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Standardised information offers a great opportunity for healthcare businesses, says Angela Ryan, the Australian Digital Health Agency's deputy chief clinical information officer.
Speaking at the recent Australian Healthcare Week at Sydney's International Convention Centre, Ms Ryan observed that getting digital right is not disruptive in itself – but applying technology to the healthcare industry can have disruptive effects and address soaring medical costs.
"Up to 90 per cent of deaths in Australia are caused by chronic disease; one in four of our children have issues like being chronically overweight or obese," she said. "We can't keep responding by investing more and more into health systems, so digital health is one of the mechanisms we can try and address this."
The agency, which was formed in July 2016 out of the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA), reports to both the federal government and the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) with its missions of giving individuals control of their healthcare, empowering professionals and building on Australia's leadership in developing new treatments and systems.
The Agency also operates the federal government's MyHealthRecord service, as well as overseeing the industry's digital evolution.
MyHealth Record has 4.6 million patients and 9766 providers registered as of the beginning of March this year. Ramsey Healthcare has connected all of its 17 hospitals and integrated a mobile application for surgeons and nurses to track patients' progress in real time and incorporates the government's system.
The big-ticket item for the agency is getting the disparate parts working together. "If we can get the interoperability right, that's a disruption right there. We have quite a long way to go in that regard," Ms Ryan said. "Pockets of innovation around sharing conversations between specialists exists, but it still remains a problem."
Breaking down silos
For the private sector, Ms Ryan sees the Australian e-health ecosystem growing around open standards and breaking down silos within the medical sector. "Industry would like innovation off the back of clear standards and specifications," she said.
"The various jurisdictions are looking to the agency to provide that sort of leadership and collaborate and work more efficiently together. They would like to see Australia become a world leader in digital health.
"There's also an expectation that the system should be consumer-centric and take advantage of digital technologies in the same way that every other industry has." To address part of this, the agency has set up a technology test bed with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and various other groups. "There's strong support for sharing of information, but obviously security, privacy and integrity of health data is very much a priority."
Practitioners see how predictive analytics can help improve outcomes. However, it also means breaking down barriers within the health industry. "Participants in the digital health world need to work better together to address challenges around interoperability, information silos and talking to each other."
Industry can also improve the quality of products on offer to the healthcare industry. "There is a perception that systems out there haven't been designed by clinicians, or with clinicians in mind, so they are difficult to use."
Overall, Ms Ryan sees most players in healthcare as having an upbeat view of the industry's technological future. "What we have learned is that there is optimism. There is almost nobody who says 'we don't believe in digital health'."
