It Looks Like The Agency That Tracks Digital Health Quality And Safety Has Lost Interest In The Topic!

Last week I noticed a passing reference to the Australian Commission On Quality And Safety In Health Care (ACQSHC) on some non-digital health matter and wondered just what they were doing in the Digital Health Domain – remembering they had had involvement in reviewing the #myHR for clinical safety a while ago. I could not recall any recent reports etc. so thought I would have a browse.

Their website is found here:

https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/

Before diving in – here is what they say they do.

Our work

The Commission leads and coordinates key improvements in safety and quality in health care across Australia.

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The Commission works in partnership with patients, carers, clinicians, the Australian, state and territory health systems, the private sector, managers and healthcare organisations to achieve a safe, high-quality and sustainable health system.

Key functions of the Commission include: developing national safety and quality standards, developing clinical care standards to improve the implementation of evidence-based health care, coordinating work in specific areas to improve outcomes for patients, and providing information, publications and resources about safety and quality.

The Commission works in four priority areas:

• Patient safety
• Partnering with patients, consumers and communities
• Quality, cost and value
• Supporting health professionals to provide care that is informed, supported and organised to deliver safe and high-quality care

Here is the link:

https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/our-work

Of interest to us is this section:

e-Health safety

The Commission contributes to e-Health safety by optimising safety and quality in the rollouts of digital clinical systems. It focuses on hospital medication management programs and discharge summaries, and uses e-Health initiatives to improve the safety and quality of health care, including antimicrobial stewardship.

Here is the link:

https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/our-work/e-health-safety

These two sections from this page are interesting:

e-Health safety programs and resources

The Commission’s e-Health safety programs include:

• Electronic discharge summary (EDS) systems 
• Electronic medication management (EMM) systems in hospitals
• My Health Record clinical safety program
• My Health Record Guide
• My Health Record in emergency departments project
• National guidelines for on-screen display of medicines information
• National Safety and Quality Digital Mental Health StandardsExternal link
• Safety Issues at Transitions of Care: Pain points relating to clinical systems
• Structured microbiology requests and reporting of healthcare-associated infections

The Commission works in collaboration with states and territories, the private hospital and primary care sectors, the Australian Digital Health Agency (the Agency), and other national bodies to promote the safety and quality agenda within national digital programs.

e-Health literature reviews

The Commission appointed Sydney University to develop a literature review The Impact of Digital Health on Safety and Quality of Health Care. The review analyses evidence for the types of digital health interventions which have been shown to improve health care. It focuses on the safety and quality impact of five digital health interventions:

• Clinical decision-support systems (CDSSs)
• Computerised provider order entry (CPOE) including electronic prescribing
• Electronic patient portals
• Electronic patient reminders (mobile technologies)
• Information-sharing at discharge (electronic discharge summary or EDS).

The findings from the literature review will support jurisdictions, the Agency, and other healthcare providers to identify best-value approaches to digital health initiatives.

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Sadly the work on the #myHR seems to have ended at the end of 2018 and I can find no updates newer than 2019, other that some work on Digital Mental Health Standards in 2020.

I may be thick but I found the #myHR less than useful - to be polite.

Overall there was activity in 2016 – 2019 and then it largely stopped. Did the ADHA take over he work, was it just stopped or what happened?

Equally if you look at the reports it is by no means who they are for – developers, clinicians, system users etc.or whatever?

Does anyone know if there is evidence of any positive outcome from all this work – as I am struggling to find any!

Comments welcome!

David.