National

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The overarching HealthConnect implementation philosophy is for Australian Governments to drive market change in partnership in an integrated way, by:

Committing to investment in the development of national ‘building block’ standards through NEHTA to inform compliant implementation of Government and industry projects

Committing to the implementation of eHealth projects at a local level, aligned to national standards, in order to ‘set the pace’ for the rest of the market

Committing to the analysis and implementation of supporting ‘change management’ initiatives including but not limited to consumer, provider and industry engagement and policy / legislative change.

The Australian Government is investing $128 million over four years towards the implementation of HealthConnect, as a major platform for reforming health care delivery in Australia.
The Broadband for Health Program is targeting the immediate uptake of business grade broadband services by general practitioners, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services and community pharmacies to allow them to put in place the vital underpinning level of ‘connectivity’ needed to take part in a secure national flow of key electronics health information accessible from the point of care. The Broadband for Health Program is a crucial enabler of the HealthConnect Strategy, and provides an additional $60 million commitment to the strategy.

To date more than 6700 general practices, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services and community pharmacies have taken up the Australian Government’s Broadband for Health Program incentive which enables health care providers to connect to business grade and advanced broadband arrangements – a first step in the implementation of HealthConnect.

To find out more about the Broadband for Health Program and how to apply for the incentive, or the Managed Health Networks Grants to connect to advanced broadband services, visit www.health.gov.au/ehealth/broadband

The Australian Government also invests in general practice information management and information communication technology (IM&ICT) through the Practice Incentives Program (PIP), another initiative of the Australian Government working towards a better health system.
The PIP aims to recognise general practices that provide comprehensive, quality care and which are either accredited or working towards accreditation against the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners' (RACGP) Standards for General Practices.

The PIP is part of a blended payment approach for general practice. Payments made through the program are in addition to other income earned by the general practitioners and the practice, such as patient payments and Medicare rebates.

The IM & ICT incentives currently support computerisation of general practice and electronic data exchange with new incentives for electronic clinical data IT security being introduced in late 2006.