The Victorian government will roll out a statewide electronic medical record across all hospitals and health services, streamlining access to patient information and replacing paper-based systems.
Health minister Mary-Anne Thomas announced the initiative on Thursday, pledging $21.4 million to support the planning and implementation of the system at more than 25 of the state’s 76 health services.
Delivery of the “connected and standardised” system, which will move with patients “regardless of the hospital they’re being treated at”, will be led by Hospitals Victoria and the state’s Department of Health.
Different patient record services, some of which are paper-based, are currently used across each of Victoria’s 76 health services, the government said.
Eastern Health — which serves the largest geographical area of any metropolitan health service in Victoria — and The Royal Eye and Ear Hospital are among the health services that will be supported initially.
The Hume Rural Health Alliance, which is made up of 15 health services, and the Grampians Rural Health Alliance, made up of eight health services, will also be supported.
In a statement, Health minister Mary-Anne Thomas said the upgrade will ensure the state’s health system delivers more “efficient, faster care at an even higher standard”.
Ms Thomas added that “patient privacy is paramount and these electronic medical record upgrades will give those accessing care the confidence to know that their personal information is secure”.
The government has previously funded the rollout of digital health records at Victoria’s largest regional health service Barwon Health, three health services in Melbourne’s Parkville Precinct, and the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Outside of the funding commitment, the state government will progressively roll out CareSync Exchange, an electronic patient health information sharing system for clinicians working in the public health service. The first nine health services are expected to adopt the system in late December 2024.
It will initially enable sharing of a subset of clinical data including “patient hospital encounters, related discharge summaries, pathology results and treating providers”, according to the Health department.
The Victorian government’s electronic medical record systems rollout was announced on the same day as the federal government brought proposed legislation to parliament to action its plan to force clinical data to be shared with My Health Record by default, with some exceptions.
The federal government initially planned to begin default sharing of pathology and diagnostic imaging reports by June 30, 2024, but is now targeting mid-2025.
Introducing the Health Legislation Amendment (Modernising My Health Record – Sharing by Default) Bill 2024 on Thursday morning, Mr Butler said the bill will make the lives of healthcare professionals easier and generate costs savings while empower patients.
“Patients should not have to rely on the goodwill or the good management of private providers to be able to access their own health data,” Mr Butler said.
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