Note: I have excluded (or marked out) any commentary taking significant funding from the Agency or the Department of Health on all this to avoid what amounts to paid propaganda. (e.g. CHF, RACGP, AMA, National Rural Health Alliance etc. where they were simply putting the ADHA line – viz. that the myHR is a wonderfully useful clinical development that will save huge numbers of lives at no risk to anyone – which is plainly untrue) (This signifies probable ADHA Propaganda)
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How to opt-out of My Health Record top Google search for Australians
Aussies spent a lot of time Googling their health problems in 2018.
Taking to Dr Google is the norm for many Aussies trying to find out what's wrong with them without having to go to the doctor's office. However, ailments weren't our top health concerns in 2018 with My Health Record our top searched health topic, according to Google Australia's Year in Search 2018.After a year plagued with privacy concerns, outages and the opt-out date being extended until 2019, it comes as no surprise that My Health Record was a popular search term for Australians in 2018. "My Health Record" was the number four searched "News" topic and "How to opt-out of My Health Record" was the number one search in the "How to...?" category.
Today the Government worked with the Senate crossbench to extend the opt-out period for #MyHealthRecord.
The opt-out period will be extended until January 31, 2019, however, it’s important to note that people can opt-out at any time.
— Greg Hunt (@GregHuntMP) November 14, 2018
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‘Better understanding about what's going on’: young Australians’ use of digital technologies for health and fitness
Received 25 Aug 2018, Accepted 01 Dec 2018, Published online: 06 Dec 2018
ABSTRACT
Digital technologies such as websites, online discussion forums, social media, content-sharing platforms, mobile apps and wearable devices are now available as a means for young people to learn about and promote their health, physical fitness and wellbeing. This article provides findings from a qualitative interview-based study of young Australians (aged 16–25 years) which explored their practices and understandings related to digital and non-digital sources of health and fitness information, advice and support. The interviews were analysed using a feminist new materialist theoretical framework, paying attention to the affordances, relational connections and affective forces gathering in human-nonhuman assemblages to create a set of key agential capacities. The agential capacities generated by the participants’ enactments of digital health included gaining a better knowledge of bodies, illness and healthcare and feeling more in control of health and wellbeing states. While the affordances of convenience, accessibility and detail and diversity of information offered by digital media and devices were valued by the participants, their accounts also highlighted the importance of face-to-face as well as online relationships and personal connections with other people for providing information and support, including family members and friends as well as medical professionals. The participants highly valued the agential capacity of digital technologies to generate detailed information about their bodies and health states and imagined new technologies that would be able to achieve even more detailed personalisation and customisation. However, they expressed little knowledge or concern about how their personal health data may be exploited by other actors or agencies. These insights go some way to recognising and acknowledging the embodied, affective and relational dimensions of living with, through and in the more-than-human worlds of digital health.
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ACCC privacy push 'potential nightmare' for Google, Facebook
What if Google and Facebook had to specifically ask permission for each piece of data it collects on us and it had to do so in a way a child could understand?
It would make a change from, as the competition regulator describes, "long, complex, vague and difficult to navigate" privacy policies. Consumers might cheer, but it could cause a raft of problems well beyond the Silicon Valley giants.
Competition tsar Rod Sims took to the global stage this week following the biggest probe into Facebook and Google's stranglehold over the internet ever conducted.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission made global first recommendations on how to rein in the market power of the digital giants, such as a regulator with oversight over algorithms. But beneath the headline-grabbing calls lurks a potential overhaul of data and privacy regulation that could have far-ranging implications beyond the so-called technology duopoly.
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Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell on My Health Record
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDk1KBXLzHU
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My Health Record could mean a death sentence!
by George_Helon
14th Dec 2018 7:38 AM
Living with multiple, complex and chronic health conditions I have been in-and-out of hospitals (general and emergency admissions) throughout my life and attended at numerous specialist appointments both here in Australia and overseas.
