Positioning and Future Proofing

Overview of ACIitC Board Activities and Considerations
The Board of ACIitC has seen significant change since the last report to AAA. During this period we farewelled Graeme Prior. Graeme contributed significantly to the redirection of the ACIitC over the past few years and served as independent Chair of the group for the last four years. We thank Graeme for this significant contribution.

In early 2016 it was agreed to expand the Board to ensure extra resources were available to position ACIitC for the future and challenges that lay ahead for aged and community care in respect to technology.

The agreed expansion of the board has seen each of the peaks nominating a representative and this month welcomed Jennene Buckley to the board representing ACSA. This compliments new board member Glenn Bunney who was nominated by LASA to join the board in May.

With the changes to the leadership of both ACSA and LASA in the last few months new Board members have been recruited to replace positions previously held by the Association CEOs. This month the ACIitC Board has welcomed Sean Rooney CEO of LASA to the Board.

As this article goes to print ACSA has yet to confirm their second nominee for the vacant ACSA representative and a search for a new Independent Chair of ACIitC has commenced. This search is dedicated to recruiting a highly skilled person to ensure the ACIitC board is well positioned to represent the challenges ahead in this complex technological environment. A key role of this position will be to guide the company to remain relevant and focused on positioning the work required in this multifaceted and challenging time of systems reform and to ensure that technological requirements for the sector are at the forefront.

The new ACIitC Board and the three committee Chairs met in Brisbane on 12 August with a day devoted to strategic as well as operational considerations and improvements. The 2016-2017 financial year is marked to be one of consolidation and growth for the work of ACIitC with a variety of key undertakings being prioritised.

Four Pillars of Strategic Effort
At this meeting it was agreed that the direction and effort of ACIitC would be concentrated in four key areas. These key areas were defined as
Business to Government interface requirements;
Transitional requirements for the sector in respect to new systems , new programs such as NDIS and the new landscape of the service market from February 2017;
Improving governance of the company to ensure it is future proofed, robust and viable; and
Enhanced Communication and Engagement Strategies to improve inter-sectorial linkages as well as ensuring the ACIitC is well positioned across other sectors of interest including primary health care, disability and mental health. Key aims of this is to ensure a reduction of duplication of technical requirement across sectors, to achieve streamlining where this is possible and to ensure that ACIitC benefit from any lessons learnt in these sectors of relevance to aged and community care.

Each of these four pillars will be incorporated into the work plans of the ACIitC Board and Committees .Detailing these plans will be concentrated on over the coming months. Part of this focus will also be on the resource drivers required to successfully implement the plans and the Board is committed to ensuring adequate resources are allocated in the budget for the ACIitC.

Focused Activities at ITAC Conference
ACIitC will have a significant presence at the ITAC Conference in November in Melbourne. This will provide an opportunity for each of the Committees as well as the Board to meet and refine the activities under each of the key areas of consideration. We hope to have a forum on 28 November and plans for this will be detailed in our next article in AAA.

ITAC has continued to grow as the premier event in the conference calendars for technology and innovation. This year the conference will align with the Innovage event to be held on the weekend in lead up to ITAC.
The ITAC Committee has been busy finalising the conference agenda and this year’s line-up has a range of international and national speakers covering a range of technology and innovation considerations.

International Speakers at the conference include Shara Evans and Dr Wen Dombrowski.
Shara Evans is a leading futurist and has been included in a list of the world’s top female futurists.     Her presence on this list is recognition of the quality of her professional contribution and her significant profile and impact in the field of technology.
She is a well-known technologist, futurist and opinion leader in the Australian telecommunications market, as well as the Founder and CEO of Market Clarity, an award-winning telecommunications analyst firm that provides insight, intelligence and advice on all aspects of the Australian technology market.

Dr Wen Dombrowski, MD, MBA is a geriatrics physician executive who brings a unique perspective to healthcare with her clinical, policy, business, social media, and technical expertise.  Dr Dombrowski develops and evaluates innovative technology and business solutions to help vulnerable populations with complex medical and social needs — including older adults, people with disabilities, patients with severe chronic illnesses, and the urban poor.

ITAC is pleased to announce these two key note international presenters to compliment the range of national presenters on the program. The theme of this year’s conference ITAC conference is Empowering Care Technology
The theme Empowering Care Technology emphasises the importance of information technology in establishing a sustainable, quality focused aged and community care environment.
For more information visit the conference website at www.itacconference.com.au

ACIitC CIO and National Home Care Committees
A combined meeting of these groups was held in Sydney on the 28 July. The Committees are renewing membership and will concentrate efforts in respect to the four strategic pillars of direction as outlined in the August Board Meeting.
The major area of effort for the combined committees has been facilitating the Increasing Choice in Home Care advisory group who have commenced a regular series of meetings with the department to provide feedback and comments on new processes to be introduced in February next year.
The next major combined Committee activity will be at the pre ITAC ACIitC forum on Monday 28 November where Committee work plans will be detailed.