Digital technology and your practice

22 June 2021

Digital technology has become an integral part of healthcare. It has greatly improved operational efficiency, standards of medical care and significantly enhanced the overall experience of both healthcare professionals and patients.

As we have experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic, digital technology in health has improved lines of communication, removed barriers to service access, improve continuity in patient care through the use of electronic health records (such as My Health Record) and enhance clinical decision making with real-time access to health information between healthcare providers, health services and hospitals.

The scope and use of digital health technologies is growing and changing rapidly in

Australia with the majority of general practices using clinical software. Software’s such as Best Practice, Medical Director and a large consortium of other software’s in the market, are being enhanced for practices to have an all-in-one system that easily connects to digital health initiatives such as secure messaging, eReferrals and using of the My Health Record.

However, you do not necessarily need to have clinical software. The Digital Health Team at CESPHN can help you get connected and provide training on the following digital platforms, simply through a personal computer and internet connection for free:

Secure messaging and eReferrals through the MyHealthLink Portal

The MyHealthLink Portal is a stand-alone, web-based system designed to enable medical practices and individual healthcare providers to send and receive electronic messages containing clinical documents and/or other information between them. This secure platform also enables SmartForm Referrals to frequently use medical assessments such as fitness to drive and also referrals to many SLHD outpatient services.

My Health Record through the Provider Portal

The My Health Record Provider Portal gives web browser access to healthcare providers enabling them to view up to date clinical patient information, including allergies, medications, past medical history, immunisations, hospital discharge summaries and investigative reports.  Increasingly, it is being used to store Advance Care Planning documents, and adult/child immunisations from AIR now with mandatory reporting.

Clinician Vaccine Integrated Platform (CVIP)

CVIP is available online through a web browser or can be downloaded as an app. It can be used by recognised vaccination providers such as medical practitioners, pharmacists, nurses and midwives who do not already have clinical software to manage vaccinations and report vaccination information to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR).

National Cancer Screening Healthcare Provider Portal

Provides a self-service alternative for health professionals who do not have integrated software access to submit bowel and cervical screening data electronically in the National Cancer Screening Register.

While clinical software allows seamless integration with the above, the good news is if you have internet and a PC and/or smart device (smart phone or a tablet) in your practice (or even at home) you can reap the benefits of digital health. 

To avoid being left behind in digital health, get in contact with us at digitalheath@cesphn.com.au or call 1300 986 991.