Now for people like myself, My Health Record sounds fantastic.
But as they say, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is!
The government promulgates that "My Health Record is an online summary of your key health information.
"When you have a My Health Record, your health information can be viewed securely online, from anywhere, at any time - even if you move or travel interstate. You can access your health information from any computer or device that's connected to the internet."
Well imagine my surprise and horror when I recently checked My Health Record online:
> Diagnostic Imaging Reports - "No information is available"
> Discharge Summaries - "No information is available"
> e-Referrals - "No information is available"
> Event Summaries - "No information is available"
> Pathology Report s- "No information is available"
> Shared Health Summaries - "No information is available"
> Specialist Letters - "No information is available"
> Discharge Summaries - "No information is available"
> e-Referrals - "No information is available"
> Event Summaries - "No information is available"
> Pathology Report s- "No information is available"
> Shared Health Summaries - "No information is available"
> Specialist Letters - "No information is available"
The reality is, My Health Record is of NO BENEFIT to those like myself with multiple, complex and chronic health conditions.
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What you give away each time you shop — data that could one day be used to decide your life
Each time you swipe a loyalty card or use free Wi-Fi, you hand over stacks of personal data that could one day be used to decide every aspect of your life.
Every single time you swipe your loyalty card at the check-out, use free Wi-Fi at an airport or shopping centre or order a lift via an app, you hand over hugely valuable personal data.
You agreed to do so when you clicked ‘accept’ to those incredibly wordy terms and conditions at the point of sign-up or login.
And in most cases, you benefit from the exchange.
Companies and brands use this consumer data to personalise experiences and cut through the clutter of information, giving you more of what you want and less of what you don’t.
But some experts are increasingly concerned about how this treasure trove of personal and sensitive information might be used in the future.
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Year in Search 2018: Here’s what Aussies were asking Google this year
Nick Whigham, news.com.au
14 December, 2018
If you want to know what’s on Australia’s mind, there is probably no one who can paint a better picture than Google.
We reveal our deepest secrets and insecurities to the search engine giant. When no one is watching, we ask it questions we’re too embarrassed to ask each other.
As the dominant internet indexer in Australia, it’s also where we turn when we want to find the latest articles and headlines on a particular topic — and in 2018 there was plenty that captured our interest.
…..
NEWS EVENTS
1. Royal Wedding
2. Thai cave rescue
3. Wentworth by-election
4. My health record
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HOW TO …?
1. How to opt out of my health record
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Clinical Safety Lead
Australian Digital Health Agency
Tasked with improving health outcomes for Australians through the delivery of digital healthcare systems and the national digital health strategy for Australia, the Australian Digital Health Agency (the Agency) is responsible for national digital health services and systems, with a focus on engagement, innovation and clinical quality and safety. Our focus is on putting data and technology safely to work for patients, consumers and the healthcare professionals who look after them.
The Agency is currently seeking people with a desire to make a difference to health outcomes, who are passionate about the use of digital health to meet these goals and have the relevant experience to deliver solutions in a highly complex stakeholder and technical environment.
Reporting to the Director, Clinical Governance, the Clinical Safety Lead is responsible for managing the clinical safety of Agency products, such as My Health Record, through the application of clinical safety management activities in line with the Agency’s objectives. Working collaboratively with stakeholders, the Clinical Safety Lead will work toward minimising the potential for clinical risk posed to healthcare consumers from the Agency’s digital health products and services.
The Clinical Safety Lead will be responsible for the following, but not limited to:
• Application of clinical safety management to the design, development and implementation of digital health products and systems;
• Contribute to quality improvement of the agreed clinical safety management approach
• Independently produce executive level reports;
• Troubleshoot cross functional/team issues that impact the timeliness, quality or application of the agreed approach;
• Contribute to clinical incident management activities
• Actively contribute to the education of internal and external stakeholders in clinical safety management
• Perform overtime or restriction duties in accordance with the Agency's policies, and;
• Adhering to the Agency Values and Code of Conduct.
