Tech support for secure messaging developers
1 June 2010: A series of free implementation workshops is being organised for software developers interested in learning more about the new Australian technical specifications for secure e-health messaging. The workshops are expected to be run in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane beginning in mid-July 2010. Architects and developers from NEHTA’s Secure Messaging team will be on hand to assist commercial developers integrate web services into their software products.
This is part of an ongoing program of technical support being provided by NEHTA for suppliers to the Australian e-health market to encourage adoption and use of the Secure Message Delivery specifications. The workshops are practically focused, with sample code for both Java and .NET platforms available to participants. In addition NEHTA will provide a test harness to enable participants who wish to test their implementations to obtain detailed analytical results of the tests conducted.
Interest in implementing the specifications has increased following the success of Australia’s first e-health Secure Messaging Connectathon conducted in Canberra last month. Thirteen software companies participated in the event to validate the functionality of their applications in a ‘virtual’ end-to-end connectivity environment run by IHE Australia, for the Department of Health and Ageing, with support from NEHTA.
The Connectathon focused on testing connectivity between different vendor implementations of a new Australian Standards Technical Specification for e-Health Secure Message Delivery (SMD) published earlier this year by Standards Australia. The three Technical Specifications and one Technical Report were initially drafted by NEHTA, following extensive industry consultation, and completed by Standards Australia, in conjunction with representatives from government, industry and consumer groups, including the Medical Software Industry Association and health informatics experts.
The standards documents describe technical specifications for software services and protocols recommended to enable the secure and reliable electronic transfer of confidential health data, such as patient referrals, diagnostic reports and hospital discharge notices.
Web services specifications for e-health secure messaging can be downloaded here. To reserve your seat at an implementation workshop in July, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .