The ADHA has revealed gaps in provider data following the first Single Digital Patient Record rollout, forcing a national interoperability action from being ‘on track’ to ‘delayed’.
The troubled rollout of NSW Health’s Single Digital Patient Record has triggered a delay in the state’s interoperability work after gaps in healthcare provider data were identified following the first go-live.
The Australian Digital Health Agency’s latest quarterly report on the National Healthcare Interoperability Plan revealed problems with provider information used to support identification, referrals and secure messaging.
“Following the Single Digital Patient Record Tranche A go-live, several gaps in provider data were identified and the status of this action has changed from On Track to Delayed while these issues are investigated,” the ADHA report said.
The affected work concerns NSW’s implementation of the National Health Services Directory, which is intended to support consistent information about healthcare providers and services across digital health systems.
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The report also identified difficulties matching individual healthcare providers with their national identifiers.
“Challenges remain where provider names are not unique, resulting in difficulties obtaining appropriate HPI-Is, and NSW has developed a workaround while the Single Digital Patient Record is implemented,” the agency said.
NSW Health has expanded its provider directory to incorporate Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency data to obtain Healthcare Provider Identifiers – Individual (HPI-Is).
However, the report indicated that the state’s pathology reporting arrangements are also subject to limitations during the transition.
NSW has modified its pathology upload processes to use the Healthcare Information Provider Service, increasing the inclusion of individual provider identifiers in My Health Record uploads.
“Until SDPR implementation is complete, pathology uploads will include HPI-Is where possible,” the report said.
The findings were contained in the agency’s July–September 2026 progress report, published on 23 October.
Related
Nationally, the agency reported that 80% of actions under the 2023-2028 interoperability plan have been completed, although no additional actions were completed during the quarter.
All actions under the standards, innovation and benefits priority areas are marked complete.
However, only 50% of identity actions and 66% of information-sharing actions have been completed.
The separate National Healthcare Identifiers Roadmap is 30% complete, with two activities completed during the reporting period.
Despite the NSW-specific delay, the broader national action covering adoption of the National Health Services Directory remains classified as on track.
The report does not identify the number of affected provider records, quantify the impact on pathology uploads or indicate when the NSW issues are expected to be resolved.
Read the full ADHA update here.
