PULSE

PULSE+IT
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Health & Fitness
  • Updated Biweekly

PULSE, the podcast, produced by Pulse+IT and hosted by digital health legends Louise Schaper and George Margelis, is an enlightening, entertaining look at global digital health trends and current debates with our hosts’ deep takes on all the latest news in digital health.

  1. 3d ago

    Who Gets to Deliver Healthcare? AI Agents, Grindr, Apple and France's Telehealth Queue-Jumpers

    This week on Pulse: Hot Topics, Louise and George ask who gets to deliver healthcare, as AI agents, a dating app, Apple and online platforms all push into territory that once belonged to clinicians and health services. Agentic AI moves into healthcare — Heidi's new agents can now complete referrals, recalls and follow-ups across EHRs, inboxes and patient portals, joining Epic, Oracle and ARPA-H in a shift from AI that advises to AI that acts. George draws on James Reason's Swiss cheese model and Goodhart's Law to ask who is accountable when agents get it wrong. Is Grindr becoming a front door to healthcare? — Grindr's US$250 million purchase of PrEP telehealth provider Freddie will bring HIV prevention, testing, prescriptions and medication delivery inside the app, a sign that healthcare is moving to where communities already gather. Apple pushes further into healthcare — Apple's redesigned Health app adds a Health Age score, at-home movement assessments and, in the US, lab tests you can buy straight from the app. That raises questions about validation, equity, and who has the conversation when your watch says you're older than you are. Telehealth grows up — France has given teleconsultation platforms until 1 October to stop charging patients to skip the queue. Meanwhile Australia is preparing its first national safety and quality standards for virtual care, along with rules requiring online prescribers to share medicines information to My Health Record by default. Plus, Louise reviews Eliza at Melbourne Theatre Company, the story of Joseph Weizenbaum and the world's first chatbot, and pays tribute to her PhD supervisor, the late Professor Graham Pervan. Resources Heidi launches AI agents for clinical admin, Pulse+IT Link Oracle outlines healthcare AI roadmap, Pulse+IT Link Online prescribing Share by Default consultation Link Recommendations: Join the ACSQHC Webinars for the public consultation on the Draft National Safety and Quality Standards for Virtual Care (19, 21 and 23 October) Go see Melbourne Theatre Company Eliza, showing until 31 October Watch Silenced documentary Aging Research and Drug Discovery Annual Meeting YouTube Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions pulsepod@pulseit.news Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

  2. Oct 1

    Tech Is the Tail Wagging the Dog – OpenAI's Medicare Breach, AI Scribes in Court and the Push to Pay AI Doctors

    This week on Pulse: Hot Topics, Louise and George break down: OpenAI's Agent Breaches a Medicare Portal – An OpenAI agent that "didn't accept no for an answer" pulled non-public files from a legacy Medicare statistics portal, turning a benign research task into a wake-up call for healthcare's ageing legacy systems. AI Scribes Meet the Law – A Washington State court ruled a patient had no right to the ambient AI recording of her own consult, while an Australian legal analysis warns scribes may concentrate liability on the doctor who signs the note. The Medicare Pipeline Nobody Designed – An Auditor-General's report shows software increasingly marketed to optimise Medicare billing with AI, while the Health Department switched off its own AI fraud-detection model because staff couldn't keep up with what it flagged. The US Prepares to Pay AI Doctors – A New York Times investigation finds US health officials fast-tracking AI that diagnoses, prescribes and treats, including reported discussions about paying AI doctors 60 to 80 per cent of what human doctors earn. And a huge thank you to our Pulse Poddies: we've passed 25,000 downloads! Resources: Pulse+IT: PM alleges 'unauthorised access' of Medicare portal LinkThe Conversation: Australia's legacy systems were already a cyber risk. AI agents are raising the stakes LinkAMA: Patients don't have right to ambient AI recordings, court says LinkKirkpatrick, Porter & Freckelton, "Current and Emerging Medico-Legal Issues Related to AI Scribes in Healthcare Across Australia", (2026) 32 Journal of Law and Medicine 823Coiera & Fraile-Navarro, AI Scribes: Are We Measuring What Matters?, JMIR Medical Informatics LinkSeuren, Williams & Cresswell, BMJ Digital Health & AI LinkANAO, Artificial Intelligence and Medicare Benefits Integrity LinkThe New York Times: U.S. Health Officials Move Quickly to Deploy Medical A.I. Despite Concerns LinkARPA-H ADVOCATE program Link Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions pulsepod@pulseit.news Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

  3. Sep 24

    The Case for AI to Retain Clinicians, Not Replace Them, with Prof Daniel Baumgart

    Healthcare faces a global workforce crisis - but what if we’re asking the wrong question about AI? Professor Daniel Baumgart joins Louise and George to argue that AI’s greatest opportunity may not be replacing clinicians, but helping us keep them. They explore where AI is genuinely reducing workload, who should benefit from the ‘productivity dividend’, and why layering AI onto dysfunctional workflows may simply accelerate the problem. Daniel also warns of an emerging risk: clinicians becoming deskilled as they increasingly rely on AI, creating a divide between those who understand and can challenge these systems and those who simply depend on them.  Plus: what tomorrow’s clinicians need to learn, why clinical judgement must remain human, and the two questions every health service should answer before buying an AI tool.  Read Daniel’s paper in The Lancet: Global advances in health artificial intelligence: a workforce imperative Link Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions pulsepod@pulseit.news Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

