An Accenture-led consortium has won the pivotal contract to deliver a national IT infrastructure for the Gillard government's $500 million personally controlled e-health records system. The team including Oracle and Orion Health also won $146m contract to deliver Singapore's e-health records program last year.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon has promised that by July 1 next year, every Australian who wants one will have access to a personal e-health record, leaving a very tight timeframe to complete the project build.
According to the contract the team will design and construct the whole system and integrate it with existing health IT infrastructure across the nation and thereafter test it.
Accenture began hiring for the project last week, seeking staff with experience in Oracle’s service bus integration engine, identity management architecture, business intelligence enterprise suite and Siebel OnDemand customer relationship management. Orion Health will supply its Concerto medical applications portal, which sits on top of existing information systems and gives doctors a single point of access for patient records, lab results, digital images and service orders. Accenture has been boosting its health IT credentials for some time, with a particular focus on the public sector.
It is understood there were four serious bidders for the national infrastructure project, with CSC, IBM and Fujitsu unsuccessful. The Accenture contract is the largest of four tenders called for private-sector partners to work with the National E-Health Transition Authority on delivery of the $500m personally controlled electronic health record system or PCEHR program.
The New South Wales Government has previously contracted Accenture to consult and advise the development of an Integrated Clinical Information Program (ICIP) for the state’s healthcare systems. The State Government is also named as an Australian customer of Orion Health. Consultancy Ernst & Young had picked up a $1 million contract from the Department of Health to act as “external delivery assurance adviser” to the PCEHR.