ANYWHERE HEALTHCARE
Anywhere Healthcare , a subsidiary business of Medibank , is a health services organisation that provides a range of healthcare initiatives to the state and federal government and large corporate and non-profit companies .
Because Anywhere Healthcare was developed in a governmentbacked environment , the organisation was not necessarily born out of a strong underlying business strategy . However , as innovators in their field , the Anywhere Healthcare team has worked to develop a model that is both scalable and sustainable . They have achieved the scale part of the equation , as the organisation now understands the dynamics of running a purely online medical practice .
To make their operation sustainable , Anywhere Healthcare is looking to make the medical consultation process more efficient through a number of initiatives . Samuel Holt , director of online care , knows innovation is key : “ The answer isn ’ t in just trying to replicate what happens in the face-to-face world , it is in looking at healthcare and streamlining care so that maybe it can be potentially faster and more efficient .”
Video consultation technology The core of Anywhere Healthcare ’ s service is to enable patients to connect with a healthcare provider via video . To encourage regional doctors to connect their patients in rural or difficult-to-reach areas with city specialists , there are incentives and other government funding available under the Medicare system .
The organisation employs cloudbased practice-management software , used by clinicians and practice management staff to store patient referrals , images and scans provided by their network of 1,000-plus referring practitioners across the country . Vidyo , a video conferencing platform , make the video consultations possible .
Technology moves fast , so Anywhere Healthcare is always looking for new and better solutions to improve their services . Australia does not have ubiquitous access to one backbone of Internet , so
50 November 2014