Once the business decides to develop a technological product, buying an off-the-shelf product developed, tested, and implemented already in aged care services can be beneficial.
However, the technology supplier (vendor) may not allow customers to tailor their products to local needs and requirements. Under certain circumstances, this might limit product acceptance and use by end-users, leading to a failure of the technology to deliver anticipated benefits.
An alternative option is to work closely with a technology developer to co-create a product custom-fit for purpose. [1]
The Australian Government and its agencies have information available to support the alignment of aged care technologies with internal and business-to-government (B2G) systems. In the case of B2G systems, it may be helpful for both aged care organisations (as the buyer of services) and their vendors to be aware of the need for products to be interoperable with current Government platforms (or portals) or be ready for future integrations.
For example, aged care systems that collect, manage and report resident or client status, financials, clinical data and administration will need to integrate with new Government systems or portals such as ePharmacy, My HR, My Aged Care, IAT, Health Link, Aged Care Transfer Summary and the upgraded Services Australia platform.
There are four key agencies developing standards, policies and guidelines or managing data for use by technology vendors; these are:
- Department of Health and Aged Care,
- Australian Digital Health Agency,
- Australian Institute for Health and Welfare, and
- Independent Hospitals Aged Care Pricing Authority.
Many other organisations are also releasing information supporting vendors and organisations as the agencies release new builds and developer tools, including the Digital Transformation Agency and the Australian Signals Directorate. Resources from the many different Australian Government agencies have been collated below. This information is intended to help organisations and vendors understand the requirements for standardised interoperability between aged care technologies and digital health systems.
Additionally, you may like to share The Australian Digital Ecosystem Aged and Health Care Development Guidelines with your technology vendors and organisation team members.
This infographic offers an overview of the different agencies and organisations involved in supporting vendors in the development of products or solutions tailored for aged care settings, and highlights their responsibilities in each of the seven digital domains. Being interactive, it offers links to each of the standards, guidance, tools and resources needed to ensure interoperability between products and health and aged care information systems.
Key resources supporting the development of technologies within aged care organisations