Guidelines for Presenters available here in PDF

Presenters

Dr Simon Towler

Dr Towler has a broad range of experience in critical care medicine, including bloodless management of medical and surgical patients. Dr Towler has a passion for health reform to meet the ever-increasing demands faced by our health system and is an enthusiastic advocate for multidisciplinary models of patient care. He was appointed to the position of Chief Medical Officer for Western Australia in 2005. His key responsibilities include establishment of Health Networks linked to development of strategic health policy and health services planning across Western Australia, the WA Patient Blood Management Project 2008-2011, Research Translation projects, Reproductive Technology legislation, the Medical Technology Strategy and Advanced Health Care Planning legislation and projects. Dr Towler continues to practice part-time as a Staff Specialist in Intensive Care at Royal Perth Hospital, St John of God Hospital Subiaco and the Mount Hospital.

Dr Towler is an active member of the Australian Medical Association, the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society, the Australasian Association for Blood Conservation and the Medical Society for Blood Management. He is a past president of the AMA (WA Branch) and serves on the WA AMA Council and Finance Committee and the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Other areas of interest are his involvement as a member of several committees including the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Haemovigilance Working Group, HealthPACT, Clinical Technical and Ethical Principal Committee and the Nationally Funded Centres Committee.

 

  

Mr Peter Fleming 

Peter Fleming was appointed NEHTA Chief Executive Officer in September 2008 to lead the development of Australia's national e-health agenda. Mr Fleming comes to NEHTA following a successful tenure as the General Manager Technology, Business Integration, for National Australia Bank. He started his career at Coles-Myer before moving to Colonial Group for seven years and rising to chief information officer. At Colonial, Mr Fleming was involved in installing a new banking system for the State Bank of NSW. He then joined the Mayne Group Limited in 2002 as Chief Information Officer where he was responsible for information technology initiatives across the group, including the evaluation of emerging technologies to support Mayne's businesses internationally. Mr Fleming has also previously worked as Chief Information Officer at Vodafone Australia and held other senior IT roles.

 

Mr Richard McFadden

Richard McFadden commenced as the Chief Information Officer for the Department of Health in August 2008. He was employed by Telstra for 21 years, with a large majority of time spent with the information technology group as a technical specialist. The last 10 years Richard spent in banking and finance, as the Chief Finance Officer at Home Building Society. A major role for Richard as WA Health's CIO will be continuing to lead and implement the complex eHealthWA program and other ICT and information management functions and reforms.

 

Dr Robyn Lawrence

* Executive Director, Innovation and Health System Reform within the WA 
  Department of Health. 

* Oversight of all major system reform initiatives in WA, including elective
  surgery, acute demand (4 Hour Rule Program) and ambulatory care.

* Trained at UWA and worked as clinician at SCGH before commencing 
   training in Medical Administration in 1997. Awarded Fellowship Royal 
  Australasian College Medical Administrators in 2003. 

* Has undertaken senior administrative roles at a variety of hospitals within
  WA prior to the current position. 

* Away from work, married with 2 boys aged 8 and 10. This role helps 
  maintain a grounding in what is important, and contributes to the vision of 
  what trying to achieve for health in WA.

 

 

Ms Louise Schaper

Louise Schaper is a researcher, writer and consultant with a passion for health informatics. She is Chair of the WA Branch of the Health Informatics Society of Australia, the Director of Comperio Pty Ltd and the Research Director of CHIK Services – both e-health and informatics consulting companies. She consults on informatics and knowledge management issues to the National E-Health Transition Authority and is one of NEHTA’s Clinical Leads. Louise teaches health informatics at Curtin University of Technology, where she recently completed a PhD on technology acceptance amongst healthcare professionals. Louise is a trained occupational therapist and chairs the E-Health International Advisory Group of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. Louise’s research and consulting concern people’s responses to new technologies and leveraging technology to support and improve the ‘business’ of healthcare. She understands the value of technology to improving the efficiency, effectiveness, quality and safety of healthcare; and her research and consultancy focuses on these themes.

