Success factors for national eHealth strategies: a comparative analysis of the Australian and German eHealth system

Abstract

The Australian and German healthcare systems share similar traits in insurance and healthcare management. Both nations have also embarked upon national eHealth strategies to connect stakeholders and enable collaboration in healthcare services throughout their respective countries. While Australia has focused on a platform-based approach initially termed 'personally controlled electronic health record', Germany introduced the 'electronic health card', mandatory for every publicly insured person. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the Australian and German eHealth systems to determine commonalities, barriers and success factors of both strategies. A combined PESTLE/SWOT-analysis is used. Results show the key advantages and obstacles of both approaches and identify relevant areas for successful eHealth implementation.