HealthSmart gets new head

By: Suzanne Tindal

The Victorian Department of Human Services has appointed a new CIO of health services who will also lead up the state's HealthSmart electronic health initiative.
Dr Andrew Howard, not the same Andrew Howard who holds the CIO position for the whole department and had previously been acting National E-Health Transition Authority CEO, will start next week.
A spokesperson for the Department of Human Services was sure there would be ample confusion caused by the two like-named CIOs.
The incoming CIO's role will include taking responsibility of HealthSmart, filling the shoes of Fiona Wilson who left last September.
HealthSmart began as a four-year, $320 million project to update IT systems in hospitals and other medical facilities right across Victoria, but has encountered deadline and budget problems.
Howard has had a medical career within the Victorian public health system, the spokesperson said, but has also held positions in the private sector at corporations such as NEC.