Q&A: Digital health – how our engagement officer can help your general practice

Digital systems sit at the heart of safe, efficient and connected primary care. For many general practices—whether newly established, changing hands, or striving for best practice—navigating these systems can be complex.

Brisbane North PHN’s Digital Health Engagement Officer plays a key role in supporting general practices to establish strong, compliant and future-ready digital systems. This support spans everything from configuring essential national and interoperable platforms to enable seamless information sharing, to establishing workflows for their effective use, delivering tailored training and change‑management support, and troubleshooting technical issues as they arise.

It’s work that ultimately contributes to the broader benefits highlighted by the Australian Digital Health Agency: fewer hospital admissions, reduced duplication, safer prescribing and better coordinated care.

To explore why digital health matters and how practices can make the most of the support available by the PHN, we talk to Brisbane North PHN’s Digital Health Engagement Officer, Jessica Ruprecht.

Firstly, can you tell us a bit about what you do at Brisbane North PHN?

As the Digital Health Officer at Brisbane North PHN, I support general practice staff to use digital systems like Proda, My Health Record, electronic prescribing and digital referrals more effectively. My role involves supporting practices to adopt digital technologies, training staff members, troubleshooting issues and guiding practices to improve workflows and patient care through better use of technology and data. I also support the setup of new general practices and practices undergoing a change of ownership.

Why is having good digital health literacy and a commitment to continuous improvement so important?

Having good digital health literacy means that clinicians and staff can confidently use their systems and technology in the most effective and efficient way, leading to more accurate record keeping, better communication between providers, fewer errors, less duplication and safer, more efficient patient care. We know that general practices are extremely time poor and don’t always have time to be aware of the ever-changing landscape of digital health or the plethora of digital health tools available; this is where PHN can help.

What are some of the areas you can provide support in?

I can support practices in a range of areas, including:

• Proda/HPOS
• MyMedicare
• the General Practice Aged Care Incentive
• secure messaging/STS
• Metro North Electronic Referral Templates
• My Health Record
• The Health Provider Portal
• Nash Certificate renewal or revocation
• setting providers up to receive easier to read electronic discharge summaries
• PIP—including ensuring practices are claiming and meeting their eHealth PIP criteria
• electronic prescriptions and Qscripts
• Kiteworks
• National Cancer Screening Register setup
• setting up AIR access within your software.

Can you walk us through the process of supporting a practice?

Generally, a practice will reach out for support via our Practice Support phone line or email. From here, we can set up a phone call or remote session to better understand the practice’s needs and assess what type of support might suit them and their staff. We can then arrange physical sessions at the practice to conduct any training, troubleshooting or education that may be required. I am always flexible to meet the needs of the practice and tailor the support to exactly what suits its structure and schedule.

What do you find most rewarding about your role?

I am extremely passionate about supporting practices to provide the best quality of care to their patients and creating a real impact. I love being able to support practices in overcoming hurdles and reaching a goal, supporting them in streamlining their processes and adopting ways to save them time and effort. Hearing the feedback that I’ve made an impact, like through the testimonial below, is especially rewarding.

When the GP practice I manage recently changed hands, Jess was an invaluable asset. Her expertise in this area is truly impressive, she is very generous with her time and makes herself available, she turned a potentially stressful period into a seamless process. I cannot thank Jess and PHN enough for their incredible support during this transition. - Lisa Tanwan, Practice Manager at Kilcoy General Practice

If practices are looking for digital health support, what should they do?

For any digital health support or general practice related enquiries, practices can reach out to Practice Support on 07 3490 3495 or at practicesupport@brisbanenorthphn.org.au.

They can also visit our Practice Support website at https://practicesupport.org.au/.