provide doctors and pharmacists with access to more complete information about consumers' medicines and help to promote safer and more effective prescribing, dispensing and management of medicines.

MediConnect will be a secure national electronic system which will draw together personal medicines information held by different doctors, pharmacies and hospitals.

Consumers who choose to join MediConnect will be able to have their prescription, over-the-counter and complementary medicines information added to their record. Their allergies to medicines will also be recorded.

Health care professionals must have the consumer's consent before accessing their MediConnect record. A strict privacy framework will support MediConnect and health care providers must have security technology which meets government standards before they can take part.

Senator Patterson said the strong links between health care professionals and consumer groups in Launceston and Ballarat had been a key factor in these locations being chosen to test MediConnect. The system would strengthen partnerships between consumers and their health care professionals.

"The Field Test will ensure that the proposed system has the right features for everyone - consumers, doctors, pharmacists and hospitals - and works well before it is made available to the wider community," she said. "It will give those involved the chance to help shape this exciting project early in its implementation."

Participation in the Field Test will be voluntary for consumers and health care providers. It is expected to start in March 2003 and run for about nine months. The number of consumers, doctors and pharmacies involved will gradually increase as the Field Test progresses. At least one hospital in each location is also expected to take part.

Note: Background information is available on request from Peter Fuller, (02) 6289 4690.

Media contacts:

Sarah Higginbottom, Assistant Media Adviser, 0411 405 341

MediConnect Field Test Background information

What is MediConnect?

· MediConnect, formerly known as the Better Medication Management System (BMMS), is an e-health initiative announced in the 2000-2001 Budget, designed to improve quality and safety in prescribing, dispensing and managing medicines.
· It will use information technology to provide more complete information about consumers' medicines for doctors, pharmacists, hospitals and consumers themselves.
· In doing so, it will help to prevent health problems caused by the inappropriate use of medicines in both community and hospital settings.
· MediConnect is set within the framework of Health Online: A Health Information Action Plan for Australia, a national strategy for health management and the use of online technologies within the health sector and a set of action plans for nationally significant and State and Territory projects. MediConnect is expected to form the medication component of HealthConnect, another key project within the Health Online framework.
· The Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing and HIC (Health Insurance Commission) are jointly developing MediConnect in consultation with health care professionals and consumer groups.

Why introduce MediConnect?

· Recent research estimates that, each year in Australia, about 140,000 hospital admissions are associated with problems with the use of medicines.
· The cost to public hospitals alone is estimated to be $380 million.
· Each year there are over 100 million general practice consultations in Australia. Research suggests that around 400,000 of these are associated with allergic or adverse events associated with medicines.
· MediConnect offers the potential to reduce the incidence of adverse drug events and the pain and suffering they cause and to reduce avoidable hospital admissions and associated costs.

What are the benefits of MediConnect?

For consumers
· MediConnect will help consumers to take the right medicines in the right way and to be more involved in decisions about their medicines. It will help to ensure that they are not prescribed medicines to which they are allergic or have had a previous adverse reaction.
· It will save people having to remember details of their medicines when they visit doctors or pharmacies, or when they go on holiday - they can get a printout of their MediConnect record, with all these details. This may be especially useful for older Australians, people with chronic conditions, and those who use a number of medicines.
· It can help in emergency, when people may not be in a condition to speak.

For health care professionals

· MediConnect will provide doctors, pharmacists and authorised hospital staff with a simple way of knowing what medicines people are using. Including over-the-counter and complementary medicines in the MediConnect record will extend the information available to health care professionals to review medicines and check for possible adverse reactions.
· It will reduce transcription errors associated with prescribed medicines, so providing a safer prescribing and dispensing environment.
· It is expected to help improve communication about consumers' medicines between doctors and pharmacists and between these health care professionals and consumers.

How will MediConnect work?

· MediConnect will be a secure electronic system that will draw together personal medication records currently held by different doctors, pharmacies and hospitals.
· The MediConnect database will be maintained and the system operated by HIC.
· Doctors, pharmacists and authorised hospital staff will be able to view, download and add to individual MediConnect records, but must have the consumers' consent to do so.
· Anyone eligible for Medicare benefits can join MediConnect.
· Participation in MediConnect will be voluntary and free of charge for all (doctors, pharmacists, hospitals and consumers). They will be able to withdraw at any time.
· Consumers will be able to get a printed copy of their MediConnect record from HIC (including Medicare offices), and from participating doctors and pharmacies.
· Individual MediConnect records can be made comprehensive. Detailed information about prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines such as cough mixtures and complementary medicines like Royal Jelly can be included. Information about why a particular medicine has been prescribed can also be added.
· Consumers may choose to include information about allergies and previous adverse reactions to medicines in their record.
· Consumers can choose which medicines information will be added to their record. But the more complete their information, the more useful their record will be for them and the health care professionals treating them.

Privacy and security

· People can choose which doctors, pharmacists and hospitals they will allow to view, use or add to their MediConnect record. Health care providers must have consumer consent to do so.
· Employers, the police, lawyers, insurers and government organisations other than HIC (as operator of MediConnect) will not be able to access individual records.
· Commonwealth privacy legislation (Privacy Act 1988 and Privacy Amendment [Private Sector] Act 2000) protects individual health records, including the way information is collected, stored, used, protected, disclosed or transferred within the MediConnect system.
· The same legislation protects the individual's right to choose how doctors, pharmacists and private hospitals handle their health information. It also applies to HIC in its role as the operator of MediConnect.
· State and Territory privacy laws apply to the protection of consumers' health information in public hospitals and health services in their jurisdictions.
· People's privacy is also protected by the existing professional, ethical and legal obligations of health care professionals.
· Electronic transfer of consumers' information between doctors and pharmacists' computer systems and MediConnect will be protected by security technology that meets strict government standards. Passwords and other security measures will prevent unauthorised people from viewing records.

The MediConnect Field Test

· The Field Test the Minister announced today will provide the first opportunity to assess the concept, technical elements and processes of MediConnect in an operational setting.
· The findings of the Field Test will help to refine the system in preparation for MediConnect being implemented nationally.
· The Field Test will be conducted in two phases. It is expected to begin in March 2003 and last about nine months.
· It will start with one doctor, one pharmacy and a small number of consumers in each location, and the numbers of participants will increase as the Field Test progresses.
· Phase 1 is expected to take three months and will test technical issues and basic MediConnect functions
· Phase 2 will test additional MediConnect functions, including the use of a 'read-only' web browser in hospital accident and emergency and admission departments.

Why these locations?

· Launceston and Ballarat have been selected because these two locations meet a range of selection criteria, in particular the significant requirement for strong links between health care professionals and consumer groups.
· The professional medical and pharmacy bodies, consumer groups and at least one hospital in each area also demonstrated a high level of interest in and support for MediConnect.
· Sufficient general practitioners and pharmacists in both locations were identified as using computer software provided by prescription-writing and prescription-dispensing software developers who have indicated a strong interest in participating in the Field Test.
· In addition, both locations provide optimum test populations, convenient access to a Medicare office and a high likelihood that consumers would visit local doctors and pharmacies rather than those outside the locations.