Together we are stronger: Visionflex joins technology consortium to transform aged care services
Visionflex has partnered with five health technology companies in an Australia-first consortium to connect their systems and improve aged care quality, dignity, efficiency, and transparency.
The Aged Care Technology Consortium’s founding companies – Visionflex, Webstercare, Extensia, Foxo, MEDrefer and Humanetix – are proven health innovators. Together, they plan to integrate a suite of technologies to demonstrate coordinated care in residential aged care facilities and home-care settings.
The consortium’s solutions will feature Visionflex’s virtual care technology to deliver remote clinical services directly to patients in aged care. The Visionflex system, which has been designed specifically for health settings, features a comprehensive range of medical devices and is integration ready with existing ICT infrastructure and electronic health records.
The benefits of integrated technologies in aged care are significant yet the sector remains strikingly disconnected, with a lack of information sharing between aged care facilities, hospitals, GPs, allied health, older people, and families. Even within organisations, systems do not interact.
Visionflex CEO, Mike Harman, said, “We believe that access to timely, effective, and clinical virtual care, and the ability to collect, store, and share health data across the patient journey, is vital for the digital transformation of the aged care sector.
“We are very excited to be embarking on this collaborative and innovative project with our fellow consortium members.
“One of our major goals will be to demonstrate how Visionflex digital health solutions can transform health outcomes for elderly Australians in both residential aged care and home-care settings by delivering clinical health services directly to the point of need.”
Between them, the six consortium members provide technologies for secure real-time communications, workflow and administration, telehealth and remote monitoring, referrals, medication management, and health information sharing. Their systems easily connect into aged care providers’ existing IT infrastructures, showing ease of implementation.
Other companies with recognised track records in delivering health, aged care, Indigenous health, and disability care, are welcome to join the consortium.
Consortium members anticipate their technology solutions will deliver many benefits to both aged care residents/recipients and providers alike, including:
- preventing unnecessary transfers to hospital emergency departments
- early identification of health needs
- improved services in rural and remote areas
- more staff time for patient care
- better engagement with families
- and patient control of their information.
Last year, the Royal Commission in Aged Care Quality and Safety found “substandard care and abuse pervades the Australian aged care system”. It also found that the sector is deeply analogue: “The aged care system is well behind other sectors in the use and application of technology and has no clear information and communications technology strategy. This mix of factors has resulted in an aged care sector that is behind the research, innovation and technological curves.”
Additionally, the aged care sector is facing increasing demands from an ageing population with increasing frailty. Australians are living longer and the number aged 85 years and over is projected to increase from 515,700 in 2018-19, to more than 1.5 million by 2058.
The Australian Government agreed, or agreed in principle, to 126 of 148 Royal Commission recommendations, of which more than 30 are significantly dependent on ICT and digital enablers to implement.
The benefits of the technologies within the consortium have been demonstrated over years in real-world settings.
- Visionflex technology is used across remote locations by organisations including public and private hospitals, Royal Flying Doctor Service and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, to perform detailed patient examinations with a physician at the far end.
- In a Queensland care coordination project in partnership with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Extensia’s shared care record achieved a 26 per cent reduction in avoidable hospital admissions for patients with chronic and complex conditions.
- In a two-year University of Canberra study into the ‘ACE’ clinical management system by Humanetix at a 170-bed aged care facility, a 20 per cent saving in nursing time was accomplished.
- Webstercare, which introduced the world-first medication multi-pack, the Webster-pak, 40 years ago, is a well-known and trusted company in aged care. The company provides award-winning systems that support older people, families, carers, pharmacists, nurses, and aged care staff to manage medications safely.
Aged Care Technology Consortium members include:
Visionflex provides powerful software and hardware telehealth solutions that support a range of approved medical devices to perform remote clinical examinations.
Foxo’s secure, real-time communications SaaS platform is changing the way doctors, nurses, and allied health connect, communicate, and collaborate.
MEDrefer is an Australia-wide directory and eReferral delivery system stored in the cloud and integrated into practice management software.
Extensia’s RecordPoint connects governments, health services, aged care providers, Indigenous health organisations, disability care providers and research institutions to securely share important health information.
From introducing the world’s first multi-dose Webster-pak medication pack, to its award-winning automation and software solutions, Webstercare is a leading medication management solutions provider.
Humanetix software automates administration through workflow. The company’s systems apply clinically devised rules to present relevant information and create records automatically.
