The Australian Digital Health Agency has started exploring new solutions to upgrade the maintenance of the national digital health record system. 

It recently issued a request for information about available "technical or process-driven advances and/or innovative service solutions" to better support, maintain, and enhance its digital health applications, including My Health Record (MHR), ensuring they are "contemporary, adaptable, and prepared for the future."

The information it will receive will inform its procurement of application support and maintenance (ASM) services by next year. 

"ASM services will likely involve collaboration with other vendors and solutions in line with tenders recently published by the agency," it added.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

In June, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) released its report on how the ADHA managed the MHR National Infrastructure Operator (NIO) contract with Accenture. Since 2012, Accenture has held the said contract, which was renewed for the third time in 2022. 

ANAO concluded that the ADHA was "partly effective" in procuring and managing Accenture's NIO contract, given "poor procurement planning." 

"Contract variations within the existing contract term have been made with insufficient assessment of risk, consideration of materiality, and justification of value for money," it underscored in the report. The contract value is now at A$746 million (around $490 million).

The ANAO recommended the ADHA review risks associated with procuring and managing MHR and update its contract management plan annually.

Following the expiration of Accenture's contract by end-June next year, the auditor-general also recommended preparing an internal procurement plan and conducting an open tender. 

"The [ADHA], in approving expenditure through a procurement, [must] ensure that decisions are supported by a clear value for money assessment, which considers the financial and non-financial costs and benefits of the procurement," the ANAO also recommended.

The ADHA has since accepted all 13 recommendations of the ANAO.

To date, over 24 million Australians have their digital health records on MHR. Among clinician users, however, nearly a third of general practitioners were reportedly not or rarely using the system, according to the latest survey of an industry association. The ADHA is currently leading the modernisation of MHR, which is one of the key initiatives under the federal government's 10-year digital health blueprint.