 

Ms Sandra Miller

Sandra Miller graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Health Information Management) in 1990 and has worked extensively in the areas of quality improvement, patient safety and strategic planning at two of Perth's largest teaching hospitals. 

Sandra commenced in the role of Director Safety, Quality & Performance at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in February 2009 and oversees the hospital's safety and quality program including clinical risk management, patient liaison and complaints management, quality improvement and accreditation and clinical practice improvement strategies.

Sandra's specific interests lie in using data to identify systems errors and opportunities for improvement and ensuring safety and quality priorities are included in health service strategic and operational planning.

 

Ms Lorraine Nicholson

Lorraine Nicholson is an independent Health Records Consultant, undertaking work both in the UK and overseas, with a particular interest in health records in developing countries. Her overseas consultancy portfolio has included work at Ministry of Health and hospital levels in Malaysia, Uganda, Thailand and the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Lorraine has worked with the Department of Health and NHS Connecting for Health in England on the update of the national retention schedules for all types of NHS records including health records. Previously she has been involved in the development of the NHS NHS Code of Practice for Records Management, the Information Governance Toolkit. (IGT) and also the "Roadmap - Resources to support improvement" to help NHS organisations improve their compliance with Information Governance Toolkit standards, against which all English NHS organisations are assessed annually. Lorraine also contributed to the Caldicott Guardian's Manual for Informing Healthcare in Wales specifically on the topic of records management. She held a fellowship in the Centre for Public Policy and Management at the University of Manchester from 1988-2002 and a visiting fellowship from 2002-2007.

Lorraine is the current President of the International Federation of Health Records Organisations (IFHRO) 2007 - 2010 and she chairs the IFHRO European Regional Team working on harmonisation of health records/health information management across European boundaries.

 

PRESENTERS AND PAPERS

A world first in cancer data collection - the Evaluation of Cancer Outcomes Trial, Barwon South West Region, Victoria.
[ click here for Abstract ]

Nicole Hopgood (B.HIM)  
Nicole graduated with a Bachelor of Heath Information Management in 2004 and commenced her career with Ballarat Health Services, where she was fortunate to gain extensive HIM experience through supervising the Information Management of four small regional Victorian hospitals. In 2006, Nicole had the opportunity to move to Ireland, working in a data quality and audit role with the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin. Nicole reviewed and analysed coded data from more than 70 participating public and private Irish hospitals whilst also designing a unique and innovative data quality and KPI tool. Currently Nicole is fortunate to be part of the world first Evaluation of Cancer Outcomes project, where in her role as HIM Team Leader she is responsible for reporting and collating comprehensive cancer data.

Leigh Matheson (B.HIM, B.HSc)
Leigh graduated in 2003 with a Bachelor of Health Science and then went on to complete a Bachelor of Health Information Management in 2008. As a recent graduate, Leigh was fortunate to be offered a position as a Health Information Manager with Barwon South West Regional Integrated Cancer Service. Specifically this role includes working on a world first trial, namely Evaluation of Cancer Outcomes, which involves comprehensive cancer data collection. In her current role, Leigh has gained a greater understanding and appreciation of health information, how it is collected and the impact this data has on the wider community.

The Wheels for Change: Important Lessons on Electronic Health Records (EHRs) Implementation for Hospital Managers in a Saudi Public Hospital.
[ click here for Abstract ]

 

Mr. Fares Alshammari 
Alshammari has a bachelor degree in health services administration and hospitals and diploma in primary healthcare from Saudi Arabia in 2001&2004. Alshammari got his master of health informatics (with distinction) from Wollongong University in 2008. He won the award of the best paper submitted to Saudi International Innovation Conference, at Leeds University, 2008. He is currently doing his PhD at Monash University. His interesting areas are e-health, change management and electronic health records.

