Talking HealthTech

In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch speaks with Bettina McMahon, CEO of Healthdirect, clinical governance and digital health safety expert Chris Boyd Skinner, and Leon Young, founder of Cogniss and Ripple Scale, about the ongoing challenges and potential solutions in scaling the adoption of digital health tools beyond pilots and siloed deployments.
The conversation explores why so many effective tools in women's health, mental health, children's health, and long-term care struggle to reach the people who need them most.
The group discusses portfolio-based adoption models, the limitations of one-app-at-a-time procurement, and the growing case for a digital health publisher model that can validate, distribute, and maintain tools at scale.
The episode also covers clinical trust and regulatory frameworks, the risks of shadow IT, the barriers facing direct-to-consumer digital health, and how innovations such as Ripple Scale are working to address the gaps in app distribution and uptake.
Together, the guests make a compelling case for why collaboration, shared infrastructure, and smarter funding models are the next step forward for digital health.
Key Takeaways
🌐 Many digital health tools struggle to scale beyond pilots due to barriers in adoption by health providers.
🤝 Clinicians and researchers are often required to become startup founders to drive adoption, even if their expertise is in care, not business.
🏥 Health systems face challenges in assessing, procuring, and managing hundreds of separate digital health apps.
🔒 Clinical safety, regulation, and building trust are essential for the widespread uptake of digital health technology.
🚀 Portfolio-based models and digital publishers like Ripple Scale offer alternatives to fragmented app distribution, making it easier for providers to offer trusted digital solutions across key health areas.
Timestamps
00:00 - Introductions & background
03:21 - Cogniss mission and innovation
04:52 - The need for a digital health publisher
05:28 - Barriers to adoption: system and innovator challenges
12:37 - The perspective of Health Direct and large organisations
17:57 - Consumer vs. provider-facing digital products
19:00 - Clinical safety, trust, and governance
26:30 - "Shadow IT" and its impact
33:52 - Advice for digital health tool creators
36:15 - Next steps for Ripple Scale

Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.
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Find out how Medcast is building trustworthy medical-grade AI in this episode of Talking HealthTech, recorded live at the Digital Health Festival 2026 in Melbourne, Australia's premier gathering for health innovation, technology, and policy.
Peter Birch sits down with Dr Stephen Barnett, CEO of Medcast, to explore what it genuinely takes to make AI safe, reliable, and fit for purpose in a clinical setting.
With a background spanning general practice, research, and digital health innovation, Barnett brings a grounded and practical perspective to one of the most talked-about topics in healthcare right now.
Together, they unpack the concept of knowledge translation, the persistent gap between cutting-edge AI and trustworthy clinical tools, and why large language models alone are not enough.
The conversation covers retrieval-augmented generation, the risks of AI hallucinations, the importance of curated and validated data sources, and the orchestration layer that sits between a powerful model and a safe medical answer.
They also discuss how clinical workflows are changing, the shift in how doctors use digital tools in front of patients, and the emerging conversation around patient-facing AI.

Key Takeaways
🧑‍⚕️ Knowledge translation in healthcare relies on getting the right information to the right person at the right time, impacting both clinician learning and patient outcomes.
🤖 Large language models require an orchestration layer and data curation processes to be considered "medical grade" and trustworthy for clinical use.
🔎 Retrieval-augmented generation and other governance measures help address hallucinations and bias in AI-powered healthcare solutions, supporting quality, safety, and auditability.
💡 Medluma, Medcast's AI platform, addresses compliance, standardisation, and onboarding within healthcare organisations, while empowering clinicians with trusted knowledge access.
📱 Patient-clinician trust depends on using validated, professional tools for information sourcing, and future AI integrations may also support patient self-service within set guardrails.

Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction and guest overview
00:44 - Medcast origins and purpose
02:54 - Obsession with AI and knowledge translation
03:49 - Medical safety in language models
06:13 - Techniques for trustworthy AI
10:01 - Adapting to rapid AI changes
13:32 - Knowledge translation across clinical and non-clinical roles
14:49 - Patient trust and professional boundaries
18:22 - Medcast and Medluma future roadmap

Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.
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In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch speaks with Suma Shivalingaiah, Chief Information Officer at Eastern Health, about the practical use, governance, and impact of AI and digital technologies in a large Victorian public health service.
The conversation covers the AI journey at Eastern Health, from addressing a significant cyber incident that reshaped the organisation's digital strategy to building internal capability, upskilling staff, and deploying AI across both administrative and clinical workflows.
Suma shares how Eastern Health approaches AI governance through a dedicated committee that assesses and manages risk across all tools and platforms, why cybersecurity remains the organisation's top priority, and how clinician buy-in is central to any successful implementation.
The discussion also touches on real-world pilots including GP referral triage systems, help desk and policy management agents, and Emergency Department wait time predictions, as well as the role of university partnerships in accelerating AI adoption.
This episode was recorded live at the Microsoft stand during the Digital Health Festival 2026, held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in May 2026, as part of a series of conversations captured across the event.

