Patients downloaded the app more, but their satisfaction with it did not reach planned levels, according to the agency’s annual report.
The Australian Digital Health Agency is claiming a 26% increase in the number of consumer interactions with the My Health Record and a 23% increase in healthcare professionals’ interactions as firm wins in the “target met” side of its newly released annual report.
Of 11 performance targets published in the agency’s corporate plan 2023-24, six have been “met or exceeded” while five have been “partially met” or “not met”.
Increased use of three ADHA products – My Health Record, the My Health app and Provider Connect Australia – were top of the agency’s list of successes for the year.
“Consumer participation in the My Health Record saw growth over 2023–24, achieving a 26% increase and surpassing the target by 16%,” said the report, citing 30,581 uploads by consumers and 88.7 million views.
Providers are also increasing their participation in the MHR, said the agency, citing a growth rate of 23%, exceeding the 15% use target.
Healthcare professionals uploaded over 360 million records and views totalled 109.8 million.
“Targeted awareness and adoption activities among healthcare professionals – particularly in key sectors such as aged care, allied health and medical specialists – have driven increased participation,” said the ADHA.
“Over 2023–24, 30 organisations (three pathology and 27 diagnostic imaging) registered for My Health Record, a 100% increase on the 15 that registered in 2022–23.”
The agency had targeted 70,000 downloads for the My Health app, but instead there were 342,310, “outperforming the target by nearly a factor of five”.
More notable perhaps are the targets not met in 2023-24.
While the My Health app was clearly downloaded beyond expectations, customer satisfaction ratings with the app failed to reach the target of a 10% increase.
“The agency achieved a positive evaluation of the My Health app throughout 2023–24, with the commonly used and validated User Experience Questionnaire achieving a positive score of 0.82,” said the ADHA. “However, as this was against a target of 1.2, the target was not met.”
“In its first year of operations, the app was positively received by early adopters; however, in 2023–24 it secured a wider audience, and the user satisfaction score has declined but remained positive.
“New features being added to the app in 2024–25 (including electronic prescriptions) will likely see the UEQ increase further in future.”
Partially met targets included four out of six agency products not achieving planned availability targets:
Source: Australian Digital Health Agency Annual Report 2023-24
“Although the National Consumer Portal and National Provider Portal scored 100% availability in some quarters, disruptions in 2023 – a firewall upgrade in July, cooling system failure in August, outage in December 2023 and expired SHA-1 certificates in June 2024 – impacted performance,” said the ADHA.
“The API Gateway met the target over three quarters but was affected by errors during a patch deployment in October 2023 and a certificate renewal in December 2023.
“As My Health operates through the API Gateway, its performance mirrored that of the gateway.”
Also not met was a 20% increase in electronic prescribing from 2022-23. A 15% increase, leading to a total of 16.9 million dispensed ePrescriptions, was reached but “a data issue” was identified from September 2023 to February 2024 that affected e-prescribing.
“Accurate reporting has been available since April 2024, but unfortunately the Agency is not able to retrospectively correct this data and therefore report progress for the full 2023–24 financial year,” said the agency.
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Of the 44 actions detailed in the National Healthcare Interoperability Plan 2023-2028, nine were completed in 2023-24, 28 were progressed – 18 as scheduled and 10 ahead of schedule, six will start in 2024-25 or 2025 as scheduled, and one action was behind schedule “but is expected to return to schedule in the next reporting period”.
The agency’s CEO Amanda Cattermole said in her statement at the beginning of the annual report that the ADHA was “providing tangible progress for consumers and healthcare providers”.
“We cannot sustain, let alone improve, our health system without fully embracing the opportunities that digital health technologies offer for more efficient and connected healthcare,” she said.
Read the Australian Digital Health Agency’s 2023-24 annual report here.
