Digital first care provider Tend expands

eHealthNews.nz: Digital Patient

Thursday, 29 February 2024

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NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Digital first GP service Tend Health has become one of the largest primary healthcare providers in Aotearoa New Zealand after fully acquiring Better Health group.

Founder Cecilia Robinson says technology can play a crucial role in addressing the challenges facing primary care.

Tend is a digital-first provider that allows patients to book appointments online (including in evenings and weekends), see a doctor using telehealth and access their clinical notes, results and prescriptions, via an app.

It became a 50 percent shareholder in the South Island-based Better Health in late 2022, which has 17 medical centres with over 90,000 patients. Tend has now fully acquired the group, bringing its total enrolled population to more than 130,000 patients.

Graham Denyer, Tend chief medical officer, says more than a third of Tend’s consultations are delivered digitally.

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The ‘Online Now’ urgent care service provides virtual appointments with an average waiting time of 2.4 hours.

He says technology also alleviates the administrative burden on healthcare professionals, enabling them to devote more time to patient care.

Following the launch of test results in the Tend app, they have seen a 59 percent reduction in clinicians' time spent letting patients know their results.

"Our aim is to create a comprehensive primary healthcare network that utilises intelligent technology, ensuring a full range of services where telehealth complements traditional in-person care,” Denyer says.

Chair of the NZ Telehealth Forum Ruth Large says telehealth augments in-person care, creating a hybrid care model for patients.

While afterhours services delivered via telehealth have been around for a long time, enrolling patients in digital-first services is new. In order to enrol with a general practice, patients must also have a physical option to be seen.

“Anything that improves access to care has got to be good. Often telehealth means GPs can extend practice hours and sometimes it expands the workforce as people can still work while travelling or if they are at home,” she says.

“Options are really important for both patients and healthcare providers.”

Digital Health Association (DHA) chief executive Ryl Jensen says the continued rise of Tend shows that integrating face-to-face primary care services with a digital front door helps alleviate pressures on the primary health workforce and services the needs of the communities they reach into.

“This model of care could be applied across many different sectors of the health system – from mental health and addictions, disability services, allied and community health, to hospital outpatient services,” she says.

“It does not replace the need for face-to-face services, but rather complements and ensures everyone has access to services where and when they need them. New Zealand could become a role model for other countries if we look to adopt hybrid models of care across the motu.”

The integration of Better Health's clinics into the Tend model will start with Linwood Medical Centre in May 2024.

Pakuranga Medical Centre became part of Tend Health in May 2023 and the recently acquired Chadwick Healthcare Group in the Bay of Plenty, is due to integrate in March.