02-Sep-16 Creating an avenue for Australians who feel “kind of stuck”, medical tourism agencies in Australia such as SkyGen and CosMediTour offer to help people find orthopedic, cosmetic and spinal surgery overseas. Every health stakeholder is worried about rising costs at home. But the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons warns of paperwork, unidentified implants, fragmentation of care and misleading advertising. [image: Lyndon Mechieslen]

30-Aug-16 Australia’s first large-scale trial of telehealth has shown it could save up to AUD3 bn (USD2.3 bn) a year. The research involved trialling telehealth systems with 287 patients over 12 months. It showed savings of 24% to the healthcare system made through falls in the number and cost of GP visits, specialist visits and procedures. [image: CSIRO]

11-Aug-16 Australian medical device innovator Atomo Diagnostics announced it has raised AUD4.5 mn in new equity from professional investors. Former Macquarie Group Managing Director and CEO Allan Moss said, "Atomo has developed a remarkably user-friendly and accurate testing device which has the potential to assist greatly in detecting HIV and other diseases in Africa and globally." [image: Atomo Diagnostics]

10-Aug-16 Medibank Health Solutions, the Australian health management and telehealth services arm of privatised health insurer Medibank Private, is set to be sold off. Likely interested buyers would be healthcare service provider Aspen Medical or another insurer such as Bupa. [image: Medibank]

05-Aug-16 New research shows one in four chronically ill Australians is skipping healthcare because of high costs. James Cook University said the situation was significantly worse in Australia than in Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany. The study found that more than one-third of people with asthma, emphysema and COPD could not afford the treatment they needed. [image: ABC North Queensland / Nathalie Fernbach]