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Saturday, August 4, 2012

I Had Not Noticed This Service Had Kicked Off. Interesting How It Is Being Done With Another ‘Slow Launch’ I Suspect.

I noticed this a few days ago.

The National Health Services Directory (NHSD)

About Us

The National Health Services Directory (NHSD) is a convenient and accessible new resource.  It builds on and consolidates some existing regional healthcare directories to provide detailed information on available health related services to anyone with internet access.
The directory provides access to reliable information, and will assist you to choose and connect with the most appropriate health services for your current needs.
The NHSD covers the nation. It will be freely available and will include both public and private health sector providers from all Australian states and territories.
Implemented by the National Health Call Centre Network (NHCCN) on behalf of, and with the support of, all Australian Governments, the NHSD will initially provide service information for GPs, Pharmacies, Hospitals and Emergency Departments.
Developed to support health providers’ delivery of services in addition to facilitating public access to reliable information, the NHSD will be enhanced to include secure access to practitioner information as well as mental health, allied health and local hospital services data information.
To assist your planning and health service selection the NHSD will be further extended to include allied health providers and human services in the coming months.
The NHSD is being developed using national and emerging international standards based largely on the successful implementation of the Victorian Human Services Directory (VHSD) and other directories of significance around Australia.
Coverage will include but not be limited to healthcare and related human service providers. Information provided will include: service types and location; opening hours; languages spoken; access to bulk billing and supported types of communication.
The full website is found here:
This page I found very interesting.

Health Departments

The NHSD is a strategic component of the National Health Reform Agenda.  It is a joint initiative of all Australian governments which will not only support existing services but help enable many eHealth activities.
The National Health Services Directory will make use of existing data sets and directory information held by the various state and territory health departments.
This information will be updated, checked for consistency and extended to provide a national data set which can be used by all government health departments and other groups within the health sector.

Benefits of a shared and consistent national directory

  • Make available accurate and current provider and service information to support health professionals in their delivery of care planning and referrals
  • Help Australians search for and locate healthcare services and providers where and when they need them.

What the future holds

The NHSD creates a platform for ongoing inclusion and enrichment of data and functionality. The directory is expected to provide an Endpoint Locator Service (ELS) to assist in secure clinical messaging and to incorporate information for telehealth over coming years.
The page is found here:
From the FAQ we have the following:

Why was the National Health Services Directory (NHSD) created?

The NHSD has been developed to support health providers’ delivery of services in addition to facilitating public access to reliable information. It will be enhanced to include secure access to practitioner information as well as mental health, allied health and local hospital services data information. It is expected to provide an Endpoint Locator Service (ELS) to assist in secure clinical messaging and to incorporate information for telehealth over coming years. 
The time line for development is interesting:

When will Health Service Information be available via the NHSD?

Now
Service information for GPs, Pharmacies, Hospitals and Emergency Departments.
Late 2012
Increased secure and detailed information on services and practitioners for primary care, mental health and local hospital network services.
2013
Extensions to allied health and human services.
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The partners with the National Healthcare Call Centres Network (NHCCN) are the Jurisdiction and NEHTA.
As the site points out:
The NHSD (National Health Service Directory) is operated by the NHCCN on behalf of all Australian governments. It is a operated as a not-for-profit community resource. © All Rights Reserved.
Key to my interest in this is the proposal for the NHSD to - over time - develop an End Point Locator Service (ELS).
Why I am interested is that the ELS is one of the missing parts of workable NEHTA secure messaging which is, of course, a rather key part of the NEHRS program. Without safe and secure message transmission between providers and the NEHRS (both ways) the NEHRS is about as useful as a ‘barnacle on a battleship’.
Secure Message Delivery (SMD) requires (as well as the various network connectivity between sender and receiver) three things.
1. Standards regarding message content and handling (HL7 etc.) etc.
2. Encryption and message decoding standards (typically PKI as planned to NASH)
3. A directory that can permit the sender (and their message) to electronically find the intended recipient. This is where the ELS comes in.
We have a Standards Australia IT-14 Technical Report covering this area.

TR 5823-2010  - Endpoint location service.

Published:   05 Mar 2010
(Interestingly NEHTA and Microsoft seem to have contributed different views on this area and what underlying approach should be used.).
As I type there is no national ELS and reading the above it seems we are going to be waiting a while for what is said above is “It is expected to provide an Endpoint Locator Service (ELS) to assist in secure clinical messaging and to incorporate information for telehealth over coming years”.
In the meantime our various messaging providers each have their own directories for their users.
Also, of course, it seems NASH remains in a hole with all sorts of rumours around just what work is going on and just who, if anyone, is doing anything.
Essentially of the three parts you need we maybe have one at best - with the other two being just ‘twinkles in DoHA’s/NEHTA’s eyes’.
Just where this leaves a securely accessible NEHRS is anyone’s guess. So much for getting the ducks aligned before starting a project like the NEHRS.
Updates / answers as to what it all means on a postcard please (a comment will do!).
David.