Digital Health news round-up for February

While we’ve been keeping a close eye on global and local news related to COVID-19 vaccination roll-outs, there were a number of interesting news articles throughout February which caught our attention.

Many of these focused on hospital care in a post-pandemic world, supporting mental health during the pandemic and the technology trends that are expected to shape automation this year.

Digital providers come to the fore to support global mental health during pandemic, Medical Xpress

Research published in Frontiers in Digital Health has shown the ways in which digital providers have joined forces to support the mental health needs of millions of users unable to access traditional services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Aboriginal health service tasked with delivering at least 26,000 COVID-19 vaccines, ABC

Australia’s largest Aboriginal health services, Danila Dilba, has described their mission of inoculating 13,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults in Darwin – some of whom are among Australia’s most susceptible to the dangers of COVID-19.

The technology trends shaping automation in 2021, IT Brief

IT Brief has predicted the six key technology trends that are likely to impact Australian and New Zealand IT teams in 2021 as they advance their automation strategies, with hyperautomation demand and low-code named among them.

Making the case for COVID-19 vaccine passports: A shift to data democracy, ZD Net 

Global technology company IBM has outlined how a blockchain-based digital health “passport” could allow society to reopen without the need to expose our private medical data.

Make Australia the place global winners pick to do business, Australian Financial Review (December 8)

The Australian Financial Review Innovation Summit took place this month and Telstra Health’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Vincent McCauley discussed with other leaders in healthcare and science the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digitally-enabled transformations.

Episodes of private hospital care lift as lockdowns end, PH News

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has revealed a 24% rise in episodes of care in the private sector from the June to December 2020 quarters, yet are still lower than levels in 2019.