The peak national body representing pharmacists, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA), is partnering with the Australian Digital Health Agency in a move designed to help increase the number of pharmacists using My Health Record - a digital system that enables healthcare providers to share secure health data and improve the safety and quality of patient care.
The Minister for Health Greg Hunt announced the partnership on Thursday and said the PSA represented 30,000 pharmacists working in all areas of pharmacy across the country, and is “ideally placed to develop and deliver education, training, information, and communications for the pharmacy profession”.
“This partnership will help PSA to increase the number of pharmacists working in all practice settings registered, able to view, and automatically upload medicines information to My Health Record.
“PSA will also review, update, and develop professional guidelines for pharmacy practice, and implementation tools for digital health,” Minister Hunt said.
{loadposition peter}The Australian Digital Health Agency CEO Tim Kelsey said that 5.2 million Australians already have a My Health Record and 12.8 million prescription and dispense records have been uploaded to the system.
“Access to current, timely, and accurate My Health Record enhances clinical decision making and consumer care, particularly when consumers are cared for by multiple healthcare providers and visit multiple healthcare organisations,” Kelsey said.
“My Health Record also provides pharmacists access to clinically relevant information from other healthcare providers including hospital discharge summaries, GP shared health summaries, and consumer-entered information about over-the-counter medications and other supplements.”
PSA national president Dr Shane Jackson welcomed the new partnership saying there was significant potential for pharmacists to use digital health records as a tool to communicate with other health professionals, particularly during transitions of care.
“My Health Record will provide access to verifiable clinical information such as a shared health summary, which is really useful when you’re sitting down with a patient for a MedsCheck or Home Medication Review. The benefit to patients is safer and more effective care.
“Pharmacists will be able to understand what’s happened to the patient in hospital, what changes may have been made, and what they need to do to follow up. My Health Record really shines a light on a patient’s health status so you can tailor their care,” Dr Jackson said.