The role of health information management in health reform

摘要

The achievement of health system reform is a major challenge for governments across the world. There are contrasting strategies about how to achieve this reform, depending upon priorities, budgets and capacities of each respective healthcare system. But there are also many commonalities that are driving the need for change, including the need to improve the accessibility of healthcare and maximise the efficiency and the delivery of quality care. In Australia, healthcare reform continues to be a topic of major importance across the community. The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) report, published in June 2009, described Australia's health system as fragmented, with a complex division of responsibilities, accountabilities and governance. The Commission recommended major structural changes to transform funding arrangements, improve flexibility and innovation and promote greater clinical and community engagement and control (National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission 2009). Two years later, government planners, legislators and healthcare administrators are still grappling with the details of the structural changes required and the means to implement them. No one expects reform to be simple or straightforward, but there are some key factors shaping the agenda, which have major implications for how health information exchange and management is undertaken in Australia and around the world in the future.