Practice Innovators International, provider of telehealth service GPNow, has teamed up with health management platform Wanngi to launch a private telehealth service for Australia's Aboriginal communities.

WHAT IT DOES

Through GPNow, medical professionals certified by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency will provide virtual consultations. Users can leverage Wanggi's platform to securely store information such as their chronic health conditions, medications, and immunisations.

WHY IT MATTERS

Many Aboriginal people experience poorer health and greater mortality than other Australians. Closing the gap in health and life expectancy between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is a national priority for the government. Telehealth services can help improve access to much-needed healthcare for such communities.  

THE LARGER TREND

PII Australia established a private telehealth service for Spinal Cord Injuries Australia (SCIA) last year. The service helped SCIA clients stay connected with their therapists during the pandemic-driven nationwide lockdown.

Telehealth service providers have been taking the initiative to expand their services in order to reach communities in Asia-Pacific who may have issues accessing healthcare services. Solve.Care recently expanded its global telehealth platform to India, providing people in the country's underserved rural areas with access to doctor consultations. Aurora Tele-Oncology also teamed up with China's Hainan UMP Internet Hospital to provide virtual oncology telemedicine services to cancer patients in mainland China who might have accessibility or mobility challenges.  

ON THE RECORD

Maree Beare, Founder and CEO of Wanngi said, "We are pleased to be working with GPNow. Our companies work with similar philosophies and it’s an ideal collaboration coming together as a team to create patient-centric solutions which open up care for the most vulnerable."

"Nothing will ever replace face to face consultations with our medical professionals, however, [our] programme-based telehealth services provide a new way to reach out and improve services for community members," said Robert Hicken, Founder and CEO of PII Australia.