Digital health experts have called on the winner of next month’s federal election to act on a mess of aged care data, untapped artificial intelligence and a national workforce that’s unprepared for technological change.
The issues must be addressed, the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre (DHCRC) says, or Australia’s health system will struggle to keep up with a wave of digital health challenges and opportunities.
“There are significant challenges and pressures facing the health sector, and digital technologies present an opportunity to improve efficiencies, support our stretched healthcare workforce and deliver better and more effective care to all Australians,” DHCRC chief executive Annette Schmiede said.
The Centre, which connects dozens of government, academia and industry partners to advance digital health technologies, has put aged care data at the top of its election priorities.
Last month, the DHCRC released joint research with the CSIRO that showed critical gaps in aged care data, siloed solutions and antiquated sharing methods still plague the complex aged care system.
It found four years on from a damning royal commission and amid generational technology upgrades, the government’s aged care reforms have “not explicitly followed a logical path in terms of the digital journey”.
The Centre this week said the next Health minister must order roadmap for the adoption of standardised aged care data across the sector, which would lead to improved care outcomes and reduce inefficiencies.
As revealed by InnovationAus.com, the Department of Health and Aged Care initially focused on ICT delivery in its tech upgrade, but progress was slow on the data strategy work.
In 2022, an internal review called for an accelerated pace on the strategy, but it was not delivered until last year, around 12 months before the major reforms are set to begin and after several of the new platforms have been developed.
The CRC also wants a new body to accelerate the evidence base for AI in healthcare amid the Australian sector’s slow uptake and workforce challenges.
The proposed body would provide research and develop national policies, standards and safety processes and guidelines specifically for healthcare AI to encourage responsible uptake.
A National AI Centre already exists bit its focus is economy wide and has only a handful of staff, while the Albanese government’s policy work has been slow. Mandatory guardrails for AI are yet to be released despite 18 months of consultation and an industry uptake plan isn’t expected until next year.
The CRC’s election priorities also call for an investment in healthcare workforce training to prepare for rising care expectations and new technologies, including a national core curriculum for digital health.
The government must develop health procurement guidelines to pull local health technologies into public hospitals and correct a system that currently “favours multinationals, leading many local innovators offshore”.
Finally, the DHCRC is also urging the next government increase research funding, warning current opportunities are too limited, there are “critical gaps in storing and sharing health information for research”, and not enough emerging technology projects.
“It is essential that healthcare is prioritised as a core election issue, and we would like to see bipartisan support for the critical priorities we have presented that meet consumer and community expectations,” Associate Professor Schmiede said.
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