Medcast launches AI platform with initial focus on general practice

Medcast has launched MedLuma, an artificial intelligence platform for Australian clinicians, with an initial focus on general practice.

The platform provides real-time answers drawn from Australian clinical knowledge sources and lets clinicians earn Continuing Professional Development points during routine work.

MedLuma uses verified Australian clinical guidelines, including guidance from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, alongside peer-reviewed evidence. It also provides citations linking each answer to its source material.

The launch moves Medcast, a healthcare education provider, into the growing market for clinical decision-support tools designed to help doctors manage rising volumes of medical information during consultations. The service was developed within its education business, which supports more than 100,000 healthcare professionals.

The initial focus on general practice reflects pressure on GPs from increasingly complex patient needs, expanding clinical knowledge and tighter consultation times. MedLuma will later be integrated with Best Practise software, with a broader rollout to other healthcare professions planned.

Knowledge Burden

Dr Stephen Barnett, co-founder of MedLuma, GP and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Wollongong Graduate School of Medicine, said the tool was created in response to the volume of information clinicians must absorb and use.

"GPs are being asked to do more in every consultation, while the amount of medical knowledge keeps expanding," Barnett said.

He added: "MedLuma is designed to make a clinician's day a little easier by helping them find trusted, Australian clinical information faster, with clear references back to original sources. It supports clinicians at the point of care while also turning everyday knowledge-seeking into professional development."

That combination of point-of-care information and professional education is central to Medcast's pitch. Rather than requiring clinicians to complete CPD separately from patient care, the system is intended to let doctors meet those requirements while searching for information during consultations.

The approach comes as healthcare providers look for ways to reduce administrative pressure and cut time spent switching between software tools, guidelines and educational resources. In general practice, those challenges have become more pressing as clinicians balance patient demand with compliance and training obligations.

Australian Focus

Justin Lewis, co-founder of MedLuma, said the system was deliberately built around local healthcare practice rather than international products.

"There's a lot of discussion about AI in healthcare, much of it driven by overseas platforms. Our approach has always been human-centred, creating a solution purpose-built for Australian healthcare," Lewis said.

He added: "MedLuma has been developed by Medcast as part of its broader mission to improve healthcare by helping professionals access and apply trusted knowledge more effectively."

The emphasis on Australian guidelines and standards may help distinguish the product in a sector where many artificial intelligence tools are trained on broad international data sets that may not reflect local regulation, reimbursement settings or accepted clinical practice. For doctors, access to material aligned with domestic guidance can be important when making treatment decisions and documenting care.

Medcast is best known as a provider of healthcare education in primary care and critical care. It also works with organisations across healthcare, government and industry to design training programmes.

MedLuma is intended to reduce the time practitioners spend searching across fragmented or inconsistent information sources. By consolidating evidence and guidance in one system, it aims to make that process faster during patient consultations.

Competition in this area is increasing as software groups, education providers and medical publishers explore how artificial intelligence can be used in frontline care without undermining confidence in clinical accuracy. Questions around transparency, evidence quality and source attribution have become central to adoption, especially in settings where errors can carry significant consequences.

Medcast is therefore emphasising cited answers linked to original material rather than uncited generated responses. It also points to peer-reviewed evidence and established Australian guidance as the basis for the system's outputs.

The launch reflects a broader push to connect clinical support software with professional education at a time when healthcare workers face both information overload and continuing pressure to meet formal training requirements. The platform is designed to support clinicians where care is delivered while keeping learning obligations tied to everyday practice.

Medcast supports more than 100,000 health professionals nationwide.