Today I reviewed the Australian Government’s Department of Health and Ageing Final Report commissioned to undertake an objective assessment of the Allied Health sector’s eHealth readiness (see http://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/ehealth-readiness-allied-toc~introduction).
Aside from considering clinical engagement in eHealth enabled, patient centered outcomes, of particular interest was the bench marking of the penetration of equipment/ technology use in the sector, how practitioners view adoption and usage of such technologies, and barriers/ drivers for practitioners to participate in future national eHealth initiatives.
The report generally acknowledged the crucial and important role Allied Health practioners play within the Australian health system and noted that “insufficient research” exists on their use of eHealth applications historically.
Three key anchor questions were addressed by the report as follows:
- Are Australian allied health practitioners ready to adopt and use eHealth technologies and solutions, today and in a way consistent with policy direction in the future?
- What are the barriers impacting eHealth readiness and adoption and how can we minimise them?
- What are the eHealth enablers and how can we apply them to drive adoption and effective usage?
High level findings indicated that most Allied Health practicioners see the benefits of eHealth to their practice whilst being able to and intending to use well designed solutions if the benefits exceed the costs.
It went on to find that each aspect of the Allied Health industry comprised active early adopters/ enthusiasts as well as risk averse and eHealth resistant practitioners.
As coreplus is paving the way for Allied Health practioners to manage their practices completely electronically and with minimal cost from a technology point of view I’m interested in your views/ thoughts as to the findings noted above as well as how you see coreplus evolving to accomodate further enhancement of eHealth outcomes?
