eHealth

E-Health is the rapidly expanding field of health information and communication technology supporting health systems and services. It will allow health care practitioners to act on accurate and up to date health care information when providing care to patients, and lead to improvements in the quality and efficiency of health care delivery. Through the use of telehealth (also known as telemedicine), it will also assist in addressing rural health disadvantage by providing health care services to patients in rural and remote locations.

The main areas of e-health are:

• e-health records including: unique identifiers; e-referrals; e-discharge summaries; electronic specialist letter;
• Electronic prescribing;
• Telehealth;
• Clinical decision support;
• Communications - secure messaging;
• Broadband connectivity; and 
• Software and hardware, PDAs, smart phones and gadgets.

Further information on e-health & Physicians:

Submissions

• PCEHR Legislation Issues Paper - Aug 2011 (PDF 86KB)
• Draft Specialist Letter package - National E-Health Transition Authority - May 2011 (PDF 57KB)
• Draft Concept of Operations Patient Controlled E-Health Record (PCEHR) - Department of Health and Ageing - May 2011 (PDF 51KB)
• Telehealth - Department of Health and Ageing - Feb 2011 (PDF 44KB)
• Healthcare Identifiers and Privacy Legislation - Australian Health Ministers' Conference - Aug 2009 (PDF 99KB)

Articles in RACP News

• Advantages of Telehealth -  Apr 2011 (PDF 72KB)
• Telehealth Remote Monitoring - Jun 2010 (PDF 60KB)
• iPhones - Jan 2009 (PDF 30KB)
• Electronic Health Records in New Zealand - Jan 2009 (PDF 21KB)
• Electronic Health Records in Australia - the implications for clinicians - Dec 2008 (PDF 38KB)

Surveys

• The eHealth readiness of Australia's medical specialists - Final Report - 2011 (links to Department of Health and Ageing web page hosting the report)
• A study to determine access and use of computers and electronic applications by physicians - 2007 (PDF  304KB)

External organisations and links

ACRRM TeleHealth Advisory Committee

The RACP is a member of the ACRRM TeleHealth Advisory Committee, which is developing of standards and guidelines for telehealth. In furthering the work of the Committee, ACRRM has created an online community for health care practitioners who are interested in the use of TeleHealth to improve access to care for rural, Aboriginal and aged care patients.

Australia: National E-Health Strategy

Quality and safety are the key drivers behind the National E-Health Strategy and its release in 2008 outlined four major strategic streams of activity: foundations, e-health solutions, change and adoption and governance.

Australia: NEHTA

The National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) has been established by the Australian State and Territory governments to develop better ways of electronically collecting and securely exchanging health information.

NEHTA has a number of reference groups comprising a range of stakeholders, including clinician representatives. For further details, visit their website here.

New Zealand: National Health IT Plan

The National Health IT Plan supports improvements in the quality and delivery of health care services, underpins new models of care, and seeks to deliver better value for money.

Please contact the Policy and Advocacy Unit for further information: policy@racp.edu.au