Discharge Summary Release 1.0
14 August, 2009. NEHTA has delivered the first release of specifications for a national e-Discharge Summary framework.
Currently, more than four million discharge summaries are required each year in Australia as patients are discharged from hospitals. They are an important communication in the health sector.
e-Discharge Summaries will enable electronic exchange of comprehensive, accurate patient reports between the hospital and primary care sectors. This seamless transmission of information will improve continuity of care and patient handover, and through electronic exchange facilitate improved security, accessibility, and timeliness of health information. This will lead to improved safety and quality and better patient outcomes.
Release one supports the electronic distribution of core discharge summary information about acute inpatients to primary healthcare providers. It defines the data groups and elements recommended for discharge summaries – the foundation of the national framework.
The e-Discharge Summary program will continue to deliver additional release over the next three years. These releases will guide the development of specifications and standards for electronic discharges and the business processes around them.
Release documents are located at http://www.nehta.gov.au/e-communications-in-practice/edischarge-summaries