The Australian Department of Health and Aged Care has published a five-year strategy for implementing aged care reform.
In its Aged Care Data and Digital Strategy, the government envisages an aged care system that “provides the highest quality, person-centred care for older people, while driving a sustainable and productive care and support economy through data and digital innovation”.
What is it about?
To realize its vision, the strategy identified four specific outcomes, two of which relate to the secure sharing and use of data, and building the data and digital foundations that underpin a standards-based aged care system. These outcomes focus on improving security and access control, optimizing data collection and use, building data and digital maturity, and fostering innovation.
The strategy will be accompanied by an action plan, outlining specific projects and activities to achieve each identified outcome.
The government’s plans include implementing an aged care data governance framework and an interoperability and reference architecture. It also explores the introduction of virtual nursing in aged care, piloting AI technologies and piloting virtual reality technologies.
Meanwhile, work has begun on implementing healthy ageing tool LiveUp and digital resource platform KeepAble, enhancing the free information service My Aged Care, integrating My Aged Care with My Health Record, and developing aged care clinical information system standards.
The plan also includes an aged care national minimum data set, a national aged care data asset and e-prescribing, all of which have been implemented.
The larger context
In its Intergenerational Report, the Australian Government predicts that the older population will more than double over the next 40 years. This requires the aged care workforce to increase capacity, particularly through the adoption of data and digital technologies, to meet the surging demand for services.
The Ministry of Health and Aged Care said its updated strategy to address aged care reform is aligned with the recently published 10-year plan. the Digital Health Blueprint and an updated five-year National Digital Health Strategy. It also aligns with the National Strategy for the Care and Support Economy in that it leverages data and digital to deliver quality care and improved workforce productivity. All of these strategies share the goal of “strengthening the continuum of care” by connecting all data and digital systems more closely through the adoption of consistent data standards, the ministry noted.