• Application of clinical safety management to the design, development and implementation of digital health products and systems;
• Contribute to quality improvement of the agreed clinical safety management approach
• Independently produce executive level reports;
• Troubleshoot cross functional/team issues that impact the timeliness, quality or application of the agreed approach;
• Contribute to clinical incident management activities
• Actively contribute to the education of internal and external stakeholders in clinical safety management
• Perform overtime or restriction duties in accordance with the Agency's policies, and;
• Adhering to the Agency Values and Code of Conduct.
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DTA proffers ‘six keys to success’ with whole-of-government digital service platforms
By Stephen Easton • 13/12/2018
Hot on the heels of the federal Digital Transformation Strategy comes the Digital Service Platforms Strategy, which tells of “six keys to success” when public sector agencies build online service delivery systems to be shared by their counterparts across government.
The latest musings from the DTA provide “essential” guidance for the Australian Public Service, according to Minister for Human Services and Digital Transformation Michael Keenan. The name of the game is whole-of-government digital platforms and “reusable building blocks” that should strive for the six outcomes:
- Build trust and confidence – we will need to earn the trust and confidence of the public, governments and other users of digital platforms.
- Transform our culture, skills and capabilities – we will need a culture that cultivates innovation, and access to the right people with the right skills and capabilities to make digital platforms successful.
- Use technology and data to connect and unify government services – we will develop digital platforms that are interoperable, flexible and extensible.
- Strengthen digital leadership, governance and accountabilities – we will define clear roles and accountabilities to govern digital platforms.
- Address funding and legislative barriers – we will work across government to remove barriers that stop or hinder cross-government collaboration or adoption of digital platforms.
- Foster collaboration and innovation across government and beyond – we will collaborate and engage with a much broader audience to fully realise the benefits of digital platforms.
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New guidelines for transfer of care arrangements
Appropriate and effective transfer of care arrangements between general practitioners and hospitals when patients are admitted to and discharged from hospitals can reduce patient readmissions in the days and weeks following their treatment.
The AMA has released an updated Position Statement on General Practice/Hospitals Transfer of Care Arrangements – 2018, outlining the steps required from both GPs and hospital doctors to ensure the best health outcomes when admitting and discharging patients.
“Appropriate and effective transfer of care arrangements are more than just a GP sending a referral letter to the hospital and, in return, the hospital sending on a discharge summary when the patient leaves hospital,” AMA President, Dr Tony Bartone, said today.
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Consent covertly obtained is not genuine consent in healthcare
Phil O'Sullivan and Claudia Hall | 13 Dec 2018
As data use and new practices like personalised medicine, machine learning and 3D printing promise game-changing improvements in the health sector, many organisations are tempted to streamline consent in an effort to clear the way for future (often secondary or ancillary) uses of personal information.
However, attempts to bundle consent in relation to health information risk both breaching legal obligations and irreparably damaging the relationship of trust with customers.
Healthcare professionals should view the process of obtaining an individual's consent not as a regulatory hurdle to be overcome, but instead as a critical opportunity to transparently demonstrate the value to that individual of each practice undertaken with it.
Bundled consent is the practice of combining requests for individual consent to a range of collections, uses or disclosures into a single consent without scope for the user to decide which to accept or reject.
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Harvey Norman is radio's top advertiser in 2018
Wednesday 12 December, 2018
As the year comes to a close, Aircheck compared the top advertisers over the last 12 months and with over 8 million spots aired on Australian radio this year, Harvey Norman was the No.1 brand with over 200,000 ads placed across 53 stations.
……
……
‘Cars & Trucks’ was the next most popular category with 353,824 spots and the top
New Brand of the year was Government initiative, ‘My Health Record’, with 7,170 ads aired.
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New PSA president appointed as Jackson steps down
Practice-based Chris Freeman takes on leadership role
12th December 2018
General practice-based pharmacist Dr Chris Freeman has been appointed president of the PSA.
