In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch speaks with Kate Ebrill, Grahame Grieve, Dr Chris Moy, Dr John Lambert, Sandra Cook, Dr Jill Freyne, Professor Brett Sutton, and Professor Mark Braunstein about data standards, information exchange, and implementation challenges in Australia’s digital health sector. The discussion explores the Sparked Initiative and its co-design approach to developing national standards, with a focus on creating consistent, secure, and meaningful ways to share health information. The episode also examines what it takes to move from policy into real-world implementation, including the role of infrastructure, vendor engagement, and support for different parts of the health system. Emerging technologies such as AI and FHIR are considered in the context of improving data quality, enabling interoperability, and shaping how health information is created, shared, and used. Across the conversation, contributors provide insights from clinical practice, technical architecture, and national strategy, offering a grounded view of the opportunities and challenges ahead as Australia continues to build a more connected and effective digital health ecosystem. This episode was recorded at the Sparked Community co-design workshops in Hobart, an event dedicated to accelerating the creation and development of national FHIR standards for health information exchange in Australia. Key Takeaways ✨ Nationally aligned data standards are essential for enabling safe and scalable digital health innovation across Australia, with implementation and policy alignment now the main focus 💬 Sparked focuses on co-design, ensuring data standards are fit for purpose for all Australians through direct engagement with clinicians, consumers, industry, and government 🤝 The need for high-quality, standardised data is becoming more urgent as AI adoption increases; clean inputs lead to more reliable outputs 🚀 Infrastructure like HealthConnect Australia and a national FHIR repository are being developed to support ecosystem-wide adoption 🔄 Tasmania is positioned as an effective testbed for state-scale implementation due to its system structure, highlighting a path for broader national rollout Timestamps 00:00 – Kate Ebrill, Sparked Lead: Event introduction and national objectives 03:26 – Grahame Grieve, HL7 FHIR product director: A history and outlook on FHIR development 04:54 – Dr Chris Moy, Clinical Co-lead: Clinician and consumer engagement 05:25 – Dr John Lambert, Chief Clinical Information Officer, Tasmania: State-scale implementation 06:25 – Sandra Cook, Connected Care, ADHA: National implementation infrastructure 07:33 – Dr Jill Freyne, Amazon Web Services: Industry implementation momentum 08:14 – Professor Brett Sutton, CSIRO Health: Real-time data for clinicians and patients 09:23 – Grahame Grieve: Patient empowerment and AI 10:15 – Professor Mark Braunstein: The global context and FHIR adoption -------- Want to keep the conversation going? The full article and extended show notes for this episode are available inside the THT+ Community here: View Full Article Here In the THT+ Community, our members keep the discussion going, share perspectives, and unpack what this episode actually means in practice with other people working in healthtech. If you’re enjoying the show and want access to full articles, episode discussions, meetups, and member-only content, you can learn more about becoming a THT+ Solo Member here: talkinghealthtech.com/thtplus And if this episode was useful, leaving a review or sharing it with someone in the industry always helps.
