The Australian Hospital + Healthcare Bulletin Summer 2017

Page 47

TECHNOLOGY

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Digital disruption

The challenges and opportunities for healthcare Corin Kelly

As the digitalisation or disruption of healthcare marches forward, hospitals are looking to overhaul their systems of operation. In this opinion piece, experts in the field, Wayne Bruce, CEO of Ccentric and Colleen Birchley, Business Manager Telehealth, Telstra Health, highlight the key areas of opportunity and challenge they see for the digital hospital.

hospitalhealth.com.au

SUMMER 2017

Wayne Bruce, CEO, Ccentric

Innovative disruptive technologies are forcing a shake-up of healthcare models and creating a new type of health consumer. Digital disruption does two things. It creates a power shift from the service provider to the service user (think Uber and Air B&B) and it turns business models on their head. The tipping point around new business models comes at a critical time in the health landscape. Budgets are under continued pressure with one in five Australians affected by multiple chronic diseases1 and one in three Australians visiting a GP more than six times a year.2 Technology has been shifting power to health consumers for some time. It started with the rise of the internet when ‘diseaseGoogling’ patients started arriving in GP rooms armed with information they found online. A generation embracing wearables followed. These devices generate masses of data users may previously have only got via a GP appointment. Now they don’t have to go to their doctor. Their data does.

THE AUSTRALIAN HOSPITAL + HEALTHCARE BULLETIN

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