i-Connecting Health Across Multiple Platforms (i-CHAMPs)

  • Professor
    Dougie Boyle

Project Details

Healthcare providers aim to have the patient at the centre; however, fixed, reactive methods for communication between patients, carers and healthcare professionals can make this a problem. Better ways for pro-active communication could be transformative if they promote more agile and accurate ways for healthcare providers to respond to the needs of people in the community. Greater proactivity could help shift focus to health maintenance and disease prevention. Australia has some secure messaging and communications platforms for health, but connecting websites and apps used by the public to monitor and promote health, and enabling their communication with healthcare providers, is challenging. This is because busy healthcare professionals want communication systems that fit with their workflows, and legally compliant confidentiality and consent mechanisms need to be in place for patients and health professionals.

Utilising the international Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard, the i-Connecting Health Across Multiple Platforms (i-CHAMPs) project aims to build a platform that gives a single interface to web and app developers when they build systems that communicate with the healthcare system. The interface removes from the developer the need to understand multiple, complex messaging standards. i-CHAMPs will also provide a unified means of handling issues of patient and provider consent and a unified mechanism for understanding accreditation requirements such as TGA approval.

i-CHAMPs builds on capabilities we have already delivered through our creation of other tools, principally the Future Health Today general practice point-of-care and health triage system. In combination, these technologies provide a capability to integrate apps with general practice on a research basis without engaging directly with GP system vendors. Through this mechanism, GP’s will be able to ‘prescribe’ an app as an intervention and will have access to patient-generated app data to track progress and respond to critical health warnings. Though utilisation of the FHIR standard, the system will also offer integration with hospital electronic medical record systems.

Researchers

  • Dr Kit Huckvale, Centre for the Digital Transformation of Health (DT4H)
  • Mr Sean Lo
  • Mr Joel Launder
  • Mr Aidan McLoughney

Collaborators

  • Centre for the Digital Transformation of Health (DT4H) – Prof Wendy Chapman
  • Connecting Health Centre for Research Excellence – NHMRC CRE in Digital Health to Transform Chronic Disease Outcomes – Prof Brian Oldenberg, Baker IDI and all CRE CI’s
  • Associate Professor Adrian Bickerstaffe
  • Associate Professor Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis
  • Grahame Grieve, Health Intersections Pty Ltd

Funding

A project of the Connecting Health CRE and the Centre for the Digital Transformation of Health (DT4H)

Research Outcomes

The system is in a development phase.

Research Group

Health Data Science for Medical Research




Key Contact

For further information about this research, please contact the research group leader.

Department / Centre

General Practice and Primary Care

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