Talking HealthTech

Rafic Habib, the Managing Director for APAC and the Middle East at Clinovera, brings his extensive healthcare IT expertise to the discussion. He explores the surge of generative AI in healthcare, tackling the integration of AI with sensitive health data and the complexities of managing unstructured information. Rafic highlights the importance of interoperability standards like HL7 and FHIR, while emphasizing the need for stakeholder engagement to enhance data solutions. Finally, he shares insights on improving patient care through innovative data management strategies.

In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch speaks with Dr Kieran Holland from Streamliners, Ron Tenenbaum from The Clinician, Dr Stephen Pool from Core Schedule, and Niru Rajakumar from McCrae Tech about the role of people-centred innovation in healthcare.The discussion explores how New Zealand companies are redesigning clinical workflows, supporting patient engagement, and implementing technology solutions that bridge policy and practice, empower both clinicians and patients, and support sustainable system transformation.This episode is part 2 of a miniseries produced in collaboration with New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE), focusing on exporting New Zealand’s health technology to global markets.Key Takeaways🧑‍🤝‍👩 People are Central to Health Innovation: Across each conversation, a core theme is putting people—clinicians, patients, and users—at the centre of digital health solutions. Listening to real-world needs and collaborating with frontline staff is critical to building trust in new technologies.🔬 HealthPathways Bridges Policy and Practice: HealthPathways, supported by Streamliners, offers evidence-based clinical guidance blended with local system navigation, reducing variation in care and enhancing collaboration. Its model showcases the benefits of cross-jurisdictional learning and the opportunities for more national collaboration, including in places like Australia.🩺 PROMs and PREMs Shape Value-Based Care: Ron Tenenbaum explains how Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) are increasingly fundamental in value-based healthcare. The challenge is not only technological, but also cultural—integrating the patient voice requires clinician buy-in and workflow adaptation.💼 Workforce Management and Fatigue Risk: Dr Stephen Pool outlines the real-world consequences of manual, disconnected rostering—such as clinician fatigue and increased risk to patient safety. Core Schedule demonstrates how digitised, clinician-driven rostering can reduce administrative burden and improve wellbeing and compliance.🏥 Hospital Modernisation Relies on Flexible, Modular Tech: Niru Rajakumar highlights the growing complexity and workforce shortages in hospitals, pointing to the need for modular, flexible hospital information systems. Starting with small changes and scaling smartly, rather than implementing one-size-fits-all solutions, can deliver value efficiently.🤖 AI’s Role is Foundational, Not a Quick Fix: Each guest emphasises that emerging tools like AI should be built on solid foundations of system integration and must address frontline realities, rather than being seen as a “silver bullet.”Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.Loving the show? Leave us a review, and share it with someone who might get some value from it.Keen to take your healthtech to the next level? Become a THT+ Member for access to our online community forum, meet ups, special offers and more exclusive content. For more information visit talkinghealthtech.com/thtplus

In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch speaks with Mark Nevin, an executive leader and policy strategist in healthcare, and Dr. Sandra LJ Johnson, a paediatrician and expert in medical law, about the duties and responsibilities of the medical workforce in overseeing artificial intelligence (AI) in health services. The discussion explores the evolving regulatory landscape, medical duty of care, risk management, and the need for collaboration between clinicians, technologists, and regulators as AI becomes increasingly integrated into healthcare delivery.Key Takeaways🤖 Regulation of AI in healthcare should be risk-based, leveraging existing frameworks while addressing the unique challenges posed by dynamic and learning systems.⚙️ The duty of care for clinicians extends to understanding the tools and technologies they use, including the basics of how AI systems are trained and their limitations.🏥 Adoption of AI in clinical settings requires a holistic approach with multiple levels of guardrails—regulatory, specialist, clinician-patient, and consumer feedback—to ensure safety and accountability.👩‍🏫 Ongoing education and competency development are essential for clinicians, as medical colleges and educational bodies are now incorporating AI and digital health into their curricula.🤝 Collaboration across disciplines—between clinicians, engineers, software developers, regulators, and consumers—is key to safe and effective AI adoption in healthcare.✒️ The complexity of liability in AI-driven care highlights the importance of clear governance and delineation of responsibilities among stakeholders before issues arise.🌏 Australia is keeping pace with global advancements in AI regulation and implementation, drawing on strong collaboration between its scientific, medical, and regulatory communities.Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.Loving the show? Leave us a review, and share it with someone who might get some value from it. Keen to take your healthtech to the next level? Become a THT+ Member for access to our online community forum, meet ups, special offers and more exclusive content. For more information visit talkinghealthtech.com/thtplus

