Highlights from the Australian Telehealth Conference 2016

First published May 9, 2016

The Australian Telehealth Conference 2016, hosted by HISA (Health Informatics Society of Australia), brought together clinicians and non-clinicians from all over Australia and New Zealand to discuss current use of, and future pathways for telehealth.

The ATC has run for several years, and chair Leigh Donoghue said, it’s progressed from being IT-focused to being broader in reach and scope. This is great, as we think it’s futile to discuss the future of telehealth without involving healthcare workers in the discussion. Who best to talk about the benefits and challenges of telehealth and other technologies than those at the frontline of healthcare?

Similarly, healthcare workers spanning medical doctors, Allied Health workers and nurses, got to meet stakeholders from local health networks across metropolitan and regional Australia and New Zealand. Startup founders presented along with Telstra Health, Elsevier, and NGOs. It really was a great mix of speakers for an introduction to telehealth, and showed how innovation can be sparked by people collaborating across disciplines at these events.

We learnt heaps from the conference and we’ll share some of those insights here very soon. (Edit: it’s now available here.) HISA is headed by former occupational therapist Dr Louise Schaper, and they hold a lot of exciting digital health events. Registration for their annual Health Innovation Conference and Health Hackathon in Melbourne in July is open here.