This appeared a few days ago.
Aged care provider uptake of My Health Record remains low
Residential aged care facilities have just over two years to adopt the national health record system, which has poor uptake to date, an industry forum has heard.
In its response to the aged care royal commission final report, the government said it would support residential aged care facilities to adopt My Health Record by June 2023.
As of 25 April, 10 per cent of residential aged care facilities registered for My Health Record but only 3 per cent have used the system, a spokesperson from the Australian Digital Health Agency told Australian Ageing Agenda.
“The key factor impacting registration and use is connectivity in residential aged care facilities,” the spokesperson said.
Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council chair of the National Home Care Group Anne Livingstone said findings of the Residential Aged Care Clinical Software survey of 230 residential aged care providers and facilities highlights this lack of e-health record connectivity.
“Seventy-one percent of those respondents to this survey indicated their software did not interface with My Health Record, with only 8 per cent indicating any interface, Ms Livingstone told an ACIITC National Forum on Tuesday.
Only 5 per cent of respondents said they recorded resident data on My Health Record, 77 per cent did not upload any material to the system and 72 per cent did not know whether their residents used the e-health record, she said.
The royal commissioners recommended aged care organisations use a digital care management system that has electronic medication management and interoperability with the My Health Record by July 2022.
The government said the new Aged Care Act from July 2023 will set out any requirements related to digital technology and My Health Record.
The ADHA has prioritised working with the aged care sector to deliver the benefits of a connected digital health system to care recipients, the ADHA spokesperson said.
“The initial focus for the Agency is residential aged care facilities’ uptake of digital technology like My Health Record and electronic medication management systems.”
Providers need compliant software
The forum also heard from Marwa Osman, provider adoption lead at the Australian Digital Health Agency, on how providers can access My Health Record.
Ms Osman said aged care providers have to use a clinical information system that conforms with the My Health Record to upload information.
“Without [compliant] software, you would be accessing the My Health Record through the National Provider Portal, and the National Provider Portal is a viewing platform only so you would not be uploading to the My Health Record,” Ms Osman told the ACIITC National Forum.
However, compliant software products have different levels of integration with the My Health Record and only some enable providers to both view and upload information, she said.
Accessing My Health Record
To access the My Health Record system, Ms Osman said aged care providers need to have a My Health Record Security and Access Policy, which informs ADHA how they will access the system, who has access and what training staff have received.
Providers also need to assign an organisation maintenance officer, she said.
“[The person] effectively [ensures] My Health Record is being accessed in accordance with what’s been indicated in the policy, and that only those people who were authorised to access it are able to do so,” Ms Osman said.
Providers also need to assign a responsible officer, who is often the CEO or director, to apply to register the organisation for the My Health Record, she said.
Providers also have ongoing participation obligations, including reviewing the My Health Record Security and Access Policy each year and removing access to people who have left the organisation.
More here:
So aged care have yet to spot much value in the #myHR despite the fact it has been around for almost a decade – they probably have more useful things to work on!
The ADHA seems to be suggesting this is due to a lack of internet access in these facilities and when talking about getting signed up for the #myHR apparently bamboozled most with a discussion of the various identifiers needed to connect!
Also this week we saw this.
How Australia's aged care sector can improve digital health adoption at home
A report shares insights into how the country's older population perceives health technologies in their homes.
May 20, 2021 05:12 AM
The Global Centre for Modern Ageing, a non-profit research group based in Australia, has published a report that shares the concerns and thoughts of the country's older population in implementing and integrating health technologies in their homes.
Prepared in partnership with Google Chrome Enterprise, the report titled "Inspiring new models of care: Digital health in the home," details the challenges and opportunities for the country's healthcare industry.
It ultimately suggested that coordinated effort is needed to reskill the industry's workforce, validate and shed light upon the most suitable technology, and design models of care that will not compromise quality care provision.
FINDINGS
Based on in-depth interviews with 32 participants, including community members, clinicians and aged care providers, stakeholders have different priorities in their provision of digitally enabled healthcare. But all of them agreed that better health outcomes and more proactive, preventative, and predictive healthcare are priority areas.
In encouraging the use of a digitally enabled model of care, quality of care must remain the top priority, the study noted. Technology as a means to enhance, supplement and improve upon healthcare provision is essential for widespread uptake. However, it should never be designed or implemented to replace the face-to-face provision of healthcare.
Communicating the benefits of technology to all stakeholders will also raise its usage. According to the study, leveraging technologies' preventive and early detection benefits may shift perceptions away from the common thinking that technology is only used to manage poor health or illness. Providers can be encouraged to purchase more tech products if the improvements in care provision and workflow efficiencies will be highlighted.
