I noticed this white paper last week:
Australia's health system needs to digitise with a purpose, says industry report
While there is overwhelming consumer support for a digital future, there are still people being left behind.
By Adam Ang
March 02, 2022 05:21 AM
An industry paper calls for a reimagined health system in Australia and an improvement in its sustainability through purpose-driven digital transformation.
The white paper, titled Australia’s Health Reimagined, is a Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre (DHCRC) project delivered by professional services provider Deloitte, Perth-based Curtin University, and the Consumers Health Forum of Australia.
FINDINGS
The recently published paper is based on a review of recent literature and the Reimagining Healthcare consumer survey which collected responses from nearly 2,000 Australian consumers last year.
Findings from the comprehensive consumer survey showed that about seven in 10 Australians are willing and ready to use virtual health services, such as accessing online health coaches and using digital navigators and home-based diagnostic technologies. More than 80% are up for sharing and owning their health data in a digitally-enabled health system.
While this might indicate a strong push for a digital future, there is still a risk of digital exclusion for the remaining portion of participants who said they have trouble accessing telehealth. Overlooking such a risk, the paper said, will "perpetuate a digital divide" if not properly managed.
WHY IT MATTERS
The white paper makes a case for changing the country's health system by pointing out its present challenges. It found that consumers were having a "poor" experience with the health system, given issues with accessing and navigating health services and receiving coordinated care.
According to the report, the decline in the participation rate and shifts in the age profile of the health workforce will affect how the system will meet the growing needs of the ageing population. The growing senior population was also found driving healthcare demand to "unsustainable" levels.
Moreover, it was highlighted that the system is not serving all Australians equally as demonstrated by the significant differences in patient outcomes and illness severity across demographics, geography and socio-economic status.
It is crucial for the Australian health system to digitally transform if it were to meet its people's changing health needs over the coming decade. The white paper demonstrated the shifts that will happen over three horizons:
- Horizon 1: Connected Consumer - This is where people experience fragmented, one-size-fits-all care. The health system is focused on treating illness and there is little data sharing and analogue record-keeping.
- Horizon 2: Empowered Consumer - This is where people are empowered to access care and services are easier to navigate and access. There is moderate data sharing and workflows ease the administrative workload of health staff.
- Horizon 3: Confident Consumer - This is where people take an active role in managing their health and wellbeing and have strong relationships with their healthcare providers. The system has robust data interoperability, digital tools, and a connected ecosystem.
The paper's authors cautioned that the health system's digital transformation is not without risk. "It requires attention to and investment in change management, infrastructure and new ways of delivering care," they stressed.
More here:
I thought it would be useful to have a look at the Executive Summary to answer the question in the title of the blog
-----
Executive summary
Following the emergence of COVID-19 and significant foundational investment in digital health infrastructure, Australia’s health system, like all health systems globally, is rapidly building momentum towards a digital future. Based on the Reimagining Healthcare Consumer Survey and a rapid review of recent literature this whitepaper presents the purpose, path and principles to deliver a digitally enabled future health system – one that benefits all Australians and removes barriers to accessing healthcare.
The consumer survey, one of the largest on virtual health since the start of the pandemic*, found that around 70% of Australians are willing and ready to use virtual health and over 80% are ready to share their health data in a digitally enabled health system. But the survey also highlights risks of digital exclusion for around 10% of participants; these risks will perpetuate a digital divide if not properly managed, particularly for individuals who experience the poorest outcomes in our current health system.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the health system supported access to health services by rapidly shifting to telehealth, which grew from less than1% to more than 25% of all Medicare consultations. The sector has sustained this momentum of change and, rather than reverting to pre-pandemic ways of working, is enthusiastic to maintain telehealth as a feature across general practice, specialist care and allied health with a payment mechanism to support it. This is reflected in the inclusion of digital health enablement in major policies such as the National Preventative Health Strategy and the draft Primary Health Care 10 Year Plan.
The acceleration of telehealth was
necessary in the short term; however, looking ahead, we must
avoid simply digitising old ways of working. Telehealth should not merely
replace existing face-to-face consultations, but rather enhance
healthcare and the consumer experience. This can be achieved by
working with consumers to co-design a digitally enabled future
healthcare system that empowers Australians and integrates virtual
and traditional healthcare, better
connecting individuals
to the broader set of factors influencing their health.
Increasingly, consumers are demanding and driving this change. The health system’s acceleration of telehealth is playing catch-up to the growing number of people actively choosing to take health into their own hands with consumer-facing wearables, apps, devices and other digital tools.
