Divisions of General Practice want central e-health role
Divisions of General Practice are seeking to position themselves as the coordinators of an integrated e-health network connecting primary care with hospitals, private specialists and funding bodies.
In the National eHealth Strategy submission released by the Australian General Practice Network, they state that divisions are well placed to drive changes in e-health because primary care is already the most computerised health sector and divisions have the local infrastructure to deliver e-health programs.
“The divisions network and state based organisations are positioned for this very important emerging area of collaboration in the second wave of e-health uptake,” they say.
They cite several examples of division pilot projects in e-health such as shared electronic health records, secure messaging programs, e-prescribing and connectivity with nursing homes. The submission says GP practices are already highly computerised but need better software to be connected to other healthcare providers, hospitals and to funding and planning bodies.
