Cornerstones of e-health given green light

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) which met in Canberra today has decided to accelerate the development of key National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) initiatives.

The result will be significant progress towards making healthcare safer and more effective through fast, secure and trustworthy electronic communication between healthcare providers.

“The decision is a clear commitment by all Australian governments to reforming outdated communication practices in health," said Dr Ian Reinecke, CEO of NEHTA. “Studies have shown the clear link between avoidable patient deaths and poor communication and record keeping by healthcare practitioners. E-health allows doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to communicate quickly, reliably and securely by electronic means. Critical health information can then be conveyed to wherever care is needed - from GP surgeries to the home, to hospitals and clinics."

The meeting of the Prime Minister and Premiers approved $130 million in joint funding to deliver three cornerstones of e-health. These are:

A unique healthcare identification number for all individuals
As important health information about patients is shared between clinicians, it must be absolutely clear which patient the particular information relates to. The current practice of identifying patients - often by simply using their name and address - is no longer safe enough. Identifying individuals by a unique number offers significantly greater protection for this information.

A unique identification number for every healthcare professional
Reliable communications means getting the right information to the right person, every time. To make sure that there is no confusion about which healthcare practitioner should get what health information, everyone of the 400,000+ healthcare providers in Australia must be accurately and uniquely identified.

A common language for health communications
Electronic communication between healthcare practitioners is not a simple case of sending emails. The potential of e-health can only be realised when computers can overcome the existing problem of different health professionals using different ways to describe the same matter.

Computers can overcome this problem if different health software packages use different terms to describe the same clinical topic (eg disease or medication). By ensuring that all computers use the same language to describe clinical information, all healthcare providers from the local GP, the largest of tertiary hospitals to the community nurse will have an accurate understanding of the health information being conveyed, with no confusion. This will also benefit Australia's bio-surveillance activities, and the management of pandemics.

COAG has also determined that Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments will promote compliance with national e-health standards in future government IT investments in health.

“These decisions by COAG today recognise NEHTA's unique ability to foster consensus amongst governments on e-health matters. As a result Australia can look forward to rapid e-health progress," said Dr Reinecke.

Further background information is available in the pdf version of this release, available for downloading here 44.90 Kb