Topic: iRAD

The latest version of iRAD to be rolled out between Monday, 29 January to Friday, 1 March 2024.

The new version of iRAD is faster and easier to use. A fresh look and enhanced features are implemented while keeping the interface familiar to existing users. iRAD has undergone a comprehensive modernisation of the underlying technology.

iRAD continues to be fully subsidised by SWSPHN for South Western Sydney primary care practices. There is no financial cost to practices for the upgrade.

 

What’s new in iRAD for primary care

Easier to use

• Fewer clicks needed to find information
• User-controlled filtering makes information easier to find, including from My Health Record
• New lab results search function
• Improved lab results graph capability
• Option to set a preferred view at the user level
• Personalised text size
• Modernised user interface and experience

Patient privacy

Patient privacy remains a core tenant of the iRAD solution. The choice to share information remains at the sole discretion of the patient.

Data security

The new version of iRAD continues to protect patient data at the highest level. iRAD uses health industry standard data encryption methods and monitoring, and threat detection.

 

Upgrade iRAD to avoid interruptions 

Did you know more than 50 per cent of patients in South Western Sydney attend multiple practices, including a quarter who have chronic conditions?

More than 13,000 patients have consented to iRAD in South Western Sydney alone. This number grows each week, increasing the availability of patient information at locations which actively consent their patients. Continuing to have access to patient information improves patient safety and quality of care, and reduces time in administrative functions.

 

Get ready to upgrade

Practices who use iRAD will be contacted in the new year to arrange an on-site installation of version 22.4.

The iRAD upgrade team will perform the update on each workstation and the practice server. Alternatively, you will have the choice to use your own IT support service to upgrade workstations and servers or have an iRAD technician visit your practice to perform the upgrade.

Practices without the latest version will no longer be able to see patient information in iRAD from Friday, 8 March 2024.

The upgrade will take 15 to 25 minutes per workstation. More than one iRAD technician may attend for larger practices with many workstations.

 

Useful links

What is iRAD

iRAD and My Health Record compared

 

If you put enough smart people together in one space, good things happen.

– Erik Hersman

 

SWSPHN has been given a seat at the table of a cutting-edge CSIRO initiative to enhance digitisation of healthcare.

On the back of iRAD, our own interoperability solution to deliver instant access to patient information with secure, simplified workflows, Digital Health and Data Manager Nick McGhie has joined the Sparked Clinical Design Group (CDG).

Run by CSIRO’s Australian eHealth Research Centre, Sparked is a community of government representatives, technology vendors, provider organisations, peak bodies, practitioners and domain experts.

It was established to accelerate the creation and use of national FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) standards in healthcare information exchange. 

The CDG comprises key stakeholders with expertise and experience in clinical practice and others with health industry and practice knowledge, to work together to develop and validate artefacts for the Sparked FHIR Accelerator Core AU program, including the Australian core data sets (AUCDI). 

Mr McGhie was invited to talk at the CDG kick-off meeting in Sydney. He presented the “Local/PHN reporting data vision”, highlighting the benefits of a common data model from a population health data perspective. 

SWSPHN relies on data for most of our programs and planning, including: iRAD; partnerships; codesign and commissioning services to meet the needs of the community; evaluation and reporting; and workforce planning.

Mr McGhie explained some of the current in-house challenges, including data quality (unmatched and uncoded, reliance on third party to cleanse and harmonise), siloed regional data, and delayed or missing “chunks of” data.

Looking to the future, he talked about building on what SWSPHN was already doing well: more automated data pipelines; better insights; and data linkages.

SWSPHN, as a member of the CDG, is showing support for and being involved in the acceleration of FHIR standards in Australia.

IRAD uses the FHIR AU base in the exchange of health information from Best Practice and Medical Director. The Sparked group is expanding this to FHIR AU Core.

 The Clinical Design Group’s aims are:

• validate and define the data elements of the Australian Core Data Set (AUCDI) and eRequest CDI against the agreed use cases
• validate the value sets required for the AUCDI and FHIR Implementation Guides
• provide clinical requirements into the development and validation of the Core AU and eRequesting FHIR Implementation Guide

The CDG is always open to interested software developers, clinicians or domain experts.

You can find more information about Sparked here.

CAPTION: SWSPHN CEO, Dr Keith McDonald PhD, Nick McGhie and SWSPHN Director of Innovation and Partnerships Kristen Short discuss iRAD.

 

iRAD delivers instant access to patient information for better clinical outcomes with secure, simplified workflows for medical practices, care teams and patients.

 

iRAD benefits

We are proving interoperability works in Australia and benefits patients, care teams, and clinical administration.

• iRAD solves the interoperability challenge
• Easily share clinical data
• Support clinical decision-making
• Patient consent
• Patient is empowered to choose
• Improve patient outcomes
• Reducing patient re-admissions
• iRAD enhances context of My Health Record

iRAD has worked out how to get disparate Australian health systems talking to each other, securely, and in real-time.

