27 February 2026 - Top Stories

Australia’s healthtech landscape is moving into a more AI-enabled, telehealth-driven phase, with practical tools rolling out and leadership shifts aimed at knitting care delivery more tightly across insurers, providers and patients. The pace reflects steady adoption of digital health across hospitals, clinics and remote communities.

Healthdirect’s new Patient Consult Summary app is rolling out nationally inside the secure video platform used across hospitals, community health centres, general practice and virtual emergency services. Clinicians can draft a structured, patient-friendly summary during or just after a call and share it with the patient in real time, improving understanding and enabling smoother telehealth workflows.

Industry voices are calling for a pragmatic regulatory path for AI in healthcare. A leading dermatologist and Xestro chief executive argues for a Clinician in the Loop exemption to speed adoption, noting that current rules treat AI as software with medical purpose and require feature-by-feature conformity assessments, a process that can run from 12 to 16 months per feature and stall useful tools.

AI is increasingly used to allocate work, monitor compliance and tune clinical workflows in Australian health IT. This shift raises psychosocial risk concerns under Safe Work Australia guidance, as algorithmic management can alter accountability and affect morale. Organisations are urged to embed governance that clearly assigns responsibility and protects clinician wellbeing.

Medibank has appointed Dr Paul Eleftheriou from Nous Group as chief medical officer (customer). He will join at the end of March after finishing at Nous on March 13. He replaces Dr Christopher Robinson, who has returned to St Vincent’s. The appointment signals a push to place clinical leadership at the centre of care integration and digital health expansion in Australia.

Best Practice remains the leading GP software platform, and market chatter about a potential sale continues as buyers seek AI-enabled workflow advantages. The history of deals in the GP software space, including HotDoc and MedicalDirector changing hands, illustrates how data access and AI integration could reshape competition and integration in Australian health tech.

Across the workforce policy front, the Nurse Prescribing Bill Advances would let designated registered nurses prescribe medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from July 2026 and qualify those medicines for PBS rebates. Supporters say the reform recognises nurses' role in primary care, eases workforce pressures and boosts access in rural and regional areas.