Citing findings from the October report of the Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council, the report pointed out that 14% of aged care providers are using fully integrated software systems. Less than half of those surveyed said they use any smart home technology. Meanwhile, three-fourths of providers have no digital literacy criteria in their recruitment.
GCMA has identified some opportunities that the healthcare industry must focus on:
- In terms of capacity building, there must be grants to fund assistive technology and home modifications that promote independence in daily living;
- Universal adoption of digital care management systems that are interoperable with My Health Record, the country's digital health record platform;
- Providing "clear evidence" of how technology improves care; and
- Improving digital maturity through review and improvement of digital capabilities "from a broader, more holistic perspective" than incremental changes.
Yet, there are still barriers to digital health adoption that must be resolved across all settings, in aged care, local clinics and hospitals, including:
- Poor digital literacy among staff
- Lack of data
- Interoperability
- Lack of trust in the technology (or a lack of validation)
- Knowledge of available technology
- Legacy IT systems
Other barriers include funding, ROI and reimbursement; lack of or unclear governance standards; poor workflow integration; insufficient or lack of training; data management and response (e.g., security, liability and procedures); funding for access to hardware; workplace culture; technical limitations (e.g., wifi capabilities); and misconceptions of older people and tech use.
"Breaking down barriers through more considered technology design to improve usability, workflow integration, industry standards of interoperability, central and independent information on technology efficacy and safety, and skills development are some of the most apparent steps forward," the study said.
THE LARGER CONTEXT
The Australian government has set aside A$17.7 billion ($13.8 billion) for the aged care sector over the next five years in response to the recommendations by the Royal Commission on Aged Care Quality and Safety for fundamental and systemic reforms in the sector.
More here:
The conclusion of the report says it all in terms of the launch pad yet to be reached!
The report is entitled!
Digital Health in the Home - An exploration of the Australian Context Report
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Page 14
Conclusion
With limited uptake and utilisation of digital technology in the home, exploring the barriers and opportunities highlights the need for concerted and coordinated efforts to be made by various stakeholders in the industry.
Broad and holistic changes at organisational levels as opposed to incremental change will ensure that the appropriate framework is in place for future innovations
Breaking down barriers through more considered technology design to improve usability, workflow integration, industry standards of interoperability, central and independent information on technology efficacy and safety, and skills development are some of the most apparent steps forward.
While the digital health industry develops, promoting the benefits for all stakeholders remains a major tool to gain buy-in from professionals, end-users, and family members. The GCMA is committed to supporting the ongoing assessment and adoption of digital technology by developing an assessment and validation framework that will allow aged organisations and potential vendors to embrace an inclusive approach for the implementation of health technologies.
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End Extract.
With the horror exposed in the RC into Aged Care I think we can confidently predict that the #myHealthRecord will be close to the bottom of the list – even in technology priorities – and way behind issues like staffing, training, care quality, food and so on.
Aged Care is just a bandwagon the ADHA wishes to climb aboard despite the evidence for any real value being non-existent!
It is just a sideshow and it would be a travesty to have its use made compulsory by law in the new Aged Care Act when the evidence is so thin.
David.
4 comments:
There are so many other much more important things to sort out in Aged Care that MyHR is so far down the list there isn't a cat in hell's chancee of the it being widely adopted and.or used.
And "the government said it would support residential aged care facilities to adopt My Health Record by June 2023."
Note "support". It cannot mandate it because that would require Aged Care facilities to spend money and management time. That ain't gonna happen real soon now.
Talk about a Canberra bubble. The government is off with the fairies again, talking to itself down the bottom of the garden.
I watched an interesting program this afternoon.
It was an episode of The Diagnosis Detectives, featuring Dr Michael Mosley.
A patient had been suffering from a mysterious gastrointestinal problem for over ten years.
She was sent to a specialist and the first part of the interview was shown.
The specialist said - "don't tell me what all the previous test results and diagnoses were. If they were of any use you would not be here now. Tell me what your problem is."
In other words the specialist was saying "your medical record is of no interest to me because it is either wrong or irrelevant. We have to start again"
Medical records are valuable and essential only to healthcare providers who are actively and currently delivering healthcare. And they keep thair own detailed records.
Tell me again the value of My Health Record?
Not exactly a promising sign for the aged care sector. We seem to be caught in a cycle. Bad choices one after another, each time answered with good funding and intent, only to be let down by poor choices and leadership.
There is so much work to be done in Aged Care that I don't see how MHR system, with the associated functionality deficits, such as accurate authentication, identification, authorization and Directory Services is at all useful. The government seems to "anxious" that the system gets good press minus much substance. They just keep throwing money at the MHR.
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