Challenges and Implementation of Health IT in Australia

This report provides an overview of Health Information Technology (IT) in Australia, highlighting its importance in improving healthcare efficiency and patient care. It delves into the benefits of IT in healthcare, such as improved productivity, reduced costs, and enhanced accuracy of records. The report also addresses the challenges hindering the implementation of health IT, including technological barriers, adoption issues, high costs, and concerns from the Australian Medical Association. Furthermore, it examines the role of Clinical Quality Registries in monitoring healthcare outcomes and improving service delivery. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for updated frameworks and standards to ensure effective governance and utilization of clinical quality registries, ultimately aiming to enhance the quality of healthcare in Australia. The report references various sources and studies that support the analysis.

Running Head: HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 1
Health Information Technology
Student’s Name
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Introduction
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in about 100 years, from 1900 to 2004,
the Australian population has grown from 4 million to 20 million (Kisely, S. 2013). This is a
relatively huge population that in one way or another requires health care services. The
Australian public and government are already aware of the challenges it faces regarding
healthcare delivery and is already assessing options that will improve overall efficiency in the
health sector. Although the health of the Australian population has improved over the last
century with the Australian Bureau of Statistics reporting life expectancy to be 80 years old in
2004, more efforts need to be made to reduce the mortality and morbidity rates as much as
possible (Siahpush, M. 2014). The country has one of the highest life expectancy rates in the
world, and most of the population already has access to high-quality healthcare whether they
reside in the rural or urban areas of the vast country. About 66% of Australians live in the cities
while the rest of the culturally diverse nation live in the countryside. There are a few disparities
between the urban and rural authorities about the integration of health information technologies,
and thus about 2.4% of the population especially those in the countryside have much poorer
health than the other Australians.
Importance of Information Technology on Health Organizations
Health Information Technology refers to Information Technology that is applied health
and health care. Aspects of health information systems incorporate information management
conducted by computerized systems and the transfer and sharing of health information and
records via secure means between patients, providers, consumers and quality control experts
(Jones, S. 2013). Having an efficient health information system aids doctors, pharmacists,
patients, nurses and other healthcare providers to securely electronically access and share a

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patient’s crucial medical records thus enhancing the speed of coordination, safety, quality and
cost of patient care.
The following is a list of areas that benefit from improved and advanced healthcare
information systems;
i) Improved healthcare productivity, quality, and effectiveness
ii) Patients enjoy reduced healthcare costs
iii) Increase in accuracy of healthcare records and procedural correctness by preventing
medical errors
iv) Improved healthcare work processes and coordination in increased administrative
efficiency
v) Reduced paperwork hence saving time
CHALLENGES FACING IMPLEMENTATION OF HEALTH INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGIES IN AUSTRALIA
Since 1993, efforts by government agencies in Australia such as the National Health
Information Agreement, The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, The Australian Bureau
of Statistics and The Health Insurance Commission, have established a framework of corporation
in between these agency for the betterment of the Australian Health Information Technologies
(Merlin, T. 2016). As is it being with any other advancement of a government program, there
certain obstacles that hinder the timely progress of health information systems. Each year an
estimated 18000 people are believed to die as a result of apparent ‘medical errors.' Below is a
look at the barriers to the implementation of health information technology.

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i) Technological Barriers
The last two decades have seen a huge growth in technology with innovations from great
minds on both software and hardware development in all kinds of professions including the
healthcare fraternity. Healthcare Information Technologies is run and managed by software that
is responsible keeping electronic health records (Bisbal, J. 2013). Advancement in technology
has led to new innovative Electronic Health Record software that requires powerful high
performing Hardware for optimum performance and efficiency. Therefore, for successful
transmission and transfer of health information throughout the healthcare system, one needs an
up to date and high performing computerized communication system. Unfortunately, parts of
Australia especially those located in rural settings can find it difficult to connect to this system
and the internet hence hindering transfer and receipt of vital healthcare information (Li, J. 2014).
Another thing to consider is the electronic health records software's user-friendliness. This
has been a significant challenge in the implementation of the Australian Health Information
Technologies across Australia. There are certain software vendors whose software is coded in a
way that doesn't bring out a user-friendly interface, and this can be a challenge especially to the
elderly front line physicians who are expected to use these systems on a day to day basis
(Raghupathi, V. 2014). It can prove unaccommodating for both doctors and patients who are not
well versed in technology to put in health records into a system that is not user-friendly or easy
to use and operate. This has resulted in the slow implementation of health IT especially in rural
areas.
ii) Adoption.

