Board Agenda
14 June 2017
Meeting date: 14 June 2017 Page 3 of 4
UNCLASSIFIED – For Public Release
UNCLASSIFIED – For Public Release
Board
Agenda Item 5: CEO Report
Board
Agenda Item 5
CEO Report
Meeting: 14 June 2017
In May, the Federal budget included a measure to fund the national expansion of My Health Record. The measure noted: ‘A transition to opt-out participation for My Health Record will bring forward benefits many years sooner than the current opt-in arrangements. Opt-out is the fastest way to realise the significant health and economic benefits of My Health Record for all Australians including through avoided hospital admissions, fewer adverse drug events, reduced duplication of tests, better coordination of care for people seeing multiple healthcare providers, and better informed treatment decisions.’
The measure also confirmed that it: ‘allows the Australian Digital Health Agency to implement plans that will increase efficiency and sustainability and reduce the ongoing operational costs of the system in the longer term through the transition of Department of Human Services’ support functions to the Agency, the re-tender of the national infrastructure operator and delivery of a new, more flexible platform.’
The measure was supported by clinical leaders. Both the RACGP and the AMA published compact agreements with the Federal government to accompany the Budget in which they committed, among other things, to support ‘adoption of My Health Record in daily practice.’
By any standards, this measure represents a landmark for digital health in this country. Australia will be one of the first countries in the world to provide every citizen with a mobile medical record which they control – unless they choose not to have one.
The Agency, as the Board will know, has been gearing its operational capabilities for some time in the event the Budget did confirm this Measure and has now put in place internal and external governance to ensure successful national expansion of the programme.
Engaging with the community
The focus of Agency engagement continues to be on successful delivery of the work plan and the My Health Record expansion programme. I visited health leaders in Cobar, western New South Wales in May to learn more about their efforts to build a digital health region and how both My Health Record and the national digital health foundations can support their work. Western NSW has distinct challenges – average life expectancy is six years lower than in the suburbs of northern Sydney; presentations at emergency departments have risen over 10% in the last year as the local population grows; more than 75% of those attendances at the emergency department could, according to senior managers, be better triaged outside hospital.
The isolation of many of the communities in the region mean that local health staff drive the equivalent of one and a half times around the world every day to see patients. ScottMcLachlan, the Chief Executive of the Western NSW LHD, and Andrew Harvey, Chief Executive of the regional PHN have been quick to recognise the importance of digital health in improving the quality and effectiveness of local health services. They are developing some of the most effective and digitally enabled care planning initiatives in Australia – using telehealth and electronic record sharing to co-ordinate care for patients.
Since the last Board meeting, I have met with colleagues from the AMA, RACGP, Pharmacy Guild, and ACRRM, among others. As reported in the Board papers for this meeting, we are developing detailed partnership arrangements for peak body support in the implementation of the My Health Record national expansion programme. I also had my first meeting with the Surgeon General of the Australian Defence Force to discuss how we can ensure all the benefits of My Health Record will be available to service personnel and their families.
I was a keynote speaker at a number of conferences and events including the Queensland eHealth Expo, CebIT, and also attended and spoke at the AMA conference. I co-chaired an international meeting of countries and global partners including the US, Canada, Israel, the UK and the Pan American Health Organisation in Washington DC to facilitate delivery of our workplan objective of improved international collaboration on digital health. The meeting agreed, in principle, to the establishment of a Global Partnership on Digital Health which would support improved collaboration in cyber security and a number of other key areas. I also met during the month with the Health Minister of Saudi Arabia and the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority to discuss collaboration.
Our work on My Health Record and the development of the National Digital Health Strategy is of great interest overseas.
Improving the culture of the organisation: implementing Organisational Excellence
As the Board will note from the update on the Organisational Excellence programme, we are making important progress in building the culture of the Agency around its core values. I attended a meeting of the new Cultural Change Working Forum (the forum) which is leading the work with our Organisational Capability and Change Management team to support our development. The members of the forum, drawn from across the Agency, were clear with me about their ambitions for the organisation – and some of the challenges we need to overcome. I look forward to working with the forum on a routine basis – and would like to thank team members for their commitment to making this Agency a great place to work.
Agency achievements in the first year of operations
The Australian Digital Health Agency commenced operations on 1 July 2016 to advance the digital health agenda. Now one year into operations, it is timely to take stock of the Agency’s overall performance and approach.
Since 1 July 2016 the Agency has pursued two areas of focus; building the organisation and implementing programs in partnership with key stakeholders. Digital health in Australia has accelerated since 1 July 2016 and the Agency has contributed to these significant achievements:
· Rebuilding faith and momentum in digital health by developing genuine relationships and networks across the sector and establishing six Board Advisory Committees.
· Delivering a National Digital Health Strategy following five years of unsuccessful attempts.
· Growing clinical document sharing as demonstrated through the sizable increase in the number of clinical documents uploaded to the My Health Record, including more than a fourfold increase in the number of Shared Health Summaries since June 2016.
· Connecting hospitals and health services to the My Health Record with double the number of private hospitals uploading to the My Health Record system in May 2017 than in July 2016, and a 25% increase in public hospitals connecting to the MyHealth Record over the same period.
· Entrenching the My Health Record in the Australian health landscape through our part in securing the Australian Government’s decision to fund expansion of participation in the My Health Record; such that Australia will have the highest participation rate in any national health record system in the world by 2018.
· Ensuring greater consumer access to health information by enabling app developers to safely and securely connect to the My Health Record and provide innovative mobile digital health solutions that address the challenges faced by health consumers and healthcare providers.
· Building a new organisation including recruiting a leadership team, establishing policies and processes to operate under a new Rule, and beginning the process of building a new culture to set up organisation for success.
Workplan delivery
The Agency has now agreed a number of agreements which will improve the usability and clinical benefit of My Health Record. Sonic Healthcare will be the first private provider in Australia to upload pathology and radiology reports into the My Health Record in pilot implementations in Queensland, Tasmania and New South Wales. In June, we will be launching an offer of support for all private pathology and radiology practices to connect their software systems to the My Health Record ahead of the national expansion programme. I would like to thank the Royal Australian College of Pathologists, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists, Pathology Australia and the Australian Diagnostic Imaging Association and members of the Agency steering groups for their leadership.
I am pleased to confirm that the first reports from public pathology providers have been uploaded into My Health Record – in line with workplan deliverables. New South Wales and Northern Territory are the first jurisdictions to go live.
We have also agreed a programme with the Pharmacy Guild to support community pharmacists to upload records of dispensed medicines and have concluded a number of contracts with software companies to enable their connection to the My Health Record.
We have also concluded contracts with three consortia – of health providers and industry – to test new approaches to secure messaging and determine the future specification for national standards to ensure that all registered healthcare providers in Australia can have access to reliable, secure messaging for clinical correspondence.
The National Expansion of My Health Record
The Board will consider a number of reports on progress in preparation for implementation – and establishment of appropriate external and internal governance.
National Digital Health Strategy
The Board approved submission of the Strategy in its extraordinary meeting in May. The Strategy – and the supporting Agency work plan – were submitted to the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council for consideration at its meeting on 2 June. The outcome of that decision will be tabled for the Board’s information.
I would like to thank members of the Board who participated in the Strategy Review group for their help in its development.
CLEARED BY / Name / Tim KelseyPosition / Chief Executive Officer
Meeting date: 14 June 2017 Page 3 of 4
UNCLASSIFIED – For Public Release