Help support the uptake of innovation and tech

All efforts aim to strengthen the focus on innovation and technology in the delivery of care and support and improving the digital maturity of the sector, write Dr George Margelis and Anne Livingstone.

Our continued focus at the Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council is delivering projects to respond to the government reform agenda and key health and aged care department priorities, increasing our collaboration and partnerships and finalising new structural arrangements.

All efforts aim to continue and strengthen the focus on innovation and technology in the delivery of care, support and assistance to older Australians along with improving the digital maturity of the sector.

We have successfully delivered a range of initiatives including national research projects, education, dissemination forums, events and lobbying activities for over two decades. And we will continue this proven track record by delivering two national digital maturity projects for the Australian Digital Health Agency.

Technology Considerations National Roundtable co-chair and chief information officer for Villa Maria Catholic Homes Ms Maria Paz welcomes the significant value of ACIITC’s current work in the industry and calls on others in the sector to get involved.

“This includes evidenced-based and validated approaches to determining the digital maturity of the sector, as well as providing the opportunity to develop practical tools for the industry to improve the quality of technology utilised and innovation approaches.

“This work builds on the significant amount of work contributed to by many members of the industry by the ACIITC National Roundtables. I am very proud to be a part of this collaboration and see the outcomes of the National Roundtables. I encourage the sector to be involved and active in these agendas,” Ms Paz said.

Our current work being undertaken for the Australian Digital Health Agency includes:

• Digital Maturity in Aged and Community Care: The Current State and Resources Required for Projects will provide a collective understanding of the aged and community care sector’s current level of digital maturity. The project will undertake consultation activities to co-develop a digital maturity assessment and tool.
• Understanding the Positioning of the Digital Aged Care Workforce will deliver an investigation of the complexity of aged and community care organisations’ digital maturity, along with detailing the relationship to responding to the government’s aged care reform agendas. This project includes a national survey to identify the current position of the sector and benchmark against Professor Greg Alexander’s 2017 Digital Maturity Study and ACIITC 2020 CARE-IT study. The survey is live and will close on 30 May 2023.

Other priorities for the organisation for this financial year include clinical system data standards, collaborative intelligence in aged care, aged care reform, and cybersecurity.

Among those involved is Anglicare Southern Queensland chief executive officer Sue Cooke, who is co-chair of our Service Model and Workforce Reform National Roundtable.

She’s also an industry Partner for Aged Care Research & Industry Innovation Australia funded project titled Quality Use of Clinical Care Systems in Australian Aged Care – Translating Contemporary Evidence into Practical High-Quality Implementation. It has huge potential, said Ms Cooke.

“This body of work has significant potential to improve the use of clinical care systems in residential aged care and define the reference architecture needed to be a contemporary aged care provider. ACIITC’s attention to co-design with the industry utilising an evidence-based framework developed from extensive research is an important development. The current digital maturity survey is an essential opportunity for the sector to be involved in,” she said.

We look forward to working with the aged and community care sector to address the government’s reform agenda and improve quality outcomes for older Australians and their families.

Get in touch at secretariat@aciitc.com.au and find out more via ACIITC’s website.

Dr George Margelis is independent chair and Anne Livingstone is executive lead, at Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council

ACIITC secretariat Georgie Gould contributed to this article

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