A Large Law Firm Provides A Fascinating External Perspective On The Australian Digital Health Space.

I reckon Gilbert+Tobin have done us all a service with their deep dive into the digital health space.

Here is a tiny part of their review:

Digital Health in Australia: 2022

04/02/2022

This chapter first appeared in the Lexology / Getting The Deal Through - Digital Health – Australia 2022 publication.

Market overview and transactional issues

Key market players and innovations

1.       Who are the key players active in your local digital health market (eg, healthcare providers, research partners, government and academic institutions and investors) and what are the most prominent areas of innovation?

Key players include:

• the Australian government (funds 42 per cent of all health services, including 78 per cent of research), especially the Department of Health, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) and the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA), which is responsible for the National Digital Health Strategy and operates My Health Record; , an online platform that aggregates an individual’s key health information and provides interoperability between clinical information systems across the health sector;
• state and territory governments (fund 27 per cent of all health services), which among other things operate Australia’s public hospitals, including emergency departments and ambulance services;
• private healthcare businesses, including operators of private hospitals, day surgeries, primary and referred care clinics and imaging and pathology services;
• healthcare professionals;
• developers and suppliers of digital heath systems;
• private health insurers (fund 9 per cent of all health services);
• venture capital and private equity funds;
• academic institutions, especially the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and universities;
• a range of cross-sector innovation and commercialisation bodies, including ANDHealth, the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre and MTPConnect; and
• industry associations, including the Medical Software Industry Association, the Medical Technology Association of Australia and the Australasian Institute of Digital Health.

Participants in the healthcare industry (government and private) are increasing their adoption of digital health technologies in order to improve health outcomes, meet the needs of their stakeholders and respond to various health system issues (eg, increasing rates of chronic conditions, emphasis on prevention, management and in-home care, focus on value-based healthcare, declines in private health insurance, crisis in aged care, inequality in access to health services, hospital waiting times and budget pressures). Key areas of focus include telehealth and virtual health services (including for mental health and aged care), AI, interoperability, health informatics, payments and e-referral and booking

Investment climate

2.       How would you describe the investment climate for digital health technologies in your jurisdiction, including any noteworthy challenges?

Over the past decade, the private health sector has led the developments in the digital health industry. However, federal, state and territory government-funded investments have significantly increased over the past few years. The covid-19 pandemic, the 2019–2020 bushfires, the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and the Productivity Commission’s report into Mental Health have all accelerated investment in digital health and greater coordination between governments and private sector participants. The Australian government estimates that it delivered 10 years of reform in 10 days with the introduction of whole-of-population access to telehealth under Medicare.

However, the key challenge in the Australian digital health industry remains funding and access to capital to drive commercialisation of innovations. This has been particularly relevant in respect of foreign investment following temporary restrictions that were implemented in the Australian foreign investment regime in response to the covid-19 pandemic. Although many of these restrictions were lifted on 1 January 2021, foreign investment continues to be a key regulatory hurdle, particularly in relation to digital health investments with material technology or data assets.

Recent deals 

3.       What are the most notable recent deals in the digital health sector in your jurisdiction (eg, investments, partnerships and joint ventures)?

In the private sector:

• In November 2021, The Citadel Group acquired medical practice management technology company Genie Solutions for an undisclosed sum, thought to be in the range of $260 million.
• In August 2021, Telstra acquired the GP clinical and management software company Medical Director for $350 million.
• In August 2021, Livingbridge acquired a large controlling stake in Everlight Radiology for $500 million.
• In August 2021, epilepsy diagnosis and monitoring technology company Seer Medical raised $34 million in a Series A funding round.
• In July 2021, Telstra acquired a majority stake in medical software company Power Health for $95 million.
• In July 2021, healthcare AI company Harrison.ai raised $60 million in a $40 million Series B funding round and $20 million investment by I-MED Radiology. (Harrison.ai previously raised $29 million in a Series A funding round in December 2019.)
• In July 2021, telehealth company Eucalyptus raised $30 million in a Series B funding round. (Eucalyptus previously raised $8 million in a Series A funding round in May 2020.)
• In May 2021, CBA acquired health technology provider Whitecoat for an undisclosed sum.
• In May 2021, fintech Tyro Payments acquired digital health payment platform Medipass for $22.5 million.
• In December 2020, Pacific Equity Partners acquired a majority stake in The Citadel Group for $503 million.
• In December 2020, telemedicine company Dr Care Anywhere raised $102 million in an IPO on the ASX.

In the public sector:

• In the second half of 2021, Western Sydney Local Area Health District selected a joint venture between Calvary and Medibank to provide hospital in the home services to help it manage the surge of patients with covid-19.
• In June 2021, NSW allocated $141 million for a statewide single digital patient record that will bring together the different instances of its EMR, PAS and LIS systems on a single platform, preferably software-as-a-service-based.
• In December 2020, eHealth NSW set up the Virtual Accelerator to coordinate the range of innovations prompted by covid-19, including telehealth and remote monitoring.
• In November 2020, the South Australia government allocated A$197 million to complete the rollout of EMR and PAS systems in its metropolitan local health networks.
• In November 2020, following the release by the Department of Health of a National Contact Tracing Review, NSW, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) agreed to pilot a national digital data exchange mechanism that would allow the states and territories to share contact-tracing data for the covid-19 pandemic and future outbreaks.
• In October 2020, Wellbeing SA selected a joint venture between Calvary and Medibank to provide its new in-home hospital care programme, My Home Hospital.
• In early 2020, the Australian government introduced whole-of-population access to Medicare-subsidised telehealth as well as electronic prescriptions and home delivery of medicines for vulnerable Australians.
• In February 2020, Sydney Local Health District launched the first virtual hospital in New South Wales (NSW), the RPA Virtual Hospital, which treated over 3,500 patients in its first seven months.
• in July 2020 ACT Health awarded a tender to Epic for its $151 million digital health record project;
• In October 2019, WA Health entered into a A$47.2 million agreement for a replacement medical imaging system.
• In August 2019, WA Health issued a request for information on the feasibility and potential options for implementing a statewide EMR system as part of its 10-year digital health strategy.
• In April 2019, NSW Health entered into a A$95 million agreement for a statewide medical imaging system.
• In 2017, NSW Health commenced the rollout of a statewide eMeds and eFluids systems with a budget of about A$406 million.

Vastly more here:

https://www.gtlaw.com.au/knowledge/digital-health-australia-2022

They cover a very wide range of important areas to anyone who is involved in any way in the Digital Health space and frankly - reading the full document – freely available at the link above – would be an excellent use of some of your time in early February.

Thanks G+T and enjoy!

David.