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Northern Territory implements Acacia PHR at Katherine Hospital – media asiistants
By
Fred Brashear
-
August 20, 2022

NT Health’s Acacia patient health record system has gone live at Katherine Hospital.

The implementation is part of the implementation of the first stage of the A$259 million ($182 million) digital health record system, which is based on InterSystem’s TrakCare health information system.

The Northern Territory government has built the Acacia system to replace six legacy systems in its public hospitals and integrate a dozen more into a single digital ecosystem. More than two decades of patient data from various care systems and settings have been migrated to Acacia.

BECAUSE IT IS IMPORTANT

In addition to providing access to critical information, this Territory-wide PHR system will enable continuous and consistent care, especially for transient and vulnerable citizens, according to NT Health.

“This new system will mean that a nurse in a remote clinic or a doctor in the intensive care ward of a major hospital can use Acacia, which provides access to the same patient record in real time, allowing instant access to details about previous care provided in other clinical settings,” added NT Senior Minister Natasha Fyles.

THE BIGGEST TREND

NT Health continues to digitize its systems and processes. Recently, a DHCRC-supported project was announced to study how digital tools could be improved to meet the specific needs of indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. Another similar project led by NT Health seeks to develop a clinical decision support tool to enable more accurate drug prescriptions for patients with impaired kidney function.

In April, the health agency extended its contract with Alcidion so that he could upgrade to the latest Miya Precision clinical decision support platform, which has since been integrated with the Acacia system.

In other news, New South Wales is also working to consolidate the different health record systems across its health ecosystem. Last year, it set aside as much as $141 million ($106.3 million) for the Unique Digital Patient Record System Project, which seeks to unify various systems, including PAS, EMR, and LIMS, on a single platform.