| Project Objectives / Summary:
Through the Innovation Funding Grant, the Top End Division of General Practice has developed a software application called Argus. Argus is a cross platform clinical email program embracing common standards and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). Over the past three year IT savvy GPs, representatives from the Department of Health and Community Services (DHCS) and pathology companies (QML and Western-Mayne Health), and the Top End Division of General Practice (TEDGP), created a working group to develop a product that would assist in the secure transmission of standardised health information between health service providers. From this group, a number of key requirements were identified:
- A sophisticated archiving facility.
- Promotion of clinical centred email accounts.
- An on-line address book, utilising LDAP.
- Location PKI keys.
- The ability to handle attachments of a variety of types, including images.
- Advanced usage statistics
- Message filtering.
- Saving user desktop settings.
- Background mailing.
- Users should be able to access their data from outside the practice, by running ArgusMail in their homes, or from other practices.
- Open source cross platform philosophy.
Project Collaboration:
Collaborative Centre for E-Health (CCeH)
Department of Health and Community Services
Queensland Medical Laboratories
Westerns Diagnostic/Mayne Health
Project Outcomes:
The development of the Argus software was contracted to CCeH, which over a period of 18 months developed two applications. Argus Server and Argus Mail to the general requirements outlined at the start of the project. The software was developed in Java providing cross platform compatibility with Windows and Linux styles of operating systems, which includes the new OsX for Macintosh.
To take advantage of Argus' key features, a number of essential organisations were required to undertake changes and/or development of a number of key systems on time. These risks as outlined below:
HIC
The Health Insurance Commission (HIC) has been managing a government driven initiative to develop a coordinated approach to the implantation of a high-level proprietary encryption structure for the health community, for the secure transmission of electronic health information. Part of their brief was (1) provide a secure location for public certificates, (2) provide support and administration for the management of the certificate infrastructure and (3) provide an Application Program Interface (API) for software providers to utilise encryption keys.
The gestation period for the HIC to develop key tools to implement the PKI infrastructure, unfortunately took longer than was anticipated. It is only recently (after 18 months) that software has been available from the HIC (with assistance from programmers from CCeH from this project) to fully utilise their technology.
Pathologies
In collaboration with the NT's major pathology providers (Western Diagnostic and QML, now both owned by Mayne Health),
assistance was given in developing a gateway to proved pathology messaging to GP by embedded HL7 message structures within a standard email.. However, difficulties with agreeing on HL7 standards and changes in management, incurred significant delay.
There has been a number of additional projects and collaboration that have now significantly improved the outcome of the Argus project. These projects include the use of Argus in the HealthConnect trial in Katherine, which has consolidated its use as a message gateway through its implementation in linking a major hospital and health centres across a variety of system software. In addition, a pathology messaging project that is a collaboration between CCeH and TEDGP, to develop linkages between clinical application software (Medical Director) and the Argus suite, to manage secure pathology messaging between a pathology provider and general practice.
Further more, a number of software application that complement the Argus suit have or are in the process of development and include: Argus Forms, for secure transmission of form related data and a API, to seamlessly integrate Argus into other applications.
The process of developing software in collaboration with public and commercial organisation has been insightful. These issues include, contract management, differences in dealing with the public and private sectors, software copyright and trade mark/marketing and the associated risk of down stream providers.
There has been lively debate within the steering group and peers on the strategic approach of the development of Argus, particularly given the large delays in completing the project.
The development work and the long gestation period of the product, has crystallized its role within the health messaging market, where initially the product was target as a clinical email application competing for desktop space with MS Outlook, it has now found its niche as a cost effective and comprehensive email gateway application, provide simple structures for encryption and HL7 messaging. For organisation such as hospitals, pathologies, imaging, general practice and easily transferable to the whole health industry. who relate to general practice. Argus now provides a smart messaging back end to existing health related application.
This project is due for completion mid December 2002. A complete update of the project will be forwarded to all Divisions, SBOs and interested parties on the completion of the project.
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