Innovators and data experts converge to use data to drive Innovation

Unlock­ing the full poten­tial of health­care inno­va­tion hinges on the effec­tive man­age­ment and util­i­sa­tion of data. How­ev­er, in order for dig­i­tal inno­va­tions to oper­ate safe­ly and effec­tive­ly in the health con­text, they need to be under­pinned by a robust, reli­able, and respon­sive data infra­struc­ture that ensures the right infor­ma­tion is being cap­tured, accessed, analysed and shared with the right peo­ple, at the right time and in the right way. 

To address this issue, we con­duct­ed a work­shop where experts pre­sent­ed a per­spec­tive of their work in the data field and its rel­e­vance to inno­va­tion, at both state and Local Health Net­work levels. 

Susan Schultz (Asso­ciate Direc­tor Data Gov­er­nance and Strat­e­gy, in the Data, Ana­lyt­ics, and Insights Branch (DAI), Divi­sion of Com­mis­sion­ing and Per­for­mance, Depart­ment for Health and Well­be­ing) pro­vid­ed a detailed update on the Data Gov­er­nance Frame­work that has been devel­oped in col­lab­o­ra­tion with CEIH, Office of the Chief Med­ical Infor­ma­tion Offi­cer (OCMIO) and DAI and was released in Decem­ber 2023. The Frame­work artic­u­lates that data is a valu­able asset when it comes to adopt­ing inno­va­tion as it can pro­vide a sin­gle source of truth, be deliv­ered fit for pur­pose for those need­ing access, and most impor­tant­ly pro­vid­ing a com­mon under­stand­ing of con­texts and circumstances. 

Rhys Park­er from Dig­i­tal Health SA pro­vid­ed a thor­ough expla­na­tion of the Data Ana­lyt­ics Plat­form (DAP) that enables clin­i­cal- and busi­ness-data-dri­ven insights to inform deci­sion-mak­ing by pro­vid­ing access to data at the point of care. The DAP offers a statewide plat­form which can be used to secure­ly share, visu­alise, and analyse South Australia’s health ser­vices and patient data, which is crit­i­cal to iden­ti­fy­ing and mobil­is­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for innovation. 

Jaf­far Lien­sa­vanh (Dig­i­tal Health Lead, South­ern Ade­laide Local Health Net­work) offered a com­pre­hen­sive insight into their Data and Ana­lyt­ics Strat­e­gy that har­ness­es data from the DAP and uses it to cre­ate a series of reports and visu­al­i­sa­tions that pro­vides near real-time access for clin­i­cians and sys­tem lead­ers which will improve speed and qual­i­ty of deci­sion making. 

Fol­low­ing the pre­sen­ta­tions an open floor dis­cus­sion was facil­i­tat­ed to iden­ti­fy the data pri­or­i­ties for inno­va­tion, as well as devel­op a series of actions to be under­tak­en mov­ing forward. 

Key themes dis­cussed includ­ed the need for data con­nec­tiv­i­ty, secu­ri­ty, acces­si­bil­i­ty, and reli­a­bil­i­ty, so data utilised can be trust­ed and used for pre­dic­tive, mon­i­tor­ing and eval­u­a­tion pur­pos­es asso­ci­at­ed with adopt­ing innovation. 

There was also strong sup­port for increas­ing the dig­i­tal acu­men and capa­bil­i­ty across non-data staff in the sys­tem to ensure there is a min­i­mum thresh­old of data-lit­er­a­cy and com­pe­tence to ensure data is being used to best effect. With this in mind, the CEIH (hav­ing for sev­er­al years spon­sored places for the Cer­ti­fied Health Infor­mati­cian Aus­trala­sia (CHIA)) has for the first-time spon­sored places for the Aus­tralian Insti­tute of Dig­i­tal Health’s (AIDH) Dig­i­tal 101 online self-guid­ed learn­ing mod­ules. Learn more about our role in build­ing capa­bil­i­ties across SA Health.

As tech­nol­o­gy con­tin­ues to advance, the vol­ume and com­plex­i­ty of health­care data will only increase. Build­ing a robust data infra­struc­ture is imper­a­tive to ensure that inno­va­tions can be devel­oped, test­ed, and imple­ment­ed safe­ly and effectively.

The next Inno­va­tion Col­lab­o­ra­tive event will delve deep­er into the inter­sec­tion of tech­nol­o­gy and inno­va­tion and is to be held mid — Sep­tem­ber 2024. Stay tuned for more information.