The Australian Digital Health Agency, the government agency in charge of the country’s $A2 billion My Health Record system, has adopted iCognition’s Electronic Document and Records Management as-a-service cloud solution, EDRMSaaS.

iCognition won an open tender to deliver the SaaS solution in a contract worth over $A500K.

EDRMSaaS.Cloud offers a SaaS deployment of Micro Focus Content Manager, including iCognition’s in-house developed solutions for collaborative workspaces, publishing, line-of-business application connectors, data migration tools and specific automated functions.

The Australian Digital Health Agency was established in 2016 taking over operation of the former Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR).

It is a statutory authority jointly funded by the Commonwealth and the states and territories. The Agency expects to have more than 500 EDRMSaaS users working from offices in Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra.

Digital Health initiatives it oversees include the ongoing rollout of the My Health Record and development of a Secure Messaging Program between clinical software applications. It is also seeking implementation of interoperability between all public and private health and care services in Australia, as well as supporting standards for electronic prescriptions.

The Agency joins other local EDRMSaaS.Cloud users including the University of NSW, Tasmanian Department of Primary Industry, Parks, Water and the Environment, Catholic Education Office, Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn and Perpetual Limited.

In January Australian Digital Health Agency announced the appointment of Dr Malcolm Thatcher as its new Chief Technology Officer. Dr Thatcher’s previous roles include Chief Health Information Officer (CHIO) for Queensland Health and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Mater Healthcare Group in Brisbane, as well as interim CIO and Chief Executive of eHealth Queensland.

Dr Thatcher has a doctoral degree (PhD) from the Queensland University of Technology with a focus on digital risk and governance. In September 2019, Dr Thatcher was appointed Professor of Digital Practice in the QUT Graduate School of Business with a focus on digital transformation, risk and governance and is also a published author on digital health.

Dr Thatcher said, “I am joining the Agency at a time when digital health has proven how integral it is to meeting the nation’s healthcare challenges and supporting improved healthcare outcomes.

“What really impresses me is the Agency’s core focus on building the digital skills of healthcare providers and consumers so they can maximise the benefits of technology.”