National Health Reform

Concept of Operations: Relating to the introduction of a Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record System

Document information

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) System and how it will work.

This version of the Concept of Operations is based on the framework for a national electronic health record system agreed by the Australian Health Ministers Conference in April 2010. It has been updated following public consultation on an April 2011 draft of this document, ongoing consultations with stakeholders (see Appendix A) and lessons learned from local and international efforts (see Appendix B). A summary of the key changes is given in Appendix C.

The Concept of Operations will be periodically updated as the development of the PCEHR System progresses. This version of the Concept of Operations will set the basis for the construction of the PCEHR System by the national infrastructure partner to be engaged to build the core components of the PCEHR System.

This version of the Concept of Operations contains a moderate level of detail about the PCEHR System. This is intentional as it provides readers with a single document that describes the many elements of the PCEHR System in sufficient detail to inform stakeholders.

What is not in scope

This document contains a high level overview of the PCEHR System approach and design. While it summarises a number of aspects of the PCEHR System, other documents cover different aspects of the system in more detail, as follows:

• Requirements and Design: More detailed documents are available covering different aspects of the system design, including the Business Requirements, Business Scenarios and Use Cases and High Level System Architecture. Additional documents are also in development, including Detailed Requirements, Operational Framework and a Data Quality Framework.
• Legislation and Governance: A Legislation Issues Paper [DOHA2011b] has been released to the community. Outcomes of consultation will inform the draft legislation. The Department of Health and Ageing is also developing the proposed governance model.
• Change and Adoption: A Change and Adoption Partner has been appointed. It is anticipated that more information around change and adoption will be available in time.
• Benefits and Evaluation: A Benefits Evaluation Partner has been appointed and it is anticipated that more information around benefits evaluation will be available in time.

Intended audience

This document is primarily aimed at readers wishing to understand the PCEHR System in a moderate level of detail. It is written for a wide range of readers who already have a general knowledge about the current Australian eHealth agenda. This includes individuals, healthcare providers, ICT industry and other interested parties.

Many parts of this document are also suitable for readers new to the area of eHealth. Readers interested in more general material should refer to the following websites:

• eHealth and national health reform: www.yourhealth.gov.au
• General information about eHealth and work progress: www.ehealthinfo.gov.au
• Videos explaining the PCEHR System: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IOoUMwSGMI

Additional material can be found at:

• Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing: www.health.gov.au
• NEHTA: www.nehta.gov.au

How to read this document

In order to describe something as significant as the PCEHR System, the Concept of Operations is by necessity a large document. Readers may prefer to focus on different sections of the document:

• Readers interested in a summary of the PCEHR System should read the overview (Section 1).
• Readers interested in scope and core functionality around participation, information management, privacy and security should read Sections 2, 3, 4 and 5.
• Readers wanting technical information describing each of the PCEHR System components should read Section 6.
• Readers interested in operations, implementation and outcomes evaluation should read Sections 7, 8 and 9.

A glossary of key terms is provided in Appendix E.

Throughout the document, coloured breakout boxes draw attention to different items, as follows:

Design Note: Blue design note boxes highlight significant design choices that were made.

Scope Note: Yellow scope note boxes clarify an area of functionality and indicate if it is likely to be restricted in the first release of the PCEHR System or if the functionality is an option requiring further consultation.

eHealth Site Note: Lavender scope note boxes highlight items that will be developed in one or more lead eHealth sites. These sites will be early adopters of the capabilities being developed to support the PCEHR System, and will provide practical experience that can guide the broader adoption of the PCEHR System into the future. The full set of lead eHealth sites is discussed in Section 8.5.

Document Management Information

Edition: September 2011 Release
Date: 30 September 2011
NEHTA Version Number: 1.0.5
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