ACP platform secures accelerator grant

Australian digital advance care plan platform Touchstone Life Care has been selected to receive Commonwealth funding through a health technology accelerator program.

Touchstone Life Care is a fully digital, cloud-based ACP management platform that integrates with stakeholders across the healthcare system to make ACPs securely available when needed.

It is one of six digital health technologies announced by Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler this month to share in $3.75 million of equity-free funding through the Medical Research Future Fund as part of the ANDHealth+ accelerator program.

“We are so pleased to be selected by ANDHealth+ for this important growth opportunity,” said Touchstone Life Care founder and chief executive officer Dr Merran Cooper.

She said it was a game-changing opportunity to meaningfully improve end-of-life care for Australians.

“We know that less than 7 per cent of Australians have an up-to-date ACP. And where they do exist, they are typically in paper form, unavailable in an emergency, or without meaningful instructions for clinicians to enact.”

Touchstone’s digital platform reduces these risks and improves end-of-life care, she said. It also addresses several recommendations from the aged care royal commission that relate to digital ACPs and can help aged care providers meet their compliance requirements under incoming legislation, Dr Cooper said.

Aged care staff can use the platform on any device to develop a digital advance care plan with a resident based on their values and preferences through conversation that starts with gentle questions and builds up to more challenging ones. The digital plans can be securely shared online with family members, general practitioners and trusted contacts, and accessed easily by a unique QR code generated for each plan.

Dr Cooper thanked Mr Butler for his faith in Australian healthcare innovations.

Mr Butler said the potential of Australia’s researchers and digital health technology sector was unlimited.

“Investment is important, but so too is expert guidance to navigate the pathway from discovery to delivery for Australian patients,” Mr Butler said. “Through ANDHealth+ the government is accelerating our brightest ideas to help reach our vision for fast and safe adoption of digital health technologies.”

The program – delivered by Australian digital health commercialisation organisation ANDHealth – includes funding distributed in two stages over 16 months plus a network of experts from around the world to provide hands on support to help businesses scale up.

The other digital health technologies selected are:

• Cape Bionics
• Healthily
• Navier Medical
• Osara Health
• Sydney Neuroimaging Analysis Centre (SNAC).

ANDHealth CEO and managing director Bronwyn Le Grice said the investments would support Australia’s highest-potential digital health innovators to navigate the complex and evolving landscape of digital health commercialisation.

“Access to capital and digital health experience remain critical barriers to commercialisation and growth for digital health innovators in Australia. Whilst we have an increasing number of success stories growing internationally, companies at home still require support to navigate the valley of death and subsequent post-regulatory-approval viability gap,” said Ms Le Grice.

“ANDHealth+’s two-stage process has proven itself to be significantly more effective than other programs in accelerating commercialisation and growth for these companies.”

Dr Cooper thanked ANDHealth for the opportunity to make Touchstone available to more Australians. “We look forward to working with ANDHealth+ and taking important steps towards improving the end-of-life care for older people in Australia.”

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