“iRAD is an additional planned resilience measure for regional health systems. The ready availability of consented clinical information supports emergency response initiatives to natural disasters and pandemics.”

 

iRAD technical features list

• 24/7 infrastructure and hosting services
• 24/7 application monitoring
• 24/7 database monitoring, maintenance, and backups
• 24/7 network and security monitoring
• Application and upgrade management
• Infrastructure management
• My Health Record integration
• Australian-based Azure servers
• HL7 FHIR, openEHR and CDA
• Call and store function
• Call and display function
• NSW hospital medical records
• Clinical software integrations

 

Target patients

Patients with complex conditions and multiple co-morbidities utilise services from many providers to manage their care. iRAD supports coordinated patient care by enabling access to the latest information and providing longitudinal patient records to the care team.

 

 

Patient consent is at the heart of iRAD

iRAD is patient-centric. Its opt-in model empowers the patient to choose their care partners by giving consent to practitioners they trust with their health data. It is a simple one-off sign up at each care location.

Patient consent can be verbal or written consent. To assist patients to understand, consent templates and supporting documents are available in five languages:

• Arabic
• Assyrian
• Simplified Chinese
• English
• Vietnamese

Withdrawal of consent

iRAD’s opt-in model empowers the patient to consent at each location.

If a patient wishes to withdraw iRAD consent, the recording of denied consent at the care location immediately disables access to information from this care location.

The power of care location consent

• Every patient is empowered to choose the practices they provide iRAD consent to
• Locations where a patient has granted consent can view information from every care location where the patient has previously granted consent
• Care locations contribute information to the shared patient iRAD record
• Patient consent is easy to record in iRAD. There is no ongoing effort to trigger the sharing of clinical information
• iRAD instantly facilitates the sharing of identified patient information between iRAD care locations where the patient has consented

 

Patient identity and matching

Patient clinical information from multiple care locations is collated into a single view.

When a new record is consented, iRAD checks if the patient has consented at any other iRAD care locations. If the patient has consented at multiple care locations, collated data is displayed. If a patient withdraws consent for one care location, information from this location will no longer display at any other consented care provider location.

The success of collated longitudinal records from multiple care locations is based on strong patient identity management.

IRAD’s identity management tool uses a world-class Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI). Key patient demographic data elements for consented patients are analysed to create patient clusters using probabilistic algorithms.

Demographic information includes:

• Patient name
• DOB
• Address
• Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI)
• Medicare number and
• Gender

 

Minimum data set

iRAD shares a minimum data set using semantic interoperability. After patient consent is recorded, data from the patient record begins contributing to the longitudinal iRAD record. This information includes an initial transfer of care information. Future record updates are automatically transferred to iRAD when the consult is saved.

 

Technical overview

iRAD is hosted in Australian-based Azure servers and infrastructure. Azure has the deepest and most comprehensive compliance with global internet security and privacy laws. This made Azure the obvious choice for supporting the delivery of iRAD in geographically dispersed locations.

Increases agility

The infrastructure selected and implemented for iRAD enables agile responses to our changing environment.

Adaptive technology

iRAD supports both ‘call and display’ and ‘call and store’ models for data sharing and future federation of data nodes.

Real-time access

Our service team provide 24/7 monitoring ensuring real-time access is constantly available to iRAD clinical information.

Integration support

iRAD’s integration engine supports a large range of protocols and formats including HL7 FHIR, openEHR and CDA.

 

Data security

iRAD boasts military-grade encryption and a very high level of resilience to threats.

• iRAD complies with all Federal and State data security and privacy legislation.
• iRAD solution is ISO 27001 certified
• All data is stored on Australian-based servers

 

Supporting assets

A suite of implementation guides, promotional material and patient consent templates support users looking to make the most of iRAD. Patient collateral is available in five languages: Arabic, Assyrian, Chinese, English and Vietnamese.

Installation & implementation assets

• implementation handbooks
• user guides
• Step-by-step videos on YouTube
• support desk

Promotion & consent assets

• posters
• brochures
• consent kits
• website

 

Be part of the digital future in healthcare interoperability

By partnering with more primary health networks and other state-based health services we can grow the capacity, reach and usefulness of iRAD.

Since 2016 we have heavily invested in the design and security of iRAD as the interoperable IT ecosystem to deliver better healthcare, for less cost, and in real-time, providing the answer to Australia’s interoperability needs.

iRAD has evolved from a question, to a vision, to an established solution.

By 2019, the iRAD solution was fit-for-purpose and being piloted at four general practice sites in South Western Sydney.

By 2021, iRAD was established at more than 70 care locations with remote installation and site access enabled.

