Development of a national health information workforce census to enable global comparisons

Digital transformation in health will result in an increased need for health information specialists to support the delivery of high quality care. Clear conceptualization and identification of the workforce at a time of major investment in digital health initiatives is important, and a clear development framework will be essential. However, many countries do not delineate or quantify this workforce, making it difficult to build a capabilities-driven workforce development framework. This paper describes the scientific development of a national minimum data set for an Australian health information workforce census that has international applicability. The paper will highlight the global applicability of this census, and the early and extensive engagement of key stakeholders to enable deployment in multiple countries over the next two years.