Summary
Date: 26 November 2021
The RACGP has provided a submission to the Australian Digital Health Agency’s ‘National Digital Health Strategy’ consultation.
In the submission, the RACGP calls for improvements across current digital health systems including the implementation of seamless technologies that integrate with general practice, enabling GPs to oversee and coordinate their patients’ medical care.
Our key recommendations include:
- recognition of the critical role of GPs in the health system and the need for extensive consultation in shaping future digital health design
- the adoption of standards to assist with interoperability of information transfer between parts of the health system
- the need for research into and, additional funding to support, the implementation of new technologies into general practice
- emphasising the importance of equity of access to digital health for vulnerable Australians
- use of secure messaging across the health sector to improve efficient and timely communication
- the need for smarter digital medicines reconciliation mechanisms to enable a single source of accurate and reliable information regarding a complete record of prescribed, dispensed and current medicines
- the establishment of an overarching body to support and oversee the development and maintenance of technical and clinical standards for electronic clinical decision support (eCDS)
- the need to develop principles to support the standardised structure, content and management of templates used for patient referrals and the transfer of clinical information
- digital innovations must provide clear benefits, be evidence based and integrate with existing proven models of care.