The NASH has been a long time coming for the healthcare community, with many vendors and individual clinical communities developing and implementing their own messaging platform to provide similar functionality. The Melbourne East GP Network, awarded a portion of $12.5 million in federal funding for trialing of the PCEHR, has already deployed its own messaging platform among GPs.

The contract comes as yet another win for IBM Australia, which shortly before Christmas signed a $109 million agreement to extend its 15-year relationship with the Department of Health and Ageing by a further four years, without the government going to tender. The deal has undergone recent scrutiny, with belief the department has since called for an urgent review of the relationship.