THE Pharmacy Guild of Australia and the Australian Government's Digital Health Agency have announced they have reached an agreement to work together to help enhance the digital health capabilities of community pharmacies.
The intention of the alliance is "to advance the efficiency, quality and delivery of healthcare to improve health outcomes for all Australians", a joint statement said.
A strong united focus of the two organisations is stated as the widespread adoption and use of the My Health Record system by community pharmacists, supported by education and training to maximise the medicines safety benefits and better the health of the public.
The Agency said the role of community pharmacists in delivering quality use of medicines outcomes was more important than ever, with an aging population and the growing prevalence of complex, chronic disease.
All medicines have the potential for side effects and interactions with other medicines, and each year 230,000 people are admitted to hospital while many more people experience reduced quality of life, as a result of unintended side effects of their medicines.
"This comes at a cost to the system of more than $1.2 billion," the Agency spokesperson said.
"The Agency and the Guild have a mutual interest in continuing to develop and deliver community pharmacy digital health capability that will lead to significant improvements in the quality and delivery of care provided to consumers."
Specifically, the Agency and Guild will be working on optimising connectivity to the My Health Record system through dedicated community pharmacy support including continuing professional development and pursuing meaningful use of facilitators in areas such as shared care planning, transitional care, telehealth and interoperability with pharmacy clinical service IT platforms," said Agency chief executive Tim Kelsey.
Guild executive director David Quilty said, "The Guild welcomes this collaboration with the Agency as a step towards optimised integration of community pharmacies in the My Health Record system.
"Community pharmacists have long been early adopters and innovators in digital health, and this will spur the sector on to make an even bigger contribution."
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) president, practising pharmacist and specialist adviser to the Agency, Dr Shane Jackson said community pharmacies played a key role in the provision of medicines in our community and uptake of the My Health Record in community pharmacies would allow that dispensing information to be shared and used by other health professionals.
Pictured from left to right are: David Quilty, Brad Butt, Thanh Le, and Tim Kelsey.
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