Terminology data standards resources

 

Every allied health profession has its own clinical language — but when different systems can't communicate, critical patient information gets lost or misread. Terminology data standards create a common layer underneath: agreed codes and definitions that allow care teams, software systems, and national health infrastructure to exchange information reliably.

 

Why terminology data standards matter for allied health

When a physiotherapist describes a patient's condition as "reduced shoulder flexion" and an occupational therapist records the same finding as "limited upper limb mobility," both clinicians are describing the same clinical reality — but in different words. When those records are stored in different software systems using different codes, the information can't travel with the patient. It gets lost, repeated, or misinterpreted.

Terminology data standards solve this problem. They are agreed, consistent ways of naming and coding clinical information — from diagnoses and procedures to goals and outcomes — so that health data can be understood and exchanged across different systems, settings, and professions.

For allied health professionals, this matters more than ever. As Australia moves toward a genuinely interoperable digital health system, consistent terminology is the foundation that makes everything else possible: shared care records, seamless referrals, meaningful outcome data, and funding accountability.

This page brings together resources to help allied health professionals understand, engage with, and contribute to the national standards being developed right now.

link to glossary?

How to get involved — a practical guide for allied health professionals

You don't need to be a digital health expert to have a say in national standards. Here's how to engage at whatever level suits you.

Step 1: Understand the landscape

Start with the webinar below above to understand what terminology standards are, why they matter, and where Australia is headed. Then explore the Australian Digital Health Agency's Standards page for an overview of the national framework.

Step 2: Check your current software

Ask your practice management or clinical information system (CIS) vendor whether their product is FHIR-compliant and capable of connecting to My Health Record. If it isn't, this is worth raising — the ADHA has invested significantly in supporting allied health software vendors to build conformant systems, and standards-compliant software will increasingly be the baseline for connecting to national digital health infrastructure.
JACKIE, DO YOU HAVE A LINK FOR HERE? CONFORMANCE REGISTER OR OTHER?

Step 3: Register with Sparked

Join the Sparked community as a clinician contributor. You don't need a technical background — clinical perspectives are essential to making sure national standards reflect real-world allied health practice. Register here.

Step 4: Use clinical terminology that aligns with standards

Review whether the terms you use in your clinical documentation align with recognised coding systems such as SNOMED CT-AU. Your professional association may have guidance specific to your discipline.

Step 5: Share feedback with AHPA

AHPA represents allied health in national digital health consultations. If there are gaps in current standards that affect your clinical work, let us know so we can raise them through the appropriate channels. Contact us

Watch: The benefits of consistent terminology data standards for clinical practice

Find out how consistent terminology will benefit your clients, your organisation, and the broader health system — and what you can do right now to help shape the standards being built.

The policy landscape: what's changing and what it means for you

Australia's digital health system is undergoing significant reform, and allied health is increasingly at the centre of it.

In December 2025, the Australian Digital Health Agency and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing released the National Allied Health Digital Uplift Plan — a coordinated national strategy developed in partnership with AHPA. The plan sets out a staged pathway for allied health professionals to connect to national digital health infrastructure over the coming years, with short-term goals focused on easier registration and adoption of tools like My Health Record and Provider Connect Australia, and longer-term goals targeting full integration of electronic referrals, secure messaging, and real-time data sharing by 2029 and beyond.

Underpinning this is a broader national push for interoperability. The Sparked FHIR Accelerator, funded with $15 million from the 2023–24 federal Budget, is developing the national data standards that will enable this information exchange to happen. Sparked's 2023–2025 evaluation confirmed the program is on track — though it also noted that allied health and other speciality areas need stronger representation in the standards development process.

What does this mean in practice? Allied health professionals should be aware that:

  • Software vendors are being funded and incentivised to build FHIR-compliant clinical information systems tailored to allied health.

  • Digital data sharing — including via My Health Record — is moving toward a ‘share by default’ model for a broader range of health information.

  • Future funding and service eligibility requirements may be linked to the use of conformant, standards-based clinical information systems.

Staying informed and engaged now will help ensure allied health professionals and their clients are well-positioned as these reforms take effect.

Relevant policy documents:

Have your say — the standards being built now will shape your clinical practice

The terminology data standards currently being developed through Sparked will determine how clinical information is captured, shared, and reported across Australia's health system. Allied health professionals are underrepresented in this process — and that needs to change.

Here's how you can contribute:

  • Join a Sparked Clinical Focus Group – provide targeted clinical input on standards relevant to your profession. Find out more

  • Tell AHPA what terminology matters to you – is there clinical language specific to your discipline that should be included in national standards? Contact us

  • Stay informed – subscribe to the AHPA Insider for updates on digital health policy developments affecting allied health. Subscribe

 
 
 

Australian Digital Health Agency resource

Sparked

The Sparked FHIR Accelerator is an open community comprising government, technology vendors, clinical experts, practitioners, provider organisations, peak bodies and more, that are focused on developing the national Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standards that will help to enable the exchange of health information in Australia.

 

Key terms explained

  • An international standard for exchanging health information electronically between different systems. Think of it as a common language that allows a GP's software, a hospital system, and an allied health platform to share patient data securely and accurately. > HL7 FHIR overview

  • Australia's national FHIR Accelerator — a community-led program coordinated by CSIRO's Australian e-Health Research Centre, in partnership with the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, the Australian Digital Health Agency, and HL7 Australia. Sparked brings together clinicians, software vendors, government, and peak bodies to develop national data standards together.
    > sparked.csiro.au

  • The ability of different digital health systems to exchange and use data meaningfully. Without interoperability, a referral letter from a GP may not be readable by an allied health platform, and patient records can't follow a person across care settings.

  • Agreed sets of clinical terms and codes used to record health information consistently. Examples include SNOMED CT-AU (a comprehensive clinical terminology) and LOINC (used for laboratory and clinical observations). When everyone uses the same terms, data becomes comparable, reportable, and sharable.
    > healthterminologies.gov.au

  • The Australian edition of SNOMED Clinical Terms — a structured clinical vocabulary used to record clinical information in health records consistently. It is the preferred clinical terminology for use in Australian health software.

  • A widely used international coding system for health measurements, observations, and clinical documents — particularly laboratory and diagnostic results. LOINC codes are available through Australia's National Clinical Terminology Service alongside SNOMED CT-AU.
    > loinc.org

  • A national dataset developed through Sparked that defines the core health data elements — such as allergies, medications, diagnoses, and procedures — that should be captured and shared consistently across Australian health systems. The AUCDI is the ‘what’ of interoperability; FHIR AU Core is the ‘how.’
    > AUCDI on Sparked

  • A software system that meets specific national standards and regulations for storing and sharing patient information, including connection to services like My Health Record and the Healthcare Identifiers Service.

  • Australia's national digital health record system, which allows patients and authorised healthcare providers to access key health information online. Allied health professionals can view My Health Record via the National Provider Portal, or view and contribute through a conformant clinical information system.
    > digitalhealth.gov.au/my-health-record

  • A national directory that allows healthcare providers to keep their professional details — including location, services, and contact information — up to date across referral networks and digital health systems.
    > providerconnect.gov.au

  • The Australian affiliate of Health Level Seven International, the global not-for-profit organisation responsible for developing the FHIR standard and other health data exchange specifications.
    > hl7.org.au