Digital Health (eHealth)
Alex Dolezal - 1300 986 991 | a.dolezal@cesphn.com.au
We support the following aspects of digital health (eHealth) and information management:
- Digital Health Incentive (digital health (eHealth)) PIP support - assistance with forms and requirements and training. However, this now excludes hardware and software installations, such as NASH certificates and SMD Commissioning. We can provide you with a list of IT support technicians for such installations and configurations
- MyHealth Record adoption by health professionals and their patients
- Secure Messaging Delivery including guidance on expanding with referral pathways
- Facilitating adoption of eDischarges from Sydney and South Eastern Sydney Local Health Districts
- Data Quality Activities using POLAR (Population Level Analysis and Reporting) tool and PEN Clinical Audit Tool
- Clinical software training on using digital health (eHealth) and template development (MedicalDirector & Best Practice)
- Assistance with information security
- Assistance with paperless practice implementation
- Assistance with computerisation
What is digital health (eHealth)?
Digital health (eHealth) is about electronically connecting up the points of care so that health information can be shared securely. digital health (eHealth) refers to a range of processes, services and systems related to information technology and information management.
Secure messaging
Secure messaging is the secure electronic transfer of information between health professionals within the healthcare sector, including general practitioners, allied health professionals, hospitals, specialists etc. Secure messaging allows you to exchange reports, discharge summaries and other documents between other health professionals.
The benefits include:
- reducing the time waiting for documents to be delivered
- receiving the documents electronically into your software, removing the need for scanning
- no more illegible and faxed documents
- cost saving on staff time, stationery and postage
- being elologically friendly
My Health Record
My Health Record (formerly Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record) enables better access to important health information held in a dispersed records across the health sector. My Health Record provides an active online record that follows your partients as they move through the healthcare system, capturing important clinical information at different points in time. Australians who are registered for My Health Record can access their health information when and where they need it and share this information with their health providers.
Currently My Health Record provides information on medications, allergies and advertse reactions, medical history and immunisation history, MBS and PBS history.
Additional information i.e. imaging and other documents will gradually be added as the My Health Record system continues to expand.
Data quality improvement
Data quality is an integral part of your practice. At CESPHN, we aim to improve the practice and patient outcomes by enhancing the quality of your data through the use of Outcome Health POLAR (Population Level Analysis and Reporting) Tool and PCS Clinical Audit Tool (PENCAT).
Both POLAR and PENCAT are software that collects and then translates data from GP clinical systems into statistical and graphical format which can be used for reporting, data cleaning and providing better patient care.
In 2016, the following requirements were introduced for practices to be eligible for the Digital health (eHealth) Incentives:
- Integrating Healthcare identifiers into Electronic Practice Records
- Secure Messaging Capability
- Data Records and Clinical Coding
- Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions
- MyHealth (digital health (eHealth)) Record System
Find the detailed description of Digital health (eHealth) PIP requirements in the Practice Incentives Program Digital health (eHealth) Incentives guidelines
Please note: Accredited general praactices registered for the Digital Health (eHealth) PIP will be required to upload shared heatlh summaries for 0.5% of practice's SWPE to receive the ePIP payment. The new cahnges commenced in May 2016.
Practices that withdrew from the digital health (eHealth) Incentive can re-apply for the digital health (eHealth) Incentive online through HPOS at any time. For assistance and further information on the Digital Health Incentive including eligibility, please contact your local PHN.
General practices seeking to return the ePIP payment of previous quarters for not meeting their Shared Health Summaries (SHS) upload target can send an email to pip@humanservices.gov.au and the Department will arrange for a debt advice notice to be raised for the repayment of funds.
Please ensure that you include the following information in your correspondence:
- practice details (practice name, practice ID, postal address)
- reason for the correspondence - 'repayment of PIP digital health (eHealth) Incentive payment, as the SHS upload target for the practice was not met by <date>'
- contact name and number
Please also note, that any correspondence sent to DHS on this matter, must come from either the owner of the practice or an authorised contact. More information can be found here.
