Communicare integrates with the National Cancer Screening Register

Communicare is one of Telstra Health’s flagship solutions, and Australia’s leading health software supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations who deal with complex care needs in Indigenous and remote communities.

The integration with the National Cancer Screening Register (NCSR) marks such an important milestone for Telstra Health in creating a truly connected and improved digital health experience.

Indigenous Australians participate in both bowel and cervical screening programs at a lower rate than non-Indigenous Australians and we know that a recommendation from a healthcare provider is key to improving screening rates.

Indigenous Australians are four times more likely to die from cervical cancer and more likely to be diagnosed with advanced stages of bowel cancer, which leads to lower survival rates.

There are various factors which contribute to this, including stigma around screening, access to services and access to culturally appropriate information.

Providing health workers with easier access to a patient’s cervical and bowel screening information from within the Communicare patient record enables them to better-assist their patient on their screening journey and encourage participation.

Why Communicare’s integration with the NCSR is so important:

Communicare supports more than 50% of Aboriginal Medical Services, holds over 3.5 million medical records and is used by over 8,000 healthcare professionals nationwide. The platform has been created in collaboration with rural and remote health services and to support the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as a priority.

Communicare users can now enable functionality to access and submit their patients’ bowel and cervical screening data directly from within a patient record, and are able to:

• More quickly access a patient’s screening results and histories for cervical and bowel screening
• Manage a patient’s participation in the cervical and bowel screening programs
• Request bowel program test kits for eligible participants
• Receive notifications of overdue actions
• Digitally create and send program forms, reducing manual handling
• View a patient’s program correspondence

Digital health technologies and partnerships, like this integration, are one of the many critical steps towards maximising participation in these life-saving screening programs and achieving health equality for vulnerable communities across Australia.

Find out more about the NCSR here.