Here are a few I have come across the last week or so. Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
General Comment
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With Easter and ANZAC day looming everyone seems to have disappeared – so only a few items to report.
Enjoy the break!
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GPs demand fix for 'hopeless' new death certificate system
There are concerns that funerals could have to be rescheduled because of issues with the system
15th April 2019
GPs in Victoria are warning families of deceased patients they could be forced to delay their loved ones’ funerals due to problems with the state’s new system for processing death certificates.
The Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages launched a new online portal for medical paperwork in February, promising to be “easy to use and navigate” for doctors.
It was claimed the new system would allow doctors to complete a medical cause of death certificate in less than 10 minutes.
At the same time, the registry stopped distributing paper forms for the certificates.
But that decision needs to be reversed, according to Dr Ralph Audehm, who spent three days earlier this month attempting to file a death certificate for one of his patients.
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April 18 2019 - 4:33PM
Doctors slam 'reckless' Qld pharmacy trial
· Robyn Wuth
Doctors have slammed the Queensland government's decision to allow pharmacists to dispense the contraceptive pill and antibiotics, warning it could create superbugs.
Pharmacists will be allowed to provide the contraceptive pill on a one-off basis and antibiotics for urinary tract infections under a statewide trial being rolled out by the health department.
Details on the Queensland Health measures are yet to be determined, but pharmacists will be able to access a patient's medical history on the My Health Record database.
Health Minister Steven Miles said Queensland Health would work with industry stakeholders to firm up the details of the trial.
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Deakin Uni’s $33m AI institute launches
A²I² merges PRaDA, DSTIL
Deakin University has formally launched its Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute.
The university has invested almost $33 million in the institute, dubbed ‘A²I²’, which merges the Pattern Recognition and Data Analysis (PRaDA) Strategic Research Centre and the Deakin Software and Technology Laboratory (DSTIL).
“Much is made of the potential for AI to replace human intelligence, but AI’s true potential lies in its capacity to enhance human abilities rather than replace them,” said Deakin vice chancellor Professor Jane den Hollander.
“We’re not building robots to take the place of humans, but we are creating technology that will work alongside people to help them make more informed and better decisions.
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Swinburne University of Technology partners with Coviu for telehealth education
By Dean Koh
April 17, 2019 12:13 AM
Swinburne will embed Coviu’s technology into the curriculum of nursing, occupational therapy, psychology, dietetics, health science, and digital health and informatics.
Swinburne University of Technology, a public university located in Melbourne, Australia, has partnered with Coviu, a telehealth software platform, to further embed digital health technology in the classroom, clinic and research.
What’s it about
The partnership will engage students studying health-related courses, and the wider community, in using the latest telehealth technology, equipping them to treat Australians remotely and redefine models of healthcare.
Coviu, a company that specialises in online health consultations, will provide access to its technology for Swinburne students, researchers and clinical services. Coviu is also a finalist and winner of the 4th Innovations Challenge Award for their PhysioROM solution at the HIMSS AsiaPac Conference in 2018.
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Ransomware attacks still common in Australia, and half pay up
By Tim Biggs
April 16, 2019 — 4.02pm
Australian companies are increasingly paying off online hackers, who demand money to unlock computers, as the number of cyber attacks rises.
A Telstra survey of IT professionals from more than 300 Australian companies found 48 per cent of those surveyed had experienced a cyber attack in the past 12 months. This is up from 33 per cent in 2018. Of those who suffered an attack, 81 per cent experienced a ransom incident, and 51 per cent of them paid it.
Common advice from security professionals is not to pay extortionists, because it only encourages further attacks and there's never a guarantee the attackers can restore files or unlock computers. The safer approach is to keep systems patched against new vulnerabilities, and ensure regular offline backups and "versioning" so systems can be restored if locked down.
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iPad test could detect dementia years earlier
- By Andrew Gregory
- The Times
- 9:22AM April 14, 2019
The UK’s National Health Service is conducting trials of a five-minute iPad test to spot the early signs of dementia.
The “quick and easy” check could offer “huge benefits” to patients and their families, potentially detecting it years before symptoms appear.
Experts say earlier diagnosis could lead to effective therapies. At present, dementia has no cure. It could also cut the number of “worried well” people who are referred for scans, saving the health service time and money.
The test, which requires no medical supervision, uses artificial intelligence to assess brain function. Participants are shown about 100 photographs and asked if they contain an animal. The images appear for a split second. Some clearly depict an animal. Others have one that is less obvious, or no animal at all.
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NEC scores $23m WAN deal at WA Health
To enhance connectivity at rural health sites.
NEC Australia has scored a $23 million deal with Western Australia’s health department to improve connectivity at health sites across regional and rural areas of the state.
The deal will see NEC deliver WAN services at more than 500 health locations to enhance IT interconnectivity across WA’s two-and-a-half million square kilometre network.
It is part of WA Health’s $409 million infrastructure replacement project HealthNext, which is being led the department’s health support agency, health Support Services (HHS).
