Safer, faster, easier: how telehealth is revolutionising care

As the COVID-19 pandemic began to take hold in Australia, our governments and state health departments were staring down the barrel of a public health crisis. Hospitals were expected to be overflowing, and were bracing for overwhelming demand for beds and ventilators.

But technological advances have allowed much-needed care to take place outside the traditional system.

According to Australian Government figures, more than 4.3 million health and medical services have now been delivered to a total of more than three million patients through the telehealth items introduced for COVID-19.

Let’s look at the role telehealth has played during this crucial period, and what it means for the future of Australian healthcare.

How telehealth has helped reduce the spread of COVID-19

During pandemics like COVID-19 people who are at risk, already sick or have existing immune conditions struggle to get the care they need, simply because they don’t want to be moving throughout the community.

Having access to effective health technology makes it easier for doctors to provide care remotely and allows patients to confidently follow stay-at-home orders and social distancing measures.

Telehealth platforms such as CareMonitor allow video calling, record keeping and communicating with other providers - all the necessary components of good medical care, delivered securely online.

At the height of the crisis in early April, the Western Sydney Primary Health Network (WSPHN) and Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD) teamed up with CareMonitor to rapidly adapt and deploy its cloud-based software solution for COVID-19. In an Australian first, medium-to-low-risk COVID-19 patients were seamlessly transitioned from hospital and managed in the community using CareMonitor.

The solution has been a success and has helped to slow the spread of COVID-19, alleviate hospital pressures for others in the community and allowed patients to be supported and receive the highest quality and most appropriate care in their homes.

However, it’s not just during COVID-19 where travel is a limiting factor. 

A government report from 2018 shows that around 7 million people—about 29% of the population—live in rural and remote areas. These Australians face unique challenges due to their geographic isolation, and they often have poorer health and welfare outcomes than people living in major cities.

How telehealth supports people in geographically distant areas

Previously, families who lived far from an urban hub had to travel huge distances to see doctors or medical specialists. Not only is it extremely inconvenient, it can be harmful for people who are medically challenged.

Thanks to telehealth platforms, people who live in remote areas can now have access to high-quality care regardless of geographical limitations. This drastically reduces travel costs and allows people to get on with their lives without a burden hanging over them. In many cases it’s keeping families together - especially those with a family member who requires constant or specialist treatment.

How telehealth enables rapid responses to health disasters

The ability to rapidly implement  emergency response solutions across different care settings using CareMonitor’s software platform has  been shown through the response to COVID-19.  This was also demonstrated in the management of Asthma and COPD patients during the bush fires. 

But there’s a wider opportunity  to use the capabilities of the platform to quickly gain control, reduce or moderate demand for scarce acute health services and mitigate the massive impact to the economy and loss of productivity. Using telehealth platforms, governments and health departments can reduce their overall healthcare cost burden by proactively managing patients in the community, reducing avoidable hospitalisations.

For example: diabetes is Australia’s largest disease burden, yet type 2 diabetes is largely preventable. Research suggests about 9 in 10 cases could be avoided.

“Approximately 72,000 people in Western Sydney are affected by diabetes, costing an estimated $1.16 billion in healthcare expenditure each year,” Western Sydney Diabetes director, Professor Glen Maberly recently revealed. 

Unless this is addressed it will cause an unsustainable economic and societal burden on Australia’s healthcare system. Technology like CareMonitor is ready to make a significant impact on the system’s efficiency, in addition to delivering better outcomes for the patients and society at large.

The proof: CareMonitor recently won the Australian Digital Health Agency Innovation Award for our digital Shared Care and Remote Monitoring Platform designed to provide Australians with a seamless transition of services across the health system and management of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 or other chronic health issues in record time.

We see a future where patients are engaged as partners in their healthcare. Where preventative care is no longer an ‘add on,’ but rather the core of the conversation.

To find out more about CareMonitor, and organise a demo, please get in touch.