Dr Freeman, who has a PhD in pharmacy practice and has served as vice-president since 2016, was the unanimous choice to replace Dr Shane Jackson, who has stepped down for family reasons.
Dr Jackson will remain on the PSA board as vice-president and chair of the policy and advocacy committee.
He said: “Leading the PSA has been a great pleasure and honour. However, for the immediate future, I need to spend a little less time on planes and more time at home in Tasmania.”.
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GPs call for higher quality discharge summaries
Frustrated GPs want a major improvement to the quality and timeliness of hospital discharge summaries.
Discharge summaries with low-quality information or arriving weeks late are a perennial bugbear for GPs treating patients who have recently been hospitalised.
Incorrect information in summaries has led to adverse events, such as re-admission, in almost half of patients discharged from hospital, according to a 2003 US study.
Dr Carl Mahfouz, GP and University of Wollongong academic told newsGP there is no easy fix for what he describes as a worldwide problem.
‘Discharge summaries are very important documents; a patient’s health can depend on it,’ he said. ‘Deaths, re-admissions, morbidity – that’s been documented.
‘There’s no question about the negative impact of poorly written or poorly timed summaries. Everyone agrees on that. The question is how to solve it.
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Tim Boreham: Mach7 dishes out a version of My Health Record for the ‘ologists
While the Australian government has a little more persuasive work to do with its My Health Records scheme, there’s little doubt that digital health records in a central repository will become the norm globally.
That’s especially the case in the US, where mandatory electronic records was a key – and surviving – pillar of Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
Based at Burlington in Virginia, Mach7 (ASX:M7T) is surfing the trend with its cloud-based enterprise software for hospitals and clinics that aggregates an individual’s medical records so that they are readily available for healthcare professionals.
It also provides diagnostic and imaging tools to all the “ologists”; radiologists, oncologists, cardiologists, pathologists, ophthalmologists, et cetera.
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December 12 2018 - 5:30AM
Opinion | The ins and outs of My Health Record
· Lucy Wilk
The federal government has extended the period for opting out of the new My Health Record (MHR) system to January 31 next year.
This system affects every one of us.
If you don’t opt out, you will have a MHR automatically created for you by the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA).
Many people remain unaware of exactly what is proposed and unsure about whether they should opt out.
The deadline to opt out has again been extended as the government proposes additional measures to protect privacy of MHR data and bring harsher penalties for data misuse.
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Australia leads the world in personal control of electronic health records
Hafizah Osman | 12 Dec 2018 ADHA Propaganda And Old Non-News
The Digital Health Evidence Review, released by the Australian Digital Health Agency, has found that Australia is one of the few countries that is leading the way in giving people personal control of their own electronic health records (EHR).
The international comparison of digital health record systems has shown that EHR consumers in Australia have a greater ability to control their digital health information than in countries with similar systems.
Out of the 50 countries surveyed, including France, the UK, the USA and New Zealand, the Digital Health Evidence Review found that only Australia and France allow individuals to edit or author parts of their health records.
The review also found that only 32 per cent of surveyed countries have legislation in place that allows individuals to request corrections to their data; and only 28 per cent have legislation that allows individuals to specify which healthcare providers can access their data.
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ACCC wants to curb digital platform power – but enforcement is tricky
December 11, 2018 3.15pm AEDT
Author
- Katharine Kemp
Lecturer, Faculty of Law, UNSW, and Co-Leader, 'Data as a Source of Market Power' Research Stream of The Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation, UNSW
We need new laws to monitor and curb the power wielded by Google, Facebook and other powerful digital platforms, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
The Preliminary Report on the Digital Platforms Inquiry found major changes to privacy and consumer protection laws are needed, along with alterations to merger law, and a regulator to investigate the operation of the companies’ algorithms.
Getting the enforcement right will be key to the success of these proposed changes.
