The aged and community care sector in Australia faces increasing pressure to improve service delivery and comply with regulatory demands, highlighted by the Royal Commission’s recommendations 68 and 109.
In response, the Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council (ACIITC) initiated the “Digital Maturity in Aged and Community Care” project to assess the sector’s digital readiness.
The project’s key findings, outlined in the released report, indicate an industry average digital maturity score of only 58.4 out of 109. The survey revealed diverse digital maturity levels across organisations, with strengths in cybersecurity, communication technology, and digital leadership at the board level. However, challenges were identified in innovation, predictive analytics, and client access to digital systems.
ACIITC has developed a digital maturity improvement toolkit to empower organisations in enhancing their digital readiness (see below link), addressing operational and compliance requirements, and setting strategic goals. The report emphasises the importance of collaboration with the Australian Digital Health Agency in achieving measurable improvements in innovation and technology uptake within the sector.
While strengths were noted, including cybersecurity and communication technology, weaknesses encompassed low innovation, limited client-centred care access to digital records, and reliance on prescriptive rather than real-time data analytics.
The report, developed in collaboration with the Australian Digital Health Agency, aims to guide ACIITC’s future work and promote impactful digital transformation in the aged and community care sector.
The low response rate to the survey, representing 9.6% of the sector, is attributed to sector-wide pressures and survey fatigue.
Overall, the report highlights the critical role of digital maturity in addressing the evolving needs of the aged and community care sector, with ACIITC helping drive efforts to enhance innovation, technology adoption, and overall transformation in the industry.
Interested parties are encouraged to access the full report and participate in ongoing initiatives, including the aforementioned digital maturity improvement toolkit via this link.
