Telstra, NTT contracted for major ICT upgrade in NSW health facilities

eHealth NSW disclosed that telecommunications companies Telstra and NTT were tapped to upgrade the wired and wireless networking infrastructure of more than 1,100 public health facilities across New South Wales. 

Hospitals and community health centres will "progressively undergo a refresh of local networking hardware and software that underpin our increasingly digital hospital environments," said Ian Schrader, infrastructure director at eHealth NSW. 

The major network infrastructure upgrade is part of NSW Health's Health Grade Enterprise Network initiative for purchasing and managing statewide ICT network infrastructure.

North Queensland GPs leverage AI for MyMedicare registrations

General practices under the Northern Queensland Primary Health Network have adopted AI technology to boost voluntary patient registrations to MyMedicare.

NQPHN recently partnered with health tech company Healthily to offer GPs across North Queensland the GoShare Voice technology to assist in identifying and reaching out to eligible patients for MyMedicare registration. The AI-based tool also enables automated outbound phone calls with patients who have not responded initially to SMS invites to MyMedicare to further discuss registration options and allow them to pose queries.

MyMedicare is the federal government's voluntary patient registration model that aims to formalise the relationship between patients, their GPs, and primary care teams.

With funding under NQPHN’s MyMedicare Mini Continuous Quality Improvement, the adoption of GoShare Voice will also assist GPs in preparing for impending changes to subsidised chronic conditions management items under the Medicare Benefits Scheme in November. 

Austin Health's Virtual Ward now business-as-usual

Austin Health's technology-enabled at-home care service, which was piloted in 2021 through federal government funding, is now running "business-as-usual."

The Hospital in the Home & Virtual Care Virtual Ward now accommodates up to 10 patients at a time, focusing on high clinical acuity patients such as cardiac and haematology patients. They are monitored using a watch or patch and are seen in near-real time by a hospital-based care team via teleconference calls. 

In February, the Virtual Ward started integrating data from wearable devices into the EMR, enhancing patient data management.