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
-----
It is not clear to me what all the movers and shakers in Digital Health are up to, but they seem to be generating very little news. Another very quiet week, bar the Health Debate where the myHealthRecord was not even mentioned. News in itself I reckon.
-----
Why an alert system to stop ‘doctor shopping’ is needed across Australia
A new alert system will help an Australian state combat the scourge that kills many more people than car accidents.
EXCLUSIVE
When the deaths from prescription overdoses overtook Victoria’s road toll, the state knew it had a serious problem it needed to urgently address.
These people were not long-term drug abusers — they were unsuspecting types who “accidentally” became addicted to things like pain-relief medication.
They’re the colleague sitting next to you at work with lower back pain, your elderly grandparents battling arthritis, or your footy player mate who just underwent a knee reconstruction.
For Margaret and John Millington, it wasn’t the car accident their son Simon had at 18 that killed him but the powerful painkillers he became addicted to for 16 years before he accidentally overdosed on them and died in 2010.
-----
Victoria begins $30m prescription monitoring system rollout
SafeScript to be mandatory from April 2020.
The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has begun the initial rollout of its cloud-based live prescription monitoring system to reduce the avoidable deaths from overdoses in the state.
SafeScript, built by pharmacy systems specialist Fred IT on Microsoft Azure, monitors the prescription and dispensing of all Schedule 8 medicines such as morphine and oxycodone, along with other high-risk substance like codeine and diazepam.
The statewide rollout of the system began in April, following the success of a pilot across the Western Victoria Primary Health Network that kicked off in October last year.
From April 2020, all medical practitioners and pharmacists in the state will need to access the system before dispensing or prescribing controlled substances.
-----
Australia contributes to growing EHR market size
Hafizah Osman | 02 May 2019
The global electronic health record (EHR) market size is proliferating, with Australia contributing to a large portion of that growth.
According to a report by Global Market Insights, the EHR market size in Australia was valued at US $526.3 million in 2018 and is expected to witness over 8.5 per cent in exponential growth rate (CAGR) from 2019 to 2025.
Australia’s EHR market size growth contributes significantly to global numbers expected – Global Market Insights estimates this to be US$38 billion by 2025.
Global Market Insights report authors Sumant Ugalmugale and Ajay Devgire said the healthcare system in Australia is equipped with the necessary infrastructure to launch a national EHR program as 85 per cent of Australians and over 95 per cent of general practitioners have access to the internet.
-----
Graham Grieve Named 2019 Glaser Award Recipient
The John P. Glaser Health Informatics Society was initiated by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Biomedical Informatics (SBMI) in recognition of the expertise and leadership of John P. Glaser, PhD, who is a universally recognized thought leader in the field of health informatics. The John P. Glaser Health Informatics Society was created to acknowledge innovators in the field of health informatics and provide education, collaboration, and networking opportunities for the broader community of health informatics professionals, clinicians, and students.
Ivo D. Nelson, a notable health information technology entrepreneur, was accorded the 2016 John P. Glaser Health Informatics Innovator Award; Dr. David Westfall Bates, Harvard’s internationally renowned patient safety expert, accepted the Glaser Award in 2017, and H. Stephen Lieber, former President & CEO of the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), accepted the 2018 Glaser Award.
-----
UK hospital uses Osso VR headsets to train surgeons
Naeem Soomro, director of robotic surgery at Newcastle Hospital said that VR could save time, money and lives
Surgical technology has developed rapidly in recent years, improving patient outcomes but arming doctors with a dizzying array of tools and techniques that many struggle to get to grips with before wielding them in the operating theatre. Research suggests that when graduating from general surgery residency, about 30 percent of trainees were still unable to operate independently.
Dr Naeem Soomro understands this problem all too well. The director of robotic surgery at Newcastle Hospital has been rigorously exploring how to leverage technology to improve training since he was appointed in 2012. His investigations led him to Osso VR, a virtual reality training platform used to prepare surgeons for difficult procedures.
Osso VR allows his department to run countless simulations of operations and programme any procedural changes into the system. Multiple doctors spread across different physical locations can train together in one VR space, and supervisors can use the analytics tool to assess their individual skills.
-----
1 May 2019
Recruiting doctors to the data side
Once an esoteric career path, health informatics is starting to go more mainstream, partly as a consequence of the rapid rise of e-health, but also from some interesting efforts to recruit and professionalise new talent.
After finishing a stint with Telstra Health as the CEO of Readycare, an optimistic tilt by our largest digital health company at an elusive local telehealth market, GP Dr Amandeep Hansra, was determined to persist with the digital health side of her career.
Though Readycare had been a tough early gig, Dr Hansra enjoyed the challenges of combining her clinical and analytical skills in a commercial context and the creativity that required.
-----
To EMR or not to EMR?
Hafizah Osman | 01 May 2019
Having an EMR system brings to a healthcare organisation an integrated system. However, it may not suit individual department needs or workflows, an industry expert has warned.
Speaking at the recent Australian Healthcare Week in Sydney, Sydney Local Health District Assistant District Director of Pharmacy and CPIO Rosemary Burke said in the chase to adopt EMR, many organisations end up having multiple electronic systems within an organisation.