Professor Shane Thomas 
Shane Thomas is Professor and Director of Primary Care Research in the School of Primary Health Care, Faculty of Medicine and Professor and Director of the Problem Gambling Research and Treatment Centre at Monash University. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Peking University and an Honorary Professor at University of Sydney. He is currently Honorary President and Chair of the Board of the Heart Research Centre. Professor Thomas has written over 200 refereed publications including 4 authored books, one of which is in its fifth edition. He has led the development of several high profile measurement systems that have been in national and international use. These tools include the Australian Commonwealth Work Ability Tables, the Thomas Post Acute Care Risk Screen and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners' Patient Satisfaction Survey. Professor Thomas' work has achieved a high degree of translation into policy and practice. Governments have published 15 of his reports during the period 2002 to 2006.

Preparing an organisation for electronic clinical                                 information systems: Does culture matter?
[ click here for Abstract ]

Joanne Callen BA UNSW., DipEd., MPH (Research) USyd, PhD UNSW.

Dr Callen is currently working as a Senior Research Fellow in the Health Informatics Research and Evaluation Unit in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Sydney. Prior to this position she was engaged in the development and delivery of health informatics programs at the University of Sydney.

Dr Callen's research expertise centres on the use of information and communication technologies to improve health outcomes for patients and support health professionals in the delivery of high quality, safe, patient care. This research entails an exploration of the use of clinical information systems by doctors, nurses and other health professionals in large tertiary hospitals and general practice settings.

Dr Callen's PhD research was the first large Australian study to explore the impact of organisational culture on the use of computerised physician order entry systems and the effect which these systems have on clinicians' work practices. Dr Callen has published a considerable body of research on the use of clinical information systems and published the first international study which quantitatively showed the relationship between culture and attitudes to, and satisfaction with, the use of a clinical information system.

Use of Risk Mortality (ROM) and Condition Onset Flag
to predict mortality risk in Queensland for admitted 
patient separations.  
[ click here for Abstract ]

Trisha Johnston, PhD, MA(Stat).
Completed undergraduate training in psychology and a research PhD in health psychology in 2000. Recently completed a coursework Masters in biostatistics. Worked as a researcher and analyst at the Australian Centre for Prehospital Research from 2000-2002 and as a Principal Analyst in the Statistical Analysis Unit at Queensland Health between 2002 and 2007.
Since 2008 Trisha has been the Director of the Statistical Analysis Unit at Queensland Health.

Richard W Freedman, PhD
Dr. Freedman received his PhD from MIT in 1976. For the last fourteen years, he has been a Health Economics Specialist with 3M Health Information Systems (HIS) specializing in the application of patient grouping systems as a component of national health policy analysis and health care finance systems. He has directed projects related to inpatient and ambulatory classification systems, the computerized clinical patient record, and patient flow optimization. He was the technical lead on projects in many countries to introduce DRGs, including all phases from financial and patient activity data collection, DRG training, simulation modeling, budgeting and data analysis.

Meegan Snell B.Bus (Hons)
Completed undergraduate degree with Honours in Health Administration at Queensland University of Technology in 1996.
Accepted into the Australian Bureau of Statistic Graduate program and then moved to Queensland Health, Data Services Unit. During time at Queensland Health performed a variety of roles, including Chairperson of the Queensland Coding Committee and Manager of the Perinatal Data Collection. Since 2006, Meegan joined 3M Australia in the role of Clinical Support Specialist, Health Information Systems.

Marc Berlinguet, MD, MPH.
Trained as physician in Quebec, Canada. Received a Master in Public Health at Harvard University- 1979. Awarded a Robert Woods Johnson Scholarship 1979-1981. Became a specialist in Community Health, McGill University in 1981. Between 1991-1994, was senior Policy Analyst, for the USA Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, DHSS (now AHRQ).
Senior medical advisor for the Ministries of Health between 1989 to 1998, he helped the implementation of DRG classifications, population-based groupers and quality/performance indicators in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. Since 2005, he is the International Medical Manager of 3M-HIS Inc International Business Unit.

