Australia's National Digital Health Strategy

Somehow my car radio has found itself tuned into Radio National. I have cheekily been leaving it untouched, in the hope that my toddler doesn’t work out that there might be more youth-friendly listening options available in the car. A few weeks ago, on the drive home from daycare, I was fortunate enough to hear Norman Swan’s interview with Tim Kelsey, CEO of the Australian Digital Health Agency who was introducing the COAG-approved National Digital Health Strategy. It was a great interview, and I’ll include a link at the bottom of this article if you’d like to hear it for yourself.

So, for those of you who haven’t had a chance to read the Strategy yet, what do you need to know?

Well, firstly I concur with the general consensus that the level of consultation which has informed the development of this strategy is to be commended. Stakeholder engagement is not always easy, and doing it properly does take genuine investments in time and co-ordination – but the results are here to see.

For me, while reading the Strategy, there were a few ‘hallelujah’ moments – and this comes from someone who has worked on the early stages of the PCEHR (now My Health Record); on clinical systems implementation including medication safety initiatives across numerous east-coast jurisdictions, and who also has worked in IHPA where our interest in the data those systems collect was significant.

What do I love about the Strategy?

For a start, the priorities the Strategy is working towards are (in my view) the right ones: opt-out for My Health Record; secure messaging that will “end dependence on paper based correspondence and the fax machine or post.” Interoperability. A focus on digital health enabled medication safety (one of the few areas in digital health with evidence to back the cost-effectiveness and safety impacts of those initiatives, thanks to the work of academics like Prof Johanna Westbrook.) Models of care to support improved healthcare delivery – considering accessibility, safety, quality and efficiency. A workforce that has the skills to use these new technologies. And a ‘Thriving digital health industry delivering world-class innovation.”

YES. This is the strategy I wish we had 10 years ago. But I will say, better late than never. These are exactly the things we should be doing in digital health and frankly, it’s injected a little excitement for me professionally to think about how the work we will in the coming years will underpin those strategic directions.

The unspoken:

What else do I love about the Strategy? The unspoken: digital health is not necessarily going to save money. It is not the magic bullet to address the increasing cost pressures we face in the health sector. But it can help with things like efficiency and quality, and frankly these are very sensible steps to improving the health system’s sustainability.

The other thing (if you don’t have time to read the full Strategy) worth being in the loop about are the key principles underpinning the Strategy. They are familiar themes to those of us who have been around the traps for a while, but very well-worded in my view:

·     Putting users at the centre

·     Ensuring privacy and security

·     Fostering agile collaboration

·     Driving a culture of safety and quality

·     Improving equity of access

·     Leveraging existing assets and capabilities

·     Judicious use of taxpayer money.

Music to my ears. This is why I work in healthcare. And if you’d like some help putting the fax machine squarely where it belongs – in retirement – let me know.

Links

(the RN link expires on 4 September 2017 – email me if you’d like a copy of the interview!)