The planets are aligning for connected care in Australia, with policy, investment, standards, technology and consumer expectations moving in the same direction.
Earlier this year Elizabeth Koff AM, managing director at Telstra Health, highlighted why 2026 could mark a turning point for digital health in Australia.
Since then, the direction of travel has become clearer. Policy, funding, standards and consumer expectations are starting to align in a way we haven’t seen before.
The latest Federal budget reinforces this with targeted investment in the national digital foundations needed to make connected care operational. This includes My Health Record, Medicare systems and infrastructure, aged care ICT and cyber capability, public hospital digital reform, and the Sparked program supporting FHIR‑based interoperability standards.
What is different now is not just the level of investment, but the way these elements are coming together. Standards have matured, cloud infrastructure is now enterprise-grade, and policy settings are increasingly enabling information to be shared in near real time across care settings.
From 1 July, most pathology and diagnostic imaging reports will also be uploaded to My Health Record by default. That’s an important shift. Information sharing is moving from aspiration to expectation.
A capacity challenge, not just a funding challenge
Australia’s healthcare challenge is not only one of funding, but also capacity. Demand across health, aged care and disability services continues to grow, while workforce pressures remain significant across the care economy.
But capacity is not defined by workforce alone. It is also shaped by how effectively clinicians can access and act on information.
Care is now highly distributed across GPs, hospitals, specialists, allied health providers, pharmacies, community services and aged care settings. That model only works if information follows the patient. Today, often, it doesn’t.
The challenge is not that we lack data – in fact, 30% of the world’s data volume is healthcare data. The issue is whether that data can be translated into relevant, contextual insight – wherever care is delivered – to provide a complete view of the person.
Consumers are changing the terms of clinical engagement
At the same time, consumer expectations are evolving.
Australians can already bank, shop, travel and manage most aspects of their lives in real time from their smartphones. Increasingly, they expect the same from healthcare – visibility, control and 24/7 access to their own health information.
We’re starting to see that shift play out in consultations. Patients are arriving with information from apps, search engines and AI tools. They’re asking more informed questions and expecting to play a more active role in decisions about their care.
This is a positive shift. But it also raises the bar for the system.
Greater access needs to be matched with trusted information, clinical interpretation and appropriate safeguards. Otherwise, patients are left to navigate complexity on their own.
Trust becomes the defining issue
AI has moved quickly from future consideration to operational reality. Healthcare organisations are exploring its role in productivity, decision support and workflow, while governments are investing in accelerator programs and agency trials. Patients are also using these tools directly.
This has created a clear tension.
On one hand, there are valid concerns about privacy, security and the use of AI in healthcare. On the other, some patients are already uploading pathology results, specialist letters and personal health information into their favourite consumer AI platforms in search of answers or reassurance.
This raises a key question: in the age of AI, who should patients trust when making decisions about their health?
Trust is built through transparency, governance and consistency and through a clear link between how information is used and how care improves.
For clinicians, trust in AI depends on data quality, explainability and confidence that clinical judgement remains central. AI should reduce administrative burden and surface relevant insights, not replace decision-making.
For patients, trust comes down to access, clarity, consent and security. If the system doesn’t provide trusted, connected information, people will continue to look elsewhere.
Related
Making value-based care real
This is also central to the ongoing shift towards value-based care. NSW Health defines this as the equitable, sustainable and transparent use of available resources to achieve better outcomes and experiences for every person, at every stage of their health journey.
In practice, value-based care means moving beyond volume driven, fee-for-service models to focus on what matters most to patients and communities: outcomes, experiences, access, safety and the effective use of resources.
Consider a patient who is discharged from hospital after a cardiac event. Their medication has changed and follow up pathology has been ordered. Their GP needs to review them within days, and their recovery will depend on timely, coordinated decisions across multiple care settings.
This is where the idea of connected care moves from policy document to real world practice. It supports the practical conditions for value-based care by making it easier to understand what is happening for a person, what outcomes matter to them, and where the system can intervene earlier, safer and more efficiently.
For many years, healthcare organisations have accumulated valuable information within individual data systems. Delivering against modern, distributed care demands requires a connected approach. One that integrates clinical information, measures what matters, and optimises resources to improve care outcome.
From fragmentation to a single individual’s story
The recent launch of Telstra Health Corus™, our care intelligence ecosystem, reflects this shift.
Corus™ is built on a simple principle: one individual, one story. Care should follow the person not the system.
The aim is not to display more data, but to create clarity, connecting information from multiple sources across care settings in a governed and secure way, and translating it into a more complete, usable view of the patient journey.
That, in turn, would serve to support better coordination across providers and more informed decisions at every point of care.
One system, one story, one future
Connected care will require sustained collaboration across governments, providers, clinicians, technology partners and communities. It will also depend on trust in how information is shared, protected and used.
What is encouraging is that the conditions for progress are now aligning. Policy, investment, standards, technology and consumer expectations are moving in the same direction.
The opportunity is not just to digitise healthcare, but to make it work more effectively, supporting better decisions, reducing unnecessary burden, and improving outcomes for patients and clinicians.
Every person experiences their healthcare journey as one story. Our health system should, too.
Fahroud Salimi is chief technology officer of Telstra Health.