Re-inventing the wheel? Lessons from the Victorian DHS IM Strategy.
[ click here for Abstract ]

Greg Stenton 
Graduated with a Bachelor of Business (Human Resources and Industrial Relations) from RMIT before entering the Victorian Public Service and working across a number of Departments. Since joining the Department of Human Services, Greg has held a number of corporate and change management roles in Human Resources, Finance and Strategic Planning. Greg is currently Director, Planning and Resources Branch and is (jointly) responsible for the implementation of the DHS IM Strategy.

Jonathan Ashley 
Worked in the community sector for a number of years in direct service provision; regional service development and coordination; and state and national coordination and advocacy. Graduated with a Bachelor of Theology at Whitley College Melbourne. Went into the public sector to establish and administer new programs and to effect change to existing arrangements. Has since undertaken many change management/program development roles in various strategic policy & planning units. Jonathan is currently Manager, DHS Information Management Strategy Project Unit.

Nyssa Dalton 
Currently completing a combined Bachelor of Health Sciences and Bachelor of Health Information Management at La Trobe University. Nyssa completed a university placement with the DHS IM Strategy Unit in 2008, before returning to work with the team on a part-time basis in 2009. Nyssa's work on the DHS IM Strategy Unit has been focused on the Common and Reference Data Dictionary (CRDD) Project, and in particular the development of a common service model for DHS.

Heidi Rose 
Graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) and Bachelor of Public Policy and Management from the University of Melbourne in 2005. Heidi completed the Victorian Public Service Graduate Recruitment Scheme in 2006, working in policy roles across both DHS and DE&T, before returning to the Strategic Projects Branch, within DHS. In mid-2007 Heidi joined the DHS IM Strategy Unit team, and is responsible for DHS IM Strategy communications.

 

Clinical record scanning - a patient centred  approach.
[ click here for Abstract ]

Cathy Dooling 
Manager, Health Information Service
Currently Manager, HIS at GV Health in Shepparton - held this position since 2001. Prior to this was Manager ,HIS Wimmera Health Care Group, Horsham since 1979.

Annie Manning 
Clinical Record Scanning Project Officer 
Seconded from position as ED Clerical Manager at GV Health to undertake the co-ordination of the implementation of the scanned clinical record. Graduated from Latrobe University, Melbourne with Bachelor of Health Information Management.

 

Grass Roots Health Information Management - Quality, Processes and Financial Incentives.
[ click here for Abstract ]

Lisa Gardiner

Mrs Lisa Gardiner has been the Manager of Health Information Services for Cairns & Hinterland Health Service District since November 2008. Lisa completed a Bachelor of Business in Health Administration, Medical Records in 1990 and a Graduate Certificate of Health Sciences, Casemix in 2003. Lisa has a strong background in Health Information Management, having worked in metropolitan, rural, community and regional hospitals across public and private settings for the past 20 years. In recent years, Lisa was part of the Clinical Benchmarking Unit at Cairns Base Hospital and experienced the introduction of Casemix based activity funding into Queensland Hospitals.

 

 

Change - What's change! Beautiful one day, perfect                     the next! 
[ click here for Abstract ]

Alexandra Toth 
- Present position as Director Health Information Management which 
  includes the management of two medium sized departments 
- HIMAA Board Member and Chair of the HIMAA Education Committee 
- HIM experience gained over the last 20 years in a variety of healthcare 
  agencies both in Victoria and Queensland and also as a lecturer in the 
  HIM  degree at La Trobe University
Grant Duffill 
- Present position as Program Coordinator - Health Information 
  Management at Caboolture Hospital 
- HIMAA member Graduated from QUT in 2001 Variety of positions held in 
  Queensland Health including metropolitan and rural Passionate about HIM

 

 

Interprofessional Education (IPE) as a foundation to  enterprise wide engagement in population health and patient care.
[ click here for Abstract ]

Kerryn Butler-Henderson
Kerryn obtained her Bachelor of Science (Health Information Management) and Masters of Public Health (major Epidemiology & Biostatistics) from Curtin University of Technology. She has worked over eight years in the field on oncology research, specialising in the fields of breast cancer and positron emission tomography, and consults in the area of database design and system implementation. Kerryn is currently a lecture in Health Information Management and Health Informatics at Curtin University. She is actively involved with the HIM community as the Western Australia representative on the HIMAA Board. She is completing her PhD in Epidemiology & Biostatistics this year.

