CQU Professor Evelyn Hovenga is among health information technology experts urging the Prime Minister to take control of the national e-health reform agenda.

The academic is among a group of Australian College of Health Informatics (ACHI) Fellows who have published a position paper on a national eHealth strategy.

The Australian newspaper this week highlighted "frustration ... over changes to plans for the centrepiece HealthConnect network, and a perception the Federal Government is trying to duckshove responsibility for health technology to the states".

The newspaper quotes Professor Hovenga in her capacity as spokesperson for the ACHI.

She is recorded as saying the Federal Government has totally changed its tack over the past year.

"Since the establishment of the National E-Health Transition Authority, the Government has been really looking at putting e-health back into the state governments' court, but this needs national leadership, and it needs to come from Howard," Professor Hovenga is quoted as saying.

Professor Hovenga is quoted as saying that local informatics experts were frustrated because a lot of good work had been done on e-health projects, including HealthConnect, but it was not being "taken up".

The CQU academic said Australia's health informatics experts were recognised as world-leading, but they were not getting enough support within Australia.

Professor Hovenga is chairing the Medifo2007 conference in Brisbane, which will feature input from a leading World Health Organisation representative. (The WHO e-Health strategy was endorsed by Australia and 192 other nations at the World Health Assembly held in May last year).

Thee was a follow-up 2nd World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in November last year.