Melbourne, Australia
Independent · Not a clinic
An independent Australian journal of digital health
Digital DoctorExplainers on telehealth, records, medicines and the systems between Australian patients and their clinicians.
The journal · digital care after the settlement
A five-GP clinic does not need a security operations centre. It does need a floor — multi-factor authentication, no shared logins, tested backups, a breach plan and vendor contracts that mention privacy. A practical checklist for practices that still share a password on a sticky note.
Distance still shapes Australian care. Video helps when the bandwidth holds and the local relationship exists. It does not replace retrieval, visiting specialists, or a flight when the chest pain will not wait.
Wrist wearables now arrive in Australian general practice as screenshots, not as a diagnosis. This guide covers atrial fibrillation claims, step counts, sleep scores, what GPs can usefully review, and how to share data without dumping a spreadsheet on the front desk.
The consulting room without walls
Medicare rules, video versus phone, consumer checklists and the moments when a camera is the wrong instrument.
The national file
What sits in the national record, who can open it, and how hospital, pathology and imaging fragments actually reach a GP.
Tokens, charts and the chemist queue
Electronic prescribing, Schedule 8 extras, pharmacist-led care and the medication charts that keep aged-care residents safe.
Numbers on a wrist
Consumer devices, diabetes tech, digital mental health and the difference between a pretty graph and a care plan.
Consent, security, literacy
Practice cybersecurity, AI scribes, children's records, older Australians and the privacy of health apps.
The plumbing
Secure messaging, referrals, healthcare identifiers, FHIR, and the agency that operates the national infrastructure.
Distance is still a clinical fact
Remote telehealth, after-hours digital care, and digital health with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
A child's My Health Record sits in an awkward space between parental responsibility and a teenager's right to confidentiality. This article covers age of access, separated families, school apps, and when a young person should take control of their own record.
At 2am the choices are a nurse line, a home visit, a marketplace GP app, or the emergency department. Here is how those Australian services differ, what they can prescribe, and how to decide without pretending it is your usual clinic.
The Agency runs national digital infrastructure. It is not your GP, not Medicare, and not AHPRA. This explainer separates the operator of My Health Record, electronic prescribing standards and the HI Service from the Department that sets health policy.
Ambient AI scribes are arriving in Australian consulting rooms faster than the consent scripts. This article covers AHPRA and privacy issues, who authors the note, hallucination risk, and a practical way to ask patients before the microphone starts listening.
Community-controlled services already run clinics, data and trust. A national portal does not replace that. This report looks at data sovereignty, nominated representatives, language and the limits of remote tools.
Medicare’s Better Access program, telehealth psychology, and the Head to Health pathway now sit beside a crowded market of mental-health apps. This article separates rebated care from wellness marketing, and is honest about what a phone cannot do in a crisis.
Referrals still vanish between GPs and specialists because fax, inbox rules and half-connected software remain normal. This explainer covers electronic referrals, secure messaging, My Health Record uploads, and what patients can do while the letter is in limbo.
Continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps and the National Diabetes Services Scheme have made diabetes one of Australia’s most digital chronic conditions. This article separates a pretty glucose graph from a care plan, and explains NDSS access in general terms.
A usual GP is still the safest default. If you use a marketplace app, check AHPRA registration, fees, privacy, scripts and what happens after the call. This checklist is for patients and practice managers who are tired of slogans.