At this week’s Health Informatics Conference, presented by the Health Informatics Society of Australia, Best Practice Software’s Jessica White was part of the Panel “You can’t ask that! – Demystifying the digital health industry”.
Emma Hossack, CEO of the Medical Software Industry Association said it was great to have Jessica on the Panel. “The MSIA gives it thanks to Best Practice for its involvement with the HIC 2019 Panel “You Can’t Ask That!” said Emma.
Lorraine Pyefinch, Secretary of MSIA and Acting COO of Best Practice said it was a great session. “It was great to have so many of Australia’s health software industry leaders on the one panel explaining why it’s all worthwhile and having a candid discussion about the expenditure, business models, access to data, lessons learned & beauty of health software” Lorraine said.
“Jessica White, Bp’s Manager Commercial & Customer Enablement sat next to CEO of MD and Harry Nespolen President RACGP. Others included the Chair of the ADHA, Elizabeth Deveny and Paul Naismith CEO of Fred IT. There was no Chatham House Rules and the questions were frank and fearless” Lorraine added.
“Questions posed to the panel included “MyHealth record – what’s the point? Will it ever be useful?”, “Why are the user interfaces of our clinical systems so appalling (cognitive load, difficult to navigate) – to which Dr Nespolen said he liked his Bp Premier system; and other panel members defended the industry and raised the question of more training for practitioners.
Moderator Emma Hossack CEO of MSIA (who will be doing a repeat at the Bp Premier Summit 2020, to be held in May in Brisbane), fielded questions like ‘When the MHR gets hacked, what do I tell my patients?” and “How can we educate clinicians to embrace the efficiencies of technology.”
“All in all the answers showed that, on balance, Australia is punching beyond its weight in digital health, and industry and clinicians are not looking to the government for answers. In the spirit of Best Practice, they are going their own way to make Australia’s health system best in the world” said Lorraine.