A message from the CEO
Lukas Eksteen, CEO, Ocean Health Systems
The beginning of 2026 marked an important moment for digital health globally and here in Australia. Across our work with clinicians, health services, and international standards communities, one theme continues to stand out: meaningful progress happens when technology, governance, and collaboration move forward together.
Over the past quarter, our team has continued to contribute to the global openEHR ecosystem, advance interoperability standards, and strengthen the real-world capabilities of our products in areas such as clinical knowledge management, infection surveillance, and immunisation reporting.
With the establishment of the Australian Centre for Disease Control and ongoing international collaboration around standards such as HL7 FHIR and openEHR, the importance of trusted, interoperable data infrastructure has never been clearer.
These developments reinforce a principle that has guided Ocean Health Systems for many years: that well-structured clinical data is foundational to safer care, better decision-making, and more resilient health systems.
I’m proud of the contributions our team continues to make locally and globally, and grateful to the clinicians, partners, and community members who collaborate with us every day to move digital health forward.
| Coming up: Find us at: |
| 2026 IHE-EuropeSeref Arikan, PhD joined the digital health interoperability community as they gathered in Brussels. For 25 years, the IHE Connectathon has been the place where implementers, experts, projects, and policymakers meet to test, collaborate, and advance real-world interoperability. |
| EHRCON26Annual openEHR International conference. Taking place in Amsterdam on 22–23 September, we’ll be hearing from global digital health leaders, exploring collaboration between standards, and sharing the latest insights and developments in clinical informatics. |
| openEHR and IHE Collaboration Gains MomentumStrong momentum is building in Europe around interoperability and the European Health Data Space (EHDS). At a recent Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) Connectathon in Brussels, discussions focused on how to deliver interoperability at scale, with clarity.Representing Ocean Health Systems, Seref Arikan highlighted the need for governance and knowledge management to keep pace with rapidly evolving standards, supported by strong feedback loops and stakeholder engagement. There was growing alignment and dialogue between IHE participants and the openEHR community, alongside increasing recognition of the role knowledge governance plays in enabling interoperability. The takeaway: as digital health scales, structure, semantics, and governance are critical to success. |
| Following EHRCON25 in Barcelona, our team returned energised by the momentum building across the international openEHR ecosystem. Europe is now leading with openEHR, and connecting public health data such as immunisation and infection surveillance is a mere step away. Putting the critical relationship between clinicians and the systems they rely on front and centre, this year’s discussions reinforced an important perspective: openEHR is not simply about technology – it is about connection between systems, organisations, clinicians, and ultimately patients. Across the conference, collaboration emerged as the central theme. The openEHR community continues to demonstrate how shared intent can accelerate innovation while maintaining strong governance and clinical trust. One of the long-term ambitions driving this work is the development of a lifelong patient electronic health record – a vision that may take generations to fully realise, but one that is already reshaping how digital health systems are designed.Several key themes stood out:Collaboration accelerates progress. Shared standards and collective development allow innovation to scale faster across jurisdictions.Australia’s openEHR community continues to grow, with initiatives such as the Spark Group helping drive national engagement.Clinicians remain at the centre of digital health transformation, guiding the design of systems that genuinely support care delivery.Interoperability and semantics matter more than ever, particularly as AI becomes more prominent in healthcare.Ocean Health Systems was proud to contribute to this global dialogue:Dr Seref Arikan presented Ocean’s Analytical Data Reporting System and participated in a panel exploring AI and standards.Dr Sebastian Garde showcased the latest developments in Clinical Knowledge Manager (CKM) and its expansion into new healthcare domains.The team extends its thanks to Professor Rachel Dunscombe, who recently stepped down as CEO of openEHR, as well as the openEHR International community for their continued leadership and to the Catalonian digital health ecosystem for demonstrating what a patient-centred, interoperable system can achieve. |
| Global Community & StandardsInspired by the Global openEHR CommunityOcean Health Systems is looking forward to participating in Converge or Collide 2026, taking place in Dublin from 11–13 May 2026.This event builds on last year’s successful gathering in Amsterdam, continuing the important dialogue between the openEHR and HL7 International / FHIR communities.The goal of the event is to further strengthen collaboration between these standards ecosystems and explore how their complementary strengths can enable more effective interoperability across healthcare systems worldwide. |
| Discussions will focus on practical alignment between openEHR knowledge modelling and FHIR interoperability frameworks, supporting real-world implementation of standards-based digital health infrastructure. |
| Public Health & SurveillanceFrom 1 January 2026, Australia entered a new chapter in public health with the establishment of the Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC) as an independent national agency.The CDC has been tasked with strengthening:Communicable disease surveillancePandemic preparednessEmergency managementReal-time public health intelligenceNational health data integrationFor healthcare providers and digital health leaders, these reforms highlight the growing importance of interoperable systems capable of delivering timely, standardised health intelligence. |
| At Ocean Health Systems, we see this moment as both a milestone and a validation. Multiprac Surveillance already delivers many of the capabilities required to support this strengthened national public health architecture, including clinical surveillance workflows, system integration, and advanced reporting. |
| Product Updates |
| CKM 1.21.0 is a major release focused on scalability, governance, and usability, delivering over 100 functional improvements alongside performance and architectural upgrades. Key highlights include enhanced search capabilities, expanded REST API support, and a significantly improved user and role management experience. Editorial workflows have been streamlined, with better reporting, visibility, and control across review and release processes. The release also strengthens interoperability, with improved support for FHIR, OMOP, and AQL, alongside faster performance, with some queries running up to 50× faster. Overall, CKM 1.21.0 lays a strong foundation for scalable, standards-based clinical knowledge management, supporting both immediate use and future growth. Read the full release notes |
| Ocean Health Systems has launched fully integrated, real-time connectivity with the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR), extending the value of immunisation management beyond healthcare and into any organisation managing frontline staff, high-contact environments, or regulatory risk, where there is a responsibility for workforce safety and compliance. This includes sectors such as:Pharmacy and healthcare providersPolice and emergency servicesCorrectional and detention facilitiesAged care and childcare providersDefence and military organisationsGovernment and large workforce environmentsAcross these sectors, maintaining accurate, up-to-date staff immunisation records is not just a compliance task, it is a critical component of workforce readiness, risk reduction, and public safety. |
| Immunize enables organisations to move beyond manual tracking and fragmented records, providing a centralised, real-time view of workforce immunisation status.Staff are empowered with visibility over their own records, while organisations gain the assurance that their teams are protected, compliant, and ready to operate in high-risk or high-responsibility environments. Whether managing a detention centre, supporting defence personnel, or safeguarding children and vulnerable populations, Immunize helps reduce organisational risk and strengthen operational resilience. |
| The integration with AIR allows authorised users to retrieve, record, and submit immunisation data in real time, directly at the point of care or administration. The solution is fully compliant with Services Australia AIR integration requirements, supporting obligations under the AIR Act and the National Immunisation Program (NIP). Key capabilities include:Real-time immunisation record retrievalSecure, authenticated data submissionReduced manual reporting and administrative burdenImproved accuracy, compliance, and audit readiness |
| As Desleigh Smith, Product and Clinician Specialist at Ocean Health Systems explains: “From a clinical standpoint, AIR v1.3 certification means we can trust that immunisation data flows seamlessly and securely between systems. This reduces manual reporting, ensures compliance with antenatal indicators, and ultimately improves patient safety and continuity of care.” |
| Organisations across Australia now have the opportunity to take a proactive, system-led approach to workforce immunisation, ensuring their people and the communities they serve are protected. |
