A call for national e-health clinical safety governance

Smith, Julian A

doi:10.5694/mja12.10727

To the Editor: Coiera and colleagues’ call for national e-health clinical safety governance1 is timely, given that the proposed rules and regulations for the personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) from the Department of Health and Ageing2 neglect this crucial component. The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) has called on the Australian Government to provide better clinical governance arrangements for the PCEHR.

1 Monash University, Melbourne, VIC.
2 eHealth Reference Group, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Melbourne, VIC.

Correspondence: julian.smith@monash.edu

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

1. Coiera EW, Kidd MR, Haikerwal MC. A call for national e-health clinical safety governance [editorial]. Med J Aust 2012; 196: 430-431. <MJA full text>
2. Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. Personally controlled electronic health record system: proposals for regulations and rules. March 2012. Canberra: DoHA, 2012. http://www.yourhealth.gov.au/internet/yourhealth/publishing.nsf/Content/pcehr-legals-regs-rules (accessed Jun 2012).
3. PCEHR system: legislation issues paper and exposure draft bills 2011 submissions. Submission by Royal Australasian College of Surgeons [exposure draft legislation]. http://www. yourhealth.gov.au/internet/yourhealth/publishing.nsf/Content/PCEHRLegSubmissions Received#.T8xUM8XwJls (accessed Jun 2012).
4. National E-health Transition Authority. Concept of operations: relating to the introduction of a personally controlled electronic health record system. Sep 2011. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, 2011. http://www.yourhealth.gov.au/internet/yourhealth/publishing.nsf/Content/PCEHRS-Intro-toc#.T8xSk8XwJlu (accessed Jun 2012).

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