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eHealth and Information Management

eHealth

eHealth is considered by many to be a key enabler of successful health reform and in delivering a co-ordinated, sustainable and patient centric health system for Australians. This is evidenced in the National Primary Health Care Strategy where eHealth is highlighted as one of the five building blocks of reform.

The National eHealth Strategy outlines a vision, strategy and implementation roadmap for the successful delivery of a national eHealth system.

The National Health and Hospital Reform Commission's (NHHRC) final report, a Healthier Future For All Australians, highlighted the importance of eHealth and the smart use of data in supporting an agile and self improving health system. A key recommendation of this report was the availability of a Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record for all Australians.

The 2010 Federal Budget earmarked $467 million over two years to establish the key components of this personally controlled electronic health record.

The success of these intitiatives however are dependent on adoption by clinicains and acceptance by consumers. As such a considerable change and adoption program will be required across the health sector, particularly in general practice which is responsible for ongoing management of a patient's health and ensuring continuity and coordination of the patient's care.

Information Management

Accurate, complete and trustworthy clinical data is a pre-requisite for the successful implementation of national eHealth solutions such as personally controlled electronic health records. Effective Information Management across the Network combined with data quality improvement initiatives supported across general practice is essential in developing this high quality clinical data.

Through the eHealth Support Officers Program , AGPN supports the successful implementation of national eHealth solutions and the improvement of clinical data quality across general practice, and increasingly, across the broader primary health care sector.

For more information on eHealth and Information Management, please contact one of the eHealth Program officers through AGPN and each State Based Organisation (details in Contacts).

Updated: 28 February 2011