Standards Australia has published three Australian Standards and an Australian Technical Specification that provide the means for healthcare providers to exchange documents securely via the internet.

The set of four Secure Message Delivery (SMD) e-health documents are available free to the users and the public through the Standards Australia e-health website www.e- health.standards.org.au. The four new documents include:

• AS 5550 E-health web services profiles;

• AS 5551 E-health XML secured payload profiles;

• AS 5552 E-health Secure Message Delivery; and

• ATS 5546 E-Health Endpoint Location Service

“The revision of these important e-health documents is designed to incorporate new practices and new technologies into the e-health messaging system” said Dr Bronwyn Evans, Chief Executive Officer, Standards Australia.

“The documents represent a standard system which makes use of existing internet infrastructure to transfer health documents accurately and securely,” Dr Evans said.

These documents provide an opportunity for broad adoption and implementation, as an essential part of the secure messaging infrastructure now being widely sought across the health sector.

The implementation of these documents has the potential to streamline health information transfer, ultimately contributing to a more efficient and organised e-health system.

“It’s important to note these critical e-health documents were developed by consensus among the health informatics stakeholder community,” Dr Evans said.

The documents constitute part of the program of work undertaken by the Standards Australia’s IT-014-06 Health Informatics – Messaging Subcommittee, funded and supported by the Commonwealth Department of Health.