Scrutinising accumulation of market power
The report says Google and Facebook each possess substantial power in markets such as online search and social media services in Australia.
It’s not against the law to possess substantial market power alone. But these companies would breach our November 2017 misuse of market power law if they engaged in any conduct with the effect, likely effect or purpose of substantially lessening competition – essentially, blocking rivalry in a market.
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10 December 2018
Can we avert the MHR train wreck?
The plotline of Hollywood’s most recent runaway train epic, Unstoppable, and the My Health Record (MHR) are delightfully aligned in lot of ways.
Giant freight train leaves station with lots of good intention to deliver the goods. Somehow the driver doesn’t quite make it on board. Things roll on based on the train’s original timetable and plans. A few individuals see the problem and alert the relevant authorities in time to slow the train down, or even stop it. Individuals are ignored by a system which is political and complex. Train subsequently picks up so much speed and momentum it becomes pretty much unstoppable.
The train is heading for an un-makeable bend in a major city, where it will surely derail, and plough into a chemical plant killing thousands.
But … there exist a few brave souls – some of whom the authorities don’t like or trust for their outspoken ways – who are going to try to jump aboard, make their way to the lead engine and avert mass disaster.
As they do this, some of train staff, who are now reduced to non-paying passengers trapped on a death ride, take the chance to jump off and save their own lives. If only Denzel Washington was into digital health.
Last month, in the new and brightly furnished offices of the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA), in Darlinghurst, Sydney, some very senior leaders of the MHR had taken some time out of their busy schedules to meet with a visiting overseas digital health dignitary.
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Tech giants face call for ombudsman, privacy clampdown
By Jennifer Duke & John McDuling
10 December 2018 — 10:07am
The competition watchdog has proposed sweeping reforms to control the market power of digital giants like Facebook and Google, including a new ombudsman to investigate complaints by consumers, media companies and marketers, and measures to monitor the prices they charge for advertising.
Global social media and search companies could be required to tell the regulator about local business acquisitions in advance, and submit themselves to third-party measuring of advertisements, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has recommended in a preliminary report released publicly on Monday.
The report also recommends companies such as Apple and Google provide customers with "options" for internet browsers and search engines on devices rather than providing a pre-selected default.
The suggestions come after a year-long investigation by the ACCC into the digital platforms' impact on advertising revenues and news publishers, the distribution of fake news and the public's understanding of how their data is used.
The Australian regulator's recommendations form part of a world-first inquiry, and contain some of the strongest suggestions globally on how to manage the rising influence of digital platforms, after a rocky year for social media. Facebook, in particular, has been under increased scrutiny worldwide after a series of scandals around users' data and a proliferation of fake news on its platform.
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10 December 2018
My Health Record: legal challenges
Bianca Phillips
David Vaile
David Vaile
THIS article is the second in a series on “the making of the digital health revolution”. It outlines some of the legal challenges under the Australian Government’s My Health Record scheme – the privacy of patients and clinicians, the ownership of records, and approaches to law making in fields of emerging technology.
Privacy of the patient
While there are issues that affect all who have a My Health Record, certain patients are particularly vulnerable to privacy breaches under this scheme. The risk to some patients, including children, people with disabilities, the elderly, those experiencing family abuse, and the parties to a custody dispute, is that their records may be accessible by unauthorised relatives or carers, and such breaches may go undetected and unreported.
Another privacy consideration is the effect of the “opt-out” model, which was adopted after the traditional “opt-in” informed consent model resulted in low levels of adoption. In 2015, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights raised concerns that the opt-out model limited the Article 17 right to privacy under the International covenant on civil and political rights, which says that: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with [their] privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on [their] honour and reputation”.
The Committee requested that reasoning or evidence be provided to show that the opt-out model addressed a pressing or substantial public concern, or that it achieved a legitimate objective. More recently, as part of the 2018 Senate Inquiry into My Health Record, the Human Rights Commission stated:
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Comments welcome!
David.
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