The president of the association representing the medical software and health IT industry has launched a broadside at the chaotic decision-making emanating from the government and the Department of Health, but has promised to give the new Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) “a red hot go” to see if industry, clinicians and government can work together to improve digital health systems.

Emma Hossack, president of the Medical Software Industry Association (MSIA), told the RACGP eHealth Forum in Melbourne yesterday that the new approach taken by the ADHA towards industry was a “quantum leap” from previously strained relationships, but that the industry was still being put under huge pressure to implement government policy initiatives that its clients do not like, such as changes to the eHealth Practice Incentives Program (ePIP) requiring uploads to the My Health Record or the ill-advised Medicare co-pay.