What is a Clinical Information System?
A clinical information system (CIS) is the digital system clinicians use to record, manage and access a person’s health information. It supports everyday tasks such as documenting care, reviewing medical history, managing medications and sharing information with other providers.
Across Australia, clinicians use different CIS products every day, such as:
- the software a GP uses to record consultations and prescribe medicines
- the digital care management system used in a residential aged care home
- an electronic medication management system for tracking prescriptions and administration.
These systems hold and move clinical information across care settings. The CIS Standards help ensure they can do this using consistent, reliable approaches and secure approaches.
How the CIS Standards support digital care
The CIS Standards give developers and healthcare providers a shared foundation for how clinical information should be captured, structured and exchanged. They align with national interoperability frameworks, including HL7 FHIR for data exchange and SNOMED CT-AU and the Australian Medicines Terminology for clinical language. This ensures clinical information systems use consistent data and can communicate more reliably.
Developers can use the CIS Standards to plan and upgrade their products to support structured clinical documents, medication information, immunisation histories and other information commonly exchanged through FHIR-based services and APIs. The Standards also guide integration with national services such as My Health Record.
For aged care homes, the CIS Standards support the reliable exchange of digital care records, assessment information and medication details as residents receive care from GPs, nurses and hospital services. For general practices, they help ensure clinical software can capture and send accurate information when supporting older people living in residential aged care.
By providing nationally aligned requirements, the CIS Standards help improve data quality, reduce duplication and support more coordinated care across the health and aged care sectors.
Why we developed the CIS Standards
Australia’s health and aged care systems are becoming increasingly digital, and providers need clinical information systems that can exchange information accurately and securely. The Australian Digital Health Agency developed the Clinical Information System (CIS) Standards to support this shift.
These Standards define the recommended minimum software requirements for clinical information systems so they can share information in a consistent, reliable way that improves data quality, reduces duplication and supports coordinated care.
We created the CIS Standards in collaboration with industry experts, healthcare providers and software developers. This approach ensures the Standards are practical, technically sound and aligned with national digital health priorities. Our aim is to give developers clear expectations so they can build systems that work well together and improve the flow of clinical information for everyone involved in care.
Current CIS Standards
There are currently two CIS Standards, with more in development:
Aged Care Clinical Information System Standards (ACCIS Standards)
The ACCIS Standards outline the minimum software requirements for patient management and electronic medication management systems used in aged care. They support Recommendation 68 of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety Final Report by helping aged care services adopt digital systems that can connect with national digital health infrastructure, including My Health Record.
General Practitioner Clinical Information System Standards (GP CIS Standards)
The GP CIS Standards build on the ACCIS Standards and define the minimum requirements for clinical software used when GPs and other primary care providers support older people living in residential aged care homes. This alignment helps create a more consistent digital experience across primary care and aged care and supports better continuity of care.
Together, the ACCIS and GP CIS Standards create a shared approach to how clinical information is collected, recorded and shared across different care settings.
How the CIS Standards connect with Australia’s digital health system
The CIS Standards align with the national tools and services that healthcare providers already use. They support consistent data, clearer communication and reliable information sharing by working alongside:
- SNOMED CT-AU and the Australian Medicines Terminology, which give software a common language for clinical terms and medicines
- HL7 FHIR, which provides a modern, standard way for systems to exchange information
- My Health Record and other national services, which rely on structured, high-quality information to support safe and coordinated care