“Do you go for a best-of-breed system where the functionality is tailored to the environment where it is working, its business needs and workflow for a fairly easy for user adoption?” she questioned.
“But then it gets challenging when you have a number of silos within an organisation, in addition to the silos that exist between the hospital sector and the community sector. Terminologies and functionalities can be different as well, so it can be very confusing.”
-----
Aussie doctors 'less likely' to get international drug safety warnings
The TGA issues fewer alerts on drug risks than its overseas counterparts, say researchers
1st May 2019
Australian doctors are less likely to receive official warnings about international drug safety concerns than their peers in key comparable countries, research suggests.
Researchers looked at 680 drug-related issues that prompted warnings from medicine watchdogs in at least one of four jurisdictions — Australia, the US, Canada or the UK — over a nine-year period.
According to a research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine, they found that 619 of the risks were related to drugs available in Australia, but the TGA had issued warnings for only 183 of them.
In 70% of cases where a drug was subject to at least one warning, the TGA did not issue any advisories.
-----
3 May 2019
Health debate reduced to party lines and potshots
If you expected something more from a political debate on health policy than volleys of talking points and dollar figures, interspersed by a little light sledging, then you must be new here.
Last Thursday’s National Press Club debate between Health Minister Greg Hunt and opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King was a seminar in turning every question you’re asked into the one you want to answer, with refrains you could sing along to.
But it all ultimately came down to a duel between the two parties’ favourite untruths about each other: that the Coalition will gut Medicare and that Labor will send us too broke to fund health properly.
-----
Libs pledge $5m to AI-powered pain diagnosis app
National trial for ASX-listed tech play.
An artificial intelligence-powered app that promises to help diagnose pain in people who have trouble verbally expressing themselves has received $5 million from the Liberal government for a national trial as the election campaign rolls on.
PainChek, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, was spun out from Curtin University research that uses smartphone cameras to identify pain and quantify its severity, particularly among non-verbal dementia sufferers.
In a release to the market, PainChek said the funding makes provision for a universal PainChek app access license for over 1,000 residential aged care providers in Australia and their 100,000 residents living with dementia for a one-year period.
-----
Many GP patients are satisfied with video consults
90% say they are confident in the quality of care when using telemedicine with their usual doctor, reveals US study
1st May 2019
Patients are generally satisfied with the quality and convenience of consults carried out via real-time video with their usual GP, a new study reports.
The US research offers a clearer picture of how the reality of virtual visits matches up with patients' expectations, especially when the visits are with a patient's own primary care providers, says lead study author Dr Mary Reed, of Kaiser Permanente, Northern California.
Dr Reed and her team of researchers surveyed 1274 patients at the facility who had a scheduled video visit with a primary care provider in autumn 2015 to determine how well the technology and the medical care worked for them.
-----
Monash University in largest ever commercialisation deal with China
In the largest commercialisation partnership negotiated between an Australian university and China, a new centre for research and development, the Monash Technology Transformation Institute (MTTI), will be established in the Pingshan District of Shenzhen, China.
The MTTI partnership further establishes Monash University as a significant global player in the translation and commercialisation of medicines, medical devices, materials and engineering inventions including electronics and software developed by its researchers.
MTTI is specifically designed to address the “Valley of Death” – the gaps currently limiting the effective translation of research to commercialisation partners globally.
MTTI is specifically designed to address the “Valley of Death” – the gaps currently limiting the effective translation of research to commercialisation partners globally.
-----
Sophistication of cyber-enabled crime frequently underestimated
Cyber-enabled crime is increasingly sophisticated, argues F5 Networks’ David Warburton
The image of a lone, hoodie-clad hacker continues to lead organisations to underestimate the sophistication of cyber-enabled crime, according to David Warburton, senior threat research evangelist for F5 Networks.
“Cyber crime is a very generic, catch-all term and it refers to anything that’s done maliciously on the Internet,” Warburton told Computerworld during a recent visit to Australia. “The problem is that encompasses a really big gamut of individuals.”
Not only have organised groups increasingly become involved in cyber crime, an underground ecosystem with a sophisticated division of labour has facilitated the emergence of what has been dubbed ‘crime as a service’ (CaaS).
The CaaS model draws together, generally on a temporary and ad hoc basis, individuals and groups that possess particular skills necessary for a particular cyber-enabled criminal activity.
Thursday, 02 May 2019 11:59
Australians disregard security basics, vulnerable to hacking: report
Australians are not doing enough to secure their connected devices, despite a slew of recent high-profile hacking incidents of smart devices, according to one security company.
According to Trend Micro findings from its latest research into Australian approaches to smart homes and connected device security reveals that while Australians are looking to embrace smart home technology - with three-quarters (75%) of Aussies open to new technologies like self-driving cars and home-cleaning robots – “they’re letting themselves be out-smarted when it comes to securing these devices”.
“Despite a slew of recent high-profile hacking incidents of smart devices, such as baby monitors, hackable cardiac devices and even a Jeep SUV, 73% of Australians believe their connected devices are at least moderately secure.
