This release appeared a little while ago.
Media release - Better Connected: a national conversation begins on a roadmap for a more modern, digitally connected health system
5 April 2019: The Australian Digital Health Agency has today opened an online consultation for all Australians, including frontline clinicians, consumers, healthcare organisations and the technology sector to have their say on a more modern, digitally connected health system.
The online consultation is part of a nationwide series of discussions used to co-design the National Health Interoperability Roadmap, which will agree the standards and priorities required to achieve a more modern digitally connected health system in Australia.
The Roadmap is a key priority of the National Digital Health Strategy, which was approved by all states and territories through the Council of Australian Government (COAG) Health Council in 2017.
The National Digital Health Strategy highlights the importance of connected health services and calls for the definition of standards to support interoperability that will support clinicians, patients and citizens make the best health and care decisions.
“Industry clinical software supports millions of digital transactions daily through public and private health systems,” said Emma Hossack, Chief Executive Officer of the Medical Software Industry Association.
“A collaborative consensus on standards will increase confidence of all users and make a more interconnected health system possible for patients and their healthcare providers.”
In addition to the online consultation, the Agency will be facilitating over 50 digital health community conversations over coming months with members of the healthcare sector, health technology industry and consumer representatives to collaborate on how digital technology can best support the delivery of a person-centred healthcare system that prevents disease and empowers personal wellbeing.
Sharing the right health information at the right time is critical to high quality, sustainable health and care. Currently, many digital health systems in separate healthcare locations are unable to talk to each other. Information collected about a patient – for example in a hospital or a GP practice – often isn’t made available to others involved in a patient’s care.
“Based on my experience as a patient, having a better-connected system will ensure I can have more control over my own health information and greater access to more efficient and safer services,” said patient advocate Harry Iles-Mann.
“It means knowing that when it matters most, the management of my health and wellbeing by the system is being supported by a network of information sharing tailored to my own needs and expectations.”
In almost every part of our lives, whether it’s banking, transport, travel or maintaining social or business connections, technology has changed the way we do things. Just as people expect technology to seamlessly support them in their everyday lives, both consumers and healthcare professionals expect digital technology to support the delivery of high-quality healthcare.
Interoperability holds the potential to bring patients’ records together from a range of systems and to provide access to information from disparate sources, give consumers and providers greater visibility and enable research and innovation.
For example, 20% of Australians have a confirmed allergy. Hospital admissions for anaphylaxis have increased five-fold over the past 20 years, and drug allergy induced anaphylaxis deaths have increased by 300%. In clinical situations where a patient is deteriorating and requires immediate intervention, knowing whether a drug may cause life‐threatening anaphylaxis is vital.
This first consultation, hosted by Agency chief executive officer, Mr Tim Kelsey, was held on 18 March 2019 at the George Institute for Global Health in Sydney and brought together leaders from medical colleges, innovation experts, privacy advocates.
At the launch, President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners said: “A better-connected healthcare system will allow doctors to spend less time ringing around and searching for faxes and more time talking with patients.”
“Today is about ensuring the road to a better digitally connected system is a two-way conversation.”
“Best use of data and technology is key to sustainable, high quality and person-centred health care,” said Agency chief executive officer Tim Kelsey.
“We’ve made progress since the National Digital Health Strategy was launched in 2018 – including creating a My Health Record for 9 out of 10 Australians, and developing standards for secure digital messages to replace letters and fax machines in healthcare. We are now developing the plan to move Australia to the next stage of connected care.
“Improving the interoperability of health and care services so that the right information is available at the right time for the right person is fundamental to improving the outcomes and experience of healthcare.”
The Agency also welcomes written submissions by email or mail.
Email: yoursay@digitalhealth.gov.au
Address: L25/175 Liverpool Street, Sydney NSW 2000.
ENDS
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Here is the link:
Being a curious soul I thought I should have a look at the online consultation:
Better connections: Your health, your say
The Australian Digital Health Agency is facilitating a national conversation to develop a blueprint for a more modern, digitally connected health system.
Have your say
Welcome to the Better Connections: Your health, your say survey
Complete the survey to have your say on what you want, need and expect from a modern, interconnected healthcare system that is focused on improving the health and wellbeing for all.This feedback will help to identify new ways to deliver more effective and efficient health and care and guide the development of the National Health Interoperability Roadmap.
In addition to the surveys, we also welcome written submissions, either by email to yoursay@digitalhealth.gov.au or to L25/175 Liverpool Street, Sydney NSW 2000.
We look forward to your feedback. The survey is open until Friday 14 June 2019.
