The following assessment routine is followed by respiratory clinics around the country.
Currently it's clinical assessment + nasopharyngeal swab / PCR test, for everyone. PCR test result within 48 hours usually
With this deal, it will be ResAppDx + clinical assessment + nasopharyngeal swab / PCR test, for everyone. Once again, PCR test result within 48 hours usually
So to further its quest to find a cough signature for COVID19, it will be very easy for RAP to match up PCR diagnosed COVID vs ResAppDx data for each of those 40000 cases in the next few months, if RAP wants to.
But IMO that's not the main game, at least for now
The significance of this announcement is much more immediate than working out the COVID19 cough signature. It's pointing to an imminent flow revenue from Medicare / Australian govenment.
This Brisbane Clinic is only one of a few dozens of government funded dedicated respiratory clinics in the country. Just because we provide free licences to this particular clinic, doesn't mean we won't then proceed to SELL licences the to remaining few dozens respiratory clinics around the country.
As many have pointed out, we are now in the government books, with excellent feedbacks from doctors on the ground, and proven benefits to workflow and clinical outcomes in COVID19 management. I don't think we should assume that the health department will wait till 1/9/2020 to fund a more widespread use of ResAppDx in the other respiratory clinics. I think that would be counter-intuitive, when they are spending $50 for each GP consult and $50 on each PCR test, why wouldn't they throw in another 5% ($5) for a critically important ResAppDx to improve efficiency and accuracy of each consult? Why would they wait till 1/9/2020 to do that, when they are so desperate to contain COVID-19 as the economy slowly reopens? Why would they risk throwing away all the good gains so far??
For this reason, I think we'll see a much more widspread (paid) deployment of ResAppDx in respiratory clinics around the country, much before 1/9/2020. In fact, probably before the weather becomes cold in winter. Which means a more widespread deployment will start in the next month or two. In the same period, I would expect ResAppDx to be deployed in emergency departments, and Outreach services around the country too.
Remember, the Australian government is a really big customer. Medicare rebate per test, the holy grail, is increasingly looking probable. IMO this announcement is bigger than all of the other annoucements combined from the last 2 months. Continue to watch this space. GLTAH
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