The Missed Opportunity: A National Aged Care Asset Sitting Idle

More than 200,000 emergency department presentations each year involve residents of aged care homes, with up to half potentially preventable. The resulting avoidable admissions contribute about $312 million in annual health system costs, representing a substantial efficiency and outcomes opportunity that remains unexploited.

Across Australia, Visionflex infrastructure enabling hospital-level virtual care at the bedside is installed in more than 520 residential aged care homes, equating to roughly 20% of the sector. This capability covers primary care and semi-acute diagnostics, including comprehensive vital signs, ECG, ultrasound, heart and lung assessments with multi-filter stethoscopes, ENT imaging, wound and skin assessment, and more. Nevertheless, wide-scale utilization is limited to a subset of highly engaged providers, PHNs, and GP clusters.

An asset already in place

Over 520 residential aged care homes nationwide are equipped with Visionflex infrastructure capable of delivering hospital-level virtual care at the bedside, representing about 20% of the sector. The platform supports primary care and semi-acute diagnostics, including comprehensive vital signs, ECG, ultrasound, heart and lung assessments with multi-filter stethoscopes, ENT imaging, and wound and skin assessment.

Not a technology problem

• 520+ homes are already fitted with Visionflex infrastructure, representing about 20% of Australia’s residential aged care sector, providing real-time clinical access to semi-acute diagnostics and virtual ED-level support in residents' homes, potentially reducing unnecessary transfers.
• The Federal Government's investment enabled the deployment, and ongoing costs of deploying and operating virtual care are comparatively low when spread across a large network of homes.
• The COVID-19 era accelerated virtual care adoption across states, creating a fragmented but ripe landscape for scalable, state-wide and nationwide implementation.

The infrastructure exists. The clinical capability exists. The opportunity is not technical; it is structural.

• Federal and state funding models
• PHNs and local commissioning
• Workforce capability and training
• Clinical governance and integration

What needs to happen next?

• 1. Leverage the existing Visionflex footprint to standardise hospital-level virtual care pathways across the 520+ aged care homes, prioritising regions with strongest ongoing engagement and need.
• 2. Partner with State-based virtual health services to implement consistent clinical governance frameworks, escalation protocols, and data sharing agreements between aged care providers, PHNs, and State Virtual Health Services.
• 3. Align GP and nursing skills to effectively utilise remote diagnostics including triage, ECG interpretation, ultrasound, wound assessment, through accelerated training and real-time telehealth support.
• 4. Create seamless referrals to virtual ED services or rapid on-site clinician response when remote assessment indicates higher acuity, using current infrastructure to deliver care into residents' homes.
• 5. Establish metrics for ED avoidance, hospital admission reductions, resident outcomes, and cost savings to demonstrate return on investment.

This is a high-potential, low-risk opportunity to reframe how residential aged care is supported nationwide via already implemented state-based virtual services with federal-funded infrastructure.

The infrastructure for hospital-level virtual care in 20% of Australia’s residential aged care homes already exists. The opportunity is not technical; it is strategic and political. The question is not whether we can build it. It is whether we are willing to use it.

Visionflex solutions

Visionflex offers obligation-free discovery calls and product demonstrations, making it straightforward to embed a class-leading virtual care solution into healthcare programs. The Visionflex team supports research, development, implementation, and enablement across all stages.

• Discovery and demonstrations are available to evaluate fit and impact.