eHealth in Queensland: Progressing towards a Patient Centric, Networked Model of Care

OBJECTIVES: Factors such as an ageing and rapidly growing population, an increase in chronic disease rates and a global shortage of health professionals place increased pressure on Australian health departments to deliver more with less. To address the challenge faced by clinicians and support staff, the Queensland Department of Health established an eHealth strategy in 2006 with a vision to deliver a patient centric, networked model of care. METHODS: Queensland Health's eHealth program is a complex program which brings together the outputs and products of numerous projects to provide new clinical capabilities across the state. To ensure the potential benefits of the Queensland Government investment are realised, the eHealth program is implementing comprehensive benefits management to plan for key outcomes and benefits, support projects to deliver those benefits and ensure that they are delivered through ongoing measurement. RESULTS: The first stage of the eHealth program is already delivering benefits across the health department with a number of projects currently live in numerous sites across Queensland. CONCLUSIONS: By adopting an evidence based benefits management approach, Queensland Health's eHealth program is able to demonstrate the achievement of these benefits with tangible evidence that will create momentum for change in the short term, provide the evidence for future funding applications in the medium term, and build an understanding of the economic impacts of eHealth in the long term.