Larvatus Prodeo

Much and all as their antediluvian internet access policy is annoying, if you want to be kept informed about important issues you pretty much have to read the Fin. Today, for instance, there was a report (brief summary here) indicating the difficulties the states and the federal government were having in implementing e-health. Apparently, plans to introduce universal electronic medical records – that is, storing your entire medical history in a centralized electronic database – have been delayed until 2012. 2012? 2009? I wasn’t even aware that a formal plan to introduce such a thing exists, let alone by 2009.

As previously noted here, there are very serious privacy and security concerns about such systems, as well as great potential advantages. If they get it wrong, there’s considerable potential for it to blow up in the government’s face.

So here’s my little question. Before we get to the stage of spending billions – rather than the $150-million odd already spent around the country on such projects – it would be nice if the privacy and security issues were thrashed out. At the very least, it might save a lot of money in redesigns after media pressure forces hasty changes. Are we going to have a public discussion of these issues, or are we going to get another departmental omnibus program that, like the Access Card, is going to be so flawed that the only thing to do once it’s announced to fight is kill it off? Maybe a discussion paper or two to kick things off the discussion, perhaps?