Technology has been a key driver for change in the Australian healthcare sector over the past few years.
Mobile health apps, wearable devices, electronic prescriptions and artificial intelligence systems are among the elements where tech has been a game-changer.
The common goal is to make healthcare more affordable and effective for every Australian, no matter where they live or what resources they have.
As one of the largest countries in the world by land mass, the value and importance of digital solutions cannot be swept under the rug.
Telehealth could be Australia’s digital health’s biggest success story in the past decade. It is the epitome of everything digital health wants to achieve.
It’s a medium that allows patients to consult with doctors, psychologists and other medical professionals remotely via digital technology.
While telehealth is a game-changer for the Australian health sector, but there are only a handful of providers capable of delivering high-quality care digitally.
Finding the right telehealth service can be tricky, but Medicompare helps patients compare different platforms to ensure they get the best available virtual care.
MediCompare is a reliable platform offering impartial advice which makes it easy to compare telehealth providers and find trusted, affordable care, fast.
There will always be a place for people who need a doctor’s attention in person, but many healthcare routines and regular check-ups can now be addressed online.
How Telehealth Fits into Digital Health
Faced with overloaded healthcare facilities and the risk of exposure to the virus through in-person visits, the health system was under unprecedented pressure during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Telehealth couldn’t have come at a better time in Australia. It allowed doctors to care for their patients from a safe distance and ensured people with chronic conditions received the quality care they needed.
It has subsequently become an essential tool in Australia, where many people prefer to get issues sorted out online rather than travelling for miles to see a doctor.
The Australian government has played a key role in the meteoric rise of telehealth. It introduced temporary Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) items to fund telehealth services.
This policy move ensured that healthcare providers could be reimbursed for virtual consultations just as they would be for face-to-face visits.
Plenty of people on both ends of the table keyed into it, so it was clear that telehealth had a much bigger role to play in the healthcare system.
Telehealth does not operate in a vacuum. Its success or failure depends on the broader digital health infrastructure that supports it. That includes tools such as My Health Record and electronic prescribing.
The former is a secure online summary of a person’s key health information, while the latter allows doctors to send prescriptions directly to whichever pharmacy a patient chooses.
The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) plays a crucial role in building and coordinating this infrastructure.
Through initiatives such as the National Digital Health Strategy 2023–2028 and the Digital Health Blueprint 2023–2033, the government is actively shaping a connected health system that makes information available when and where it’s needed.
How the Government is Turning Telehealth into a Permanent Fixture
The Australian government is aware of how important telehealth has become over the years, so it has taken steps to make the platform a crucial part of the healthcare system.
Telehealth has become a permanent feature of the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS). In the 2023/24 federal budget, the government earmarked $15 million to strike a national partnership between the ADHA, CSIRO, and HL74 Australia known as Sparked.
The idea was to expedite the adoption of Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR), which is a new way of sharing and exchanging healthcare information online.
Sparked laid the groundwork for telehealth platforms to get patient records, prescription services and other key information that made virtual care more effective.
Sharing sensitive information such as a patient’s healthcare record is fraught with danger, but telehealth platforms are bound by strict privacy and data protection regulations. The 2012 My Health Records Act and 1988 Privacy Act ensure digital security issues are taken seriously.
Australia has built a legal framework around telehealth. This eases public concerns about placing their trust in digital services that share their healthcare data across different systems.
One of the most powerful aspects of telehealth is its ability to give patients more control over their own care. Patients can have medications delivered to them or picked up locally. They don’t need to take time off work, undertake long trips or suffer unnecessary delays.
