The Australian Digital Health Agency has published its National Framework for Digital Health Standards aiming to advance interoperability, collaboration, and support secure information sharing across the Australian health sector.
“Digital health standards are foundational to enabling safe, secure, and meaningful exchange of health information across care settings,” the Agency states. “They underpin the design and operation of digital health solutions, ensuring that data flows accurately and consistently between providers, systems, and consumers. The Standards Framework recognises that while significant progress has been made, a unified national strategy is essential to overcome fragmented adoption and realise the full benefits of connected care.”
As well as supporting ambitions under the National Digital Health Strategy for 2023-2028 around modern and integrated digital solutions, the development of FHIR core standards for information sharing, and the development of new digital health standards focused on priority use cases and emerging tech; the Agency highlights how the national adoption of terminology and coding maps will offer a “consistent foundation” for AI implementations, ensuring AI standards are applied consistently across the country.
Historically, the adoption of standards has varied, according to the Agency, with key reasons given as discretion for owners of digital health systems on what standards to adopt, commercial incentives for industry partners to use alternative standards, limited policy drivers to encourage sector-wide implementation, and the costs of upgrading legacy systems to improve interoperability. Previously, there has been no national governance system for endorsing, adopting, or maintaining standards, the Agency continues. “This Standards Framework is designed to fill this gap.”
Implementing standards is hoped to improve data quality and care coordination, support safer transitions of care, strengthen safety and privacy of health information, reduce duplication, minimise admin burden, and improve patient and clinician experience. Procurement may also become more efficient as systems and software can be evaluated and integrated based on shared specifications, the Agency highlights, and the use of standards is expected to create a stable foundation for innovation, meaning vendors can scale solutions across multiple sites without having to make bespoke adaptations.
Progress toward building the infrastructure and processes for how information is shared has included the establishment of Health Connect Australia, enabling near real-time transfer of health data between systems and reducing the need for duplication of clinical information between clinical systems and My Health Record by connecting systems directly via API exchanges to share information. The Agency notes: “By using standards such as HL7 FHIR, creating new pathways using standardised data transfers across clinical information systems and building repositories, we collectively ensure health data captured in the system is ready to adapt to emerging technologies.”
Five strategic recommendations are put forward, around establishing an “enduring governance model” to oversee adoption and ensure alignment on digital health standards; promoting awareness and understanding of benefits for safety, efficiency, and transformation; building workforce capability; creating a “vibrant digital health standards community”; and offering practical support and tools for implementation. Success will be measured via stakeholder feedback, progress on implementation, and clinical governance review activities, the Agency shares.
On governance, a review of existing national governance arrangements is to take place, to include the creation of a mechanism to “facilitate inter-governmental collaboration”. A model governance structure will be proposed, definitions will be offered to explain what each group is responsible for, and an evaluation process will be developed to ensure governance remains flexible for changing digital health priorities. Understanding will be strengthened around the benefits of the adoption and implementation of digital health standards through a range of communication and engagement activities tailored to key stakeholders, the Agency shares. A standards information hub will be developed to offer a central access point for stakeholders to view information and guidance on adoption and implementation activities, and a platform will be provided to create a community of practice and to share lessons learned.
As far as training, an initial focus will be on teaching individuals how to utilise FHIR standards for exchanging health information, and a training needs assessment will be completed to understand skills gaps and training needs in the short and long term. Other plans cover the development of a National Roadmap for Digital Health Standards setting out the priorities for digital health standards and the work required in response, which the Agency hopes will allow for improved stakeholder awareness and collaboration on efforts toward adoption and implementation. Procurement guidelines have been published to the Agency’s website to support procurement efforts, and a variety of implementation support including testing events for industry partners will be offered.
© Australian Digital Health Agency, 2026, National Framework for Digital Health Standards
Wider trend: Digital transformation in Australia
The Australian Digital Health Agency launched a call for feedback for software developers at the beginning of the year, with an aim to improve interoperability, sharing of health information and promote collaboration across care settings. The agency was specifically seeking input on guiding consistent implementation and national alignment to HL7 and FHIR standards, for “seamless integration across clinical and administrative systems”.
The Agency is celebrating a milestone in the delivery of its National Healthcare Interoperability Plan, revealing that the finalisation of two actions in the latest reporting period means 75 percent of planned actions have now been completed. Peter O’Halloran, the agency’s chief digital officer, took to LinkedIn to share the news, noting that the remaining 11 action items are due to be completed by July 2028. “To everyone across the sector who has been involved in the delivery of these actions and to my colleagues in both the Council for Connected Care and the Agency, my heartfelt thanks for all of your hard-work and dedication,” he said. “That so much progress has been made over the last nearly three years since the launch of the Plan in July 2023 speaks volumes to the groundswell of support for digital health and to your professionalism.”
The Australian Federal Budget for 2026 has been published, with headline commitments to advance interoperability, promote data sharing, and improve access to healthcare services. Among the measures to be outlined in the budget are plans to enhance the My Health Record with an injection of $598.3 million over two years, to ensure both patients and healthcare professionals are able to access reliable and “timely” health data. $79.2 million over three years is further set to go towards states and territories to support the implementation of national digital health reforms. The Australasian Institute of Digital Health (AIDH) took to LinkedIn to welcome news of digital health funding, particularly noting the investment of $13.3 million over two years for Sparked, a national FHIR accelerator programme designed to strengthen interoperability and consistency across the healthcare system.
