Latest news with #TelstraHealth
Techday NZ
12-05-2025
- Health
- Techday NZ
Telstra Health partners with Salesforce to unify digital health
Telstra Health has announced partnerships with Salesforce and Snowflake to expand its digital health ecosystem in Australia and New Zealand. The collaboration sees Salesforce and Snowflake join existing partner Smile Digital Health, supporting Telstra Health's modernisation programme aimed at creating a unified healthcare platform for clinicians, consumers, and carers. The company stated that the expanded partnerships form part of its goal to connect care and address fragmentation in the current healthcare system by building on foundations of clinical excellence, scalability, security, and interoperability. Telstra Health Managing Director, Elizabeth Koff AM, said the partnerships are intended to facilitate digital health innovation and provide greater value to customers. Ms Koff said, "Healthcare delivery must traverse multiple care settings. Ensuring providers and recipients of care can access comprehensive and accurate records of care is a top priority. Recognising that no digital health company can address all of healthcare's challenges, we've invested in new partnerships that will strengthen our digital health ecosystem and accelerate our modernisation journey. Health systems must recognise that care knows no boundaries and I believe that building solutions based on open standards and unified platforms like the one being developed by Telstra Health are the future." Telstra Health emphasised that adopting industry standards is critical in developing an interoperable and efficient healthcare system, with each of the three partners selected for their scalable technology and sector expertise. The partnership with Salesforce is intended to combine Telstra Health's clinical and digital health knowledge with Salesforce's digital health platform and global reach. Salesforce Health Cloud and MuleSoft technology will be integrated, allowing harmonisation of patient and provider data to streamline operations and improve care services. Telstra Health Chief Technology Officer, Farhoud Salimi, said factors influencing the partnership included a shared vision, experience in regulated industries, and a focus on patient-centric approaches. Salimi commented, "Salesforce is a valued partner, and several factors including the company's commitment to data integrity and strong emphasis on upholding customer trust, particularly in handling data, stood out. This alignment in values and vision was a pivotal factor in establishing our partnership. When you transition from one care setting to another using our products on our new platform, it will be seamless. Both from a user experience perspective and a data perspective." Frank Fillmann, Executive Vice President and General Manager for Salesforce Australia and New Zealand, added, "We're proud that Salesforce's deeply unified and trusted platform is at the heart of Telstra Health's digital transformation. With Salesforce, Telstra Health will be able to drive improved outcomes for patients while providing benefits across the health ecosystem in Australia based on trusted data, and a more integrated view of patient needs." Snowflake will supply the common data and analytics layer within the unified ecosystem. The platform is expected to bring together disparate datasets from Telstra Health's suite of products and services. Salimi explained, "This data consolidation delivered by Snowflake will enable us to provide actionable insights and advanced analytics for our customers, creating a unified foundation for informed healthcare decision-making and future innovation, including artificial intelligence use cases." Telstra Health's ongoing partnership with Smile Digital Health continues to underpin the drive for interoperability. Smile's Health Data Platform is designed to enable secure and seamless data integration, utilising Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standards and CQL technology for advanced analytics and care gap analysis. The company has laid out ambitions to transform how healthcare professionals collaborate and share information by supporting the entire care continuum. Telstra Health indicated it intends to become a global digital health leader by 2030, using partnerships to scale its operations, build consistency, and deliver a unified, data-powered platform for high-quality care.
Express Tribune
31-01-2025
- Health
- Express Tribune
AI-powered tool predicts health risks in aged care
Listen to article An AI-powered tool developed by Telstra Health and RMIT University is transforming the way aged care facilities monitor and manage residents' health by predicting risks such as falls, depression, and mortality. With nearly half a million older Australians relying on aged care services as of June 30, 2023, the sector faces immense pressure to provide high-quality care. In response, the collaboration between Telstra Health, RMIT University, and the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre has resulted in an AI-driven tool designed to predict health risks and improve care outcomes in aged care settings. Dr. Tabinda Sarwar, the project lead and data scientist from RMIT University, highlights the significance of the tool in alleviating the strain on nursing staff. "The tool is capable of automatically monitoring both structured and free-text electronic patient records for 36 evidence-based indicators of deterioration," Dr. Sarwar explains. "These indicators help predict various health risks, supporting nursing staff and improving resident care." Aged care nursing staff juggle numerous responsibilities, including daily caregiving and health monitoring. Given the heavy workload, manual screening tools are not always practical. The new digital health tool is designed to reduce this burden by predicting adverse health events before they occur, making it a game-changer for aged care facilities. The tool, which has won the 2024 Research Australia's Digital & Data Health Innovation Award, analyzes daily operational data, including health-related notes and records. Using advanced natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning techniques, the tool generates predictive alerts for potential health risks like falls, depression, and even mortality. "By applying advanced data analysis to daily-collected information, we are able to predict signs of deterioration, giving care teams more time to respond," Dr. Sarwar says. "This includes assessing risks such as falls, depression, and mortality based on data extracted from geriatric assessments, observation charts, and progress notes." The collaboration leveraged Telstra Health's Clinical Manager system, which is already deployed in over 360 facilities across Australia, ensuring a broad reach. The project also benefited from the expertise of nursing staff and the support of the Digital Health CRC, bridging the gap between academia and industry to create a highly effective solution. Developing a universal tool that could address diverse challenges faced by nursing staff across different aged care facilities was a significant hurdle. "We had to design a solution that could have a meaningful impact on a larger population," Dr. Sarwar explains. To ensure the tool's usability, the team conducted independent studies, using statistical and machine learning techniques to validate its performance and clinical feasibility. The tool is currently being rolled out by Telstra Health, with several aged care homes already expressing interest in adopting it. While its potential for expansion is significant, including applications in hospitals and other healthcare settings, the next steps depend on Telstra Health's future strategies. "This tool has the potential to extend to various healthcare settings and could play a key role in transforming the healthcare industry," Dr. Sarwar concludes, emphasizing the wide-reaching impact of this AI-driven solution in improving healthcare outcomes for vulnerable populations.
