The 2021 Australian eHealth year in review was, as expected, dominated by news relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there were a host of topics of interest in the first quarter of the year, including online appointment booking systems, the embrace of telehealth and remote monitoring, progress in real-time prescription monitoring, and a number of big-ticked announcements with electronic medical record implementations.

The year kicked off with a new face at the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA), with former Queensland Health chief health information officer and Mater Health CIO Mal Thatcher named as the agency’s new chief technology officer (CTO). Taking over from former CIO Ronan O’Connor, Dr Thatcher is in charge of system operations including cyber security, core systems testing services and operational events.