Without any standardisation can the HIS implementation be successful?

(apologize for the spacing, the conversion from the pop-up to the post is whack)

I assume you mean National HIS in your question above, and if that is the case, the argument below applies. If you meant HIS in general, it would succeed in the sense that client records & information will eventually become digital, and systems will be present to communicate that data. Standardization is the determinant factor in whether those information systems replicate the current data-siloing that is the hallmark of health practice.

In other words, without standardization, I don't see a future where I have immediate access to all my medical records & documentation from all my current/historical providers without cost (because I paid for the services, or the insurance for those services),

In this sense I would agree that standardization is critical for national HIS success, but only under the following conditions:

The methods should be standardized, not the product. It makes a lot of sense to standardize the following:

- How health information is transferred (HL-7)

- The minimum frequency of information transfer for participating groupsWho is required to participate (if there is that requirement, which I would deem necessary...see * below)

- The types of access given to that information (to prevent barriers)

- The location where that information is held & authorizing agent (like the point above, barriers)

- The basic set of data that should be transferred (eg. Name, Demographics, Medical History, Allergies, Current Medications/Treatment Regimin, etc.)

- Requirements for third party corporate software used for HIS

- It makes little to standardize the product itself, because in this case government exists to review information, advise, and make decisions on policy and programs, not actually design products which the corporate world can do better. That said...

*It would be very advisable to have a government funded development of a HIS software package that is the following:

- Subsidized (free to use)
- Integrable with third party software (so switching to paid products is seamless data-wise)
- "Plug-n-Play"-ability. The software should do everything the standardized requirements request and basic convenience features to entice use. Agencies/companies should be able to download, web-seminar a training course (or site visit), and go.   

With this in place, an agency can either purchase software that has special features, or use the government-issued software. Either way, once that information is gathered with that software, it is then the government's responsibility to review that data and provide oversight to that data. Only then can the public really have a say (through voting) without having to pay unnecessarly (through page cost copying records so I can possess the results of my paid services, through time spent hunting down records, and because I have that information through competition among service providers to have the best service at the lowest cost)

Funding for the project would likely come from taxes, as the USA Stimulus bill kinda already did for us, potentially wrapped into any national health care plan that is devised in the future.