By mid-2023, the new iRAD version will be implemented and our HealthOne project with eHealth NSW will be completed, providing a view of hospital data to GPs, along with a view of primary care data for hospital clinicians.

By the end of 2024, our aim is to have iRAD operating in more than 300 licensed locations with multiple PHN partners in NSW.

 

The sooner iRAD is implemented, the sooner:

• Longitudinal records will initiate
• Healthcare providers can actively collaborate on a broader scale
• Patient experience improves
• Transfer of care becomes easier
• Preventative measures in healthcare become a reality

 

Future potential

With more partnerships in place, we envisage iRAD’s potential to be even greater. This includes the possibility of aged care software integration, Ambulance NSW integration, and additional primary care and specialist software integrations as early as this year.

We also see potential for national coverage among PHNs and the possibility of more than 1,000 licensed locations by the end of 2024.

 

Request an iRAD demo

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View available iRAD resources

Introduction to iRAD (YouTube)

ADHA: Interoperability: better connections for better care.

Our innovative iRAD project enables GPs and hospitals to share clinical information in real-time to improve patient care. This month’s special feature takes an in-depth look at our iRAD project, an Australian first being rolled out here in South Western Sydney.

 

Have you ever been frustrated by the time it takes to access a patient’s complete health record? Have you considered how instant access to their health information could improve how you care for your patient?

That’s where iRAD helps – enabling GPs and hospitals to share clinical information in real-time to improve patient care.

Our new, innovative iRAD (Integrated Real-time Active Data) Interoperability Project gives healthcare providers easy access to their patients’ medical history, including all the medications they are currently taking, their medical conditions and allergies, ensuring their treatment plan is better informed.

The iRAD project, driven by dbMotion software, is an Australian first.

South Western Sydney Primary Health Network (SWSPHN) is fast-tracking the expansion of iRAD in response to the COVID-19 pandemic after a successful trial in five of our region’s general practices.

In the next three months, we aim to increase the number of participating healthcare services by more than 50, including general practices, specialists and aged care facilities, and provide access for two hospital emergency departments to view a patient’s primary care records.

SWSPHN Chief Executive Officer, Dr Keith McDonald PhD, said iRAD had the potential to change healthcare in our region.

“We all have a friend or family member with complex medical history,” he said. “Every time they go to a new doctor, the hospital or specialist they have to start back at square one and explain that medical history.

“But not everybody has the ability to have that conversation.”

“Patients may speak different languages or have different levels of health literacy – for those patients iRAD is incredible. It’s also valuable for children who live in multiple households – to keep track of their medication and immunisation history.

“It takes away the need to have to remember everything. iRAD helps support every single patient.”

For GPs, iRAD is easy to use. They simply click on a button for a pop-up window on top of their existing patient record to access additional, meaningful data about their patient from other healthcare providers and data systems.

Notifications also prompt the doctor to look at what treatment or tests their patient has undergone outside their practice – anywhere that care is being shared – in the last 30 days.

There is no ongoing effort to maintain the data that’s being shared – it’s done automatically after the patient has consented. Consent is at practice level giving patients a greater ability to opt-in and opt-out and to control who sees what information.

Dr McDonald said after the patient consented, data just flowed.

“There’s no uploading of documents (for example, shared health summaries) – this is automated,” he said. “Once GPs have the consent of their patient, they don’t have to do anything else.”

In fact, clinicians currently using iRAD report saving an hour a day thanks to increased efficiencies in obtaining patient information.

One GP said: “To have that information at my fingertips is crucial to patient safety”.

Another benefit of iRAD is its presentation.

The data presented is a single, clear view of a patient’s key clinical information, and is specific to ‘domain’ rather than requiring GPs to mine through documents. It includes vital signs and regular documents from the patient’s records like referral forms, scans and reports.

The technology behind iRAD is secure – so secure the Israeli military use it for all of their health records.

“The real success, though, is when the patient turns up to a GP after hours, or to a hospital so traumatised by what’s happened that they can’t think straight. iRAD puts the data (needed for better clinical decisions directly) into the medical professional’s hands,” Dr McDonald said.

 

Why use iRAD?

Better health outcomes

• Enhanced patient information for better clinical decisions.
• Improved patient safety – no longer relying on patients re-telling their story.
• Potential for clinical and medication errors is greatly reduced.
• Easier coordination of care.

Practical and easy-to-use

• Connects with Best Practice, MedicalDirector, My Health Record and other data sources.
• Quick and easy to record patient consent. Can be recorded by reception, nurse or GP.
• No cost to GP or patient.
• Single sign-on, no additional logins.

 

Who does iRAD help?

• Patients who access multiple health services.
• Patients with low health literacy or who struggle to recall clinical history.
• Patients who speak English as a second language.
• Patients attending After Hours services.
• Patients with complex chronic conditions.

To find out more:

Watch this video

Download this brochure