The NSW Single Digital Patient Record Implementation Authority (SDPRIA) has awarded a contract worth $A83 million to RLDatix Galen Australia for a statewide data archive solution.

The contract, effective from 27 December 2024, will support the migration and management of historical health data as NSW Health implements its ambitious Electronic Medical Record (eMR) modernisation program. The arrangement extends to 16 December 2034.

RLDatix Galen's data archive solution forms a critical component of the broader Single Digital Patient Record program. The platform will store and manage data from NSW Health's existing systems as the state transitions to an integrated Epic Systems-based electronic medical record across all public hospitals, community health centres, and pathology laboratories.

The program's scale is substantial. The Single Digital Patient Record will eventually serve 228 public hospitals, more than 600 community health centres, 60 pathology laboratories, and over 150 pathology collection centres. It will replace multiple existing systems used across all 17 local health districts and specialty health networks.

NSW Health is not developing the technology independently. Epic Systems provides the core eMR platform, while Amazon Web Services supplies the secure cloud hosting environment. RLDatix Galen's archive solution completes the core infrastructure partnership for data management.

NSW's SDPR initiative occurs within a broader, fragmented Australian healthcare IT landscape where states have adopted diverse vendor strategies and implementation timelines.

South Australia has standardised on Allscripts Sunrise EMR and PAS, with the government approving additional funding for a statewide regional rollout expected to be complete by late 2024. Tasmania has completed procurement and selected Epic Systems as the preferred EMR vendor, with contract negotiations underway and hopes to begin building a statewide Epic EMR solution in May 2026.

Victoria has pursued a more fragmented approach, with Altera Digital Health receiving positive feedback for its cloud-based EHR solutions in regional and remote healthcare settings, particularly in Gippsland where telehealth services grew by 40% from 2022 to 2024. The Victorian government is investing A$21.4 million to support four health services to transition to electronic records, including the Royal Eye and Ear Hospital, Eastern Health, the Hume Rural Health Alliance, and Grampians Rural Health Service.

Queensland has increasingly adopted Telstra Health's Kyra Clinical solution, which facilitates realtime data sharing across hospital networks and virtual care systems, with Telstra Health recognised for its focus on interoperability and early adoption of FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) standards.

New Zealand presents a contrasting model to Australian state standardisation efforts. Rather than pursuing single vendor consolidation, Health New Zealand has embarked on the Shared Digital Health Records (SDHR) project to connect data from existing shared digital health records and nationally available clinical data into a consistent view, leveraging existing access, consent, and privacy controls, initially funded with NZ$4 million through its launch in 2025.

New Zealand's Ministry of Health has moved away from building a single Electronic Health Record towards developing a national Health Information Platform that will enable data about a single patient to be shared, with the Ministry planning a phased approach to implementation with investment in tranches and avoiding 'lock in' to a single technology solution.

My Health Record Integration

A critical dimension of Australian state EHR deployments involves integration with the national My Health Record system (previously called PCEHR). State-level EMR implementations are increasingly required to support bidirectional data exchange with the national platform.

The Australian Digital Health Agency completed the final stages of integration between South Australia Health's Sunrise EMR and patient administration system to the country's My Health Record, with an embedded tab within the Sunrise EMR providing clinicians with access to MHR which creates a unified view of a patient's interactions across the health care system containing shared health summaries from general practitioners, pathology and imaging reports as well as prescription information from a patient's visit both within South Australia and interstate.

HealtheNet, NSW Health's information sharing platform and secure clinical portal, receives and shares clinical information across NSW Health facilities and My Health Record, and provides NSW Health clinicians with immediate access to an aggregated view of their patient's health information, including information which resides outside of the public hospital system.

When NSW Health patients visit hospitals or health services, discharge summaries, pathology test results, discharge dispense medication and diagnostic imaging reports will be sent to their My Health Record unless they choose not to have this information sent.

Telstra Health's Kyra Clinical natively supports uploading discharge summaries to My Health Record to meet Australian Digital Health Agency requirements, with the system integrating radiology and pathology systems for electronic ordering and viewing of results.

Compliance requirements around My Health Record uploads vary by jurisdiction. In NSW, patient consent is required to upload specific health information to My Health Record under state legislation, as is the case in ACT and Queensland per the My Health Records Regulation 2012. This creates operational complexity for health information managers implementing systems across multiple states.

SDPR Rollout Timeline

Implementation of the NSW Single Digital Patient Record will proceed in five tranches, with Tranche A launching in March 2026 across Hunter New England Local Health District, NSW Health Pathology, and Justice Health & Forensic Mental Health Network.

Subsequent tranches will progressively roll out throughout 2026, 2027 and mid-2028, with Tranche B (late 2026) involving Northern NSW LHD, Mid North Coast LHD, Northern Sydney LHD, Central Coast LHD, and LIMS North, followed by further tranches covering remaining local health districts.

Both Hunter New England LHD and Justice and Forensic Mental Health Network currently use systems from Orion Health, which will be replaced by the Epic-based SDPR. This represents a significant operational transition for the 700+ bed regional network.

NSW Health is currently undertaking ongoing readiness activities and testing. Training programs for staff will intensify closer to each stage of rollout, though specific implementation timelines by individual health districts have not been publicly detailed.

Details about the volume of historical data to be migrated from Orion Health, expected system availability windows during transition, or service level agreements for archive platform uptime during the March 2026 launch remain opaque from procurement disclosures.