We’re excited to collaborate with New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE) to bring you a mini-series of episodes titled: “Exporting Innovation: NZ HealthTech”, exploring how New Zealand’s healthtech innovators are taking their ideas from home to the world. This episode is part 1 of 3, so stay tuned for more episodes in the series coming soon!In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch and Rob Milsom from New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE) introduce Rei Ishikawa (Karo Data Management), Paris Majot (Orion Health), Phil Xue (Odin Health), and Nick Burns (2iQ Health). The episode focuses on how New Zealand healthtech companies are powering smart healthcare through digital infrastructure, interoperability, and data-driven solutions, both at home and globally. They cover themes like hospital capacity management, primary/community care innovation, digital integration at massive scale, and the role of credible AI in healthcare transformation.Key Takeaways👨‍💻 NZTE highlights New Zealand’s approach to healthtech: innovative, necessity-driven, and values-led, with global ambition to solve hard problems in healthcare delivery.🏢 Odin Health’s journey from a small NZ operation to supporting over 450 million outpatient visits globally is driven by addressing real pain points in system integration, stability, and scalability.🌍 Real-world examples show how Norwegian digital infrastructure has been deployed not just in NZ but also at scale in large Chinese hospital settings, demonstrating the power and flexibility of Kiwi technology.🤝 Karo Data Management’s work underscores the importance of trust, indigenous values, and capturing holistic wellbeing data in primary and community care, making outcomes more relevant and reporting more meaningful.📶 Orion Health’s focus is on seamless data connectivity, patient engagement, and operational analytics, supporting clinicians with unified clinical records and enabling large-scale AI-driven workflows for preventative care.🏥 2iQ Health explores proactive public hospital capacity management, making hospital operations more efficient by anticipating demand patterns, maximising limited resources, and streamlining planning for leaders and clinicians.🔗 Across all companies, the importance of interoperability, real-time data access, cloud infrastructure, and patient-centred design is emphasised as vital for improving both patient outcomes and cost efficiency in healthcare systems.🤖 AI’s role is becoming increasingly important, but its effectiveness relies on access to quality, well-structured clinical data and meaningful integration into existing workflows.💡 A global healthtech export mindset, rooted in strong local values, positions New Zealand companies to partner with Australian organisations and those beyond for scalable healthcare innovation.Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.Loving the show? Leave us a review, and share it with someone who might get some value from it. Keen to take your healthtech to the next level? Become a THT+ Member for access to our online community forum, meet ups, special offers and more exclusive content. For more information visit talkinghealthtech.com/thtplus

In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch speaks with Patrick Hart, a medical doctor and product lead at Concentric Health, about the vital topic of consent in healthcare. The discussion explores digital consent solutions, the current challenges with paper-based consent processes, how shared decision making can be improved, and what modernising the consent process means for patient experience and clinical outcomes. Patrick shares insights from Concentric's experience in the UK and their upcoming expansion into the Australian and New Zealand healthcare systems.Key Takeaways✅ Consent in healthcare is often treated as a tick-box paper exercise, conducted at the last minute with minimal patient engagement.🗨️ Shared decision making involves clinicians and patients collaborating, leading to better treatment choices and improved patient outcomes.🖥️ Concentric Health provides a digital, template-based consent platform that standardises information while allowing personalisation for each patient.📈 Standardised digital consent can increase shared-decision making from 28% (with paper) to 72%, significantly improving patient involvement.📊 Digitising consent reduces administrative burden, decreases on-the-day treatment delays and cancellations, and minimises errors and medico-legal risks.🌍 In the UK, Concentric is used in over 30 NHS organisations and across private health groups, entirely replacing paper consent in many settings.👩‍💻 The current Australian consent process mirrors where the UK was several years ago; there is opportunity for improvement through digital adoption.⚙️ Digital consent tools enhance efficiency, reduce environmental impact, and improve patient and clinician satisfaction.🔍 Concentric is seeking pilot partners in Australia and New Zealand to adapt and deploy their digital consent system.Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.Loving the show? Leave us a review, and share it with someone who might get some value from it. Keen to take your healthtech to the next level? Become a THT+ Member for access to our online community forum, meet ups, special offers and more exclusive content. For more information visit talkinghealthtech.com/thtplus

