Hi @poptop Thanks for the post. Great to have the thoughts of an...

Hi @poptop

Thanks for the post. Great to have the thoughts of an investor and professional on the front line. Have responded to some your comments, and keen to hear your thoughts.

“Like others have suggested though, monitoring the HbA1c is just one part of management. Blood pressure, monitoring of eye health, kidney health, foot health, cardiac issues, diet and several other areas - primarily monitoring and treating early potential complications of diabetes. All of this is achieved and coordinated with your GP visit and occasionally with your endocrinology or hospital visit.”

This is an important point. Daily monitoring of blood pressure, PT/INR, body composition (e.g. fluid and oedema) are all essential elements to the overall picture of a patient’s health. I'm keen to understand, for your average diabetic with also, let's say, peripheral neuropathy and hypertension, how many times would you consult them per year? Would the consult be made around the routine HbA1c testing? What if this was automated, and you had the results without fail, every quarter without the need for a consult? My point was certainly not to undermine the important work of a GP in the management of these conditions, or remove the GP or specialist from the picture altogether; my point was to potentially make this easier (both on doctor and patient). For argument’s sake, let’s assume MHT is reimbursable. For a GP, would a viable option be to encourage a subscription of MHT? This would remove the need for repeat referrals to path labs (If I recall correctly, the average Australian claims 11 bulk-billed visits per year, with a lot of these linked to other services like pathology). MHT effectively removes the need for a quarterly patient visit to a path lab. Having the HbA1c test results on your screen, in front of you prior to a patient having consulted you, would this make the process easier?

“Furthermore the last thing doctors would want is for their diabetics to stay at home taking a false sense of security from an HbA1c reading when there's potential complications like heart disease going unchecked.”

Whilst not yet available, I would imagine going forward, especially once (if?) it receives an item number on the MBS, data from these tests will certainly be made available to the specialist or doctor via the My Health Record.

I put to you (with all respect and interest), if a POC test (like MHT) was properly regulated and validated, complete with a reimbursement code, and then made available to you on secure cloud-based software in real-time allowing you to monitor and manage (potentially make contact especially if abnormalities are present) without the need for a visit, would this be a viable alternative to repeat visits? Considering this large shift in chronic disease management, POC testing and remote monitoring (like telehealth-based care), is starting to emerge, I’m really keen to hear your thoughts, and whether MHT has a role to play.