 

Journey to a scanned world: 10 sites, 8 campuses, 9 service settings, 2 governing bodies.
[ click here for Abstract ]

Renee Dean 
Renee currently works at Northern Health as the IT Projects Health Information Manager. She graduated with a Bachelor of Health Information Management in 1999 and commenced working as the sole HIM at Cessnock/Kurri Kurri District Hospitals. Renee moved to Melbourne in 2002, and was the HIM for North West Area Mental Health Service, and later as the Quality Manager until 2005. During this time she completed her Graduate Certificate in Quality Improvement in Healthcare. Since 2006, Renee has worked at Northern Health in her current role and has been involved in the implementation of a new Patient Administration System (PAS) and most recently the implementation of CPF - Scanned Medical Record.

Deb Monaghan 
Currently working as Senior HIM for NorthWestern Mental Health, Deb has extensive experience in the areas of and system redesign and change management. Deb commenced her career with Peninsula Health coding and managing the typing service. In 2003 she moved to ORYGEN Youth Health where she undertook a number of projects including relocation of the HIS department and the integration of Psychiatric and acute health medical records. In 2007 she moved to Inner West Area Mental Health service but soon found herself acting in her current role. She was later appointed to this position and has since overseen the implementation of the Scanned medical record across four NWMH services.

Terri Letizia 
Terri graduated from a Bachelor of Health Information Management in 1996 and commenced working at PANCH as a Health Information Manager and then moved to The Northern Hospital when PANCH closed in 1998. She has worked in a number of different roles during her career at The Northern Hospital, including Clinical Risk Management, Acting Manager of Health Information Services, HIM Operations Manager and is now Acting Manager of Health Information Services for Northern Health.

Teresa Sorrenti 
Teresa graduated from a Bachelor of Health Information Management in 2007 and commenced working at The Northern Hospital as a Health Information Manager. Teresa started working in a traditional HIM role but moved into the CPF Project team at the beginning of 2008. Teresa's role in the project was primarily focused on cataloguing and formatting all forms used across all Northern Health campuses to ensure that they were ready for scanning. Teresa continues to support Northern Health in forms management and business rules for prepping and scanning for Health Information.

David Mangano 
In early 2008, David graduated from a Bachelor of Health Information Management with Honours. His Honours thesis involved the analysis of clinical allergy information within a hospital environment. Following graduation, David was employed as the Health Information Manager at North West Area Mental Health Service. As well as this role, he was also the Mental Health Representative to the CPF Project Team and worked on the implementation of CPF (Scanned Medical Record) in Northern Health Mental Health sites. Currently, David is still employed by North West Area Mental Health Service.

Libby Owen 
Libby has worked in the health sector in a variety of service management and project management roles. Although her original training is in Health Information Management, Libby moved into more general healthcare management after completing her Masters in Business Administration. She is currently employed at Northern Health as the Director of IT Applications and was the Project Manager for the implementation of the Scanned Medical Record (CPF) project. Her previous role at Northern Health was as the Project Manager for the development of the Craigieburn Health Service (Northern Health's newest campus), which opened in April 2007. This new site was the catalyst for Northern Health to take the leap towards an electronic record and was the pilot site for Northern Health's scanned record project.

 

Health Information Manager and Clinical Coder  workforce issues in Victoria. 
[ click here for Abstract ]

Sara Harrison 
Sara Harrison is currently employed by the Department of Human Services, Victoria as a Health Information Management Advisor. Her main role involves management of two statewide data collections. Sara completed her Bachelor of Medical Record Administration from La Trobe University in 1993, has a Graduate Diploma in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Melbourne University and recently completed a Diploma of Management from RMIT.

Jennie Shepheard 
Jennie Shepheard is a Health Information Manager currently employed at the Department of Human Services where she convenes the Victorian ICD Coding Committee and manages the Statewide Audits of Patient Admitted Data. Her previous experience includes lecturing roles at La Trobe University in the Health Information Management course and Health Information Management roles at The Royal Melbourne Hospital.