In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch speaks with Leon Young, Founder of Cogniss, Dr Sarah Hanieh, paediatrician and public health researcher, Professor Caroline Donovan, clinical psychologist at Griffith University, and Adjunct Professor Annette Schmiede. The episode covers the 2025 Priority Digital Health Challenge, delivered by Cogniss AWS and the Validatron, supported by the AIDH, the Digital Health CRC, NextGen, and Talking HealthTech. You’ll hear from members of the expert judging panel and the two winners from the challenge.We explore how digital health solutions are being co-designed and developed for underserved, priority populations, with a focus on bridging the gap between research, evidence-based innovation, and real-world impact. Key Takeaways🏢 The Priority Digital Health Challenge supports the creation of digital health solutions for underserved and priority populations, focusing on real-world needs that often do not fit traditional commercial models.🤝 Initiatives like the Challenge help surface solutions arising from lived experience and subject matter expertise, particularly for communities and conditions often overlooked by mainstream systems.👩‍⚕️ A strong emphasis is placed on making the process less daunting for health professionals and researchers, who may not be traditional entrepreneurs, by avoiding typical startup competition formats.⚙️ Winning projects included Project Shine, a culturally tailored nutrition literacy tool for refugee and migrant communities, and Lights Out, an evidence-based child sleep intervention programme being transformed into an app.💰 There is a significant challenge in translating research-led solutions into accessible, procured offerings within health systems due to limitations in procurement pathways and funding.🗣️ Democratizing innovation opportunities and using co-design principles ensures voices from diverse communities are heard, leading to more impactful and culturally relevant solutions.🌏 Upcoming initiatives, like the Ripple programme, aim to scale the Challenge internationally, provide more sustained support to cohorts of solutions, and address systemic gaps in distribution and uptake.Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.Loving the show? Leave us a review, and share it with someone who might get some value from it. Keen to take your healthtech to the next level? Become a THT+ Member for access to our online community forum, meet ups, special offers and more exclusive content. For more information visit talkinghealthtech.com/thtplus

In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch speaks with Bettina McMahon (CEO of HealthDirect Australia), Sanka Amadoru (Geriatrician and Founding Director of ARIA Health), and Elise Ford (Account Manager at Informedix) about the challenges and opportunities involved in building and sustaining multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) in healthcare.They explore approaches to fostering effective collaboration across hospitals, the community, and aged care settings, examining the key barriers such as siloed systems, workforce shortages, and the evolving role of technology, including AI. This episode was recorded live online as part of a special session with Talking HealthTech company partners, Infomedix. Key Takeaways🗨️ Barriers to MDT Effectiveness: The panel discusses the main obstacles to effective multidisciplinary teams, with the majority of the audience survey identifying siloed systems, data, and technology as the biggest barrier, followed by poor communication and unclear team roles.🧑‍🤝‍👩 The Consumer-Centred Approach: Future-ready teams will need to be structured around patient-centred care. Consumers are increasingly expecting to be active participants, managing their own health conditions with support from their care teams, technology, and peer communities.👨‍💻 Integration of Technology: Technology is seen as essential for providing visibility and coordination across MDTs. However, it's stressed that technology solutions must align with the real-world workflow of clinical teams and shouldn’t add unnecessary administrative burden.🤖 Role of AI in Healthcare Teams: There is optimism about the potential for AI to augment MDTs, from triaging patients to supporting decision-making. However, adoption must be pragmatic, with safety, trust, and workforce adaptation in focus.🔍 Evolving Models of Care: The panel highlights real-world MDT case studies in settings like ‘Better at Home’ rehabilitation, aged care, and digital health navigation, underscoring both successful integrations and ongoing gaps, especially where external providers or systems remain siloed.🩺 Pragmatism and Flexibility: The importance of practical flexibility in MDTs is emphasised, both in adapting to unique patient needs and in navigating imperfect or incomplete technology solutions.💼 Workforce Pressures and Training: The growing demands on the healthcare workforce, particularly in nursing, are creating urgency for technology to take on a greater role. The significance of digital literacy and ongoing professional development is also explored.Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.Loving the show? Leave us a review, and share it with someone who might get some value from it. Keen to take your healthtech to the next level? Become a THT+ Member for access to our online community forum, meet ups, special offers and more exclusive content. For more information visit talkinghealthtech.com/thtplus

