Quick questions on Technology, digital health and big data: HSC Health and Movement Science Focus Area 1

Australia's national personal health record, run by the Australian Digital Health Agency. Allows GPs, specialists, pharmacists and hospitals to view a patient summary (medications, allergies, recent diagnostic results, hospital discharge summaries). Opt-out, so most Australians have a record, though active engagement is much lower.

Phone and video consultations funded through the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS). Permanent MBS telehealth items were expanded substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 and have remained as ongoing items, particularly for GP and mental-health consultations. Removes travel barriers for rural and remote patients and reduces work-time loss for urban patients.

Fitness trackers and smart watches that measure steps, heart rate, sleep and (on newer devices) ECG or blood oxygen. Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) are now subsidised through the National Diabetes Services Scheme for many people with Type 1 diabetes; they replace finger-prick testing with near-real-time glucose data and have transformed self-management.

Aggregated data sets that let researchers and policymakers see patterns across the whole system. Examples:

AI image-analysis tools are increasingly deployed in radiology (mammography, CT) and dermatology, typically as a "second reader" assisting a clinician rather than replacing them. Australian roll-out is regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration; uptake is uneven and still under formal evaluation.

Centralised records create centralised risk. Concerns include consent (especially for sensitive items like mental-health and sexual-health records), secondary use of data for research, and the risk of breaches. Regulation sits with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the Australian Digital Health Agency.

Benefits cluster with those who already have devices, data, English-language confidence and digital health literacy. People who are older, on lower incomes, in remote areas, or who speak a language other than English at home are systematically less likely to use a patient portal, install a wearable, or sustain a video consult on mobile data. Telehealth without translated materials, captioning, or a digital-navigator service can widen the inequity it was meant to reduce.

Outline three digital health technologies in current Australian use and explain how each affects access to care. [6 marks]

Explain how big data is used to identify and address health inequities in Australia. [6 marks]

Assess the impact of telehealth on equity of access to health care in Australia since the 2020 MBS expansion. [8 marks]