The Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council (ACIITC) is running a survey in conjunction with the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) to help determine the digital maturity of the sector.

The digital maturity project will develop a digital maturity assessment framework and build a tool that can help improve aged care organisations’ digital maturity.

A survey was sent to providers last week to help support the key findings and benchmark the digital proficiency of the aged and community care workforce.

ACIITC says the results of the survey will drive the direction of the development of a digital maturity assessment framework and tool for practice improvement, as well as inform the government on the needs for future investment.

It builds on previous work including the Capabilities in Aged & Community Care Readiness: An Evaluation of Innovation & Technology (CARE- IT) survey and a benchmarking framework developed by nursing informaticist Greg Alexander from Columbia University in the US and trialed in NSW in 2017.

The CARE-IT report found that the aged care sector continues to experience a large divide in digital maturity, with about 40 per cent of providers still not using electronic clinical systems, half not using telehealth or telecare and a big disconnect between the My Health Record system and My Aged Care.

The report also found that cost, expertise and appropriate supporting systems remained three of the most frequently identified barriers to improved uptake of technology.

The new survey tool has been designed by ACIITC following a number of national roundtables with the aged and community care industry. It is aimed at senior-level executives who have the responsibility for digital service provision.

The results will be given to participating organisations to improve their digital maturity strategies before of a final public-facing report expected to be published later in the year.