Already facilitating 2 million medical appointments between medical professionals and patients, health tech company 1st Group (ASX: 1ST) is set to significantly grow its network with the launch of telehealthclinics.com.au – a dedicated site for booking medical appointments to be conducted via teleconference. 

Whilst COVID-19 has significantly heightened public interest in telehealth, 1st Group has already been in the market for several years via their health services portal MyHealth1st.com.au. 

Leveraging their existing tech platforms, telehealthclinics.com.au offers patients and medical professionals with a secure online platform specifically developed for the medical field. 

“Our platform already supports our customers taking telehealth appointments with their current system (e.g. Skype) but many of these systems are not regarded as secure and are not customised for health consultations,” said 1st Group Managing Director, Klaus Bartosch. 

“1st Group’s telehealth service allows our customers to use an end-to-end encrypted secure telehealth service that is fully integrated with our platforms and our customers’ practice management systems, simplifying the experience for our customers and their patients.”

Amidst the global coronavirus pandemic, medical professionals have encouraged the use of telehealth appointments to reduce the risk of spreading the virus, whilst enabling greater access to consultations. Subsequently, the Australian government has extended the scope of telehealth consultations supported by Medicare to cover a range of services including mental health, pregnancy, aged care and autism. 

Using the telehealthclinics.com.au portal, patients can book appointments with a wide range of medical professionals where the platform also allows multiple practitioners to be on the same call. The platform is also secured and encrypted whilst operating in the users browser without the need for a 3rd party application download. 

Whilst 1st Group is rolling out telehealthclinics.com.au, the company is waiving user set-up fees but will charge a standard usage fee of $5 per consult, external to the medical professional’s charges. 

Shares in 1st Group surged upon market open following news of the platform launch, hitting a high of $0.042 within the first 10 minutes of trade, a rise of 55.5% from their previous day’s close of $0.027. 

1st Group also operated online bookings site GoBookings.com and pet services portal PetYeti.com.au