Connected Care : Digital Health in Australia

Imagine a time when any patient, no matter who they are or where they live, can visit their doctor or specialist online and immediately access all the relevant diagnostic information and medical records – a time when a holistic view of a person’s health data and outcomes is literally always at their fingertips. Some of this is a reality now, but the system is clunky, incomplete and inefficient. The fact is that the health sector in Australia, in comparison to industries such as banking and commerce, has been slow to adopt digital methodologies. And even when it has, there has been a frustrating lack of connectivity between e-health technologies, confronting clinicians and consumers alike with information silos.

Richard Royle and David Hansen have been closely involved in e-health in Australia for over two decades and are committed to the creation of a digital health system that enables connected care for consumers and health providers across the country. With this goal in mind, in Connected Care: Digital Health in Australia they outline the challenges ahead, and what governments and health providers can do to help build and encourage the uptake of the necessary technology.

Australia needs a properly interconnected healthcare system. This will reduce costs and increase efficiencies in what is currently an overstretched sector―and most importantly, it will save lives. A digital health community that reliably provides connected care will deliver greater wellbeing to everyone.

Adjunct Professor Richard Royle oversaw a landmark national review in 2013 that led to the establishment of the Australian Digital Health Agency and the My Health Record. He has chaired the CSIRO’s Australian e-Health Research Centre (AEHRC) since 2017 and continues to be closely involved in digital health innovation. He has been the CEO of a number of public and private hospitals over the last forty years, and he spearheaded the development of Australia’s first fully integrated digital hospital in Hervey Bay, Queensland – St Stephens Hospital opened in 2014 and has since won a number of international awards for its comprehensive digital implementation.

Dr David Hansen is CEO and Research Director of the AEHRC, which has responsibility for CSIRO’s digital health research program. With over 150 scientists and engineers dedicated to all facets of this discipline, from genomics and medical imaging to health data interoperability and virtual care, the AEHRC is Australia’s largest digital health research centre. David has contributed to many other national digital health initiatives and has been a long-term board member of the Australasian Institute for Digital Health. He is passionate about the role of information and communication technologies in health care, and the part digital health professionals can play in developing a safe, high-quality and sustainable healthcare system in Australia.