Heralding healthcare of the future

A new paper from the CSIRO outlines how technology will enable the health system to meet the challenges of an ageing population, a rise in chronic diseases and fewer rural health workers.

 

More affordable and user-friendly measurement devices will spur the widespread proliferation of self-monitoring and telehealth, while video streaming consultations will become the norm for rural areas.

These are among the predictions of how technology will shape Australia’s future health system, set out in a new paper from the CSIRO.

The report looked at current applications and likely future developments in key areas including digitally connected hospitals, telehealth, diagnostics, and patient centric data.

Some of the technologies it identified included wireless ID wristbands monitoring patients in real time, mobile health apps to help with at-home rehab and smart software that knows what patients will attend emergency departments up to 12 months in advance.

CSIRO health services research leader Dr Sarah Dods said the report, A digitally-enabled health system examined how the health system could reduce costs and deliver quality care.

“We know Australia’s health system faces significant challenges including rising costs, an ageing population, a rise in chronic diseases and fewer rural health workers. We need to look at new ways to make the health system work smarter. Digital technologies promise that,” she said.

Dr Sarah Dods
Dr Sarah Dods

Starring role for telehealth

The paper said that as telehealth became the norm for regional and remote consultations, the need for specialist fly-in staff that can cost in the thousands per visit would be dramatically reduced.

Telehealth would also address the gap in health outcomes between indigenous and non-indigenous communities, which is in large part was caused by a lack of access to healthcare resources for otherwise preventable diseases, it said.

“Eventually, digitally-enabled remote health clinics, connected via superfast broadband, will provide, for the most part, equivalent comprehensive diagnostic and treatment options to remote communities as experienced in major cities.”

Specialists and clinicians would help remote health workers in treatment using increasingly “intuitive telepresence robots” and unobtrusive wearable computer systems, allowing each clinic to meet the majority of health needs of their communities with relatively low numbers of staff, the paper said.

Streamlining data

CSIRO's new paper
CSIRO’s new paper

With regards to patient information management, the CSIRO said that as the personally controlled electronic health record evolved it would rely on “common terminology standards” to consolidate historical health data about individuals, capturing information from a range of systems.

“Clinicians and other health workers will have access to each patient’s central record at every presentation, allowing them to personalise, track, and coordinate their efforts with far more visibility than ever before.”

Elsewhere, future digital diagnostic systems would enable clinicians to diagnose multiple chronic diseases from simple, non-invasive screenings. For example, CSIRO’s diabetic retinopathy system was being designed to eventually screen a far broader range of chronic diseases, such as macular degeneration where the effectiveness of treatment depends largely on the speed of diagnosis.

Read the full paper: A digitally-enabled health system 

Tags: CSIRO, healthcare, sarah dods, technology, telehealth,

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