Telstra has unveiled a new business division, Telstra Health, as it spots an opportunity to offer integrated e-health systems – and perhaps driven by moves by the likes of Apple, Google and others to offer health information. The move also comes at the same time as the Australian Government’s electronic heath record system has floundered.
Telstra retail group executive Gordon Ballantyne said Telstra wants to be the “partner of choice” to connect patients, healthcare workers, hospitals, pharmacies, government and health funds and build a “safer, more convenient way of managing health.”
He didn’t explain how Telstra could offer better health services than the existing infrastructure – other than to say the telco believed it could help solve some of the “profound challenges” facing the healthcare industry.
Ballantyne claimed Telstra Health would bring together an “experienced team” of health experts.
He has appointed Shane Solomon, former CEO of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, as Telstra Health MD.
