The launch of the National Allied Health Digital Uplift Plan in December capped off a year where allied health professions confidently joined the digital health frontline. This year saw numerous innovative on-demand and virtual services launched, many of which broke new ground for allied healthcare delivery.
Allied health professions were comprehensively consulted where it counts. Australian Digital Health Agency chief program officer Paul Creech said the digital uplift plan was the result of close consultation with more than 220 allied health professionals, 60 peak bodies, consumers, software vendors and government stakeholders.
“By engaging in meaningful conversations and truly listening to everyone involved, we’ve ensured the plan gets it right for allied health professionals, delivering infrastructure that suits their needs, smoother registration, hands-on training, and secure ways to share information,” Mr Creech said at the plan’s launch.
The uplift plan forms part of implementation of the National Digital Health Strategy 2023-2028 and Delivery Roadmap and also supports the Commonwealth’s Digital Health Blueprint and Action Plan 2023-2033.
Allied Health Professions Australia (AHPA) conducted a survey in 2024 in collaboration with the Australian Digital Health Agency to understand allied health professionals’ current awareness, use and readiness to use Provider Connect Australia™, My Health Record and Electronic prescribing.
The resulting Allied Health Digital Transformation Survey Report released in February highlighted gaps in workplace readiness of allied health professionals. It found the diversity of allied health professions, care settings, clinical areas of care and funding schemes made increasing adoption of the key digital products “challenging”. With 2,419 participants from 36 allied health professions (AHPs), it was the largest and most diverse cohort to respond to a national survey focused on Australian AHPs and their use of digital products.
Building on this, in April, the AHPA called out digital health as one of its top five priorities for the 2025 federal election. It said there was a critical need to better connect health data across all parts of the health system to enable coordinated team care and improve consumer outcomes.
“Allied health professionals need access to critical health information generated by other healthcare professionals to provide optimal patient-centred care. A healthy digital ecosystem enables timely sharing of clinical information between healthcare professionals.”
With some understatement, Australia’s Chief Allied Health Officer Anita Hobson-Powell –interviewed on the PULSE podcast – said allied health had been a ‘bit slow to the market’ .
“From a government perspective, the focus was around GPs and trying to get them ready and using the system. So, a lot of the education and tools to support their uplift hasn’t been there.”
The Primary Health Network, recognising the importance of allied health to connected care and the patient journey, completed some milestones this year.
A survey by Hunter New England & Central Coast Primary Health Network (HNECC) invited allied health providers to gauge their “digital care maturity.” After completion, each practice received a tailored action plan with recommendations for digital improvement.
HNECC also developed the Allied Health and Primary Care Nursing Workforce Framework to address growing pressures on the healthcare workforce, particularly in rural and regional communities. More than 400 practitioners were contacted and over 100 participated in surveys and interviews. Professions included psychology, occupational therapy, speech pathology, physiotherapy, podiatry, dietetics, exercise physiology and primary care nursing.
A National Allied Health Practice Engagement Toolkit, was made available for allied health clinicians working in primary care. It offers guidance across critical areas including digital health integration, to improve connectivity and workflow across the system. The kit was a PHN Cooperative initiative led by HNECC PHN which also stepped up to support small-to-medium private allied health providers with their cybersecurity.
Growth of on-demand and virtual allied health services
With many allied health professions “hands-on” the rising popularity of virtual services was groundbreaking. The launch of Back2U, an on-demand allied health platform, leveraged the growing acceptance of virtual care. It connects patients directly with qualified chiropractors, physiotherapists and osteopaths for more flexible care.
NSW podiatrist Brendan Sutton was among those professionals spearheading a new wave of allied healthcare accessibility. The regional specialist is providing his 15 years of hands-on experience to orthotics patients using artificial intelligence and a customised avatar.
“As podiatrists, we use orthotics regularly, and I noticed that many of my patients were travelling long distances and struggling to access care. That got me thinking about how AI could help bridge that gap,” Dr Sutton said following the launch of his new platform Authotics.com. Authotics replicates the real-world experience of seeing a clinician as patients go through a fully guided consultation delivered entirely from their device.
In dermatology, Dr Francis Lai – a virtual care entrepreneur – was on a mission to make dermatology more accessible and give Australians the best possible care. Dr Lai took first prize in a CICA Lab (Clinician Incubator Clinician Accelerator) program with his CosMe app which supports contact dermatitis sufferers.
Another digital health adopter, physiotherapist Jessica Walker, co-founder and director of Fit 2 Function and the Rural Women’s Physio, said her practice launched more heavily into digital health tools after Covid. “Telehealth especially has allowed us to make our outreach programs and services sustainable. The costs associated with travel to service rural and remote areas can be a real barrier and being able to access these communities that need these services is very important.”.
Meanwhile, the WA Country Health Service demonstrated how telehealth and virtual care models are being extended beyond metropolitan areas when it expanded its Virtual Pharmacy Service to support cardiology patients in remote regions such as the Kimberley.
Digital tools and platforms to improve service delivery
The first two software vendors, Halaxy Pty Ltd and Beyond Essential Systems (BES) were contracted to work with the Australian Digital Health Agency to integrate with its digital health infrastructure. The Agency said it was taking the next steps to provide allied health professionals the ability to connect via My Health Record and electronic prescribing services.
It followed a significant response to the Agency’s approach to market through the Allied Health Industry Offer in September 2024 by which vendors specialising in the allied health sector were offered financial assistance to enhance their software to enable connection to My Health Record and allow allied health professionals to view and upload relevant information.