In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch speaks with Silvia Fazekas and Tracy Pemberton from Miller Blue Group about the critical role of change management in the successful implementation of digital health technology.Drawing on nearly two decades of practical experience in Australian healthcare and digital transformation, Sylvia and Tracy share their perspectives on the people side of tech projects, the importance of user engagement, and the need for ongoing support beyond the initial rollout. The conversation covers strategies for ensuring benefits realisation, managing stakeholders at all levels, and the concept of "enthusiasm as a service" to drive adoption of digital solutions in complex healthcare environments.Key Takeaways🤝 Change management is essential in digital health implementations because technology alone does not deliver benefits—people and processes are key.👩‍⚕️ Healthcare environments are complicated, and technology is often not the top priority for clinicians dealing with immediate patient care.🏥 Understanding clinical context, including terminology and frontline pressures, is crucial for effective change management.➕ Implementation support should go beyond emails and documentation, providing hands-on, in-context assistance and follow-up to ensure new systems embed successfully.🗣️ Engaging everyone, from frontline clinicians to executive leadership, is important for successful adoption. Senior leaders should understand and even use the systems being implemented.💰 Change management is often under-resourced in budgets, yet ongoing user support is necessary to realise the full benefits of digital transformation.🫂 Peer-to-peer support among users and visibility of improvements based on user feedback can significantly increase engagement and buy-in.🗨️ Users are encouraged to engage with change teams, provide feedback, and approach new systems with an open mind to maximise productivity gains and improve patient care.Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.Loving the show? Leave us a review, and share it with someone who might get some value from it. Keen to take your healthtech to the next level?Become a THT+ Member for access to our online community forum, meet ups, special offers and more exclusive content. For more information visit talkinghealthtech.com/thtplus

In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch speaks with Greg Rosenbauer, CEO and co-founder of Your Brain Health, and Lynette Reeves, Digital Health Lead at Miroma Project Factory (MPF), about the process of building digital health solutions. The conversation explores challenges faced by founders, the importance of early-stage consultation before writing code, and the unique hurdles of commercialising research and scaling health technology products.Key Takeaways🔍 Building digital health products should not start with coding. Early focus needs to be on understanding the problem, the end users, and identifying who will actually pay for the solution.🧠 Validation through stakeholder engagement, workflow mapping, and customer experience analysis is essential before moving into technology development.✍️ Health technology projects require consideration of compliance, regulation, integration with electronic health records (EHR/EMR), and can rarely be solved in a single development cycle.📃 Many innovations stem from clinicians or researchers dealing with fragmented or inefficient processes, often starting as paper-based or spreadsheet solutions before evolving into scalable platforms.👩‍🏫 The commercialisation journey is especially complex for academic researchers, as there can be a significant gap between evidence generation and market readiness. Consultancy and grant support are key enablers.🏥 Accelerators, grants, and support organisations like ANDHealth and Cicada Innovations are available in Australia to help bridge the “messy middle” between research and commercialisation, but the process remains competitive and challenging.💻 Co-design with diverse clients and iterative development enable digital health solutions to remain flexible and relevant as user needs and market opportunities evolve.Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.Loving the show? Leave us a review, and share it with someone who might get some value from it. Keen to take your healthtech to the next level? Become a THT+ Member for access to our online community forum, meet ups, special offers and more exclusive content. For more information visit talkinghealthtech.com/thtplus

In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch speaks with James Sneddon from Hyphen Health, along with advocates and creators Harper Valentine and Nova Hawthorne, about sexual health stigma and the systems that need to be fixed to make healthcare genuinely accessible for marginalised and underserved communities.Key Takeaways♀️Sexual health stigma remains a major barrier: Many individuals, particularly sex workers, avoid testing and seeking care due to experiences of judgement and misunderstanding in traditional health settings.👩‍💻 Online services increase accessibility and dignity: Virtual clinics and online platforms provide more tailored, empathetic, and user-friendly health services for sex workers, offering greater privacy and speed.🧑‍🤝‍🧑Importance of co-design and community feedback: Involving people with lived experience in the design and ongoing improvement of healthcare services is essential for genuine patient-centred care.👩‍⚕️ Advice for practitioners and the ecosystem: Treating everyone with dignity, listening to patient feedback, and maintaining a continuous inclusivity feedback loop are crucial for breaking down stigma and improving care.Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.Loving the show? Leave us a review, and share it with someone who might get some value from it. Keen to take your healthtech to the next level? Become a THT+ Member for access to our online community forum, meet ups, special offers and more exclusive content. For more information visit talkinghealthtech.com/thtplus