The Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) will digitise more than 40 million patient records stored on old microfiche archive equipment between 1975 and 1984 before the government’s Medicare scheme was introduced. In a tender issued on today, the DoHA said was looking for a supplier to convert images from microfiche to a digital image format, optimise the images for an optical character recognition (OCR) process, and convert them to PDFs with text and manual searching. This historical data – which includes almost 1 million pages of Medibank and private health insurance records – is held on computer output microfiche or COM fiche cards, many of which have “degraded and marked with scratches due to wear and tear,” the DoHA said. The DoHA said historical data on microfiche is still in use and needs to be preserved and its usability improved by providing a more efficient method to search the database. Using microfiche readers is time-consuming and imposes further wear and tear on the system, the DoHA said. Digitising these records also reduces the risk that the department would not be able to access these records when microfiche becomes obsolete. It also eliminates the risk of damage and deterioration of the microfiche media, “rendering the card unreadable due to wear the tear,” the department said. “The successful tenderer will be required to organise the PDF files to facilitate both text and manual searching, e.g. through the use of bookmarks. The ability to search through only a defined part of a collection, e.g. only one [Australian] state, is desirable,” the DoHA said in its tender document. The DoHA said the tenderer must securely transport fiche and digital files – which contain personal health information – between the tenderer’s premises and the department, and securely store and destroy the microfiche files. Follow CIO Australia on Twitter and Like us on Facebook… Twitter: @CIO_Australia, Facebook: CIO Australia, or take part in the CIO conversation on LinkedIn: CIO Australia Related content BrandPost Stay in Control of Your Data with a Secure and Compliant Sovereign Cloud By Stan Kwong Mar 23, 2023 6 mins Cloud Security Cloud Computing News Accenture to lay off 19,000 to cut costs amid economic uncertainty Technology services giant Accenture will continue to hire but meanwhile is cutting staff to streamline operations in the face of economic headwinds. By Anirban Ghoshal Mar 23, 2023 2 mins IT Consulting Services Technology Industry BrandPost Advice from procurement: How to evaluate and propose new IT investments By clearly defining needs and requirements, evaluating TCO, and performing risk assessments, procurement and IT teams can work together to help their business leaders make more informed decisions for an improved bottom line. By Bo Bradshaw, Edgio Procurement Director Mar 23, 2023 5 mins SaaS BrandPost Why AI is key to hiring and retaining developers Data shows that the opportunity to build AI-powered apps figures very prominently in where developers decide to work. By Bryan Kirschner, Vice President, Strategy at DataStax Mar 23, 2023 4 mins Artificial Intelligence IT Leadership Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe