The National Broadband Network has the potential to help restructure Australia’s health care system, making it more affordable and efficient, an information technology expert says.

According to Dr Terry Cutler, chairman of the ARC Centre for Excellence in Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) and principal of Cutler & Company, a nationwide e-health platform could help overcome looming staff shortages and rising costs in the healthcare sector.

“National health budgets are escalating out of control and we are spending $100 billion a year on healthcare,” says Dr Cutler. “Health experts predict that we will face major skills shortage in the sector - but employing more staff is not the answer, as there is little correlation between the number of doctors and health outcomes.

“Australia needs an advanced broadband platform to drive our health system. A well implemented e-healthcare can increase hospital productivity, keep down health costs for the public and ensure healthcare is accessible 24- hours a day.”

Dr Cutler says the first step in a healthy society is ensuring that the public is proactive in preventing sickness and has sufficient knowledge to manage their own health better.

“Too few Australians know how their bodies operate. This makes it difficult for them to look after themselves and take full advantage of health support services. The internet can be used to increase the nation’s health literacy, but this means that the public’s online literacy must first be improved.”

He describes how online telephone services, remote monitoring and e-prescriptions can help people who are housebound or living in remote communities. One way to run these services efficiently, he says, is to have a reciprocal bandwidth system, with equal upload and download rates.

Another reason to consider an e-health system is the economic benefits that it can bring, says Dr Cutler. 

“The largest expenses for chronic patients are hospital stays. Developing a way to monitor these patients remotely via the internet is an effective way to help treat them and help them avoid huge bills.

“Also, people often have to travel to the emergency room because the local GP is shut. This is very inefficient and costly. If we have the resources for online diagnosis and live connections to doctors and nurses, basic health advice and services can be available to Australians round the clock.”

Dr Cutler says that there needs to be an active public debate about ways to implement an Australia-wide e-health system.

“It’s not cost effective if the system only reaches a small number of people. This means that we need extensive household coverage, as we can’t roll out e-health services unless we have a widespread network.

“Currently, everyone is focused on the roll-out of the physical infrastructure of the NBN. But we now have the technology, and should be concentrating on developing the services and applications that will use it.”

Full details of Mr Cutler’s remarks may be found at:http://www.sciencealert.com.au/opinions/20111401-21738.html