ANZ news

Virtus Health nurses assisting a patient in bed
By  Adam Ang 10:46 pm February 28, 2024
Assisted reproductive service provider Virtus Health is taking its customer relations management to the cloud, enhanced by AI.  It has chosen American company RingCentral to deliver an integrated communications and contact centre solution across its 62 fertility clinics, day hospitals, and diagnostics centres worldwide, mostly in Australia. Featuring RingCentral MVP and Contact Centre, the...
A doctor calling a fellow from their mobile phone while reviewing a patient's file on a digital tablet
By  Adam Ang 02:36 am February 23, 2024
Best Practice integrates genAI Practice management system brand Best Practice Software is set to introduce a new transcription tool run by generative AI.  The company recently partnered with Lyrebird Health to integrate the Lyrebird Scribe into its software offering. The tool automatically generates medical documentation such as patient notes during the consultation process, filters out...
A senior patient in an in-person consultation with a doctor in a clinic
By  Adam Ang 12:57 am December 15, 2023
New AI app for facial palsy screening Computer scientists from Australia and Iraq have developed an AI-based diagnostic tool to detect facial palsy. They have come up with a detection system for facial palsy featuring a microcomputer, digital camera, and deep learning algorithm. Based on an entry in the journal BioMedInformatics, researchers from the Middle Technical University in Baghdad and the...
A laptop showing Heidi Clinician's AI-powered features
By  Adam Ang 01:58 am November 15, 2023
Melbourne-based health tech startup Heidi Health has raised A$10 million ($6.5 million) in a Series A funding round led by Blackbird Ventures.  Hostplus, Hesta, Wormhole Capital, Archangel Ventures, Possible Ventures and Saniel Ventures also participated in this investing round.  This brings its total investments to date to A$15 million ($9.7 million); Blackbird Ventures also led its seed funding...
Senior residents at Allity interacting with the companion robot Abi by Andromeda Robotics
By  Adam Ang 04:24 am November 9, 2023
Sydney-based startup Andromeda Robotics has integrated generative artificial intelligence into robotics to complement the support provided in aged care. WHAT IT DOES Founded by a group of engineers in 2022, Andromeda Robotics aims to transform human-robot interactions by developing empathetic companion robots, targeting the elderly and children in hospitals.  WHAT IT'S ABOUT The prototype...
Olympian Valeria Adams showing the Tend Health app
By  Adam Ang 04:21 am September 29, 2023
Tend Health launches mobile primary care service Primary healthcare provider Tend Health in New Zealand has gone live nationwide with its online service. Available via the Tend mobile app, the online walk-in primary care service aims to "ensure access to timely and essential medical care," a media release read.  "Our online walk-in primary care service is a direct response to the pressing need...
An elderly patient talking to a doctor who is holding a tablet
By  Adam Ang 04:06 am September 14, 2023
A research project led by researchers from the University of Melbourne will be receiving A$2 million ($1.3 million) in funding and support from Google.org. The MATCH (Music Attuned Technology - Care via eHealth) project is one of the 15 projects selected for the $25 million AI for the Global Goals grant, which seeks to help organisations accelerate progress towards meeting the United Nation's...
A volunteer participant of the Flinders University research using VR to do an exercise
By  Adam Ang 03:06 am August 29, 2023
Flinders University researchers have developed a virtual reality-based programme to encourage people with intellectual disabilities to do regular physical exercises.  WHAT IT'S ABOUT According to a media release, they have recruited 16 volunteer participants from the Bedford Group – a major employer of people with intellectual disabilities in Australia, to join the eight-week exercise programme...
A doctor checking a patient's record on a digital tablet
By  Adam Ang 03:02 am August 29, 2023
Researchers from the University of Canterbury have developed a tool that makes respiratory data more accessible for clinicians and patients. A team of PhD students of UC Engineering developed the software called Breath-to-Breath Observed Biometrics (BOB) that provides real-time breath-to-breath data. It can also interpret this data and generate a report for GPs, supporting data-driven care. ...
Screenshots of Walking Tall app
By  Adam Ang 02:22 am August 18, 2023
New Parkinson's app uses metronome beats to train gait  A new mobile app for people with Parkinson's Disease helps them walk better using metronome beats.  The gait re-training tool, developed as part of a larger clinical trial for PD research, delivers rhythmic metronomic beats that trigger movement.  Now developed separately as an app called Walking Tall, it now features training sessions on...