New technology roadmap for the aged care sector in the works

September 21, 2016

The aged care industry’s technology body is commissioning the development of a “technology roadmap” to identify providers’ ICT requirements as the sector is further reformed under the proposals outlined in the Aged Care Roadmap.

The Aged Care Industry IT Company (ACIitC ) said it wants to define the technological requirements needed for aged care organisations to transform their business operations and successfully meet the objectives of the Aged Care Roadmap.

As Australian Ageing Agenda has reported the Aged Care Roadmap is the industry-led blueprint that proposes the future reform directions for aged care, which was provided to government earlier this year. The proposals advance further deregulation of aged care and moving to a consumer-led, market-based system (read that story here).

The ACIitC said that it is widely recognised that a range of technologies would enable aged care services to be individually tailored in a more consumer and market-driven model.

In a briefing document for the commissioning of the technology roadmap, the ACIitC said that technological innovations were viewed as keen enablers for the aged care sector to remain sustainable and to improve performance as well as quality.

It is recognised that this may be in the form of already developed technologies or new and emerging technological endeavors.

“The ACIitC is keen to explore the impact and need for these technologies in a contemporary aged care environment,” it said.

The group said it wanted the new roadmap to identify technological developments across operational, productivity, workforce, consumer drivers, economical improvement, compliance, and quality elements.

“The ACIitC has a key objective that this work will provide a clear and concise mapping of the technological requirements for the sector and that the final product will complement the existing Aged Care Roadmap.”

The development of the new technology roadmap will include a summary of global research and evidence in respect to technological deployment in aged care; consultation with stakeholders to canvass a range of views; detailed requirements of ICT adoption required to meet reform goals; and recommendations for funding requirements in respect of technology for the sector including what other funding/regulation changes are needed.

The ACIitC said that effective community stakeholder engagement would be a critical component of the project.

“Our preferred approach would be one that seeks to identify aspirations, inform future directions, manage risk, enhance partnerships and collaboration, and strengthen concrete and deliverable outcomes and action plans,” it said.