Talking HealthTech

In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch speaks with Phil Offer, CEO of BestMed, about the evolving landscape of medication management across aged care, primary care, and pharmacy in Australia.They discuss the challenges around syncing data between these sectors, the clinical and operational impact of medication errors, and how technology platforms like BestMed are shaping safer, more connected workflows. The episode covers the origins of BestMed, the importance of interoperability, regulatory drivers, stakeholder benefits, and the future of intelligence and AI in digital health.Key Takeaways:📊 Medication discrepancies between aged care, GPs, and pharmacies are widespread, with a University of Sydney study showing 72.6 discrepancies per 100 records—many with potential for clinical harm.💻 Digitisation and interoperability between care providers reduce manual transcription errors and potential incidents, with some facilities reporting a 63% drop in medication-related incidents.☁️ BestMed's cloud-based platform is accessed by aged care staff, pharmacists, GPs, and families, with real-time medication records for safer and more efficient management.🏛️ Regulatory standards and government support have been crucial in advancing interoperability and uptake of digital medication management in aged care.🎯 Guiding principles for product design include minimising data retranscription, integrating into user workflows, and actively seeking feedback from stakeholders.🔗 BestMed's recent integration with Best Practice Software aims to further streamline processes for GPs, minimising double-entry and enhancing workflow efficiency.💝 The emotional impact of better systems is notable—staff feel more supported, and families gain visibility, ultimately improving experience and reducing stress.🤖 Artificial intelligence is already in use for pharmacy packing checks, and future projects include AI-driven deprescribing and decision support—keeping solutions focused on practical clinical impact.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

Dr. Jaspreet Saini, a GP and Chief Medical Officer at HotDoc, shares insights from the Best Practice Summit 2025. He emphasizes the importance of reliable foundational technology before adopting advanced AI tools to alleviate clinician burnout. Nicole Gartrell discusses the goals of Health Connect Australia, a national health information exchange. Meanwhile, Craig Hodges and Jessica White highlight priorities like cloud migration and interoperability to enhance efficiency in practices. Together, they explore real-world problem-solving in primary care.

In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch speaks with Dan Stinton, CEO of Healthengine, about the changing landscape of digital health platforms in Australia. They discuss Dan’s transition from digital media into the health tech sector, Healthengine’s evolution from a healthcare marketplace to a comprehensive patient engagement platform, and the introduction of new technologies like AI-powered receptionists. The conversation also covers trends in patient engagement, the impact of cost-of-living pressures on healthcare access, and the future of technology-driven healthcare delivery. Key Takeaways🔄 Over the years, Healthengine has shifted from being purely a healthcare marketplace to emphasising patient engagement tools and SaaS products, such as online bookings, recalls, reminders, and custom forms.🌐 The platform is expanding beyond GPs to include dental, allied health, specialists, and pharmacy - aiming to enable patients to manage their entire care team from one place.🤖 Healthengine has launched "Helen," an AI receptionist designed to handle administrative phone calls for GP clinics, allowing reception staff to focus on more complex tasks. Helen is already being piloted and operates strictly on non-clinical tasks for privacy and accuracy.📊 Research by Healthengine indicates around 80% of people are comfortable interacting with bots for administrative healthcare tasks, especially given the benefit of never waiting on hold.💰 Cost-of-living pressures are causing more Australians to delay essential medical care, as reflected in the upcoming Australian Healthcare Index—a survey run in partnership with Patients Australia.💻 Virtual care is on the rise, but still makes up a small proportion of Healthengine's bookings, with most telehealth appointments occurring outside regular business hours for transactional needs like repeat prescriptions.🎯 Healthengine's current strategy is to continue investment in patient engagement technology, leveraging AI for administrative efficiency without entering the space of clinical care itself.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 Rob Milsom from NZTE, along with Matt Russell and Matt Boyles from Aranz Medical, Will Hewitt from HeartLab, Greg O’Grady from Alimetry, and Abby Moore from Chiptech.Together, they explore the latest developments in New Zealand’s healthtech ecosystem, focusing on the future of medical technology and diagnostics, specifically AI, wearable diagnostics, medtech, and the need to keep patients, clinicians, and the wider system at the centre of innovation. The episode showcases how Kiwi companies are driving global impact in wound care, cardiac diagnostics, gut health, and personal emergency response systems.This episode is part 3 of a 3-part series created by Talking HealthTech in partnership with New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE), exploring how New Zealand’s healthtech innovators are taking their ideas from home to the world. Key Takeaways⚙️ Silhouette, developed by Aranz Medical, is transforming wound care through 3D imaging and data-driven insights, making wound management more efficient and scalable in both hospital and community settings.🤖 HeartLab is advancing cardiac diagnostics using AI, with a focus on enabling clinicians to easily and quickly access and interpret cardiac scans remotely, emphasising speed, workflow, and responsiveness across global markets.📏 Alimetry provides a wearable diagnostic solution for gut disorders, allowing for non-invasive measurement and better clinical insight into gastrointestinal symptoms, while also showcasing the process of commercialising research-driven technology in global health markets.👵 Chiptech is delivering technology-enabled care systems for ageing populations, offering scalable and adaptable personal emergency response solutions that support independence at home and address broader sector challenges.🔬 The export journeys of these companies highlight the value of deep research, user insight, collaboration, and tailored solutions in creating medtech products that resonate globally while addressing local needs.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

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