The 4^th edition of the Standards represents a template for quality and risk management in contemporary general practice and the review process included a separate e-health standards working group to review all the standards and their alignment with national e-health initiatives (patient, provider and organisation healthcare identifiers, and  electronic health records) and best practice.

 

The working group comprised of the RACGP e-health working group members and NEHTA clinical leads.

 

Professor Claire Jackson, President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and GP in Inala, Brisbane said a new section has been included on patient identification.

 

“This section outlines the use of healthcare identifiers to facilitate the accurate transfer of patient health information between different providers caring for an individual patient.

 

“The 4^th edition of the RACGP Standards for general practices includes risk management strategies for hybrid patient health record systems, where some health information for a patient is recorded on a computer and some information on paper notes,” said Professor Jackson.

 

Standards around the security of patient health information, electronic data transmission, storage and prevention of unauthorised access to patient health information have been updated.

 

The importance of consistent clinical terminology is included along with implementing quality improvements such as electronic data coding systems, with recommendations for a practice to use recognised coding systems.

 

The RACGP, with support from NEHTA, also updated and produced a new edition of the RACGP Computer security guidelines, which provide in-depth guidance and tools to assist practices to understand and implement the RACGP Standards in these areas.

 

NEHTA’s National Clinical Lead Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, a former commissioner with the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission and a past AMA President, said general practice is well positioned to support national e-health initiatives.

 

“With over 98 percent of GPs using computerised healthcare systems for clinical purposes and, 117.4 million GP consultations provided each year, GPs will be at the forefront of driving e-health in Australia.[1]

 

“We know that GPs can provide a GP Health Summary for the vast majority of Australians and this information will form the basis of data for electronic communication between healthcare providers and will be a key component for electronic health records,” said Dr Haikerwal.

 

To ensure that GPs can deliver the highest standard of care to their patients, the RACGP is ensuring that the NEHTA is informed of what is reasonable, workable and useful for GPs when leading the progression of e-health in Australia.

 

  

Donna Le Page on 0412 797 937

 

 

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is Australia’s largest professional general practice organisation and represents urban and rural general practitioners. We represent over 21,000 members working in general practice and are proud that over 17,000 general practitioners in Australia have chosen to be a member of the College. General practitioners in Australia provide over 115 million patient consultations annually. Visit www.racgp.org.au.

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