The Turnbull Government remains devoted to Medicare is constantly looking areas to improve on with regards to its medical services .
As the world evolves into one which is technology saturated and dependent, 21st century consumers now expect 21st Century technologies to aid in the regulation of everyday payments. This being said, the Government should be of no exception.
In Australia, the Commonwealth process over $42 billion worth of payment transactions yearly from the Medicare, Aged Care and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
More often than not, Australians will use cards to make ‘tap and go’ payments, and apps to make payments. Yet, Medicare has not kept up with the waves of medical advancements and technologies.
This is hence the reason why the Department of Health is investigating ways to digitise its transaction for payments to a more efficient and consumer-friendly format.
Another reason being, is to ensure that the Government embraces innovation and is agile and responsive to changes in the digital economy.
This integration of the modern technology into Medicare will be managed with the cooperation of business innovation and technology experts. They will then determine the best and examine the state of art payment technologies present in the market for consumers and health and aged care service providers.
At present, no decisions have been made, and this plan will continue progressing.
Image from Martin Howard– CC BY 2.0