Digital Health program governance

Digital Health program governance committees, advisory and working groups

The department's Digital Health Branch works with stakeholders across Victorian health organisations as well as commonwealth, jurisdictional and vendor partners.

Programs of work are co-designed with our stakeholders. Oversight of programs and projects is delivered through a range of committees to ensure that products and services are fit-for-use in the Victorian health care sector.

Digital Health convenes the following committees and working groups. These groups coordinate and provide strategic advice on the different elements of Victoria's digital health roadmap.

Digitisation enables connected patient care for Victorians across public health services. It is critical for patient safety and a connected patient and client care journey.

The peak governance and advisory committees are the Victorian Clinical Informatics Council (VCIC) and the Victorian Health CIO Committee (VHCIO). Committee and working group chairs and sponsors are listed below.

Victorian Clinical Informatics Council (VCIC)

Advises the department on realisation of Victoria’s Digital Health roadmap and identifies emerging issues pertinent to Victoria’s public healthcare system.

Chair: Associate Professor Kate Burbury

Meeting frequency: 3 meetings a year

Working groups and committees

- The Victorian Chief Clinical Informatics Officer Network is supported by the Australian Institute of Digital Health, sponsored by Victoria’s Department of Health.
- The Network contributes to the lifting of digital maturity across the healthcare sector by identifying and applying best practices in digital health innovation and adoption.
Chair: Adjunct Associate Professor Naomi Dobroff (Chief Nursing and Midwifery Information Officer, Monash Health).

Meeting frequency: 5-6 times per year.
- This committee ensures program objectives are addressed.
- It monitors program status and provides governance and direction for expansion and meaningful use of My Health Record in Victorian public health agencies.
Chair: Neville Board (Chief Digital Health Officer, Department of Health).

Meeting frequency: every 3 months.
- The role of the Product Planning Group is to plan and control the statewide design for the iPM Patient Administration System (PAS).
- This group is responsible for discretionary functional changes proposed to the PAS.
- The responsibility of the group does not extend to mandatory changes that are required as part of the system maintenance process. However, the group oversees these changes.
Chair: Elizabeth Feeny (Manager, Patient Application Services, Monash Health).

Meeting frequency: monthly.
- This group provides advice to the TrackCare CMS Product Planning Group (PPG) on issues relating to the management and functionality of that Client Management System.
Chair: Benjamin Allen (Manager, Applications and Services, Department of Health)

Meeting frequency: monthly
- Discusses issues of common interest relating to the management and reporting of mental health data and information.
Chair: Janine McDonald (Senior Health Information Manager, Melbourne Health)

Meeting frequency: 9-10 times a year
- The Medical Image Sharing Advisory Group (MISAG) provides advice and guidance on tactical medical image exchange between Victorian Public Hospitals.
Chair: Neville Board (Chief Digital Health Officer, Department of Health).

Meeting frequency: twice yearly.
- This time-limited national group works with jurisdictional, clinical, safety and informatics leaders.
- It provides expert advice and guidance on presentation, management, and issues and risks related to high-risk medicines in EMR and EMM systems.
- It develops national recommendations and mitigation strategies to improve presentation and management of high-risk medicines in EMR and EMM systems.
Chairs:
- Professor Melissa Baysari (Professor of Human Factors, University of Sydney)
- Neville Board (Chief Digital Health Officer, Department of Health Victoria).
Meeting frequency: every 3 months.

Victorian Health Chief Information Officer Committee (VHCIO Forum)

The Victorian Health Chief Information Officers Committee (the Committee) facilitates collaboration between the Department of Health (DH) and the Chief Information Officers (CIOs) across the Victorian Public Health Sector.
The Committee ensures digital health programs are delivered, overseen and coordinated, in alignment with Victorian Government and Departmental digital health policies and strategy.

Chair: Michelle Rennie (CIO, Royal Children’s Hospital).

Meeting frequency: monthly.

Working groups and committees

- The Working Group champions the improvement of the sector’s cybersecurity maturity level to an acceptable standard.
- It undertakes assessment of the Medical Device Security Controls, identifying gaps in this assessment, and participating in sector-wide initiatives that can assist in improving cybersecurity maturity.
- The Group ensures the health sector remains vigilant and up-to-date with cybersecurity threat prevention, response, and recovery, specifically focusing on medical devices. It also facilitates knowledge sharing across the health sector.
Chair: Shema Ann Abraham (Biomedical Engineer, Western Health).

Meeting frequency: monthly.
- The Working Group champions the improvement of the registered community health organisation sector's cybersecurity maturity level to an acceptable standard.
- It seeks to understand the gaps in the current assessment, and sector initiatives that can assist in improving the maturity.
- The Group seeks to ensure the sector remains vigilant and up-to-date with cybersecurity threats prevention, response, and recovery. It facilitates knowledge sharing across the sector.
Chair: Jason Tubnor (ICT Manager, Latrobe Community Health Service).

Meeting frequency: monthly.
- The Working Group champions improvement of the sector’s cybersecurity maturity level to an acceptable standard.
- It identifies gaps in the current assessments, and sector initiatives that can assist in improving the maturity.
- The Group ensures the sector remains vigilant and up-to-date with cybersecurity threats prevention, response, and recovery. It also facilitates knowledge sharing across the sector.
Chair: Georgina Marr (CIO, Breastscreen Victoria).

Meeting frequency: monthly
- This group monitors and supports lifting of the ICT maturity profile of Victorian public health services, to operate their ICT safely, securely and cost-effectively.
Chair: Mark Gravell (CIO, Monash Health).

Meeting frequency: monthly.
- The PSC makes decisions and applies governance across the program to deliver a disaster recovery service for key applications in Victorian public health services.
- It ensures the project operates within its approved parameters.
Chair: Jeannie Sim (Director, Health Sector Assurance, Department of Health).

Meeting frequency: monthly.
- The Working Group is an advisory committee to the DRaaS Project. It has responsibility for providing technical and design guidance and standards for the duration of the DRaaS Project.
Chair: Ben Fung (Manager, Health Sector ICT Operations Assurance, Department of Health).

Meeting frequency: monthly.
- This committee has responsibility for the overall direction and management of the project within the remit that has been set for the project.
- It ensures objectives are being adequately addressed and the project remains under control by monitoring and reviewing the project status and progress. The committee is a forum for decision making and applying strong governance.
Chair: Neville Board (Chief Digital Health Officer, Department of Health).

Meeting frequency: every 4 to 8 weeks.
- The Working Group provides clinical guidance and sector insights to the department, and to health services, for delivery of Victoria’s health information sharing program.
Chair: Associate Professor Ronnie Ptasznik (Program Director, Monash Health).

Meeting frequency: monthly.
- Provides technical advice and sector insight to support the design and delivery of the Victorian Health Information Exchange (HIE) platform.
- HIE TDAG informs the architecture and technical design of the HIE platform to ensure it can be operated in Victoria’s public health services.
Chair: Alan Pritchard (Director, Austin Health).

Meeting frequency: monthly.
- This steering committee is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Victorian government’s response to Recommendation 62 of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System (RCVMHS) as detailed in the final report.
Chair: Dr Margaret Grigg (CEO, Forensicare).

Meeting frequency: every 2 months.

Updated 18 December 2024