Australia’s allied health sector is on track to link up with My Health Record and electronic prescribing services, marking a significant step toward comprehensive digital integration in healthcare. The Australian Digital Health Agency (the Agency) has begun collaborating with software vendors to help allied health professionals securely access and share vital patient information.
Agency CEO Amanda Cattermole PSM said the approach focuses on ensuring allied health providers can view and add essential details in My Health Record to support patient care across various settings.
“This work has the potential to make a real difference to the health of all Australians because their health information will be accessible to a broader care team that will include primary, acute care and allied health, regardless of setting, including aged care,” Cattermole said.
“Better access to information improves clinical decision making at the point of care and will be particularly beneficial to consumers who have complex or chronic health conditions and a broad care team.”
Early progress is already visible, with two vendors—Halaxy Pty Ltd and Beyond Essential Systems (BES)—signing on. Further agreements are expected in the coming weeks.
Halaxy Co-Founder and Co-CEO Alison Hardacre expressed enthusiasm about collaborating with the Agency: “We look forward to further integrating Halaxy with My Health Record for the benefit of clinicians and patients everywhere,” Hardacre said.
Similarly, BES CEO Michael Nunan pointed out that the company will build on its existing capabilities to support allied health services: “We are committed to improving the management of allied health care consumers and will build on our capacity in collaboration with the Agency and other partners, Nunan said.
The initiative is a result of the Allied Health Industry Offer in September 2024 and draws on findings from the Allied Health Digital Transformation Survey Report, which captured insights from 2,419 allied health practitioners. The results, recently published by Allied Health Professions Australia (AHPA), highlight the sector’s readiness to adopt digital solutions.
Agency Chief Program Officer Paul Creech PSM noted that software vendors are equally keen to design technology tailored to the diverse needs of allied health professionals. “Recognising the sector’s diversity, the Agency will co-design programs with vendors that are tailored to the unique needs of different allied health professions,” Creech said.
“This will be followed by Healthcare Identifier (HI) Service integration, My Health Record connection, electronic prescribing connection, and concluding with conformance and testing before product delivery.”
The software will include features for secure electronic prescribing, tapping into the National Prescription Delivery Service (NPDS). With more than 300,000 allied healthcare professionals across Australia delivering roughly 200 million services each year, the benefits of streamlined, interoperable digital health tools could be substantial.
According to the Agency, allied health software products integrating My Health Record and e-prescribing should be available by June 2026, following an extensive testing phase. This milestone promises greater efficiency and a higher standard of coordinated care for Australian patients and their providers alike.
Ritchelle is a Content Producer for Healthcare Channel, Australia’s premier resource of information for healthcare.
