Kate Ebrill ‘FHIR’s up Talking HealthTech podcast

July 29th, 2024

Interoperability is a hot topic. AEHRC's Sparked National Community Lead & Interoperability Lead joins podcast host Peter Birch to discuss information exchange in healthcare.

How do we ensure that healthcare information is in the right place, at the right time, for the right person? In the latest episode of Talking HealthTech, Kate Ebrill breaks down interoperability in healthcare.

She leads the Sparked FHIR accelerator, Australia’s first nationally coordinated effort to develop standards for healthcare interoperability. Sparked is a collaboration between CSIRO, the Department of Health and Aged Care (DOHAC), the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA), and HL7 Australia (HL7AU).

As Kate discusses on the podcast, the program is community-driven, bringing together government, technology vendors, provider organisations, peak bodies, practitioners, and domain experts.

The goal? To adapt and implement FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) standards in Australia to improve clinical workflows, enhance patient care, and fuel innovation in healthcare.

As Kate says, it’s not about tearing existing structures down and rebuilding systems from scratch. It’s about making practical and incremental changes.

“Let’s not let perfect be the enemy of good,” she said. “We’ll never get there if we bite off too much all at once.”

“We’re putting foundations in place. We’re making tangible, sustainable progress that’s bringing us closer to our goal.”

The pragmatic approach offers continual advances in data exchange while accommodating the complexity and variability inherent in healthcare systems.

Listen in to the recent episode on YouTube or find the podcast on LinkedIn to discover more.