HIC 2009 Awards

Dr Don Walker is a pioneer in the application of computers in Australian health care.  With an untiring commitment to the field that has spanned decades, Don has made a major contribution to Australian health informatics, particularly in the area of terminology.

The winners of the 2009 DON WALKER AWARDS are as follows:

Don Walker Award for Effectiveness 2009 - GRAHAME GRIEVE

Grahame has represented Australia in International Standards Forums for more than a decade in numerous leadership positions and has helped establish Australia as a major participant at HL7 International and more recently ISO TC 215.

The specific work that has led to this nomination is the development of a set of common datatypes across the major international eHealth standards communities (HL7, ISO, CEN). This work commenced as a project within Standards Australia IT14-9 working group 4 years ago. Grahame was the major author of that work and subsequently developed and refined the datatype specifications in consultation with HL7 International and ISO. Along the way he forged the first joint ISO/HL7 balloting process and has shepherded the common datatype specification through numerous international ballot cycles. Subsequently, these datatypes for the first time now provide the basic common building blocks for interoperability between HL7, ISO and CEN standards. It was generally thought that such a set of common datatypes was impossible and certainly given the technical and political difficulties, not worth pursuing. However, Grahame has been able to combine an impressive technical ability and a capability for consensus building across divergent communities and achieved "the impossible dream"! I would liken this to creating the Philosopher's Stone for eHealth - the interconversion of data (base metal) across standards divides, enabling the creation of Knowledge (Gold) Grahame's contribution to this process at considerable personal expense has been the major factor in its success. Anyone who has taken part in standards work will have an idea of the huge amount of effort and personal dedication it has taken to achieve this outcome.

 

Don Walker Award for Efficiency 2009 ‐ Pen Computer Systems Pty Ltd
Awarded to the Director of PEN, John Johnston

Clinical Audit Tool (CAT) is currently in use by 67 Divisions of General Practice throughout Australia, to target, measure and enhance the effectiveness of NATIONAL AND STATE primary care programs delivered throughout general practice. CAT provides valuable reporting tools to General Divisions to meet National Performance Indicator (NPI) requirements, and enough flexibility to address the needs of specific Division Programs across a broad spectrum of primary health initiatives such as:

Chronic Disease Management and Prevention
Cervical Screening
Obesity
Immunisation
Mental Health
Medication Profiling
Home Medicine Review (HMR).

Successful implementation of CAT provides real benefits to the primary care practice and their patients. CAT is a tool through which Divisions can truly engage with their practices to achieve outstanding primary care delivery results.