  4. Sep 17

    Above the Loop: Has AI Earned the Right to Make Decisions? With Dr Andrew Rochford

    “Human in the loop” has become one of healthcare AI’s favourite safety assurances. But what happens when AI is making decisions at a speed and scale no human can realistically oversee? Dr Andrew Rochford joins Louise and George to discuss Above-the-Loop Governance, his proposed approach to continuously measuring AI decision-making against independent professional benchmarks. They explore how AI could earn, and lose, the authority to make consequential decisions, what happens when AI performs differently or even better than humans, and where accountability ultimately sits when an AI makes the call.  Andrew also discusses Trakkked.ai, his attempt to put the framework into practice. Learn more about Trakked.ai Read Andrew’s paper on Above the Loop Governance Link Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions pulsepod@pulseit.news Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

  5. Sep 10

    To Err Is AI: ChatGPT Meets Epic, the Trouble with Human-in-the-Loop & AI Enters the Operating Theatre

    This week on Pulse: Hot Topics, how much of healthcare are we ready to hand over to AI? Louise and George look at OpenAI's new connection to Epic and what it could mean for the future of the electronic health record; new Australian data showing AI is rapidly becoming a front door to healthcare; and a provocative paper challenging whether keeping a “human in the loop” really makes AI safer. They also explore a very different model of human-AI collaboration, with AI assisting neurosurgeons during brain tumour surgery, and the FDA's authorisation of the first wearable to continuously monitor both glucose and ketones. Plus: why trust and health-data literacy aren't keeping pace with AI adoption, and the FDA's vision for the home as a healthcare hub. Resources: OpenAI — Healthcare organizations can now connect EHR and additional industry data to ChatGPT Link PwC Australia — Voice of the Consumer 2026: Fit and Informed Link Australian Digital Health Agency — My Health Record use surges as Agency improves access for clinicians Link Mitchell, Ghosh & Passi — AI Agents Push Humans Out of the Loop, arXiv Link The Guardian — London neurosurgeons' AI-assisted brain tumour operation Link FDA — Authorizes First Wearable Device That Continuously Monitors Both Ketone Levels and Blood Sugar Link FDA — Home as a Health Care Hub initiative Link Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions pulsepod@pulseit.news Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

  6. Sep 3

    Digital Maturity, AI and the Future of Aged Care, with Greg Moran

    This week on Pulse: Amplify, Louise and George sit down with Greg Moran from Ageing Australia to discuss digital maturity, workforce, vendor capability, interoperability, consumer access to data and AI readiness. While Australia’s new Digital Maturity Uplift Toolkit was designed for residential aged care, there are lessons here for any health or care organisation navigating digital transformation. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn Download the Digital Maturity Uplift Toolkit here Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions pulsepod@pulseit.news Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

  7. Aug 27

    Yay, Humans: A Billionaire Says AI Should Replace Doctors, an AI Scribe Invents a Drug History, and Google's AMIE Nearly Proves Him Right

    This week on Pulse: Hot Topics, could autonomous AI deliver better care than doctors - even doctors using AI? Louise and George examine the provocative new JAMA argument that human oversight may sometimes make medical AI less accurate, before confronting a very real counterpoint: an AI scribe that invented psychedelic mushroom use in an Australian patient’s medical record. They also discuss Australia’s move to connect wearable devices to national digital health infrastructure; new AMA(US) guidance on making wearable data clinically useful; and an international survey exposing major failures in care coordination. Finally, Google’s video-enabled AMIE can now interview, observe and guide simulated patients through elements of a virtual examination. If AI can see, hear and assess the patient, does virtual care still require a human clinician, or a radically different model of clinical governance? Research Opportunities: AI policy vs frontline reality survey (deadline 2 September) Link Resources: JAMA Perspective, "Will Autonomous AI Exceed AI-Aided Physicians as the Best Medical Care?" Link ABC News, "Error by AI scribe during medical appointment leaves patient devastated" Link US AMA, "Here's how to make the most of patients' wearable data" Link Commonwealth Fund, "How Care Coordination Varies Internationally" Link Google Research, "Towards Expert-level Medical AI for Real-time Video Consultations" Link VisitPulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions pulsepod@pulseit.news Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

  8. Aug 20

    No Budget for a Big Procurement: How That Saved Hong Kong's Health Record, with Dr NT Cheung

    This week on Pulse: Amplify, Louise and George speak with EMR pioneer Dr NT Cheung. Dr NT Cheung joined the Hong Kong Hospital Authority when clinical computing was virtually non-existent, and went on to help build one of the world’s largest integrated, longitudinal electronic patient record systems. NT reflects on Hong Kong’s remarkable 30-year digital health journey, why building its technology in-house proved so valuable, and what other health systems can learn from its clinician-led, incremental approach. They explore the extraordinary opportunity created by three decades of consistently collected patient data, cross-border record sharing with mainland China, and technology’s role in supporting an ageing society. NT also offers a timely warning for the AI era: healthcare is too complex to be transformed by technology alone. AI may be extraordinarily powerful, but it remains a tool, and the goal must be to make every interaction between patients, clinicians and the health system a little smoother and better. Connect with NT on LinkedIn Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions pulsepod@pulseit.news Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

PULSE, the podcast, produced by Pulse+IT and hosted by digital health legends Louise Schaper and George Margelis, is an enlightening, entertaining look at global digital health trends and current debates with our hosts’ deep takes on all the latest news in digital health.

Information

  • Creator
    PULSE+IT
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    90
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    ©PULSE+IT
  • Show Website
    PULSE

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