A one-off investment of $10 million from the federal government will help the aged care industry to implement a plan for better ICT services across the sector, enabling it to introduce new models of care, improve productivity and reduce waste, the Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council (ACIITC) says.

The council, which last week launched a blueprint outlining its vision for ICT in aged care, believes the investment of $10 million should be looked at as seed money to enable aged care providers to begin investing more in ICT, similar to previous investments made in the primary care sector for GPs and pharmacists.

And in a nod to the Coalition government and its stated agenda of cutting red tape and freeing up business investment, the blueprint argues that the government might also take the opportunity to review the scope of information currently required by streamlining reporting requirements and information access.

ACIITC chair Suri Ramanathan said that while the industry had put forward a firm figure of $10m, it well understood that the current focus was on tightening budgets rather than expanding them. However, the aged care industry was arguing that in addition to the investment, the government and the industry can together look at reducing waste. Read full story from Pulse I.T here