HIMSS is partnering with the Australia Digital Health Agency (ADHA) to organise the upcoming HIMSS Australia Digital Health Summit (ADHS) from 20-21 November this year, happening in Sydney, Australia. The conference is expected to bring together representatives from ADHA, public and private healthcare leaders from Australia, as well as from the APAC region.

The main theme of the Summit is "Interoperability and Connected Care", which is especially relevant with the implementation of My Health Record (MHR) in the country, an online, electronic summary of one’s key health information. ADHA has been progressively upgrading the MHR, such as partnering with software vendors to be able to share information safely across different software products and improving its clinical workflow capabilities. 

Hal Wolf, CEO and President of HIMSS, Tim Kelsey, CEO of ADHA and Professor Mary Foley, Managing Director of Telstra Health will gather for a CXO fireside chat at the Summit on the topic of connected care – what it means in the context of Australia, its recent developments in the healthcare industry and some of the challenges in creating a single view of the patient for better connected care.

Three breakout tracks: Data, Innovation and Empowering Patients

The Data track will touch on the potential benefits of creating a network of shared data across Australia and case studies of how the use of data analytics tools can bring out about better health outcomes. One of the top concerns in managing healthcare data is cybersecurity – Richard Staynings, Chief Security Strategist, CYLERA will be sharing his experience and insights.

For the Innovation track, there will be a panel session by Australian and international healthcare leaders on the impetus behind innovation, as well as a session on how healthcare organisations can overcome their fear of innovation. Dr. Clair Sullivan, Chief Digital Health Officer for Metro North Hospital and Health Service in Australia, will be sharing on some of the innovation projects that her organisation are working on.

In healthcare's consumer-centric shift, patients are increasingly knowledgeable and better informed of their own health conditions, which will no doubt bring about greater care outcomes. One of the main highlights of the Empowering the Ppatient track is the panel discussion on the access, privacy and ownership of patient data, which consists of panelists A/Prof Low Cheng Ooi, Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Ministry of Health, Singapore, Angela Ryan, Chief Clinical Information Officer, ADHA, Australia and Renza Scibilia, Manager, Type 1 Diabetes (Diabetes Australia). 

Registration for the ADHS event is now open and more details can be found here.