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There are those physicians that still prefer the old hands-on approach in delivering health
care services and are not ready to embrace the technological revolution that is taking place in
Australia and all over the world. Since these physicians still have an active voice in the medical
practitioners' societies, they can prove to be obstacles to the development of Electronic Health
Records systems across all the health care providers in Australia (Saoji, S. 2016). These
physicians have significantly aided in the slow adoption of Health Information Technologies by
health care givers by arguing that these technologies come in the way of delivering health
services that have a human touch and connection. It is also their opinion that the ‘machines' are
not as flexible to change as a person would be, and hence they deprive the patients of the needed
connection in certain situations. They also feel that this software is not engineered I a way that
offers clinician workflow. This situation deteriorates further as most physicians are reluctant to
attending training sessions that the intergovernmental organizations in Australia provide.
iii) Costs of Implementation and Maintenance
Although the Australian government has commissioned $43 billion to develop the National
Broadband Network (NBN) which is tasked with providing the infrastructure needed for the
implementation of health information technology, electronic health has been receiving
insufficient funding. In August 2011, a House of Representatives Committee reported that
establishment of the National Broadband Network ‘will ensure efficient service delivery by
reducing time and costs of healthcare services to citizens and service providers' (Dodson, J.
2014). However, the opposition seems to be against the spending of $43 billion on the National
Broadband Network questioning its ability to deliver on the critical areas surrounding Electronic
Medical Records. They argue that the specific aspects of electronic healthcare established and
are of vital importance to the foundation and sustainability of the healthcare information

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technology have received insufficient or inappropriately targeted funding (Farid, R. 2017). The
cost of setting up hardware equipment along with establishing the necessary networking
infrastructure undeniably preposterous and with the hold backs created by the opposition, the
delays make for a slow implementation problem.
iv) Australian Medical Association Concerns
The Electronic Medical Records system allows both patients and doctors to input information
on their records. The Australian Medical Association (AMA) questioned the extent to which
patients can be allowed to change or alter the information on their health records. The association
feels that the importance of keeping legit and honest records should be stressed. The organization
insists that to ensure that information on a patient's history is always from a ‘trusted source,' only
medical practitioners should be allowed to alter medical information on a patient's medical
electronic record.
REGISTRY IMPLEMENTATION
In the process of establishing a national performance framework targeted at assessing health
outcomes across the healthcare system, the Australian government has entrusted the Clinical
Quality Registries to systematically monitor the effectiveness and appropriateness of healthcare
delivery in Australia (Smith, K. 2015). These logs provide credible means of monitoring health
care processes and outcomes by collecting, analyzing and reporting on healthcare related
information on a regular basis. The data collected by these registries are used to identify
variation and benchmarks in clinical outcomes and then this information is communicated to the
clinicians to equip them for clinical practice and decision making.

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This loop of events in the registry is redefining the future of clinical records as this
information can be passed on to other healthcare providers, jurisdictions, researchers and clinical
colleges thus continuously improving the quality of healthcare service delivery. Clinical quality
aims at ameliorating patient outcomes, apprising the development of new guidelines and
standards and enhancing compliance with evidence-based facts (Callaghan, J. 2015).
Having the clinical registries in place to monitor the clinical and medical outcomes
positively affects the healthcare. This information can be used as a basis of performance
assessment for individual entities within the entire Australian Healthcare system. In other words,
the implementation of the new clinical registries has made particular entities of the healthcare
system to perform more efficiently. In conclusion, the Australian government should update the
framework to clarify governance arrangements and use this framework as a basis for the
development of a standard for the clinical quality registries.

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References
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physical illness in psychiatric patients in Western Australia: retrospective analysis of
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Bisbal, J. (2013). Electronic Health Record Systems. In Encyclopedia of Systems Biology (pp.
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