Australia Funds Research into Open Source EHR

The Australian Government has taken another step towards its plan to introduce a ‘lifetime’ electronic health record system following the award of a research and development contract to use open-source technology to make patient health records available on the internet.

The R&D contract was awarded to the Distributed Systems Technology Centre (DSTC), and partners, Ocean Informatics, Flinders University and the openEHR Foundation.

All software and designs developed will be made freely available as open source, via the openEHR Foundation, to encourage the local and international health software community to test and further develop the HealthConnect concept.

Contracts were awarded under the HealthConnect program, set up by the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments, to test the value and long-term sustainability of a national health information network for Australia.

The DSTC-led research group will design an XML-based electronic health record system, working closely with medical practitioners and consumers to analyse its potential impact and its suitability for the HealthConnect network.

If implemented, the HealthConnect network would allow health information to be safely stored and exchanged between health care providers, allowing more complete, up to date information at the point of care – but only with the health care consumer’s permission.

The proposed HealthConnect network would also give participating consumers direct access to their own health information via the Internet.

"The HealthConnect project has the potential to fundamentally change the nature of health service delivery – not just in Australia but in the world," said Project Leader, Dr Andrew Goodchild.

The DSTC-led research group will design an XML-based electronic health record system, working closely with medical practitioners and consumers to analyse its potential impact and its suitability for the HealthConnect network.

Two Queensland-based trials have been proposed for this analysis. One would be based on sharing diabetes patients’ health data amongst their nominated GPs, specialists, and allied health professionals.

The second trial would see the electronic health record system used to transfer information between GPs, hospitals and specialists to assist with pre and post-operative patient care.

Initial trials of the HealthConnect network are due to begin this September in Tasmania and the Northern Territory and run until June, 2003

DTSC says there has already been much interest from around the world in the design approach and the open source software being developed, including: the US Veterans Health Administration and Internet 2 in the United States, the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, the National ICT Institute for Healthcare in Holland and the Ministry for Health in Brazil.

The system is based on openEHR, an improved version of the Good Electronic Health Record (GEHR) architecture. The advantages of an open source-based electronic health record are said to include helping to achieve interoperability and future proofing.

"It aims to solve the current problems in electronic health record systems by using ‘archetypes’, or clinical models, that are easily created and modified by clinicians," said Thomas Beale, one of the openEHR architects.

"This means that the electronic health record system can have enduring value. It can evolve without requiring software or database modifications when new clinical concepts, such as medical tests and procedures, arise over a consumer’s lifetime."

The project, drawing on DSTC’s expertise in security, will also investigate options for ensuring the privacy of consumer health information.