Alternatively, you can download a PDF version of the survey and email your completed survey to yoursay@digitalhealth.gov.au or to L25/175 Liverpool Street, Sydney NSW 2000.
Here is the link:
There are a range of problems I see with all this.
Firstly it attracts only interested clinicians and consumers – hardly anything other than an indicative suggestion of what respondents think. Statistically it is meaningless in both content and ranking.
Secondly the survey reflects all the biases and prejudices of the ADHA in the framing of the survey. I am not sensing much new will emerge and I don't suspect the 50 sessions will be much different.
Thirdly all it does is establish some form of wish list with little thought as to the ‘how’ of what is desired and the complexities, costs and barriers that may be in play.
I really wonder about the concept of co-design with people and groups who have no technical expertise. If the ADHA Digital Health Strategy is an example of what comes out the other end my concern is warranted I believe.
Achieving real interoperability is really, really hard and on the evidence we have before us it is not at all clear the ADHA has a clue about really how to go about moving the issue forward. There is a lot to be done at a governance, standards and technical level and it is not at all obvious any of this is happening. After-all anyone who has been around the Digital Health space has known about most of this for years if not decades!
Achieving real interoperability is really, really hard and on the evidence we have before us it is not at all clear the ADHA has a clue about really how to go about moving the issue forward. There is a lot to be done at a governance, standards and technical level and it is not at all obvious any of this is happening. After-all anyone who has been around the Digital Health space has known about most of this for years if not decades!
David.
11 comments:
"concept of co-design with people and groups who have no technical expertise"
Gosh, I hope you're looking forward to what they come up with as much as I am.
the Agency will be facilitating over 50 digital health community conversations over coming months
Says it all really, this has nothing to do with listening to understand, it’s another Timmy talk feast. I could be wrong though and the agenda might be:
Discussions and problem identification of interoperability at a national state and local area covering the following views
Clinical models
Funding models
Semantic models
Policy and regulatory models and how they behave as an actor traverses between local state and national jurisdiction
Then if time, discuss technical models
@5:16 PM and have them wrap PESTLE around each one. Be nice to see how they tackle an organisation leaving an interoperability community, how will they ensure each model is resilient?
Also note that ADHA is facilitating only so a bit of an indication of there own intellect in this area.
"50 digital health community conversations" .............. probably with 20 to 30 people attending each, lots of butchers paper and coloured pens, and facilitators hoping to learn something about a topic of which they know next to nothing, all in the misguided belief they will capture a grab-bag of ideas, wants and wishes, which they can add to the melting pot and use to compile a lovely thick report about interoperability and how to do it. Problem solved. What's so hard about that?
If the problem is defined as computerising existing medical practice (like health record systems) they are likely to get some incremental benefits at best and stuff up things at worst (like turning doctors into data entry clerks). That's assuming the people consulted know much about current practices. They may have heard abut AI, machine learning, genomics and personalised medicine but that's still doing medicine in the old way.
If the problem is defined as how to transform medical practice by doing it in totally different ways then I doubt they will have the foggiest idea.
As Henry Ford was supposed to have said, but didn't, if I had asked people what they wanted they would have told me - faster horses.
Let them have there little outings might be good for some amusement. If Kelsey has demonstrated anything it is the ADHA is a bit crap when it comes to events and technology.
If you look at the framework for action interoperability does nothing till past 2022. ADHA is stuck in playing catch-up and has lost its relevance.
I have every confidence that an organisation as agile, as competent, as well lead and as well respected throughout the globe as the ADHA, will convincingly demonstrate to everyone how to develop the world's best un-economic, un-workable and un-interoperable national digital health record.
David,your comments on the consultation are particularly prescient. We have been down that path previously; more than once. Yes, it's a very hard problem, very hard, and hugely complex problem.
The ADHA's marketing rhetoric and it's lack of any commercial pragmatism and strategic finesse will not deliver the desired outcomes.
We are watching squirrels in a cage.
The new board is now official - https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/news-and-events/news/appointments-to-the-australian-digital-health-agency-board
I am guessing there is still content to go up and someone must have realised that the 20 April this year is holy Saturday and might have been a tad offensive to some of the community.
My apologies seems someone has published without testing and the ADHA site is a bit wonky :)
https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/about-the-agency
Select - Australian Digital health Agency Board and it redirects to the wrong page. This is the case in quite a few spots. Good job they don’t look after my health information
3:18 PM I am sure there is some reasoning behind it, ADHA follows the BUA methodology (balls-up-again)
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