Tasmania looks for core eHealth infrastructure replacement

Tasmania's Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is looking for a contractor to replace the core systems behind its current eHealth integration infrastructure since the existing software is nearing its end of life.

The existing system runs on the Java Composite Application Platform Suite (Java CAPS), which was originally developed by Sun Microsystems and folded into Oracle when purchased in 2010. Oracle subsequently released Java CAPS 6.3 in 2011, but the tender documents show that DHHS wishes to transition from the suite.

Oracle itself is rolling features from Java CAPS into its Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) suite, and encouraging users to migrate to its new systems.

Rather than going through the migration process, DHHS wants a new open standards alternative that will also tie in with the national health reform agenda. This will mean making it compliant for the upcoming personally controllable electronic health records system, and the National E-Health Transition Authority's (NEHTA) standards.

Funding for the project has already been allocated under the Tasmanian Health Assistance Package, which ensures that eHealth infrastructure can be maintained and upgraded. Financial support from the Commonwealth also means a number of additional restrictions, most notably that the entire upgrade must be completed by June 2014.

The overall project will involve replacing three main components: The integration engine, which controls and manages how data flows; the messaging engine, which controls notifications and messaging management; and the master patient index, a central repository for patient data.