In March the Agency tripled its investment into the offer. Agency CEO Amanda Cattermole said the Allied Health Industry Offer had attracted substantial interest from software vendors, resulting in 16 vendors working on the project. This had enabled the Agency to expand funding to more than $2 million to support a broader range of professions within the sector.
Scripto founder and occupational therapist Julian Corvin made her debut in the startup arena at Digital Health Festival 2025, saying she wants her technology to be liberating for other OTs. Scripto is her innovative solution to support allied health professionals to meet their documentation obligations and reporting standards for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
The Pharmx Marketplace launched in November, adding a marketplace to the pharmacies’ ordering ecosystem, which highlighted the ongoing efforts to streamline how pharmacies source, purchase and manage supplies.
CommBank launched Smart Health for Pharmacies, an omni-channel payment solution for both in-store and remote purchases. “More than a third of pharmacists have told us that offering digital payments is a critical part of their business growth plans,” said CommBank General Manager Payment Acceptance Albert Naffah.
AI, automation and advanced tech
Some allied health firms pushed into advanced medical-tech: the company Optain Health announced the establishment of a global R&D hub in Melbourne aimed at artificial intelligence–enabled medical technologies. Optain uses AI, robotic retinal imaging and teleophthalmology to detect eye and systemic disease earlier.
New AI-powered research created the most detailed maps of the retina ever produced, paving the way for routine eyecare as a disease screening tool. Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) used the maps to link retinal thinning to a range of diseases as well as identifying new genetic factors that influence retinal thickness.
Sydney-based medtech company Eyes of AI won national backing through the (CRC-P) Round 17 program to lead a $6.7 million project for AI-driven gum disease detection. Eyes of AI says it wants to make detection into a fast, contactless scan and put Australia at the centre of dental innovation.
Eyes of AI also teamed up with medical technology and dental equipment manufacturer W&H, in a move they say “marks a major leap forward” in AI-driven dental imaging. W&H Portfolio Director Valeria Ferrari said the future of dental imaging “lies in the seamless fusion of advanced hardware and intelligent software.”
Meanwhile, a new Australian study found an automated artificial intelligence (AI) camera can accurately detect diabetic eye disease with more than 93 per cent accuracy in non-eye care settings.
Sound Scouts won an international award for its evidence-based digital hearing screening incorporated into routine care, enhancing compliance with aged care recommendations. Regular testing, integrated into clinical dashboards, ensures ongoing monitoring and data-driven decision-making.
Mental health and early intervention
Digital delivery played a larger role to address crises in all fields of mental health with plenty of research undertaken to support online therapies.
The government pledged $700 million in a mental health package in April, centred around the expansion of free mental specialist care for youth.
It also provided free online and phone counselling for all Australians starting in 2026, under the National Early Intervention Service (NEIS) and Digital Mental Health Program, providing Medicare-funded access to low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) via telehealth, chats and self-guided tools to address the mental health crisis, making support more accessible, particularly for youth, new parents, and diverse communities.
SANE Australia was awarded $27.3 million over three years for the national rollout of a free digital psychosocial recovery program, the first of its kind globally.
The TAL Community Foundation and SANE entered into a three-year strategic agreement to develop a digital support service to reach vulnerable Australians who have experienced mental health distress. They say the program will explore new support avenues for people who have historically “slipped through the cracks in the mental health system”,
Australian clinical AI company GreyMind AI announced that its mental health platform Reeboot AI was the first in Western Australia to be endorsed under the Artificial Intelligence Assurance Framework.
Infosys, a global consulting and next-generation digital services company, announced a strategic collaboration with Mental Health Foundation Australia (MHFA) to boost mental health awareness, with the creation of a mobile app called ‘Supportive Mind’. The app provides first-aiders and communities in Australia and New Zealand with accessible, real-time mental health resources.
In October, national private mental health operator Avive Health announced plans for a new fully digital purpose-built hospital within Lumina at the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct (GCHKP) – a 200ha business and research development precinct supported by $5bn in investment by the Queensland Government. Avive Health also announced its plans for an Adelaide CBD clinic.
A UNSW Sydney and Black Dog Institute study found an intensive, one-week online therapy program could significantly reduce symptoms of social anxiety disorder (SAD), the most common anxiety disorder in Australia, affecting around one in seven people each year. Published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders, the research was the first randomised controlled trial to test a seven-day internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) program for social anxiety.
Three Primary Health Networks (PHNs) in New South Wales partnered with Consultmed and Amplar Health to deliver a unified digital intake and referral pathway for Medicare Mental Health services. The new model introduces a consistent hub and spoke approach for mental health intake across the Hunter New England and Central Coast, North Coast and Murrumbidgee regions.
Personify Care and the Centre of Perinatal Excellence (COPE) worked together to enhance mental health support for families by launching an enhanced version of the iCOPE Digital Screening platform.
It seems that virtual delivery, AI-enabled tools and connected infrastructure are no longer on the periphery for allied health, but part of everyday practice in pockets across the country. The challenge now is less about proving the value of digital health, and more about ensuring uptake is supported and sustainable. As allied health moves into 2026, the foundations are in place.
Read more: Australian digital health thought leadership
Understanding the gap: Australia’s youth mental health crisis by Duncan Fogg, Australia Lead, BFB Labs
Building the next generation of healthcare leaders by Miranda Grace, CEO, Australian Association of Practice Management
CHF on clear safeguards and building trust, by Dr Elizabeth Deveny, CEO, Consumers Health Forum of Australia
*Note to our readers: With the wealth of innovation and development across the digital health ecosystem, our year-in-review articles are highly curated and written to reflect some of the key themes and milestones for the year and are not intended to be a comprehensive summary.
