Health smart card not such a smart idea

The Human Services Minister has proposed an Australian Government smart card to be carried by those receiving for health and social services. These has been criticism of the project on privacy grounds, but I had a look at it from the point of view of an IT project.

The project looks like a high risk one to me and may not be needed if fraud prevention measures were correctly implemented in the current system.

The scope of the project could be reduced to increase the chance of success. Those involved in the project need to keep in mind that by including patient records in the system they increase the cost and risk. Failure of the system could result in death or serious injury to patients, exposing the Minister, and others involved, to criminal prosecution.