IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Telstra this week launched the Telstra Health, marking the service provider's foray into digital health services, a segment that is expected to take off in a big way on the back of 3 major drivers - increasing demand for health care services in particular specialist services in remote areas and home care services, the widespread adoption of virtual mediums for day-to-day communications and most importantly, the growth in the M2M connected health sector where manufacturers and IoT platform providers are rolling out remote monitoring services to keep track of one's health and well-being.

With service providers expanding their digital services portfolio, digital health or eHealth stands out as one of the verticals that is able to make a huge difference in the customer's well-being. In his statement, Telstra's Group Executive of Retail, Gordon Ballantyne said that the spending on healthcare in Australia is growing at twice the rate of its economic growth and makes up nearly 10% of its GDP. By 2020, the healthcare spending is expected to hit USD200 billion. Similar scenarios are expected in other regions, specifically in more developed countries as dependence on modern medicine and healthcare facilities and at the same time, increased awareness of health increases the frequency of visits and consultations at hospitals, clinics and healthcare centers.

Read more: Telstra Health to Roll Out Digital Health Services for Australians Featured

Telco launches health division to provide video conferencing services to remote communities

Telstra (ASX: TLS) has launched an e-health business division called Telstra Health as it looks to connect patients with doctors via video conferencing, said group executive of retail, Gordon Ballantyne.

“Telstra Health is about connecting you to your doctor, your doctor to your other providers, and having access to care and information where you want, when you want,” he said in a statement.

Read more: AU: Telstra enters e-health space

Telstra is aiming to provide telehealth services all over Australia via the NBN and its 4G network.

After two years and AU$100 million of development, Telstra is wading into the healthcare market, with the launch of Telstra Health and three new telehealth services aimed at connecting patients with doctors.

It won't be a case of Doctor Telstra coming in to diagnose your illness or treat your symptoms, CEO David Thodey said on Wednesday, but more about connecting healthcare professionals with patients across Australia.

Read more: AU: Telstra kicks off Health division with joint venture

Australia has today launched the beta site for its redesigned e-government portal, australia.gov.au, asking for user feedback and displaying its current thinking on how the next generation website will look.

The site follows on from the alpha site launched in July, ditching images for blocks of text that relate to broad areas of government services. For example, there is a health section, a law and justice section, and a money, benefits and tax section.

Read more: Australia launches beta site for new e-gov portal