Digital Health

Digital information is the bedrock of high-quality healthcare. The benefits for patients are significant and compelling: hospital admissions avoided, fewer adverse drug events, reduced duplication of tests, better coordination of care for people with chronic and complex conditions, and better-informed treatment decisions. Digital health can help save and improve lives.

Australia’s National Digital Health Strategy

Health Record is a secure online summary of key patient health information. The Records contain key health information like immunisations, pathology and diagnostic imaging reports, prescription and dispensing information, hospital discharge summaries and more, all in one place. The benefits for Healthcare providers accessing the system to view and add information include.

• provides immediate access to key health information
• facilitates the validation and verification of clinical information
• avoid adverse medication events, provides access to allergy information
• avoids duplication of tests and diagnostic imaging
• provides immunisation details
• improves continuity of care, informs end of life care¹

Better & Faster Access

This national initiative improves how key clinical information, specifically pathology and diagnostic imaging reports, is shared by default and many reports available with no delay to patients.

By enabling faster access to important health information and modernising how results are uploaded, the reforms strengthen clinical decision-making, reduce duplication, and support safer, more coordinated care across our region.

My Health Record for healthcare providers (digitalhealth.gov.au)

Provider Connect Australia is operated by the Australian Digital Health Agency and is a single place to update your business information that reduces duplication and streamlines notifications.

Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has seen service providers and consumers alike embrace the use of telehealth to deliver and receive primary health services. 

Since March 2020, new temporary MBS telehealth items have been made available to help reduce the risk of community transmission of COVID-19 and provide protection for patients and health care providers. These items have recently been extended to continue until March 2021.

Recent changes have been made to Commonwealth legislation to recognise an electronic prescription as a legal form to allow medicine supply. Many primary health service providers have adopted electronic transfer of prescriptions as part of their pandemic response and ahead of the rollout of the Australian Digital Health Agency’s Token Model and Active Script List Models.

We are currently developing information and support materials to assist prescribers and dispensers to ensure they are ePrecribing ready so that we can start using these new models on the North Coast. Information and support will be published shortly via Primary Care Impact.

Secure messaging software offers point-to-point sharing of encrypted clinical data. This enables confidentiality of patient records and improves the quality of information flow. It can also significantly reduce overheads related to printing, faxing, mailing and scanning of referrals.

Secure messaging options:

• HealthLink
• Argus
• Medical-Objects

• My Health Record
• Provider Connect Australia
• Telehealth
• Electronic Prescribing
• Secure Messaging
• HealthPathways