Folks, by now most of you will have read through the Federal Health Budget, some of you all 764 pages! For those of you who have not, here is the link.

I wanted to provide a perspective from inside Microsoft where we remain optimistic about the growth in current Health IT investment. Although the lack of a dedicated stimulus package around the National eHealth Strategy is disappointing, the Government appears to still be committed to executing on that strategy which was endorsed by all Health Ministers in October 2008.

It is not clear when COAG will make a decision on that, but in the interim the budget will allow for increased public spending on building new facilities, industrialising the core IT infrastructure, improving workforce productivity, workforce training, collaboration, communication, data exchange, consumer engagement etc. These are core capabilities that you, our Microsoft Partners have a wealth of expertise in.

The $22.4 Billion funding boost in the Australian Healthcare Agreements will have a flow on effect on IT spending. Our platform and your skills are well placed to capitalise on this increase in the availability of funds that will trickle down to IT.