There’s a new doc in town: Telstra has announced an e-health unit.
Telstra is making a $100 million bid to be a major player in Australia’s burgeoning e-health industry with the launch a new business unit, Telstra Health, and a joint-venture with Swiss company, Medgate, to offer over-the-phone access to general practitioners.
Telstra group executive of retail, Gordon Ballantyne, said Telstra had spent a year and over millions developing the business unit and its aim was “to become Australia’s leading provider of integrated eHealth solutions.”
Telstra Health’s first major initiative is ReadyCare, a service to provide over-the-phone GP services including diagnosis, the issue of prescriptions and specialist referrals. Solomon said: “When we looked at where healthcare was going globally we noticed the growing provision of direct clinical services online without visiting doctors face-to-face.”
He predicted that the service would take a significant load off hospital emergency departments. “There are 2.2 million visits to hospital emergency departments every year that are unnecessary.”
He said Telstra had scoured the world for suitable partners. “We discovered Medgate, which has been doing this for 13 years. We chose them because they have proved that they can do this safely and effectively. They have worked out what conditions are suitable for telemedicine. They have an extensive three-month training programme before a GP can start taking telemedicine calls and they have outstanding supervision.”
Telstra has set up a clinical advisory panel to oversee the service and has appointed Dr Chris Mitchell, past president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, and associate professor Dr Bruce Chater, past president of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine have been appointed to the panel.
Telstra Health’s chief Shane Solomon promised that Telstra would work alongside GPs to complement the service GPs deliver. “If a person has telemedicine consultation their normal GP will be notified. If they do not have a normal GP we will encourage them to have one.”
Solomon claimed that the service was “totally new” in Australia. However in May this year Australian company Doctus launched just such a service, saying it would “give Australians access to online doctor’s consultations from the comfort of the patient’s own home or office.”
Telstra has not said how the system will be funded. While direct user payments are one option. “We are working in partnership with insurers and providers to find the right model. We have not made any final decision.” Ballantyne hinted that access might be provided by employers as a staff benefit. “It might be that a mining company pays on behalf of their employees.”
ReadyCare is some way form launch. Ballantyne said it would happen “sometime over the next nine to 12 months.”
Technology futurist Shara Evans, CEO of Market Clarity, said one of the biggest barriers for telemedicine initiatives was Australia’s existing Medicare system.
“For an initiative such as Telstra’s to truly succeed we have to have a health care system that recognises the value of remote delivery of medical advice and compensates physicians or individuals in much the same way as if the patient had gone to the GP’s office,” she said.
Telstra Health also announced a number of applications for the health industry, including systems for pharmacies; for the exchange of prescription information between GPs, pharmacies and patients; an online appointment booking system and a chronic disease management platform that uses biometric health monitoring devices linked to cloud applications.
Commercial arrangements vary. Telstra has acquired HealthConnex (previously Communicare)- a portfolio of software that supports the coordination and provision of health and community services and interoperability between health systems – and Medinexus – claimed to be Australia’s only fully managed and secure eHealth messaging solution for the radiology and pathology sector – taken equity in others and in some cases is offering the services under license.
Ballantyne also announced that Telstra had formed a partnership with the Northern Territory Government to deliver specialist medical care to some of Australia’s most remote communities freeing people from the need to travel hours to medical centres. “The service is now connecting community health centres in Tennant Creek and Santa Teresa in the Northern Territory with specialist medical care from teaching hospitals,” Ballantyne said.
Ms Evans said Telstra’s venture made sense for the telco in that health applications would be utilising more bandwidth in years to come.
“Especially when we talk about medical images and the implications of wearable technologies and the data that might be provided and how that information can be woven in to the service that provides real time diagnostic advice.”
But she questioned whether people would trust their telecommunications company with such personal information if, and when, government-proposed data retention laws were passed.
“If the data retention laws are passed, it is going to bring up an atmosphere of suspicion and fear on like this.”