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New South Wales' Single Digital Patient Record project, now worth nearly a billion Australian dollars, runs the risk of going over budget, a state audit has found.
In a recently published report, the NSW Audit Office found that the initial business case in 2021 was "inaccurate."
"It did not include all relevant project costs, and estimated operational costs lacked sufficient or reliable evidence," the state auditor said.
"The business case did not consider the estimated cost of integrating the SDPR system with legacy systems that will remain in use," it added.
According to the state auditor, unsupported or unapproved cost estimates "increase the risk of budget overruns and misinformed decisions."
It also flagged insufficient documentation for the provided estimated cost that covers implementation-related expenses for the local health districts and in-scope health entities "due to limited cost information available at the time."
In a statement shared with Healthcare IT News, Dr Teresa Anderson, chief executive of the SDPR Implementation Authority (SDPRIA) – a body established in May 2024 to oversee the project – explained that the 2021 business case was developed amid the recent global pandemic. "Since then, global supply chain disruption and rising operational costs have increased the cost of delivering programs of this nature."
A lean business case was completed in 2023, she said, under "markedly different economic conditions."
The SDPRIA has undertaken detail planning and completed contracting a "significant number" of vendors that integrate with the SDPR.
"The SDPRIA has put in place tight financial governance to oversee the program, including all procurement and implementation of integration of systems to the SDPR."
A performance audit in 2026-2027 will check the efficiency and effectiveness of the SDPR's procurement, governance, and management.
THE LARGER CONTEXT
It has been six years since the NSW government started exploring solutions to consolidate and modernise the state's EMR system. In 2022, Epic was chosen to deliver the SDPR project for a contract worth A$969 million ($640 million). The project will see nine existing EMR platforms, six PAS, five pathology LIMS and several other clinical support systems replaced by a single system.
A landing zone, serving as the system's foundation, was set up in September last year.
