The Department of Health and Ageing is to embark on a 14 month project — the Pharmaceutical Consolidated Information System (PharmCIS) — to support the listing of drugs on the Pharmaceutical Benefit Schedule (PBS).
The system, to be delivered by May 2011, is aimed at enhancing the coordination and transparency of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) processes and assisting the publication of approved drugs on the PBS Schedule.
“The project seeks to align business processes, work practices and IT systems which support PBAC, PBPA and publishing processes,” tender documents on the project read.
PharmCIS will replace disparate data sources with a relational data store and will include a secure online user interface and applications facility to support the business processes associated with evaluation, pricing and listing of drugs for the PBS.
The interface will be used to enter, retrieve and export data to produce reports and quickly consolidate information for review and comment.
“The project represents the redevelopment of the PBS submission management, product pricing and listing systems, together with related information management, into a single integrated system,” the documents read. “It is a major IT re-development project managed by PharmBiz and requires the consolidation of at least six existing internal systems and alignment with external IT systems.”
The PharmBiz section within the Department is largely responsible for the delivery of the PharmCIS project.
Specific benefits of the PharmCIS project are expected to include improved submission evaluation through accessing more information about drug submissions, sourcing information faster, providing information in a form that is of better value to the end user, and supporting better quality management of information.
The project is also expected to improve submission processing by increasing the transparency of submission evaluation to administrators, increasing the traceability of submission progress through the listing process, reducing data processing effort, reducing paper handling, improving information security, and enabling more effective communication between geographically disperse users.
Email Computerworld or follow @computerworldau on Twitter.