 

Business planning for HIM research, consultancy and                              teaching in response to technological and economic                                change: charting a new course in rough seas. 
[ click here for Abstract ]

Garry Waller
Principle Author Bio: Garry Waller has been Senior Classification Officer with the NCCH Brisbane since 2000. Garry has a bachelor degree in Business: Health Information Management from the Queensland University of Technology and also holds an Associate Diploma in Business Management (UNENR). Prior to entering the HIM industry Garry has operated his own businesses, worked in middle management in hospitality and tourism, and has experience in nursing and telecommunications. He has an interest in mortality data, clinical documentation and coder education.

Margaret Campbell
Co-author Bio: Margaret Campbell Margaret holds a Bachelor of Business (Health Information Management) and a Bachelor of Nursing (Post Graduate) with formal training and industry experience in a diversity of health care settings; working with clinicians, researchers, educators, technicians, and administrators. Margaret has participated in the evaluation, use and reporting of coded health data and a diversity of research projects using coded morbidity and mortality health data. Margaret has in recent years collaborated on national and international research and development projects on the evaluation, customisation, implementation, management and improvement of clinical terminologies and related authoring and tooling environments.

Dr Kirsten McKenzie
Co-author Bio: Dr Kirsten McKenzie has been a research fellow at the National Centre for Classification in Health in Brisbane since 2003. She is involved in research on health information systems particularly focusing on the quality of morbidity and mortality data pertaining to injury information. Dr McKenzie has been actively involved in research on injury data systems, trauma data linkage and injury classifications for the past eight years.

Madonna Kemp
Co-author Bio: Madonna Kemp has been a Project Officer for Clinical Terminologies at the NCCH Brisbane since November 2004. During this time she worked on development projects such as value domain development for allergies and alerts, patient safety classification/terminology development and emergency department term set development. Madonna has a Masters Degree in Health Informatics, a Graduate Diploma in Health Administration and Information Systems Management from CQU and Bachelor of Science: Health Information Management from Curtin University. Madonna also has many years experience in the health care industry working in public hospitals in clinical coding and health information management as well as rural general practice management.

Debbie Scott
Co-author Bio: Debbie Scott has a nursing background, graduating as a registered nurse in Edmonton, Canada. After her move to Australia she became involved in research, completing a Master of Public Health. Debbie also manages the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit. Her research work has focussed in injury classification, surveillance and prevention."

Sue Walker
Co-author Bio: Sue Walker is currently Associate Director for the National Centre for Classification in Health, Brisbane offie at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia. Sue has held this position since 1994. Sue has qualifications in health information management, public health and health services management and is currently undertaking doctoral studies. She has extensive experience in developing and presenting training programs about health classifications, health information management and related topics for international and Australian audiences. She has worked as a consultant for the WHO and various international governments and philanthropic organisations to provide training to staff of hospitals and statistical agencies.

 

 

Capturing and funding the patient journey: an  organisation-wide approach.
[ click here for Abstract ]    

 

Michelle Stevens
Michelle Stevens graduated from La Trobe University in Melbourne in 2007 with a Bachelor of Health Information Management and has held the position of Assistant Coding and Casemix Manager at Auckland District Health Board since graduation. Michelle's role encompasses coding, provision of casemix information, clinical liaison, management of clinical record forms, data quality, and teaching Medical Terminology.

 

Dispelling bad documentation habits in clinicians early.

 [ click here for Abstract ]    

Michelle Leeding,  Debbie Tansacha
Health industry experience spanning over 15 years within public and private hospitals and clinical associations, Graduated in Health Information Management in 2007 and awarded the HIMAA (Qld Branch): Prize for the highest aggregate marks at the first attempt of Health Information Management units, Continued to Postgraduate studies in Health Service Management, Holds a current Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, and Currently employed by the Redcliffe and Caboolture-Kilcoy Hospitals as the Program Coordinator - Health Documentation and Education.