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Telstra targets healthcare with new deals [EMBIN (Emerging Markets Business Information News](EMBIN (Emerging Markets Business Information News) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Telstra has made a significant foray into the healthcare sector with the telco turning its health-services division into a stand-alone 'Telstra Health' unit. The Telstra Health division, to be run under the auspices of Shane Solomon, aims to provide the connective tissue that brings patients, healthcare professionals, health funds and healthcare infrastructure (pharmacies and hospitals) together. Mr Solomon, a former CEO of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, has been appointed managing director of Telstra Health and the division has been putting on muscle since its inception in February 2013. The latest deal comes in the shape of a ReadyCare telemedicine joint venture formed with Swiss company Medgate, with a service that will see patients talk directly to GPs over video or phone to receive advice, diagnosis, prescriptions, and referrals. Telstra Group Executive of Retail Gordon Ballantyne said ReadyCare is Telstra's bid to overcome challenges of distance and availability to provide greater levels of access. The service will be available on a 24/7 basis, and is targeting the estimated 2.2 million of emergency department presentations occurring annually that could have been treated by a GP. “There will be a great demand for telemedical consultations in Australia, and I look forward very much to a successful and exciting collaboration with Telstra Health,†Medgate chief executive and president of the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth Dr Andy Fischer said. The Productivity Commission estimates that an ageing population could increase aged care, aged pension and health care expenditures by around 7 percentage points of nominal GDP by 2059-60. Telstra's health movements aren't limited to the Medgate deal, with the telco outlining a number of other partnerships as part of its ambitious plan to become Australia's leading provider of integrated eHealth solutions. The company has signed deals with the Northern Territory Government to build a National Telehealth Connection Service and with health provider Silver Chain Group to help deliver specialist in-home nursing care, especially to patients who have just left hospital. Telstra Health wants to be the partner of choice in the health industry to connect patients, healthcare workers, hospitals, pharmacies, government and health funds and build a safer, more convenient way of managing health, Ballantyne said. Telstra's health push is part of the company's growing plan to morph from a traditional monolithic telco to a modern digital media empire, and follows Telstra's investment in online health directory HealthEngine and hospital software provider IP Health. (c) 2014 EMBIN (Emerging Markets Business Information News) Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |