The Australian Digital Health Agency has chosen Adelaide-based consultant Chamonix IT Management Consulting to develop a consumer mobile app that integrates with My Health Record. 

According to a statement, the first release of the app will be a read-only interface of the national digital health record platform and will later include an upload feature and other enhancements. Chamonix, which won the A$2.1 million ($1.5 million) contract via a competitive tender process, is expected to develop the app by early next year.

WHY IT MATTERS

Over the past year, the ADHA saw more than a 500% jump in the number of consumer views of pathology reports on My Health Record, according to ADHA Chief Digital Officer Steve Issa. Consumers have been accessing their My Health Record on desktops and given this increase in demand, the ADHA is coming up with a mobile solution to enable easier access to health information. 

THE LARGER TREND

Earlier, the agency rolled out a mobile version of the Healthcare Information Provider Service (HIPS Mobile) which enables clinicians in hospitals to view their patients' My Health Record on smartphones and tablets. The app was introduced to support the increased use of My Health Record among healthcare providers; uploads of pathology reports climbed more than twice in the past 12 months, Issa noted.

In July, the ADHA awarded a contract to Deloitte to build a single, consolidated API gateway that will enable it to deploy and manage more health information repositories and health data exchanges, as well as support the integration of health data from multiple sources into clinical information systems.

ON THE RECORD

"The agency’s vision is both healthcare providers and consumers having access to the same health information regardless of the type of device or channel they use to access it. This omnichannel strategy enables the only national electronic health record, allowing access to health information when it is needed," Issa said.