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Health care smart card trialled
Brisbane Water Private Hospital has been chosen to participate in a one-year project to trial a health care smart card.
The trial will be held in conjunction with the NSW Department of Veteran Affairs, the NSW Department of Health and Ageing, smart-card company Giesecke and Devrient Australasia and health technology integrator Smart Health Solutions.
With the aid of a $130,000 grant from the Federal Government, the smart card technology will establish an interchange between Brisbane Waters Private Hospital, 1000 veterans and the NSW Department of Veterans Affairs.
The smart card will enable general practitioners and other health care providers to pre-admit patients to hospital online, rather than having to make phone calls or send letters.
The patient's smart card would then start the hospital admission process.
When patients leave hospital, billing details will automatically be sent to the payer organisation for billing as well as to authorised health care providers.
According to Smart Health Solutions director Mr Jon Hughes, the main benefits of this project would be efficiency gains.
"All hospitals have to report information about the treatments that they're giving to patients.
"At the moment, organisations like hospitals report to the Department of Veterans Affairs in various forms such as paper or disk.
"It can take many weeks," he said.
Mr Hughes said that the project had the potential to be used by private health insurance bodies and government organisations, such as Medicare.
Alison Branley, August 16