Australian Federal Government Health Agency Eye Blockchain, Big Data and IoT Technologies

The Australian Digital Health Agency is moving towards decentralized technology, big data, internet of things (IoT) and cloud computing as a solution to patient’s data recording. The government agency is looking for forward looking technologies to replace Accenture, a digital data firm, whose contract expires in 2020.

A New Digital Health Platform for Australia

In a request for information (RFI) released by the agency earlier in the week, developers are asked to come forward with ideas in “new technologies” to promote the collection and storing of patients’ data. The RFI reads,

“[There is] increased demand and spending are forecasted for the next decade [and so a] need to focus on an EHR system that seeks an efficient and cost-focused system.”

As reported by ARN, the Australian federal government are looking to employ a range of technologies from big data &analytics, blockchain technology, and the internet of medical things (IoMT). This is aiming to consolidating the electronic health records on a trusted and more connected platform that is secure and immutable.

Developers are urged to submit their innovations by December 3^rd 2019 to the agency. A number of themes have been highlighted by the agency including:

“open, cloud and software-defined architecture; interoperability and data sharing and better management of unstructured data through analytics.”

Security is Key

The RFI from the Australian Digital Health Agency specifically emphasizes the security requirements needed from the data recording applications. This follows the recent Australian patients’ data breach stored on My Records, an online summary of Australian’s health information.

Such sloppiness and risks on patients’ data is strictly against the agency’s goals for the adoption of new technologies. The RFI states,

“Any system must be ‘secure by design’, from the beginning the system and software is designed to be secure.”

Developers are free to submit applications including medical bots, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and digital service delivery forms.

Blockchain Adoption Growth in Healthcare

A post on BEG on Sept 10 shows the emergence of blockchain solutions in the medical and healthcare industry. Global Market Insights shows the growth of blockchain technology in the industry is set to increase to $1.6 billion USD by 2025.