The Federal Government is to provide $4.9m to give children with hearing or vision impairment in regional and remote Australia access to specialist services and therapies through the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Rising rates of chronic disease are pushing healthcare providers into seeking better and more-cost-effective ways of delivering care, with telemonitoring technology showing great promise, but yet to be widely implemented, according to a global market survey.

The Melbourne-based Metro Spinal Clinic is using IBM predictive analytics software for tracking and recording data that will allow clinicians to more accurately track and manage patient pain.

The National E-health Transition Authority (Nehta) has released the security and access framework that sets out how health information should be collected, stored and accessed – a critical step in its bid to win consumer support for the personally controlled electronic health records which Australians can sign up for starting mid-2012.

The Government’s e-health initiative, for which it has so far earmarked $467 million worth of investment is acting as a lure for the big names of IT with HP and GE the latest to bring new healthcare solutions to Australia.

BT has been selected by international services company, Serco, to be its IT partner on the new Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth. The deal represents a first of BT, which has been trying for some time to export its expertise in the sector into the Australian market.

The National eHealth Transition Authority has responded to the no-holds barred attack it faced yesterday from Queensland Senator Sue Boyce who accused it of poor progress in terms of delivering an electronic health platform for all Australians, and also called into question the value of a personal controlled electronic health record (PCEHR).

The Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record – which has secured Government funding of more than $466 million – could be scrapped by a Liberal Government. Senator Sue Boyce, Liberal Senator for Queensland, used a speech at a Sydney health administration conference today to claim there was no established evidence-based case for the benefits of a PCEHR; attack the National eHealth Transition Authority; and, brand much of the Government investment made to date in e-health initiatives a waste of taxpayer money.

Local cloud services specialist UberGlobal Enterprise is positioning itself to be considered as the preferred delivery platform for online services being proposed as part of Australia’s proposed e-health revolution.

Technology provider CSC has won a $6.3 million contract to roll out a patient administration system for the Western Australia Department of Health.