Australian Digital Health Agency enters into agreements with more software vendors
The Australian Digital Health Agency has struck agreements with half a dozen community pharmacy software vendors to connect to the federal My Health Record system.
The ADHA revealed that Dispense Works, Minfos, Mountaintop Dispense, RxOne, ScriptPro Dispense and Z Dispense will integrate support for the eHealth record system.
Fred Dispense and Aquarius Dispense already support My Health Record, and the agency said that it was confident that agreements will be in place with “almost all vendors in the next few months”.
“Connecting to My Health Record allows pharmacists to contribute to, and access, health information for the community we serve, ” Pharmaceutical Society of Australia president Dr Shane Jackson said in a statement.
“For example, access to discharge summaries and information about allergies will help pharmacists provide relevant advice that is targeted to each individual, and ensure the safety of the patient.”
“Connecting the pharmacy vendor’s software to My Health Record will allow medication dispense records to be added seamlessly to the patient’s My Health Record at the time of dispensing, ” said Jackson, who is also an advisor to ADHA.
“Pharmacists will also spend less time chasing up clinical information and will have access to My Health Record as part of their regular workflow and dispensing process.”
Last week the health ministers of Australia’s states and territories endorsed a national eHealth strategy developed by ADHA .
“By 2022, there will be digitally enabled paper-free options for all medication management in Australia, ” the strategy states.
“People will be able to request their medications online, and all prescribers and pharmacists will have access to electronic prescribing and dispensing, improving the safety of our systems.”
The strategy states that the ADHA will work “to improve medications management for both healthcare consumers and providers by co-producing and publishing a national digital medicines management blueprint which will include development of the infrastructure, specifications, policies, legislation and change, adoption and training activities for clinicians.”
“The Agency will assist the development of proposals by scoping the implementation trials required to enable the services needed to support end-to-end digital medicines management, recognising the need to provide education and training to support adoption by the pharmacist workforce, ” the document says.
The ADHA recently revealed it was preparing for a pilot involving the use of My Health Record in hospital emergency departments in NSW and Queensland.
Tags My Health Record healh security Healthcare Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA)
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