Advancing data management and usage in a major Australian health service: The REASON discovery platform™

The acquisition of data, its aggregation and usage is critical to the ongoing function of hospitals. This statement remains true across the numerous dimensions of that functioning - from clinical care to management and operations to research. At Alfred Health we have constructed a standards based informatics platform called REASON, with support for all of these functions in mind. Whilst analogous to more advanced examples of such platforms in the US, we believe this work is unique in the Australian context. In this paper we will outline work to date, lessons learned, and examples of how the health service has been positively impacted so far by the work. Finally, we will examine some future directions for the platform.