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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 47(6)

What have been the clinical outcomes of the Project Synergy/InnoWell digital health platform?

Jeffrey C. L. Looi https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3351-6911 A B * , Stephen Allison B C , Tarun Bastiampillai B C D and Steve Kisely https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4021-2924 B E F
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, The Australian National University School of Medicine and Psychology, Canberra Hospital, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

B Consortium of Australian-Academic Psychiatrists for Independent Policy and Research Analysis (CAPIPRA), Canberra, ACT, Australia.

C College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

D Department of Psychiatry, Monash University, Wellington Rd, Clayton, Vic., Australia.

E School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Ipswich Road, Woolloongabba, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.

F Departments of Psychiatry, Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.

* Correspondence to: jeffrey.looi@anu.edu.au

Australian Health Review 47(6) 747-749 https://doi.org/10.1071/AH23159
Submitted: 17 August 2023  Accepted: 19 September 2023  Published: 10 October 2023

© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of AHHA.

Abstract

Project Synergy is a digital mental health tool for assessment, referral and follow-up of people with mental health problems. The Australian federal government Department of Health entered an AUD33 million formal funding arrangement with InnoWell, a proprietary company vehicle (primarily the consultancy firm PwC and University of Sydney) to continue development of Project Synergy. This followed an initial federal National Health and Medical Research Council grant of AUD5.5 million over the previous 3 years. However, based on the assessment of peer-reviewed research data, the Project Synergy/InnoWell platform does not seem to have demonstrated clinical outcomes of healthcare value to date.

Keywords: e-health, health funding and financing, health services research, mental health, primary health care, Project Synergy/InnoWell.

References

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