Are we really ready for the Digital Health expansion into the Virtual Care World?

Many state health departments in Australia are moving at lightning speed into Virtual Care! They are trying to leverage the efficiency and value from this to meet the growing demand and costs in health care! Six years ago, I wrote on the need for interoperability because advancing interoperability is now a crucial part of most health care activities in some countries. Recently, the Australian government finally released its National Healthcare Interoperability Plan, but the private and not-for-profit sectors are being left behind.

Healthcare in Australia consists of private, public, and not-for-profit providers. Each organisation has its own siloed system, meaning that formats, standards, and terminology between the systems are incompatible. Because of this, the healthcare sector lags behind other industries which already have seamless connectivity. The National Healthcare Interoperability Plan seeks to address this problem. It aims to create an ecosystem of connected providers that seamlessly and conveniently share high-quality data that is easily understood by all users. That way we can achieve interoperability, and we will be able to support safe, secure, efficient, and quality care for all Australians. We would like to see the private sector making the same effort.

Generally, interoperability is the ability of different systems to connect and communicate seamlessly without effort from users, allowing for cross-organisational collaboration. In healthcare, it provides new ways for individuals and caregivers to access electronic health information about decisions made and care that has been given. That way, it helps clinicians to deliver effective, safe, patient-centred, and coordinated care. It is key to successful integration of care and it is made possible by digital health systems. In other words, digital systems play a crucial role in enabling interoperability.

The idea behind interoperability is to help people to take control of their health, not just to provide treatment when they are sick. By coming up with the National Healthcare Interoperability Plan, the Federal and state governments are showing their commitment to the development of digital health in order to improve the planning, managing, and delivery of healthcare services. The question to ask is, where is the private sector in all this?

We must not forget the most important people in healthcare, i.e., the patients who happen to be the customers. They need full access to their healthcare records as well as good quality care. We need universal records if we are going to have genuine universal health. How? I wrote before that GP practices need to become state-of-the-art IT hubs. I said sole GP practices must come together to form corporations, put patients at the centre of healthcare, and invest more in eHealth than in new hospitals and beds. Once they achieve this, they will make healthcare more consumer friendly. Patients will no longer wait for hours to be served, and they should be able to get service online. Is that happening in Australia?

Most recently I wrote the article, Transforming Collaborative Care into Integrated Care in a Digital World. I said I would like to see Australia move more towards integrated care in which there will be the highest degree of collaboration and communication among all types of healthcare professionals. Again, this is made possible by digital systems and this is how we can achieve interoperability.

Millennials and everyone else now rely more on the internet for almost everything. They meet and socialise digitally. They hold business meetings online. They shop online. They are used to getting most things instantly by using their computers, smartphones and tablets. Should we expect them to wait in the GP’s reception area for hours just to discuss small illnesses? Should we expect those in rural and remote areas to drive for many hours to talk to a GP for every illness? What is wiser, more effective, and more efficient is to provide healthcare consultations online. If the illness does not require physical examination, the GP can send a prescription digitally and the patient can purchase the medicines prescribed. Only if physical examination is necessary should patients be expected to physically go to the GP’s office.

If we can achieve interoperability, we will have happy service providers. GPs will be able to serve many patients remotely, and have only a few patients in their waiting rooms. Patients will be directed to specialists where necessary without them getting lost in the systems, since every service provider will have access to health records. We will have more satisfied patients. Best of all, the nation will save taxpayers a lot of money that may have been used for building more hospitals and buying more beds.

Are we ready for the digital health expansion into the virtual care world where we will have all these advantages and benefits? In my view we are not. Australia can never achieve interoperability unless we bring the private and not-for-profit sectors along with us. Yes, there are grants available for GP’s, Aged Care and other health care providers to buy equipment and other things. So, why are they lagging behind? Do they need mentorship and some leadership in this space by a Chief Information officer or someone from their PHN’s to get them on course to create interoperability to keep up at the same pace of the government? Do they need external strategists to bring them up to date? Do they need investors to bring money? I am not sure how private investment works, but I do believe that we need to figure this out sooner than later if we want interoperable and value-based health systems.

We cannot leave the community-based services behind either. Taking Urgent Care which is currently rolling out as an example, we could build a platform similar to the Emergency Q and link ambulances to Urgent Care Centres and Emergency rooms, while allowing patients to view wait times. Then we can finally integrate healthcare service delivery systems.

In conclusion, I say let us advocate for integration and interoperability to ensure that our healthcare services meet our needs now and into the future. Government is now on the right course but the private sector needs to hurry up