Australia’s Investment in Health AI: 10 Grants Improving Access and Mental Health Care

Australia has invested $20 million in new health AI projects, awarding grants to 10 AI projects from major universities to improve healthcare access. These grants are part of the Medical Research Future Fund’s National Critical Research Infrastructure Initiative and include research from the University of Queensland for early melanoma detection using AI and 3D total skin imaging, as well as a project from the University of Melbourne to address mental health problems among young people with AI-powered services.

In New Zealand, a fake app posing as The Doctors app from Green Cross Health has been reported. The IT team at The Doctors Medical Centres took action upon learning of the fake app, informing the National Cyber Security Centre NZ to blacklist it and reporting to Google to have it removed from the Play Store. The authentic Doctors app allows patients to book appointments, order repeat prescriptions, access medical records, and receive health reminders.

PenCS has introduced a new module on its Practice Cloud platform to support care planning activities related to the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive. This federal scheme offers practice and provider incentives of A$430 per eligible patient each year. The new module, MyMedicare – Aged Care Incentive, helps practices identify eligible patients, generate reminder and recall lists, visualize claimed and unclaimed MBS items, identify revenue opportunities for eligible patients, and understand patient lists based on various parameters. This new module comes with the addition of Dashboards and Reports with actionable patient lists to Practice Cloud.