Regional Care Connect Pilot nominated for SA Health Award

The Region­al Care Con­nect Pilot is set­ting a new bench­mark for chron­ic dis­ease man­age­ment in region­al South Australia. 

And it’s now been recog­nised with an SA Health Award nomination. 

By inte­grat­ing dig­i­tal health mon­i­tor­ing, vir­tu­al clin­i­cal care, and local gen­er­al prac­tice, the pilot has empow­ered patients to man­age their health at home — reduc­ing the need for emer­gency depart­ment vis­its and hos­pi­tal readmissions.

Key results include:

• 80% reduc­tion in emer­gency presentations
• 77.8% decrease in read­mis­sion risk
• 21 ED pre­sen­ta­tions and one hos­pi­tal admis­sion avoided
• 100% patient sat­is­fac­tion with care and equipment.

Patients iden­ti­fied as high-risk using the LACE index received remote mon­i­tor­ing devices and per­son­alised sup­port from the Vir­tu­al Clin­i­cal Care ser­vice. The mod­el was co-designed with region­al clin­i­cians, con­sumers, and car­ers, ensur­ing it meets local needs and is easy to repli­cate across oth­er regions.

The pilot’s suc­cess demon­strates that trans­for­ma­tive change is pos­si­ble with­in exist­ing bud­gets and resources. By lever­ag­ing dig­i­tal inno­va­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tive part­ner­ships, the pro­gram is clos­ing the gap in health­care access for region­al communities.

Find out more about the Region­al Care Con­nect Pilot and how it’s shap­ing the future of health­care in South Aus­tralia on the SA Health website.

SA Health Awards final­ist video