Information sharing made easy - Provider Connect Australia™
Published 15 July 2024
Initiative: 1.1.02 - Continue roll out of Provider Connect Australia to ensure availability of up-to-date information about healthcare providers
Lead: Australian Digital Health Agency
Maintaining critical information for a healthcare provider is a repetitive and resource-intensive process, particularly when health professionals join or leave the team.
Digital health can play an important role in increasing the availability of up-to-date information about healthcare providers so they can better collaborate, share information and make decisions for comprehensive and multidisciplinary care.
A growing number of healthcare providers are using Provider Connect Australia (PCA™) to reduce the administrative burden of maintaining critical information so staff can spend more time on direct patient care.
PCA is a business information service that connects healthcare providers with their business partners. It allows healthcare providers to update information about their services and the practitioners who deliver them in a single place. This saves time, reduces human error and removes the need to update multiple sources.
Health sector business partners use PCA to streamline their client registration process and receive automatic updates from the healthcare practices they support.
Consumers benefit from healthcare providers connected to PCA because it allows those providers to quickly find the most suitable services to meet their needs.
PCA is a foundation program of the National Digital Health Strategy, developed to support a more efficient and sustainable health system.
Watch a video about how PCA works.
Progress so far
Registrations have rapidly increased since PCA’s sector-wide launch in July 2023. The number of healthcare services almost doubled to 3,638 in the 6 months to March 2024, exceeding the 2024-25 financial year target of 3,000 registered health services.
PCA’s registered business partners include software vendors, healthcare directories and peak bodies. In March 2024, the Australian Podiatry Association (APodA) became the first allied peak body to register. On announcing the milestone, CEO Hilary Shelton said understanding the health policy landscape was essential for advancing the podiatry profession.
"We can make significant strides forward by recognising how digital initiatives like Provider Connect Australia can reshape this landscape. It presents the profession with a clear opportunity to revolutionise how podiatrists manage their administrative requirements, alleviating some of the challenges," Ms Shelton said.
Healthcare technology company Foxo also registered as a business partner in 2024. Foxo co-founder Mani Sahihi said the enhanced accessibility provided directly via PCA to Foxo's community network played a pivotal role in fostering external, real-time collaboration between the many healthcare disciplines.
“Almost 70 percent of the Australian healthcare and social assistance workforce is employed outside of the hospital environment and having a seamless, secure path of communication between these workforces and the hospital workforce is critical," Ms Sahihi said.
Outcome 1: Digitally enabled
This initiative relates to the National Digital Health Strategy Outcome 1: Digitally enabled, which is focused on health and wellbeing services that are connected, safe and sustainable.
Strategy Delivery Roadmap
For more information, refer to Roadmap initiative 1.1.02.