The Australian Digital Health Agency and CSIRO’s Australian e-Health Research Centre (AEHRC) have launched a new collaboration with the goal of creating a centre of excellence for connectivity across the Australian healthcare system.
The centre will be created through the National Clinical Terminology Service (NCTS).
CEO of the Australian Digital Health Agency, Amanda Cattermole PSM, said its collaboration on the use of innovative digital services through its partnership with CSIRO has the potential to create a world-leading terminology service and capability for Australia.
“It will further strengthen both organisations’ reputations as leaders in clinical terminology,” she said.
Under the new partnership, the agency will retain responsibility for governance and the strategic role of end-to-end management, SNOMED CT licensing and the relationship with SNOMED International, while CSIRO will deliver the services and functions required to manage the NCTS, as well as content authoring and tooling.
The intention of the collaboration is to enable connectivity across all healthcare settings.
AEHRC CEO Dr David Hansen said, “This partnership presents an exciting opportunity to improve the connectedness of Australia’s healthcare system.
“The services that we provide help enable different parts of the system to ‘talk’ to one another, enabling smoother health service delivery, reduced patient burden and fewer costs.”
vThe NCTS currently provides terminology services and tools that include an online browser, a mapping and authoring platform and CSIRO’s national syndication server (Ontoserver).
“We hope this extended partnership will see adoption escalate further,” said Dr Hansen.