Digital Health Innovation for Consumers

Question: Discuss about the Digital Health Innovation for Consumers. Answer: Introduction: My Health Record is a very new proposal that has been laid down by the eminent researchers working under the Australian Digital Health Agency by the Australian government. It is suggested by them that My Health Record will mainly act as an online portal which will contain all the health related information of each and every individual of Australia. This is mainly done with an intention to acquire the health information of citizens to have a detailed idea about the various kind of diseases and disorders they are facing, what kind of treatments they are opting to for their betterment, what kind of plans and procedures are taken by the hospitals, their admission details, their discharge details, details of the treatment conducted and many more. It is also believed that the government will try to gain information from this portal in order to understand the working techniques of both the private and governmental hospitals, the total charges for the patients, whether they are costing since rely, the major diseases that are affecting humans, the interventions and policy changes that they require to undertake and so on (Kraan et al., 2015). The government believes that with the health records if properly maintained by the citizens and the healthcare centers in turn will help in developing better options in healthcare. However, it becomes extremely important for critically analyzing the problems, capabilities and also benefits of the new venture before the government introduces it to the nation. This will help the government in properly utilizing the approved fund so that the fund is not wasted on a failed project. The report will mainly highlight three important domain s of the problems, capabilities and the benefits that the project will experience so that one can develop an idea about how the project will excel in Australia. A large number of problems are expected to arise from the present mode of online portal for keeping records. The first would include the lack of education and financial strength of low socioeconomic classes to register themselves and maintain their records on the portal. This may be due to their inability to handle digital media or may be their inability to afford such mediums. This may in turn lead to improper collection of data that may hamper the statistical study and data analysis that the government aims to perform (Chow et al., 2016). Another issue that may also arise is the discrepancy which might be followed by healthcare sectors while uploading their data for any concealing of documents concerning financial information will not be able to be judges properly. Therefore, unnecessary healthcare costs if charged by hospital sectors may not come under governmental scrutiny. This ultimately leads to the failure of the main mission of the government. Moreover other issue may also a rise like many patients may update certain portions of their medical records without continuing their updates for certain period of time. This inconsistency in their updates may not only hamper the hospitals from critically analyzing the health of the patient but might also affect the government while conducting their surveys and taking suitable steps (Bhimdhim, Hawkey Trevena, 2015). Moreover, privacy concerns always play a great role while establishing any online portals or applications as cyber crimes are seen to increase in rate every year. Capabilities: In order to describe about the capabilities, one can explain the positive results that it tends to bring out from differ regions of Australia. As the application will be online, it will have the capability to reach each and every corner of Australia and therefore connecting with every such individual and gathering their data would become not only easier and also would be cheap (Miyamoto et al., 2016). Moreover it would also help in many older citizens to upload their details as they may not have the mobility power to reach hospitals and similar sectors (Hemsley et al., 2017). It would have the capability for the government to manage its resources effectively rightfully tackling the health equity and efficiency provided by them. It will also have the ability to judge whether the requirement of a patient is a demand or a need and this will indirectly help the government to understand whether the resources are effectively used. Therefore the health record application will mainly help th e government in monitoring each and every record of the patients and also of the healthcare sectors so that concrete decisions can be taken by the government while evaluating heath of its nation and suggesting policies for them. It also helps the hospitals to showcase their names and also explain the care that they give in order to increase their patient base (Neubeck et al., 2015). Moreover as they are providing information to patients over internet, they tend to save more resources and time which would not have been possible in one to one patent doctor meetings. Benefits: A large number of benefits can be achieved by both the patients and the healthcare sectors if they continue their updates and record maintenance on the internet. It is suggested that the portal will have a detailed record of the patients which can be viewed by the doctors and other associated caregivers who may provide valuable advice and guidance to the patient (Huckvale et al., 2015). Even if the patient travels interstate, he does not have to carry documents making it accessible from anywhere in the country (Almond, Cummings Turner, 2016). Moreover the person can also control who can see it. This ultimately helps in improving the safety as the doctors can readily access the information in case of any sort of emergency. Another benefit it has on patients is that they do not have to repeat their medical history, disease or disorder states, result dates and many others every time they change doctors. It also helps the patients for personal remembrance also like that of their childre ns immunizations, medical tests and others (Scott et al., 2016). Another benefit of this application is that it will have a very strong security system which will help to maintain privacy and confidentiality about the patients. Conclusion: Therefore, the government has to clearly assess the problem, capabilities as well as the benefits that each and every stakeholder will face on the introduction of the new application called the My Health Record. If eminent researchers and policy maker along with the different app developer work accordingly to overcome the problems, enhance their capabilities and increase the benefits of the health record, the noble initiative will definitely succeed in its mission to create a system where government can reduce financial burden on patients and also develop an overall monitoring bodies of healthcare system in Australia. References: Almond, H., Cummings, E., Turner, P. (2016, August). Avoiding Failure for Australias Digital Health Record: The Findings from a Rural E-Health Participatory Research Project. 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