Digital Health

Digital health is an enabler of coordinated and integrated primary healthcare. It is streamlining our healthcare systems, improving patient care and communication, and ensuring better informed treatment decisions.

It is also helping address inequity due to workforce shortages and long distances. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a catalyst for digital health, seeing unprecedented advances in the uptake of tools such as telehealth and e-prescribing.

Our Priorities

• Enhancing access to health through telehealth, particularly for people who find it difficult to physically access primary health care services.
• Improving integration and streamlining service provision between health service providers and helping people to take greater control of their health by encouraging the uptake of digital tools such as My Health Record within general practice, pharmacy, residential aged care, and among allied health professionals and private specialists.
• Supporting general practices to share de-identified data to advance continuous quality improvement initiatives.

Key Achievements

• Led the delivery of one of only two Digital Health Communities of Excellence nationwide to support better connected health care, improve transitions of care and improve digital health literacy. Read our case study.
• Progressed the development of a secure, data storage and analytics system, known as Primary Health Insights, available to all PHNs Australia-wide, following agreement by WA Primary Health Alliance to be the lead PHN for this project. Due to go live in late 2020, it will support a PHN network approach to receiving, storing, validating, managing, protecting, and transferring data, including Practice Incentive Program Quality Improvement data to ensure timely processing for GP payment incentives, with the ultimate goal of improving health outcomes for Australians. As part of the project WAPHA has led work to strengthen data governance policy and procedures across the PHN network, and build the capacity of PHNs to analyse and use data to inform decision-making.
• Engaged with every Residential Aged Care Facility in WA to encourage My Health Record registration to decrease potentially preventable hospitalisations, improve quality of care, and support to self-management.
• Provided about 180 practices with access to and encouraged uptake by our commissioned services to the HealthDirect video calling platform, to increase utilisation of telehealth during COVID-19.
• Supported a peak consumer body to deliver an education and awareness campaign to encourage people with chronic conditions to utilise telehealth with confidence. Read our case study.
• Provided health professionals with accurate and timely information and a platform for support and knowledge sharing during COVID-19 through a series of webinars and virtual Communities of Practice.
• Organised virtual ‘Lunch and Learns’ to support practices to deal with vital infection control issues and frequent systematic changes (particularly telehealth MBS items) through embracing virtual consultations, understanding the impact on billing practices, and supporting their staff with psychological safety.

My Health Record Uploads and Views

Case Study

Port Hedland – A Digital Health Community of Excellence

Working with the Australian Digital Health Agency, WA Primary Health Alliance is a key delivery partner in one of two Digital Health Communities of Excellence nationally.

Digital Health

Stay Connected with Telehealth

WA Primary Health Alliance partnered with ConnectGroups, a peak consumer body which promotes peer support and consumer empowerment, to develop Stay Connected with Telehealth.

Digital Health