Telstra to build e-health cloud

Telstra will build a web-application delivery service for medical practitioners by next July.

It inked a memoradum of understanding with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners to build a high-speed, e-health cloud.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

It will host healthcare applications including clinical software, decision support tools for diagnosis and management, care plans, referral tools, prescriptions, training and other administrative and clinical services.

The partners will work with the National E-Health Transition Authority to create technologies such as secure messaging.

Besides providing the college's 17,200 members with quick, mobile access to applications, the service is expected to benefit application providers by providing a convenient path to market.

Telstra Business Group Managing Director Deena Shiff said the partners would first target patient communications based on the latest technology.

"We will work together to lay the foundations Australia needs to accelerate take-up of e-health solutions including patient identification, secure messaging and records storage," she said.

"These capabilities are a critical first step in the evolution of a national e-health record for Australians."

College president and NSW practitioner Chris Mitchell said the service would make life easier for GPs.

"GPs are busy and the implementation of a national e-health strategy might seem daunting. However, staying up-to-date and making sense of the latest technology is important," he said.

"Instead of every practice buying every application separately, the RACGP and Telstra will work to delivering a suite of services that meet the needs of GPs and provide real value for practices."