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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.

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Framework for Action
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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 support@countrysaphn.com.au 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.

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 support@countrysaphn.com.au

Provider Connect Australia TM

A single place to update your business information

Provider Connect Australia™ (also known as PCA™) is an initiative of the Australian Digital Health Agency to help healthcare provider organisations update their business information in a single source. This improves the accuracy of healthcare service and practitioner information, while reducing duplication and streamlining notifications.

Helping healthcare providers

Healthcare provider organisations can use PCA™ to provide consistent, up-to-date information about healthcare services to funders, health service directories, communication services, and other key partners in your healthcare service delivery.

For further support or information, please contact the Primary Care team at support@countrysaphn.com.au.

Register as a healthcare provider

Register as a healthcare provider to keep your information up to date.

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How it works

Once registered with PCA™, healthcare providers can update their business information and choose to automatically send updates to their connected business partners.

Over time, business partners will include funders, public service directories, secure messaging providers and more.

This means you can maintain a single master copy of your organisation’s details and your chosen business partners will automatically receive any updates.

PCA™ will save time, reduce human error and remove the hassle of filling out multiple forms.

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