A research team at Flinders University will begin building what could be Australia’s first integrated and AI-powered repository of public health and clinical data for public health surveillance and emergency response.
The data platform, called SMART-PH (Digitising Information for Practice in Public Health), will act as a shared digital infrastructure enabling near real-time collaboration and communication between public health authorities, healthcare facilities and laboratories.
From July, researchers will create a public health data lake that will then be initially integrated with SA Health’s digital analytics platform. The South Australian data platform reportedly enables advanced, real-time data linking with all clinical data, including EMR data.
SMART-PH has received almost A$3 million ($2 million) in funding from the Medical Research Future Fund. The research team plans to implement and evaluate the trial with South Australian partners between 2027 and 2029.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
The operate of real-time and high-quality public health data is key to planning and managing public health and healthcare. However, the data remains siled across facilities, Flinders researchers noted.
“Limited access to high-quality, real-time public health data creates barriers to the effective planning and management of health care and public health issues, particularly in remote and rural regions,” said Courtney Ryder, principal investigator and associate professor and principal investigator. trauma at Flinder’s College of Medicine and Public Health.
As AI has proven to enable real-time access to public health data during the recent pandemic, the research team aims to operate it to build a public health framework that will enable public health stakeholders to operate more efficiently, effectively, and efficiently.
They said AI has the potential to improve forecasting, planning and strategic decision-making in public health response, as well as improve epidemic surveillance and detection.
BIGGER TREND
The securely sharing and reusing data and information across the health system is one of four key goals in Australia’s Digital Health Blueprint for the next 10 years. Initiatives outlined to deliver this goal include the development of a national regulatory framework for the sharing of health information across states and territories and the ongoing modernization of My Health Record.
Available data and informative data Critical decision-making at individual, community and national levels is also targeted the government’s updated National Digital Health Strategy for 2023-2028. To achieve this goal, one of the priority actions is the operate of health information for research and public health purposes.