Did the Hello Health RACGP debacle bring the long time RACGP commercial manager Craig Martin undone?
If youâre trying to slide something under the media radar, then the twilight zone between Christmas and New Year is as good a time as any.
So it seems with the departure of Craig Martin, the long time commercial manager and lead on  RACGPâs controversial commercial arm company, Oxygen, who has departed the organisation.
There isnât an official announcement on the move, which makes the timing even a little more suspicious, but an RACGP spokesperson did confirm Mr Martin was no longer with the organisation and had “resigned”.  The Medical Republic put several questions to the College on the departure but was told that the College “does not comment on staffing matters”.
The departure was first alerted in the industry newsletter PULSE IT, which linked Mr Martin to a deal with Canadian-based software firm, Hello Health, which saw the RACGP back that company in preference to local medical software firms in developing a new patient management system for Australian GPs.
At the time, the RACGP’s expert e-health committee was not consulted about the deal, and there is speculation over how much Hello Health paid for the RACGP’s backing.
The Medical Software Industry Association attacked the RACGP, suggesting there was a lack of transparency over the arrangement with Hello Health and that such an deal should have been made available to local companies as well.
Market leading software developer Best Practice added fuel to the fire in November by running an industry survey on the deal, further embarrassing the College.
The survey asked several leading questions, including whether doctors agreed that RACGP members had been asking the College to develop new patient management systems.
Mr Martin could not be contacted for comment.
Update: 2.20pm
Craig Martin has been appointed as Business Development and Strategy manager for SA Pathology commencing Jan 21.
The announcement is below:
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Director, Business Development and Strategy I am delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Craig Martin to the position of Director, Business Development and Strategy for SA Pathology. Craig is a highly experienced business development executive, coming to SA Pathology from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) with a focus on support and service delivery. His current role is servicing the Collegeâs 39,000 GP members as they manage the health and wellbeing of more than two million Australians per week. Craig has developed sound knowledge of the general practice environment and the requirements of doctors and patients. He has also worked in primary health in the community in SA and has previous senior roles in pharmaceutical companies and hospitality. His experience will be invaluable to SA Pathology as we seek to rebuild our service, our brand and our relationships with our customer base, both in community practice and within LHNs. Craig will commence on 21 January 2019. Please join with me in making Craig welcome. Regards Dr Glenn Edwards Executive Director SA Pathology |
