The successful e-health trial has just been completed by five of Australia’s healthcare messaging vendors - Argus Connect, Global Health, Healthlink, LRS Health, and Medical Objects – in collaboration with General Practices, the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) and associated government agencies.
The trial tested the use of Secure Message Delivery (SMD) capabilities.
According to NEHTA’s Head of Clinical Leadership and Stakeholder Management, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal AO, the success of the project represents an opportunity for improved effectiveness and better health care in Australia.
“The progress that has been achieved by this project will mean any medical practitioner – be they a public or private GP, specialist or surgeon – will be able to share information over time through online secure messaging.
“We can see that this technology is available, it does work and all healthcare providers will have the ability over time to connect across a wide range of clinical information systems.
“It will increase electronic clinical information exchange between healthcare professionals, decrease the use of paper based communication and importantly provide more timely and accurate patient health information.”
Dr Haikerwal said the trial involved healthcare messaging vendors sending and receiving secure messages between one another, with interconnectivity possible “thanks to the collaboration between secure messaging vendors’ providers and NEHTA.”
To date, Argus Connect, Global Health, and Medical Objects have successfully demonstrated the technical ability to exchange messages with other messaging vendors in the general practice live environment.
Commenting on the trial, ArgusConnect General Manager, Ross Davey, said the testing that had taken place under the POD project had “demonstrated message interoperability in live medical practice situations.”
“Now we need the collaboration between vendors on shared support roles, responsibilities and service levels to ensure a consistent quality of service for customers. The Secure Message Exchange (SMX) consortium is developing and implementing these processes to ensure a sustainable operational service.”
Dr Haikerwal said successful long term adoption would require the development of sustainable business models, while the adoption of clinical software by the non GP sector was also anticipated to drive the demand for secure message delivery.
“The inter-connectivity of General Practice to other healthcare providers is vital because GPs interact and communicate with other healthcare providers, including Medical Specialists, Nurses and Allied Health Professionals. NEHTA initiated the project to pave the way to demonstrate and prove true inter-connectivity between general practice and other healthcare providers.”
Dr Haikerwal said electronic information sharing was a key milestone in the national infrastructure and adoption for eHealth in Australia.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Peter Dinham
Quelle/Source: iTWire, 17.05.2013
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