Key Takeaways
🛡️ Governance and cybersecurity are foundational for AI deployment in healthcare, and a dedicated committee is needed to ensure safe use of digital tools
⚙️ Real-world AI success starts with addressing repetitive and administrative tasks for staff and clinicians, using agents like help desk and policy management tools
👨‍⚕️ Clinician and staff buy-in is critical. Adoption depends on early engagement and solving actual pain points
📊 AI in clinical workflow includes initiatives like triaging GP referrals and predicting ED wait times, always as a support tool, not a replacement for clinicians
🎓 Building AI literacy, continuous training, and partnerships with universities are essential for capability uplift and safe technology integration

Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction & Episode Setting
00:28 - Overview of Eastern Health
01:35 - Practical AI applications
02:51 - AI agents & support tools
03:57 - Importance of clinical buy-in
05:33 - Governance & cybersecurity foundations
06:30 - AI use case—triaging referrals
08:31 - Justifying AI adoption in public health
10:02 - Automating clinical notes & admin
11:16 - Multi-pronged strategy & advice
12:02 - Lessons for healthcare leaders

Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.
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In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch speaks with Jacqueline Leeds, CEO of Rauland Australia and New Zealand, Vickie Knight, General Manager for Clinical Services at Rauland Australia and New Zealand, and a panel including Robin Mann, Chief Digital Information Officer at Monash Health, Richard Taggart, CEO of eHealth NSW, Jayne Barclay, National Director of Healthcare Platform at St Vincent's, and Emily Mailes, Executive Vice President at Optimum Healthcare IT.
Recorded live during the Healthcare Leaders Breakfast with Rauland Australia and New Zealand in Melbourne, the conversation brings together some of Australia's most experienced digital health leaders for an honest discussion about what it actually takes to deliver technology that works in a real clinical environment.
The panel covers the realities of implementing healthcare technology from strategy through to execution, including the importance of co-designing with clinical teams, navigating legacy infrastructure, managing stakeholder engagement, and dealing with the resource constraints that shape what is achievable.
The conversation also explores how organisations can build a compelling business case, ensure measurable benefits are realised, and scale innovation without losing sight of patient care.

Key Takeaways
🧩 Enterprise thinking is essential for managing complex healthcare tech environments, particularly integrating new solutions into legacy systems
👩‍⚕️ Clinical workflow mapping, including workarounds, is crucial for successful technology deployment and co-design with clinicians
💸 Investment in digital innovation must balance legacy system costs and future benefits, requiring creative funding solutions and engagement with financial leaders
📞 Standardising processes, such as critical consumer escalation pathways, improves safety and user experience
🔍 Focus on defining and measuring the actual problem solved by technology, ensuring real value and operational impact for healthcare staff and patients

Timestamps
00:00 - Event introduction and context
03:10 - Jacqueline Leeds on Rauland's platform approach
09:59 - Vickie Knight on execution challenges in healthcare
17:31 - Panelist intros and real-world project examples
28:54 - Innovation, investment, and budget barriers
41:43 - Final advice for healthcare leaders

Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.
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In this episode of Talking HealthTech, Peter Birch sits down with Martin Moszczynski, CEO of Olinqua, to explore the evolution of hospital communications technology in Australia.
They dig into the real-world challenges of moving away from pagers to smartphones, the infrastructure decisions that come with that shift, and what it takes to modernise communications across an entire hospital workforce.
Martin shares insights from Olinqua's large-scale projects in Victoria, discussing the practicalities of tech adoption, the importance of system integration, and why the focus needs to be on frontline staff rather than patient-facing solutions.
The conversation also touches on the tension between legacy systems and modern platforms, the role of AI in software development, and how real-time location technology is opening up new possibilities for workflow improvement and patient transfer logistics.
This episode was recorded live during the Digital Health Festival 2026 in Melbourne, Australia and shares a deep-dive conversation captured at the event.

Key Takeaways
📱 Hospitals are transitioning from aging pagers to smartphones for greater capability, integration, and reliability
🔄 Tech upgrades are often driven by infrastructure maturity and end-of-life legacy systems, not just a desire for new tech
✨ Modern solutions centralise multiple workflows: emergency alerts, task management, and mobile duress onto a single platform
👩‍⚕️ The main focus is improving staff experience, convenience, and freeing up time for direct patient care
📍 Real-time location technology is a major area of investment, enabling efficient asset and patient tracking for workflow innovation

Timestamps
00:00 — Introduction and setting
00:29 — Olinqua’s current projects
01:17 — Pagers vs smartphones in hospitals
03:13 — Reasons for upgrading communications tech
05:55 — Recent deployment examples
08:51 — Staff centricity vs patient centricity
12:34 — Impact of AI and easy-to-create software
15:55 — Olinqua’s priorities: location tech and innovation

Check out the episode and full show notes on the Talking HealthTech website.
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Mentioned in this episode:
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THT+ Company Partnership
Learn more about THT+ Company Partnership options for start-ups, scale-ups and enterprise digital health companies looking for visibility, content, community access and industry connection: talkinghealthtech.com/partners.
THT+ Company Partnership
Learn more about THT+ Company Partnership options for start-ups, scale-ups and enterprise digital health companies looking for visibility, content, community access and industry connection: talkinghealthtech.com/partners.