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Digital Health

Our Priority Areas

Supporting digital health

7 Priority Areas

Country SA PHN in association with the Australian Digital Health Agency, provides support for a number of digital health technologies.

  • My Health Record
  • Secure Messaging
  • Interoperability and Data Quality
  • Medicines Safety
  • Enhanced Models of Care
  • Workforce and Education
  • Driving Innovation
National Digital Health Strategy

Learn more about Australia’s National Digital Health Strategy.

Watch Video
Framework for Action
Download PDF

Electronic Prescriptions

Supporting your practice

Electronic prescriptions are here

On Thursday the 18th of June South Australia passed the required amendments to legislation which will allow electronic prescriptions as tender for writing and dispensing a script. We are excited to join the other states with this amendment and are ready to support your organisation as we adapt to change.

Currently the Australian Digital Health Agency is rolling out electronic prescriptions using a controlled testing approach to ensure the end-to-end process is successful amongst all combinations of GP and Pharmacy software.

Participation will occur in a Community of Interest which will require at least one general practice and one pharmacy in proximal location. There are other requirements that will need to be met and we are keen to hear from your organisation if you would like to forge the path for electronic prescribing in Country South Australia. Please contact us at [email protected] to register your interest in participating in a Community of Interest or for further information.

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Register your practice

Register your interest by contacting Country SA PHN

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Registration Eligibility

Readiness Item: Software Vendors

Software developers are working on their conformance. Those who have successfully met the requirements of electronic prescriptions are listed here. Please contact your software vendor for more information.

Readiness Item: Healthcare Identifiers Maintenance and Registration

Electronic prescriptions will require your organisation to:

  • Be registered with the Healthcare Identifiers (HI) Service
  • Review your details listed with the HI Service and ensure it is current.
  • Be using a Prescription Exchange Service (PES), either ERX or Medisecure.
  • Have your provider details up to date.

Readiness Item: Hardware Requirements for Dispensers

To dispense from an electronic prescription, your barcode scanners will need to be able to read a QR Code. And depending on your pharmacy workflow, you may need to print a QR Code.

Your software vendor is best placed to tell you if your existing hardware is capable of doing this. Contact your software vendor to see if they have an approved list of hardware items or check your vendors website to see if they have a recommended hardware list. If you are purchasing new hardware, ensure the model you are buying is capable of performing the necessary scanning and printing functions.

Readiness Item: Prescribers – Issuing an electronic prescription

To issue an electronic prescription to a Patient, you will need to know their mobile number or email address.

  • Are your patient’s contact details up to date? Do you collect and regularly update their mobile number and email address?
  • Does your practice have a “no email or sms” policy? If so, you will need to consider how or if you want to offer prescriptions electronically. Is it time to review your policy?
  • Does your patient want to receive their prescription electronically?

Readiness Item: Staff Education and Awareness

The Australian Digital Health Agency have released separate Education Modules for Prescriber and Dispensers. The Modules can be accessed by going to https://training.digitalhealth.gov.au/

Approved Software

Software developers are working on their conformance. Those who have successfully met the requirements of electronic prescriptions are listed here. Please contact your software vendor for more information.

My Health Record

My Health Record is a secure online summary of an individual’s health information and is available to all Australians. Health care providers, authorised by their health care organisation, can access My Health Record to view and add to their patients’ health information.

My Health Record does not replace existing health records. Rather, it supplements these with a high-value, shared source of patient information that can improve care planning and decision making.

Visit www.myhealthrecord.gov.au to learn more.

Need some support?

For My Health Record information and support contact us today.

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Digital support for primary care

Keep up to date with the latest in digital health

Our programs

If you would like support with any of our Digital programs please contact [email protected]

Provider Connect Australia TM

Provider Connect Australia™ (PCA™) is an Australian Digital Health Agency initiative to help healthcare providers update their business information in a single place. 

Introduction

Country SA PHN have partnered with Provider Connect Australia™ (PCA™) to help transform data accuracy and increase digital health interoperability across the Australian healthcare ecosystem.

A growing number of healthcare providers and business partners are using the free PCA™ service to streamline their relationships and reduce their admin burden.

Watch this short video for a quick overview of how PCA™ works

For Healthcare providers

The fastest way for healthcare providers to keep business partners and patients up-to-date with important business changes – like opening hours, contact information and healthcare services – is by updating their details through PCA™.

Once registered with PCA™, providers can choose to automatically send these important business updates to all their business partners, eliminating the need to manually update multiple platforms when their details change.

PCA™ Business Partner

If your organisation relies on up-to-date information from health providers, PCA™ can streamline your provider registration process.

Your organisation can receive automatic updates from the healthcare provider organisations you support and reduce or eliminate the potential for errors from manually transcribing information.

Become a PCA™ Business Partner

Email [email protected] for more information about or to book a meeting to become a PCA™ Business Partner.

Explore the benefits of registering as a PCA Business Partner.

Learn more about business partner benefits

To learn more about business partner benefits, watch this video

Register for PCA™

Healthcare providers who register in PCA™ can publish their details directly to their PHN, and the National Health Services Directory’s Service Finder on the same day, making it easier for patients to find you. 

A PRODA account is required to register. Register for PRODA if needed. 

Once logged in to PRODA, simply go to the 'PCA Tile' and register.   

Already have a PRODA Account?  Start your PCA Registration from here:

Register for PCA™

Help with registering for PCA™

Healthcare Providers can get support to register for PCA by calling the Agency's Digital Adoption Support team on (02) 6223 0741 option 3.

Healthcare Providers can also get support by contacting Country SA PHN's Primary Care team at [email protected].

Webinar Slides

Resources & Useful Links

Need support? Contact our Digital Health Team

Privacy & Security

Digital Health Security Health Awareness

The Australian Digital Health Agency has developed an eLearning course on Digital Health Security Awareness containing 5 modules which will enable participants on completion to -

  • Describe common cyber security risks and recognise that they are continually evolving
  • Adopt positive security behaviours to protect sensitive information
  • Identify ways to reduce the likelihood of being impacted by cyber security threats
  • Outline what to do in the case of a cyber security incident
  • Identify key legislation and data breach reporting requirements
  • You can access the course by logging onto or registering here 

Resources

Healthcare Identifiers

The Healthcare Identifiers (HI) Service is a national system for uniquely identifying healthcare providers and individuals. Healthcare identifiers help ensure individuals and providers have confidence the right information is associated with the right individual at the point of care. It has been created to be used by healthcare providers to improve the security and efficient management of your personal health information.

The HI Service allocates three types of healthcare identifiers:

  1. Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI) – for individuals receiving healthcare services. ​The system automatically assigns IHIs to every person enrolled in Medicare or registered with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
  2. Healthcare Provider Identifier – Individual (HPI-I) – for healthcare professionals involved in providing patient care; ​If you are registered with AHPRA, you are automatically assigned a HPI-I number. For assistance obtaining your HPI-I number, please call the HI Service.
  3. Healthcare Provider Identifier – Organisation (HPI-O)  – for organisations that deliver healthcare (such as hospitals or general practices). ​​Your healthcare organisation needs to register with the HI Service to be assigned a HPI-O number.

Penalties are in place for the misuse of healthcare identifiers. We recommend you read the following documentation to get a sound understanding of the HI Service, including things you need to be aware when accessing, using and disclosing healthcare identifiers: Healthcare Identifiers Act 2010.

Resources

Clinical Incident Reporting
Electronic Shared Care Planning Systems

Published on: January 17, 2024

Last updated on: January 13, 2025