Authors:
Heather Grain
1
;
Kerin Robinson
1
;
Belinda Torney
1
;
Bardo Fraunholz
2
and
Chandana Unnithan
2
Affiliations:
1
HIM Program, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, La Ttrobe University, Australia
;
2
School of Information Systems, Faculty of Business and Law, Deakin University, Australia
Keyword(s):
Ageing in Australia, Electronic Health Records, Privacy, Offshore Resourcing.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Biomedical Engineering
;
Cloud Computing
;
e-Health
;
Health Information Systems
;
ICT, Ageing and Disability
;
Platforms and Applications
Abstract:
Australia is a country, similar to other developed nations, confronting an ageing population with complex demographics. Ensuring continued healthcare for the ageing, while providing sufficient support for the already aged population requiring assistance, is at the forefront of the national agenda. Varied initiatives are with foci to leverage the advantages of ICTs leading to e-Health provisioning and assisted technologies. While these initiatives increasingly put budgetary constraints on local and federal governments, there is also a case for offshore resourcing of non-critical health services, to support, streamline and enhance the continuum of care, as the nation faces acute shortages of medical practitioners and nurses. However, privacy and confidentiality concerns in this context are a significant issue in Australia. In this paper, we take the position that if the National and state electronic health records system initiatives, are fully implemented, offshore resourcing can be a
feasible complementary option resulting in a win-win situation of cutting costs and enabling the continuum of healthcare.
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