National Electronic Health Transition Authority

The National Electronic Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) was established in July 2005 as a collaborative enterprise by the Australian Commonwealth, State and Territory governments to identify and develop the necessary foundations for electronic health (eHealth). NEHTA aims to unlock eHealth system aspects and improve the ways in which information is electronically collected and exchanged.

In 2014 a government review recommended that NEHTA be scrapped.

The 2015–16 Federal Budget announcement My Health Record – A New Direction for Electronic Health Records in Australia provided funding to strengthen eHealth governance arrangements consistent with the Review. This included the transition of relevant activities and resources from the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA), and also from the national My Health Record system operation activities managed by the Department of Health, to a new entity called the Australian Digital Health Agency.

NEHTA continues to develop and progress the national infrastructure and adoption support required for eHealth in Australia, as mandated and funded by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). The Commonwealth Government approved the development of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) system in 2010, and allocated funding to deliver this by July 2012. NEHTA has been contracted as a managing agent on behalf of the Department of Health and Ageing (DOHA) in relation to contracts and agreements for: National Infrastructure Partner/s; National Change and Adoption Partner; Benefits Evaluation Partner; and eHealth Sites.

NEHTA’s five strategic priorities that define their role in adoption and implementation are:

NEHTA aims to develop Health Care in Australia by adopting eHealth systems. Electronic health information (or eHealth) systems’ ability to securely and efficiently exchange data can drastically improve the ways in which clinical and administrative information is communicated between healthcare professionals. In delivering this, NETHA will support the Australian health system by:

NEHTA is leading a national approach to eHealth to support private, national, state, and territory reforms by developing a national e-health infrastructure to enable connected health today, and the future. NEHTA turned on the eHealth record system on 1 July 2012. This included laying the foundations and developing eHealth solutions, such as Healthcare Identifiers, the Australian Medicines Terminology, SNOMED CT, and Secure Messaging. Australia is the first country to have assembled such a large scale, integrated piece of national infrastructure.

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