Summary
- Best Practice electronic medical record software has been chosen as the alternative.
- Benefits for consumer care in this accessible record are significant.
- Long-term strategy that there be a continuous single electronic patient medical record accessible to clinicians.
An independent consultant’s review has recommended the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service replace the current Regional Information Via Electronic Record (RIVeR) electronic medical record system in place across Cape York with an alternative platform.
The Best Practice electronic medical record software has been selected as the preferred alternative.
While the RIVeR (Communicare) system performed adequately in some health facilities it was not regarded as optimal at others.
Following an extensive independent review of the RIVeR system undertaken by consultants KPMG, the Torres and Cape HHS Board made an in-principle decision on 1 December last year to examine other options for a comprehensive electronic medical record across the region.
To support our health service, KPMG were engaged to explore alternative solutions, make a recommendation, and prepare an Implementation Planning Study (IPS) for a transition to the replacement platform.
The Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service has now approved that KPMG proceed with an IPS for transitioning Cape York facilities to the recommended Best Practice software.
As part of this process, we will begin developing a business case to present to the health service board and eHealth Queensland, detailing how such a transition from RIVeR (Communicare) to Best Practice might be implemented across Cape York communities and what additional resourcing might be required to ensure success and sustainability.
Health service employees will continue to be kept informed throughout this process.
Best Practice was introduced to the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula Area (NPA) region in 2010 when the region was a separate health service to Cape York.
As such, Best Practice, a primary health care system, is already well accepted by Torres and Cape HHS clinicians across our region and is a well-tried and tested system.
It is important that any transition to a new system occurs in a timely manner, and it is therefore necessary that we transition sites to a solution that is known and readily available today.
The transition to Best Practice will bring all our health facilities, wherever they are located, onto one single electronic medical record system.
It has always been the Torres and Cape HHS’s long-term strategy that there be a continuous single electronic patient medical record accessible to all clinicians across our diverse health service region no matter where they work.
The benefits for consumer care in this accessible record are significant.
When RIVeR (Communicare) was initially rolled out across Cape York and Cairns and Hinterland rural health facilities, the longer term aim was to extend the platform progressively to Torres Strait and NPA facilities and bring all health facilities onto the one system.
But we accept that some issues have been experienced with RIVeR (Communicare) since the start of its introduction in facilities across Cape York from 2020-21.
We have listened to our staff, which is why we have undertaken independent reviews of the system, starting in late 2021, and are now progressing a solution.