This appeared last week:
Residential aged care and My Health Record: Linkage is mission critical
Aug 1, 2022 | Aged care, Community Chats, Community of Practice, Data, Digital Health, eHealth, Innovation, Nursing & Midwifery Informatics
Residential aged care organisations in Australia have been slow to not only move to digital clinical information systems but embrace the benefits of digitalisation in general. The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (Royal Commission) and others have stated that the residential aged care sector as a whole has not kept up with even other healthcare sectors in the use and application of technology1,2. The Australian Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council has recently completed a review of digital maturity of systems in use in aged care and the final report indicated that electronic clinical systems are only used by 59% of aged care organisations3.
My Health Record (MHR) is federal government initiative to enable all Australians to keep an online summary of their key health information. Dating back to the 2010 May budget, establishing a personally controlled electronic health record was viewed as an opportunity to facilitate person-centred care, support informed consumer decision making, enhance quality and safety of care, reduce waste and inefficiency, and improve continuity and health outcomes for the recipients of healthcare4. Those providing healthcare can access and contribute data, including records of medications, hospital visits, allergies, vaccinations, pathology results and advanced healthcare directives5. Anticipated benefits of a personally controlled electronic health record are improved availability of key health information in an emergency and strengthened care connectivity5. These benefits and potentially improved healthcare for persons of all ages could be realised if the record is contemporary and readily accessible.
As highlighted by the Royal Commission, those living in residential aged care are a population cohort that typically has many health issues and comorbidities1. The assumption that those in residential aged care would benefit greatly from having current health information available in the MHR through seamless data integration is reasonable. In fact, the Royal Commission came to this conclusion and proposed the use of MHR in its final report through Recommendation 68 (Universal adoption by the aged care sector of digital technology and My Health Record)1. This recommendation requires all aged care providers to use a digital clinical care system (including electronic medication management) that is conformant, interoperable, and kept up to date with the MHR. This is, of course, with the consent of the resident (or their named representative). The report also required this to be achieved by 1 July 2022. In the Australian Government response to the May 2021 final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety6, the government accepted this recommendation and supported the adoption of the MHR by June 2023, citing that interoperability would be introduced in stages to enable data exchange, including to the MHR. It is starting to become evident, however, that meeting even this second target date may not be possible.
---- Much Omitted.
Bernie Zipf RN GradDipNursing (Geront) MNursing (Geront), July 2022
Here is the link:
I am curious to know if readers thing the case is made for a central and vital role for the #myHR in Aged Care?
David.
3 comments:
From a health department bureaucrat's perspective anything that is complex and elusive to achieve is a good thing to support and be involved with as it ensures long-term employment chasing rainbows.
IMHO, the big questions are:
What does MyHR offer that a dedicated application, designed for aged care patients couldn't.
Even if access to the data in MyHR is of benefit (and that's debatable) how much effort would be required by healthcare providers (e.g. nurses) working in an aged care facility to manage and curate a patient's MyHR?
Is it reasonable to assume that patients in an aged care facility have access to the technology and skills to look after their own MyHR?
Assuming they can't (which is suspect is the case), is it reasonable to assume that the present staffing levels can accommodate this extra work?
It might be a good idea to conduct a detailed assessment to see if MyHR is fit for purpose. At the moment it seems to be a good idea coming from people who don't know a lot about the system and the environment in which it would be required to work.
Some know a lot about the system, others the environment. How about they get together and decide if it really is a good idea? One of the problems might be that most of the good folk in ADHA are not fully up to speed with its real functionality. And Accenture works on the infrastructure not the meaning and use of the data.
Don't forget it was never intended to support aged care facilities. To expect that it can, given that it was aimed at GPs and patients and was never properly implemented, is a leap of faith.
With complex IT systems you need a bit more than faith.
re fit for purpose.
From
Hospital processes come to aged care after trial cuts deterioration in half
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/they-are-healthcare-facilities-new-program-brings-hospital-processes-to-aged-care-20220802-p5b6l4.html
"..people are here because they have complex care needs that mean they cannot be in their home any longer,"
Complex care requires a lot of data, not a few summaries and out of context tests.
"Shaban is advocating for aged care facilities to also use HIRAID to assess residents returning from visits and hospital stays, as well as in daily care. Southern Cross Care will take part in a trial this year."
So aged care facilities will be gathering data for their own use - they have no need of myhr. It is also doubtful that this detailed data can be uploaded to myhr - nowhere for it to be stored.
Looks as though the trial might show that fit for purpose doesn't apply to myhr and aged care.
But hey, when have facts ever come into assessing myhr?
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