Addressing sector challenges
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (2021) exposed critical gaps in how aged care data is collected, used, and exchanged. Despite ongoing reforms, the sector continues to grapple with fragmented, non-standardised systems that hinder quality improvement and add to providers’ administrative burden.
The Kinnexus solution
Kinnexus is an integrated, evidence-based digital solution developed by the DHCRC to address these challenges. Embedded directly into aged care provider information systems, Kinnexus uses HL7 FHIR standards and SMART on FHIR technology to:
- Collect clinical data via interRAI LTCF assessments integrated with clinical systems, enabling “capture once, use many times” data flows.
- Highlight how AU Core standards make interoperability scalable and sustainable across the sector, mapping standardised data through the end-to-end quality indicator process.
- Automatically generate and aggregate quality indicators, showing quality indicators at the point of care throughout the assessment
- Support streamlined reporting to government via the B2G Gateway
- Enable benchmarking through interactive dashboards and quality improvement insights.
This approach delivers actionable insights for quality improvement without increasing technical complexity for providers. Kinnexus is the only digital solution in Australia that directly utilises standardised, clinically relevant functional assessment data to generate quality indicators. The response from providers and partners has been clear: this is a game-changer for reducing data burden and improving care quality.
A history of innovation
Kinnexus builds on the foundational work of the DHCRC’s flagship Aged Care Data Compare (ACDC) programme. Since 2020, DHCRC has led a systematic programme to generate evidence, build technical infrastructure, and develop practical tools to break the cycle of siloed systems and compliance-focused reporting. The evolution from ACDC to Kinnexus involved rigorous real-world testing, technical validation, and collaboration with leading industry partners such as Regis Aged Care and AutumnCare, as well as academic leadership from the University of Queensland and technical expertise from CSIRO’s Australian e-Health Research Centre.
What’s next for Kinnexus?
Currently funded by DHCRC through June 2026, the next phase for Kinnexus is to transition from a successful trial to a scalable, sector-wide solution.
To that end, DHCRC are inviting innovative providers and vendors to trial Kinnexus in the next quarter. With technical support, a User Test Guide, and hands-on collaboration available until 13 February 2026. This is a great opportunity for aged care providers and their vendor partners to demonstrate leadership in helping deliver tangible workflow and welcome workforce efficiencies. If you wish to get involved, or know others who might, please reach out to kinnexus@dhcrc.com join us in building smarter, more connected aged care systems.
