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eHRA is being launched progressively throughout RFDS, starting from late 2009 and through 2010.

The eHRA Project has been funded by a combination of a Clever Networks grant from the commonwealth government Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), and in-kind funding from the RFDS.

Within RFDS, eHRA is used for clinic consultations and for non face-to-face (“remote”) consultations. The consultations in which eHRA is involved form the great majority of RFDS patient interactions.

Benefits of eHRA

eHRA will provide many benefits to RFDS clinicians and patients, including:

• RFDS can provide better care for patients, as clinicians will have access to patients’ entire history with RFDS.
• Patient care is improved, as matters such as follow-up visits, pathology, Pap smears and immunisations are automatically tracked in the EMR, with reminders given as necessary.
• RFDS clinicians no longer need to carry heavy paper records on clinic runs.
• If a different clinician sees the patient, the patient’s records are easily available, with the result that new clinicians can provide better and more appropriate care.
• As patients move between RFDS services, their medical records can be more easily accessed by the RFDS clinicians in the new locations.

eHRA is based on the Monet software (from iSOFT, formerly IBA Health). Because of the remote nature of RFDS’s operations, significant modifications have been made to the standard Monet functionality (which was designed with a regular GP practice in mind).

eHRA is a ground-breaking project for the RFDS. By ensuring RFDS clinicians have up-to-date information about their patients at their fingertips, eHRA will help the RFDS deliver excellence in primary health care across rural and remote Australia.

eHRA will make a big difference in the way RFDS clinicians, working in remote areas of the country, manage patients, by providing them access to computerised clinical record systems comparable to those in metropolitan and rural GP clinics. It will be a great help in the management of patients with long-term chronic disease.