eHealth Interoperability

We have developed an overarching e-health interoperability framework which has been supported by the whole-of-government to exchange information easily.

What is interoperability?

Interoperability is a capability of an organisation or system to use, offer and exchange business or technical services of another organisation or system. In simple terms, your Apple Mac can understand my PC.

E-health does not apply to a healthcare organisation in isolation. It is the exchange of clinical information on an industry-wide basis. There is an increasing demand for clinical information to be exchanged between individual healthcare practitioners, healthcare provider organisations and State and Territory health departments. Interoperability will achieve this.

Standards

A common understanding of the underpinnings of e-health is necessary for interoperability to succeed and consistent support for a suite of nationally-defined standards is essential. Open standards are the cornerstone of interoperability as they allow e-health systems to evolve without being constrained by proprietary software products.

Interoperability is vital as it drives toward electronic interconnectivity to deliver better health outcomes in a more cost-effective way.