Sending patient referrals electronically
Save time and improve efficiency by sending your patient referrals electronically by using either Best Practice, Medical Director or Genie.
An e-referral is an electronic document that can be sent electronically from one healthcare service to another, opposed to the current process of faxing or posting.
Healthlink Smartforms e-referral solution is integrated within Medical Director, Best Practice and Genie and streamlines the completion and submission of electronic referrals. Users benefit from capabilities such as pre-population, field validation and consistency checks, conditional visibility, intuitive layout, support for attachments, and ability to save and return to the draft referral at a later time (parking).
From your software programs, you can select a form, have it pre-populated automatically with data from the electronic patient record, have it validated and sent securely to the intended recipient, and receive an acknowledgement of receipt electronically. A copy of the form will automatically be stored securely in the patient’s record.
Healthlink Smartforms for services in CESPHN Catchment
Sydney Local Health District
Sydney Local Health District and Central and Eastern Sydney PHN is delighted to partner with HealthLink to enable electronic referrals directly from your GP medical records systems.
This will allow you to efficiently send secure e-referrals to Clinics and Ambulatory Care Services at Concord and Royal Prince Alfred Hospitals. Over the coming months more services will have the ability to receive referrals using the HealthLink system.
The link below will provide a how to guide for using HealthLink to send e-referrals to the following clinics:
Concord Hospital Haematology Services - Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Haematology Services
Available in April 2019
- Concord Hospital Rheumatology Clinics
- Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Rheumatology Services
User Guides
Chris O'Brien's Lifehouse
The link below will provide a how to guide for using HealthLink SmarFroms to send e-referrals to the following clinics:
- Rapid Access Endoscopy Clinic
- Medical Oncology
- Radiation Oncology
- Breast Clinic
- Head & Neck Clinic
- Gynaecological Clinic
- Rapid Access Hysteroscopy Clinic
- Gestational Trophoblastic Disease Clinic
- Rapid Access Prostate Cancer Screening
- Various Living Room Services (Integrative Care)
User Guides
The Australian Hearing Medical Certificate
Oculo Optometrist SmartForm referral allows the GP to easily locate and refer to an optometrist within close proximity to patient to enhance your patient’s access to eye care for regular vision check-ups. The SmartForm has been specifically designed to help those patients with diabetes or other potential eye conditions get their recommended eye examinations, and help doctors improve the diagnosis rates of glaucoma across Australia.
pdf Best Practice Software User Guides (311 KB)
pdf Medical Director User Guides (288 KB)
pdf Genie Solutions User Guides (266 KB)
Allied Health Professionals can benefit from being involved in various aspects of digital health (eHealth) and information management.
We can assist you with the following:
- Assistance with computerising your practice
- Assistance with information security
- Assistance with electronic referral pathways
- Secure messaging delivery using Healthlink Connect which can streamline your communication process with general practices and other healthcare professionals
- Digital health (eHealth) record system participation
Digital health (eHealth) and MyHealth Record system
Conformant software user guides
- Assisting patients to register for a My Health Record
- Uploading a Shared Health Summary
- Viewing a My Health Record
HealtheNet
- Digital health (eHealth) NSW - HealtheNet program
- GP fact sheet: Patient summaries via HealtheNet
- GP fact sheet: HealtheNet - Sharing NSW Health Pathology Results with My Health Record
Software vendors websites
- Best Practice
- Genie
- MedicalDirector
- Pen Clinical Audit Tool
- Zedmed
- Outcome Health - POLAR (Population Level Analysis and Reporting)
Digital health (eHealth) news
- Pulse+IT
- Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) - News
- Department of Human Services (Medicare) - News and updates
Information security
Digital health (eHealth) PIP resources
- Practice Incentives Program (eHealth) Incentive
- MyHealthRecord - online training
- On demand training - Interactive training modules (Best Practice, Communicare, Genie and Medical Director)