“This is despite one-in-five (21%) not taking any security measures for these devices and more than half (52%) admitting they don’t check their home network for unknown or unwanted devices,” Trend Micro says.
-----
Morrison pledges AU$156m to build cyber workforce and fight cybercrime if re-elected
The multi-million dollar investment will be used to thwart 'organised cybercrime gangs', build a cyber workforce, and help small businesses stay protected.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pledged to protect older Australians, businesses, and national security assets from the risk of cyber-attacks if his government is voted back in next month.
Mentioned during the 2019-20 Budget that was delivered earlier this month, the pledge of AU$156 million will be used to thwart cybercrime and beef up Australia's cyber talent.
The "cyber resilience and workforce package" will include AU$50 million for the creation of a Cyber Security National Workforce Growth Program that Morrison expects will create the cyber workforce the country needs.
-----
Govt to pledge $156m to bolster cyber security
- 29 April 2019
- Written by Sam Varghese
The Coalition Government will pledge $156 million to bolster cyber security efforts that are in place to guard the country's communications networks, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison set to make the pledge on Monday.
Of this, $50 million will go towards hiring people to expand the workforce, The Age reported. Australian Cyber Security Centre head Alastair MacGibbon is expected to lead this initiative, in co-ordination with the Defence and Home Affairs departments.
The pledge will come in the wake of an announcement in February that the networks of the Australian Parliament and the three main political parties — Liberal, Labor and National — had been breached.
------
Government's $156M cybersecurity pledge a “drop in the bucket”: White hat hacker
Cyber resilience and workforce package isn't adequate
Michael Connory: Morrison government's cyber package "still not close to enough."
The Morrison government's election promise to spend $156 million to bolster Australia's cyber defences is a start but more like a “drop in a bucket," says Security in Depth's Michael Connory.
The “cyber resilience and workforce package” will include $50 million to hire more staff under a workforce expansion program; $40 million for a 'countering foreign cyber criminals' capacity within the existing Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC); and $26 million for ACSC to expand its assistance to the community.
Michael Connory, security advisor at Security in Depth told CIO Australia the fund is “nowhere near adequate” to help deal with the cyber threats facing Australian businesses and citizens.
-----
Vodafone found hidden 'backdoors' in Huawei equipment
By Daniele Lepido
May 1, 2019 — 5.36am
For months, Huawei Technologies has faced US allegations that it flouted sanctions on Iran, attempted to steal trade secrets from a business partner and threatened to enable Chinese spying through the telecom networks it's built across the West.
Now Vodafone has acknowledged to Bloomberg that it found vulnerabilities going back years with equipment supplied by Shenzhen-based Huawei for the carrier's Italian business. While Vodafone says the issues were resolved, the revelation may further damage the reputation of a major symbol of China's global technology prowess.
Europe's biggest phone company identified hidden backdoors in the software that could have given Huawei unauthorised access to the carrier's fixed-line network in Italy, a system that provides internet service to millions of homes and businesses, according to Vodafone's security briefing documents from 2009 and 2011 seen by Bloomberg, as well as people involved in the situation.
-----
Australia slips three spots to 62nd in global broadband speed rankings
By Fergus Hunter
April 28, 2019 — 5.54pm
Australia has slipped further in global broadband speed rankings, underlining the challenges facing the rollout of fast and reliable internet connections under the National Broadband Network.
While speeds improved slightly, Australia dropped three places to 62nd for fixed broadband in the latest Ookla Speedtest Global Index, putting the country far behind many other advanced economies and a handful of developing nations. The Australian download speed of 35.11 Mbps recorded for March is far below the global average of 57.91 Mbps.
The Ookla survey ranked Australia's mobile internet speeds at 5th globally, with significantly better performance than average.
Labor has seized on the updated broadband ranking, blaming the Coalition government's "multi-technology mix" rollout of the National Broadband Network. The opposition recently ruled out a rapid, large-scale fibre upgrade of the network, opting for $185 million of targeted improvements and a review of the $50 billion project.
-----
Monk’s find of Denisovan jawbone bites ascent of man
- By Robert Lee Hotz
- The Wall Street Journal
- 12:00AM May 3, 2019
A fossil jaw found in the Himalayan highlands of Tibet belongs to a vanished human species called Denisovans, deepening the mystery of human evolution in Asia, scientists said yesterday in a new study probing the roots of humankind.
Discovered by a local Buddhist monk, the fossil shows these archaic human relatives lived on the roof of the world in rarefied air at almost 11,000 feet — an altitude that would leave many people today starved for oxygen. They settled at these frigid heights at least 160,000 years ago, more than 120,000 years before modern humankind arrived, said the scientists, who published their work on the fossil in the journal Nature.
While this early human species became extinct long ago, traces of their DNA survive in modern populations of Asia, the Pacific and Australia, several genome studies show. In fact, many people of Tibet today owe their unusual adaptation to such extreme high-altitude conditions, where there is 40 per cent less oxygen in the air than at sea level, to a unique gene inherited from these primordial mountain dwellers.
-----
Enjoy!
David.
No comments:
Post a Comment