CANBERRA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Australia is lagging behind the rest of the world in using health data for good, Microsoft's chief medical officer has warned.
Simon Kos, Microsoft's Chief Medical Officer, told News Corp Australia on Wednesday that Australia had successfully digitized its health data but had failed to use it to transform how patients are treated.
"Countries that have been digital for many years are well down that journey already," he said. "In Australia, we are at that tipping point that we need to use that data to drive improvements in care," Kos said. "It feels like the quality bar has been lifted by some of the international examples.
The onus is now on us in Australia to play catch up," Kos said. "That is the opportunity that is in front of us," Kos added.
The Australian government in 2018 established My Health Record, a digital health record that collates a patient's medical history in an online database.
The system allows information to be shared between health providers, allowing continuity and better care.
However, more than 2.5 million Australians opted out of having their information stored in the database because of privacy and security concerns.
Kos acknowledged the challenges with My Health Record but said that such a system was important because of the lack of communication between different levels of care in Australia.
"It was really important we get some sort of comprehensive longitudinal view for healthcare providers, so they can see what is going on and so we can empower patients to understand what they have got and get them actively involved in their care," he said.
"We built hospitals because that was a good place to treat battlefield trauma and infectious disease but the problems we are dealing with today are lifestyle-induced chronic disease and the hospital is not the best place to do it," Kos said.
"The challenge is how to modernize at scale a system that is heavily invested in that," Kos said.
Simon Kos, Microsoft's Chief Medical Officer, told News Corp Australia on Wednesday that Australia had successfully digitized its health data but had failed to use it to transform how patients are treated.
"Countries that have been digital for many years are well down that journey already," he said. "In Australia, we are at that tipping point that we need to use that data to drive improvements in care," Kos said. "It feels like the quality bar has been lifted by some of the international examples.
The onus is now on us in Australia to play catch up," Kos said. "That is the opportunity that is in front of us," Kos added.
The Australian government in 2018 established My Health Record, a digital health record that collates a patient's medical history in an online database.
The system allows information to be shared between health providers, allowing continuity and better care.
However, more than 2.5 million Australians opted out of having their information stored in the database because of privacy and security concerns.
Kos acknowledged the challenges with My Health Record but said that such a system was important because of the lack of communication between different levels of care in Australia.
"It was really important we get some sort of comprehensive longitudinal view for healthcare providers, so they can see what is going on and so we can empower patients to understand what they have got and get them actively involved in their care," he said.
"We built hospitals because that was a good place to treat battlefield trauma and infectious disease but the problems we are dealing with today are lifestyle-induced chronic disease and the hospital is not the best place to do it," Kos said.
"The challenge is how to modernize at scale a system that is heavily invested in that," Kos said.
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