Telstra Health will bring the Canada-based Smile Digital Health health data and data integration platform to Australia and New Zealand.
This comes as part of a recently signed strategic partnership between the two companies, which aims to accelerate interoperability and secure information exchange between healthcare and aged care facilities in the region.
Based on HL7 FHIR standards and Clinical Quality Language, Data from Smile The platform enables seamless data aggregation, care gap analysis, and clinical data analysis across multiple points of care.
WHY IT MATTERS
The Australian federal government has done this through the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA). working with HL7 Australia for the consistent adoption of digital health standards, particularly FHIR, across the country’s healthcare system. ADHA is also working with CSIRO to deliver a new terminology service and capacity through the National Clinical Terminology Service. These collaborations contribute to the Government’s goal of achieving a more connected Australian healthcare system by 2027 under the National Healthcare Interoperability Plan.
Telstra Health is helping to advance this mission in collaboration with Smile. In a statement, it said its partnership will support the mandatory exchange of key health information across various healthcare settings in Australia. Through Smile’s FHIR native platform, Telstra Health can “empower public health authorities to assist with population health analyses,” said Smile CEO Duncan Weatherston.
An established player in healthcare interoperability, Smile suporting a set of FHIR and clinical reasoning requirements for federal agencies, universities, HIE companies, and private enterprises worldwide. Partners include the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. It has also supported the Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services in serving more than 13 million patients.
THE BIG TREND
“At Telstra Health, we believe FHIR standards will become increasingly common across emerging and future healthcare models,” said Jane Gilbert, integration lead for Telstra Health’s Enterprise Technology division, in a recent blog article for the company.
Telstra Health first adopted the FHIR standards in 2016 when it was listed in the Enterprise Provider Directory. It was later implemented in its digital products and services including GP management software Helix, the National Cancer Screening Register and most recently the Virtual Health Platform and Kyra patient administration system, both launched last year.
The healthcare IT company has also worked closely with the Department of Health and Aged Care, Australian Digital Health Agency and CSIRO on the development of FHIR, SNOMED CT-AU and Australian Medicines Terminology. As an HL7 Australia Gold member, Telstra Health is also involved in bringing the International Patient Summary, a project of the Joint Initiative Council for Global Health Informatics Standardization, to the country.