The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) is launching an allied health industry offer to support the adoption of digital health tools in the allied health sector.
The offer targets clinical information system software vendors – also called CIS software vendors – and mobile CIS software vendors to increase the number of compliant products capable of connecting to national infrastructure such as My Health Record and electronic prescribing services.
A CIS is a computer-based system that gathers, stores and alters clinical data on patients, used at single locations or across entire healthcare systems.
“The Strengthening Medicare Taskforce Report highlighted the importance of allied healthcare teams being able to add to and access essential health information in My Health Record to enhance clinical decision making for Australians at the point of care,” said agency CEO, Ms Amanda Cattermole PSM.
She said improved sharing of information across allied health, primary health and aged care to better support multidisciplinary care was a key goal of the ADHA.
“The agency is focused on constantly improving and supporting real-time health information access, which in turn will ease the administrative burden on all care providers and enable them to deliver improved health outcomes for Australian healthcare consumers,” Cattermole said.
“Hundreds of thousands of allied health professionals deliver care in diverse roles, ranging from occupational therapy to physiotherapy and podiatry to psychology and more.
“We are committed to working closely with software vendors to enhance existing clinical software to improve safety, quality and productivity across the whole allied health sector.”
The release of the tender represented a significant opportunity for allied health CIS and mobile CIS software vendors to integrate with national infrastructure and contribute to the digital transformation of Australia’s healthcare system, she added.
The agency has invited all interested vendors to view the request for tender on AusTender and encouraged all CIS/EMR and/or mobile CIS/EMR software developers to apply via AusTender.
The agency will host a virtual industry briefing on 9 September 2024 to provide stakeholders with key details on the request for tender. Attendees are encouraged to register in advance for the briefing to participate.
The event will be recorded and the recording published on the ADHA’s website on 10 September.
The Australian Digital Health Agency is jointly funded by the Australian Government and all state and territory governments. It said better patient healthcare and health outcomes were possible if health infrastructure could be safely accessed, easily used and responsibly shared.
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