Top 5 technologies reshaping Australia’s healthcare sector

Digital & Innovation: A new report has identified the top five health technology transformations set to redefine Australia’s health system over the next 12 months.

Imagine a future where healthcare is not confined by the walls of hospitals but is seamlessly integrated into our daily lives through digital technologies. A future where AI augments human intelligence, enabling clinicians to make more accurate diagnoses and more effective treatment plans. A future where simulation technologies allow for risk-free training and personalised care, and where remote patient care ensures that everyone has access to high-quality healthcare, no matter where they are.

The Health x Digital Transformation Report, produced by the National Industry Innovation Network (NIIN) Health Alliance in partnership with the RMIT-Cisco Health Transformation Lab, draws insights from nearly 10,000 journal articles and trend reports.

According to Professor Vishaal Kishore, Executive Chair of the RMIT-Cisco Health Transformation Lab, the relationship between healthcare and technology has always been dynamic.

“Health has always been a creature of technological change. Tectonic shifts in technology have always made new modes and models of care possible. What has changed has been the pace of technology change, and the pressures on the health sector to keep up,” explained Professor Kishore.

He added, “There are good reasons why change at times must be cautious, but we’ve seen during the pandemic that change can – and at times, must – be sped up.”

While artificial intelligence (AI) was the most-discussed trend in 2024, the report highlights 5 areas of innovation (with best practice examples) poised to make a more immediate impact on healthcare:

AUGMENTED INTELLIGENCES

Deployment of AI and machine learning to make healthcare genuinely smart.

• Intelligencia AI uses artificial intelligence to improve the probability of success in drug development. The platform leverages machine learning to assess the probability of technical and regulatory success (PTRS) of drug candidates, making use of vast and diverse datasets.

• CSIRO and the University of Queensland’s AI-powered knee cartilage assessment, successfully commercialised in 2023 after 15 years of development and testing, takes 2D magnetic resonance (MR) images and converts them into 3D versions. It increases the quality of scans and provides earlier detection of knee osteoarthritis to save healthcare costs.

SIMULATION

Using digital replicas and simulation technologies – such as virtual reality, augmented reality, digital twins and 3D printing – to hack the real world.

• CollPlant pioneers 3D bioprinting with their rhCollagen-based BioInks, revolutionising regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.
• Unlearn is an AI and digital twin company seeking to reduce the cost and increase the effectiveness of clinical trials. By creating simplified digital twins of human trial participants, Unlearn can model the effect of that participant being enrolled in the placebo arm of a trial.

REMOTE PATIENT CARE

Leveraging digital means to provide care that meets the patient where they need it.

• Medtronic recently launched Luminaite in ANZ, integrating AiBLE for personalised care. It combines predictive analytics with advanced navigation, robotic, and imaging technology to statistically model, simulate, execute patient-specific procedures, and ultimately assist with predicting surgical outcomes.

• iRhythm Technologies offers the Zio service, a user-friendly, continuous ambulatory cardiac monitoring solution. The Zio ECG monitor, worn by patients for up to 14 days, captures uninterrupted heart rhythm data, enabling accurate arrhythmia detection and diagnosis.

HEALTH SYSTEM ADAPTABILITY AND DYNAMISM

Technologies that foster system resilience and adaptability in times of rapid change.

• The Victorian Department of Health, in collaboration with La Trobe University, has established the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED). This innovative solution allows patients to access emergency care remotely, thereby reducing the burden on physical emergency departments.

HARNESSING BIOTECHNOLOGY BREAKTHROUGHS

Building the future of healthcare through truly exciting science and technology development.

• Recognising the transformative potential of advanced analytics, Novartis embarked on a journey to consolidate its vast data resources into a unified platform called Nerve Live. Spearheaded by Dr Luca Finelli, this initiative integrates data from global clinical trials, previously siloed within different departments, into a centralised cloud-based system. As a result, the Trial Footprint Optimiser and DESIRE optimise clinical trial planning and monitor site performance in real time.
• Roche Diagnostics’ approach includes advancements in cardiac biomarkers like NT-proBNP for heart failure and cTnT-hs for acute myocardial infarction, enabling earlier detection and improved clinical decisions.

Nithya Solomon, Director of the RMIT-Cisco Health Transformation Lab, highlighted the health sector’s struggle to navigate the rapid influx of new technologies.

“This report does the heavy lifting for the health sector, prioritising important technological trends and offering short-term actions to pave the way for further – and, perhaps, faster – transformation,” Solomon noted.

“Policy frameworks are often yet to be formulated. Perhaps most urgently, the technology infrastructure in our health systems require strengthening in order to leverage much of what is starting to emerge.”

The report offers guidance for organisations and governments on how to integrate these transformative technologies, including workforce training, funding, secure data infrastructure, and developing digitisation roadmaps.

Quantum computing and blockchain, though promising, were excluded from the report, as their healthcare applications remain experimental and unlikely to be widely adopted in 2024-2025.

This release is the first of a three-part series, with the report set to be unveiled at the Singapore NIIN Health Alliance Summit 2024 in October, where digital health leaders from across the region will converge to explore the future of healthcare innovation.

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