The federal government has recruited two leading medical professionals to senior roles at the Australian Digital Health Agency to help oversee the revised implementation of personal electronic health records in Australia.
Macquarie University associate professor Meredith Makeham has been appointed as ADHA’s chief medical adviser. The new role is responsible for engaging with researchers in the design, build and evaluation of digital health services.
Makeham is a member of the WHO safer primary care working group and a member of the representative expert committee for e-health and practice systems with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
Separately, Steve Hambleton has been named the first in a series of non-executive ‘senior responsible owners’ who will lead clinical priority programs within the agency, with additional SROs expected to be appointed over the coming weeks.
A former Australian Medical Association president, Hambleton is also a director of Avant Mutual, and was previously a chairman of ADHA's predecessor, the National e-Health Transition Authority (NeHTA).
“I am delighted that Makeham and Hambleton are joining the team. Their experience across their respective fields is invaluable,” ADHA chief executive Tim Kelsey said.
ADHA was formed earlier this year to replace NeHTA following the 2013 Royle review, which investigated poor take-up rates for the federal government’s personally controlled electronic health records scheme.
The latest appointments come after former Telstra Health executive Tim Kelsey was named as ADHA’s new chief executive in August, with former health CIOs Paul Madden and Michael Walsh joining the agency’s 11-person steering committee earlier this month.
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