Te Toka Tumai Auckland introduces FHIR-ed-up PAS and more instructions
Te Toka Tumai Auckland launches FHIR-powered PAS
Te Toka Tumai Auckland, formerly the Auckland District Health Board, is to launch a new patient administration system running on the new FHIR-based National Health Index API.
InterSystems, which supplies the PAS, is reportedly one early user of the NHI API is being developed through Te Whatu Ora’s Hira program.
The FHIR-based API will enable Te Toka Tumai Auckland’s new PAS to reconcile data “within the broader information systems environment”. This means that “we will know when a patient’s data was last accessed from the NHI,” explains Brian Biggs, customer relations and sales director for InterSystems New Zealand.
It will also make the data more timely, consistent and reliable, he added. InterSystems said the new PAS at Te Toka Tumai Auckland will go live in mid-2024.
Virtual healthcare technology provider wanted for WACHS
The WA Country Health Service is looking for an IT provider for its Virtual Care service.
Based on the request for information, the technology they are looking for will replace existing on-site, home and community platforms.
The ideal solution, the report said, should be “flexible and fully digital, with an automated end-to-end system, starting from the point of contact to user interface and records management outcomes.” The solution is also expected to have the ability to integrate with multiple data sources and enable automated data cleaning, analysis and reporting.
The Virtual Care service is currently offered through WACHS command center, outpatient services, metropolitan healthcare services providing remote patient access, and corporate meeting spaces.
Northeast Health Wangaratta will upgrade two-decade-old digital records
Northeast Health Wangaratta, the healthcare service for north-east Victoria, is upgrading its 20-year-old digital patient record system from Orion Health to the modern version.
The regional healthcare sector, which has been using Orion Health’s Digital Care Record (DCR) since 2003, needs a modern solution to address the challenges posed by the recent global pandemic and the onslaught of natural disasters putting pressure on the system have put. During a discovery exercise, it became apparent that staff were relying heavily on handwritten clinical notes and observations on paper forms.
According to a press release, the DCR upgrade will introduce new features including “better workflows, faster access to information, better user experience and improved integration capabilities.” It will also allow patients’ medications to be matched and give physicians the ability to prescribe medications upon discharge.
Additional features such as seamless integration of eReferrals and progress notes and the introduction of mobile device capabilities will follow the go-live of the upgraded DCR mid this year.
NSW Health is forming an AI framework task force
NSW Health has established a new taskforce that will oversee the creation of a framework to ensure the safe and successful use of AI within the state’s healthcare system.
The task force, which consists of senior leaders and experts in the field, recently met for the first time.
According to NSW Health, they will develop a framework that aims to “embrace the potential of AI to have a significant impact on healthcare and drive transformative changes in the way we deliver and manage healthcare and to transform many aspects of clinical to further accelerate research.”
The framework will also consider and manage the potential risks of AI in the areas of safety, ethics, privacy, security and regulation.
“The framework will enable us to look for more innovative ways to complement and support the capabilities of our highly skilled workforce, while addressing the risks and challenges associated with using AI in healthcare,” added NSW Health Minister Ryan Park added.
National study receives federal grant to evaluate medication card model with EMRs
A new federally funded project will involve pharmacists in validating a model for charting and prescribing medications in hospitals that use EHRs.
The CARe-MED study, which has received A$1.4 million ($900,000) in grants, aims to reduce medication errors among older patients in hospitals. It examines the impact of pharmacist mapping using EHRs, assesses its direct impact on medication-related harms, and measures how it affects physicians’ work.
“It is important to validate the partnered care model in digital environments as electronic prescribing is known to introduce new types of errors and patterns,” explains Dr Jacinta Johnson, head of research and pharmacist at the University of South Australia.
The study, in collaboration with SA Pharmacy, Metro South Health and the University of Queensland, will evaluate the partnered drug charting and prescribing model in metropolitan and rural hospitals in South Australia and Queensland over the next four years.