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Location, location, location: How Australia is getting precise about positioning
A diverse range of industries are expected to benefit from a major project to augment Australia’s positioning infrastructure
Businesses in sectors ranging from agriculture to aviation, construction, mining, shipping and road transport are expected to benefit from a major project that will deliver highly accurate positioning capabilities across the Australian continent and surrounding maritime zones.
The 2018-19 federal budget earmarked $160.9 million over four years to develop and operate a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS), which is capable of determining position with accuracy far greater than standard GPS.
The program is spearheaded by Geoscience Australia, which has been overseeing an SBAS test-bed service. As part of that project, the first test signals were transmitted in mid-2017, with the test-bed fully operational from October 2017.
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Digital health sites get zero-rated data
Wednesday, 17 April 2019
eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
New Zealanders will be able to visit some digital health websites for free as part of a three-month trial run by the Ministry of Health, Health Promotion Agency and WellSouth.
Three telecommunications companies – Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees – are involved in the proof of concept to provide zero-rated data for three websites run by the Health Promotion Agency and two patient portals used in the southern region, starting on 1 May.
Ministry of Health group manager digital strategy and investment Darren Douglass says key metrics around data volumes and usage will be measured, with the aim of improving the use of digital technologies to access to health services, particularly for people in low socioeconomic groups.
If the pilot is successful, the Ministry aims to create a framework agreement with the telecommunications providers that allows specific digital health services to quality for zero-rated data.
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ASD says 'sophisticated, state actor' behind Parliament attack
- 14 April 2019
- Written by Sam Varghese
The Australian Signals Directorate has ascertained that hackers who breached the networks of the Australian Parliament and those of three main political parties — Liberal, Labor and National — are nation-state actors, but the agency's director-general, Mike Burgess, has said he cannot name the country involved in a public forum.
Burgess told the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee on 5 April that the attackers had exfiltrated a small amount of data.
Asked whether the ASD had identified whether it was a state actor, Burgess said: "The level of sophistication here leads us to believe it has to be a state actor. That's our assessment. Of course, that could still be just a very, very clever individual, but we think that's highly unlikely."
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The need for new ways of protecting health data
Hafizah Osman | 17 Apr 2019
Despite increased industry efforts, healthcare is experiencing cyberattacks at an increasing rate. So what does the industry need to do to salvage the situation?
According to Forcepoint Information Security Senior Director Alvin Rodrigues, the industry needs to embrace new ways of protecting data.
At the recent Australian Healthcare Week conference, he mentioned that a behaviour-centric, analytics driven approach to cybersecurity is necessary.
“Having just a reactive mindset to cyber threats doesn’t work anymore. Cyber attackers have expanded the boundaries of attacks beyond the horizon of just the healthcare organisation to reach other players or partners of these organisations,” he said.
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Tech laws need more consultation, AIIA tells govt
- 14 April 2019
- Written by Sam Varghese
The speed at which two crucial pieces of technology-related legislation have passed through Parliament has alarmed the Australian Information Industry Association which has called for more consultation between government and industry.
The AIIA, the peak member body for the ICT industry, said in a statement that the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Act 2018 — better known as the encryption law — was passed on 6 December 2018, and more recently amendments to Australia's Criminal Code were passed in the wake of the massacre of 50 Muslims in a Christchurch mosque on 15 March.
AIIA chief executive Ron Gauci said more dialogues was needed between the government and industry to ensure that whatever laws were passed kept pace with the development of technology.
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Telcos wary of ACCC push for scrutiny of dark fibre, NBN wholesale markets
Rivals network operators say ACCC proposal would impose unjustified compliance costs
Network operators have called for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to back away from proposed rules that would allow the ACCC to collect a range of new data about the state of Australia’s dark fibre and NBN wholesale aggregation markets.
The ACCC’s 2018 report into the state of Australia’s telco market said that the information the commission had gathered suggest there was “limited competition in the supply of dark fibre services” including to NBN points of interconnect (POIs).
The ACCC said that as a result of concerns over the “slow development of the wholesale markets for NBN aggregation services and dark fibre availability” it would consult with the telco sector on implementing new record keeping rules (RKRs).
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Optus sets $85 a month as its new entry-level NBN price
Second rise in less than a year.
Optus has set $85 a month as the new minimum cost of an NBN product on its network as part of a move to court a “premium” consumer audience.
For that, customers can choose either a broadband-only product bundled with Optus Sport, or a product that also includes a home phone line and calls to landlines and mobiles.
The next step up is a $99 a month product which also includes fetch TV.
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Optus launches NBN plans ahead of ‘new customer initiatives’
- 15 April 2019
- Written by Peter Dinham
Optus has launched three new NBN plans promising more speed for selected home users, and with unlimited data for “data hungry” streamers.
Optus’ new offerings include two new NBN broadband bundle plans which includes a phone line at no extra charge for $85/mthi and $99/mth and a broadband only plan for $85/mth.
The plans have unlimited data on Optus’ Speed Pack 3, which Optus says delivers 40Mbps typical evening speed (7-11pm) across its new NBN plans.
Optus Head of Product, Shawn Van Graan said, “We are unveiling our new NBN plans, offering customers fast NBN speeds, with some great features that are perfect for families and data-hungry streamers.”
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Enjoy!
David.
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