As our consumer survey found that 71% of people are already aware of digital technologies that support health monitoring and 56% are willing to use mobile applications, wearable technologies and other personal medical devices to manage their health, our challenge lies in ensuring that we use technology to improve the equity of access to health – not create a new digital barrier.
It’s inevitable the health system will undergo a digital transformation as seen in travel, media and other sectors. This transformation will change how people contact the health system, and our survey shows that’s what they increasingly expect. However, transformation is not without risk.I t requires attention to and investment in change management, infrastructure and new ways of delivering care. This whitepaper charts a course for reimagining the health system so it can digitise with purpose, serve the needs of individuals and deliver improved outcomes and value for all Australians.
Here, we set out the challenges that must be addressed across the quadruple aim† to improve population health and sustainably deliver a better experience for consumers and health workers. The quadruple aim provides a useful framework for understanding how well the system delivers outcomes across a range of perspectives. The system must evolve to meet these challenges and take advantage of the momentum for change created by the pandemic
This whitepaper, Australia’s Health Reimagined, is the culmination of work from a Digital Health CRC § project delivered by Deloitte, Curtin University and the Consumers Health Forum of Australia. It builds on and is directly informed and supported by our comprehensive consumersurvey and rapid review of recent literature.
Definitions
Virtual health, or digital health, is defined as
non-face-to-face clinical care, professionally enabled through digital
mechanisms such as telemedicine and telehealth, remote monitoring, integration
of consumer data and digital tools, and use of apps and devices. These
mechanisms connect clinicians, patients, care teams and other health
professionals to provide health services, support patient
self-management, share health information and coordinate patient care across
the health continuum.
Telehealth, as a subset of virtual health more generally, is a method of healthcare delivery that uses information and communications technology (ICT) to transmit audio, images and/or data between a patient and a healthcare provider. Telehealth can be used to provide diagnosis, treatment and preventive and curative aspects of healthcare services.
----- End extract.
What to make of this 15 page report?
I was somewhat startled to find out that in the definitions that virtual health and digital were the same of so the team seemed to be saying!
As for the rest I really thought I had
seen the same thing, in one guise or another, for the last decade or two. It really seemed to be simply making the point that telehealth was a good thing but that there was a risk some could be left behind. I think we already knew that!
I don’t expect one iota of change to actually flow from this.
What do you think?
David.
5 comments:
The 'How to', the 'Why not approach the problem this way instead of that 'old' way which repeatedly continues going nowhere', is still missing. So, in essence, you are correct David when you say .... "you don't expect one iota of change to flow from this report".
That's a vey great pity. I would like to be more optimistic. Even large reputable consulting firms can get buried by powerful vested political forces. Deloitte is now headed by an enlightened man who some years ago wrote an exemplar report [National Digital Health Strategy] which, ever so sadly, found its way to the bureaucrats' 'bottom draw'. Perhaps a new enlightened way of thinking at the top of Deloitte might reach out to exploring some other powerful possibilities and new ways of thinking. The government and the Health Department have tried every other which way and gone nowhere of note, but they still don't seem to comprehend that!
"non face to face clinical care"!!! Sooooo, we can do away with the consulting room, the hospital bed, interms and residents, even nurses!!! We can replace them all with a computer-driven-virtual care system. Maybe we can even do away with patient?
David. "I don’t expect one iota of change to actually flow from this."
Exactly right. A call for "a reimagined health system" is little more than hubris.
Conceptually a reimagined health system is such a HUGE UNDERTAKING that it will be impossible to bring to fruition regardless. All that it will lead to is millions of dollars being spent on armies of consultants and other so-called 'experts' flip-flopping around all over the country attending meetings, consulting with anyone and everyone under the pretence of developing new models of care and service delivery, documenting their findings and imagining themselves as being leaders and influencers in driving the new tsunami of change across the national health system including enrolling 9 States and Territories to cooperate in unison. Oh, what a party.
Is it t5he ‘7ame Old, Same Old’7...
The only thing that's different are the buzzwords, sorry, the terminology.
This says it all.
The death sentence: bureaucratic gobbledygook is killing our language
https://theworldnews.net/au-news/the-death-sentence-bureaucratic-gobbledygook-is-killing-our-language
...
"Surely when no one can understand the meaning of the message, then communication becomes redundant. Why bother at all? That would be when the chickens of meaninglessness come home to roost."
The chickens of meaninglessness have been flying round for decades.
Post a Comment