Australia delivering on national Digital Health Strategy

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eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Australia is in the midst of delivering on the seven strategic outcomes in its national Digital Health Strategy 2018–2022.

Australian Digital Health Agency chief digital officer Steven Issa spoke at the 3rd Digital Hospitals Summit in Sydney on 27 June, where he said digital should be an enabler to help people, which is what health services are set up to do.

The strategy’s key areas are My Health Record, secure messaging, interoperability and data quality, medicines safety, digitally enhanced models of care, workforce and education, and driving innovation.

One of its aims was to deliver My Health Record to all Australians who wanted it by 2018.

More than 90 per cent of Australians who chose not to opt out now have an MHR, which includes information such as their medical history, medicines, allergies, discharge summaries and pathology reports, as well as information they can upload themselves.

The electronic record can be shared between health providers and is controlled by the consumer.

“This is major and disruptive, and I don’t think people appreciate how big it can be and how good it can be,” Issa said.

The roll-out has not been without controversy, with privacy and security fears regarding who can access the personal health information.

Issa said protections against insurers and employers using My Health Record data have recently been introduced and the agency is working to continue improving it. As of June 2019, pharmacist-shared medicines lists are also being uploaded.

He said My Health Record has had a positive impact for him and his family by allowing them to go on family holidays with their young son, who suffers from multiple health conditions, as they know his medical information will be available nationwide.

“My Health Record allows my family to live a bit better,” he told attendees.

Another national priority in Australia is secure messaging to enable health practitioners and providers to search for each other and send and receive information securely and electronically.

Issa said this project is in its early phase, having gone through community consultation, and the agency is working collaboratively with software developers using FHIR-based APIs to build a minimum viable product.

The ADHA has also been consulting on interoperability, and a set of standards will be considered by the government at the end of 2020.

“There’s little point in having secure messaging without interoperability as it’s about everyone speaking the same language,” he said.

The agency is running a $8.5 million programme focused on enhanced models of care with 15 ‘test-bed’ projects.

One of these is the National Children’s Digital Health Collaborative with proof of concepts for a digital pregnancy health record and child digital health record.

Others are focused on reducing readmission to hospital and improving cardiology care.

“All of this is predicated on a network of champions around hospitals and healthcare,” said Issa.

“We need the right workforce now and, in the future, to understand and leverage the benefits of digital health going forward.”

eHealthNews editor Rebecca McBeth travelled to Sydney with the support of HiNZ.

If you would like to provide feedback on this news story please contact the editor Rebecca McBeth.

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