The My Health Record (MHR) system planned for opt-out implementation in late 2018 means every Australian will be provide
PRESIDENT
My Health Record: a game-changer in provision of pharmacist care BY DR SHANE JACKSON BPHARM PHD FPS AACPA ADVPRACPHARM NATIONAL PRESIDENT
The My Health Record (MHR) system planned for opt-out implementation in late 2018 means every Australian will be provided with a digital health record unless they choose not to have one. Patients will be able to control who has access to their MHR, and can receive information in real-time about who has accessed their information. As at 7 January 2018, nearly 5.5 million Australians had a MHR, with about 25% of pharmacies registered to access the system. Recently, the Australian Digital Health Agency (the Agency) announced a number of partnerships with dispensing software providers to ensure their software is compliant with the MHR so vital dispensing information is provided to a patient’s MHR which can be utilised by other healthcare professionals in the care of the patient. These partnerships will mean the overwhelming majority of dispensing software providers are able to ensure their customers (pharmacies) can access the MHR system. But why is the MHR a game-changer in the care of patients by pharmacists? The answer is simple; it is access to verifiable clinical information that is not ordinarily available to the pharmacist. Information such as discharge summaries, shared health summaries (contains medical conditions, medications, allergies and vaccinations), specialist letters, pathology reports as well as prescribing and dispensing information. Access to this information will allow pharmacists to deliver more effective and efficient care of their patients. There are numerous clinical scenarios that occur daily for pharmacists where access to the MHR will improve the delivery of care for patients. • The provision of prescription and dispensing information to a patient’s MHR where this information is available
to a hospital pharmacist in performing medication reconciliation. • Accessing a shared health summary containing medicines and medical conditions would allow for more effective and efficient MedsCheck services. • Access to an electronic discharge summary would allow for improved care transitions for patients who may be receiving a dose administration aid, or who are at high risk of medication misadventure. While currently, dispense records are generally the only clinical documents that can be uploaded to the MHR by pharmacists, in future we will see software systems being able to provide other types of clinical documents such as event summaries to the MHR. This will reduce perceived fragmentation of care issues when pharmacists deliver clinical services especially within the community pharmacy setting. These services and clinical records will be able to be provided to a patient’s MHR which will enable better communication and care delivery for patients. Through a partnership with the Agency, PSA is delivering a series of workshops that introduce the MHR system, and explore its features and functionalities as they relate to pharmacy practice. These workshops will prepare pharmacists to engage with the system and integrate it with their clinical workflow. PSA is also developing new My Health Record Guidelines, and associated implementation tools, to support use of the MHR in pharmacy practice. For information on workshops, guidelines and implementation tools, see the PSA
Digital Health Hub at www.psa.org.au/ digitalhealthhub. In the meantime, I encourage all pharmacists to register their pharmacies with the MHR system. PSA and the Agency have also established the Pharmacists Digital Health Leaders Network across Australia to promote uptake and advocate meaningful clinical use of MHR by pharmacists working in all practice settings. These Pharmacist Digital Health Leaders will raise awareness of the role of pharmacists in MHR by distributing key messages throughout networks and support pharmacists in their local area to engage with and use MHR. I also encourage individual pharmacists who may not be working in community pharmacy to register. The use of clinical information that is available in the MHR for pharmacists performing Home Medicines Reviews or Residential Medication Management Reviews will transform the effectiveness of these programs, and hopefully in the future, pharmacists will be able to provide these reports directly to a patient’s MHR, allowing other healthcare professionals to view these reports. Meaningful use of the MHR system by pharmacists has the potential to significantly reduce the burden of medication misadventure that we see in our healthcare system. Reducing healthcare expenditure of medication-related problems also allows better use of healthcare resources, and improved health outcomes for patients, which is something everyone supports and strives to achieve.
Australian Pharmacist February 2018 I © Pharmaceutical Society of Australia Ltd.
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