Secure Messaging Industry Offer

The Agency is providing developers of clinical information and secure messaging systems with a financial incentive to deliver enhanced functionality in an accelerated timeframe.

Background

As part of the Australian National Digital Health Strategy, the Agency aims to eliminate clinicians’ dependence on all paper-based messaging by 2022.

The Agency has been working closely with software providers and the clinical community to address the lack of interoperability between different secure messaging software products.

This has been a major roadblock in enabling clinicians to send secure patient information to other clinicians in Australia.

In an effort to address these challenges, the Agency has established a Technical Working Group, comprising software providers and government bodies, to find new secure messaging solutions.

The working group and the Agency reached agreement on new interoperability standards for secure messaging in 2018.

These standards specify how to lookup provider addresses using a federated provider directory model, and which message formats will be supported.

These standards were successfully trialled in two proof-of-concept projects in 2018.

More information

• Organisations participating in secure messaging industry offer 
  Organisations participating in secure messaging industry offer [PDF 407 KB - Updated 9 March 2020]
• Media release - Helping healthcare providers to share information 
  https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/archived-media-releases/helping-healthcare-providers-to-share-information
• Industry Briefing - 4 April 2019  [PDF 1MB - Updated] 
  https://developer.digitalhealth.gov.au/sites/default/files/secure-messaging-industry-offer-webinar-final-110419.pdf 
• Secure Messaging Industry Offer Conformance Register (Completions) - Refer below to latest version at: 
  https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/about-us/policies-privacy-and-reporting/registers​

Product Capabilities

• Secure Messaging Provider Directory Service & Message Payload 
  The purpose of this page is to provide guidance to developers who are implementing the new interoperability standards for secure messaging thus enabling clinical information systems (CISs) and secure messaging (SM) systems to find healthcare providers as well as accurately address and securely exchange standards-based messages.
  Read more - Secure Messaging Provider Directory Service & Message Payload 
• National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) PKI organisation certificate 
  In September 2018 changes were made to the Healthcare Identifiers (HI) Service to allow NASH PKI organisation certificates to be used to connect to the HI Service. All NASH PKI organisation certificates requested and downloaded via the Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) from the 18th of September 2018 can be used to connect to the HI Service and the My Health Record system. To enable this capability in your software:  
  Read more - National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) PKI organisation certificate

Secure Messaging Industry Offer – Software Validation Process

This document is intended for software developers that have contracted with the Australian Digital Health Agency (the Agency) to participate in the Secure Messaging Industry Offer. It specifies the process that such a software developer (the Contractor) must follow in order to demonstrate to the Agency that they have met the software development requirements associated with the Industry Offer.

• This document can be downloaded here
  https://developer.digitalhealth.gov.au/sites/default/files/dh-3075-2020-smio-software-validation-process-v2.0.pdf ​[PDF 200KB - Updated 10 February 2020]​

Secure Messaging Industry Offer - Webinars

Recordings, slides packs, and other information for our webinars can be downloaded here.

Please contact [email protected] if you require further assistance.