The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) says it is now turning its attention to encourage specialists to use the My Health Record system after recent figures showed only a small minority have signed up for the federal government’s digital health record system.
The ADHA says its focus over 2019 was connecting primary healthcare providers to the My Health Record system, and it now has over 90% of GPs and pharmacists registered to upload and view documents.
“It made sense to firstly work with healthcare providers who consumers deal with most and where levels of computerisation were already high,” it says in a 13 July statement.
But at the end of 2019 only 8% of specialist practices were connected to the system and the ADHA says it is now working to remove barriers to specialist use of e-health records such as software and technology compatibility.
Agency CEO Bettina McMahon says the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed healthcare workers and patients into using new digital models of care, and the results of a new survey commissioned by the ADHA show that 90% of specialists are now open to using more technology when caring for their patients, including using apps and online self-service.
“We’ve seen a significant increase in digital health over the past three months as the health system has fast tracked its adoption of technology to deliver health services in a COVID world,” she said.
“This new research shows that we can expect digital health to remain a feature of healthcare into the future, now that consumers and healthcare professionals have experienced the convenience and benefits technology can bring.”