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This weekly blog is to explore the larger issues around Digital Health, data security, data privacy and related matters.
I will also try to highlight ADHA Propaganda when I come upon it.
Just so we keep count, the latest Notes from the ADHA Board are dated 6 December, 2018! Secrecy unconstrained! This is really the behavior of a federal public agency gone rogue – and it just goes on! When you read this is will be 9 months + of radio silence. I wonder how far the ANAO report is away?
Note: Appearance here is not to suggest I see any credibility or value in what follows. I will leave it to the reader to decide what is worthwhile and what is not! The point is to let people know what is being said / published that I have come upon.
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My Health Record
My Health Record (MHR) is a centralised digital database housing an individual’s health information in Australia. On this webpage, NAPWHA provides information and links to resources on risks and impacts on MHR, addressing specific concerns for people living with HIV.
From 31 January 2019, the MHR scheme transitioned from being ‘opt-in’ to ‘opt-out’. This meant that unless an individual chose not to participate in the scheme, an MHR account was automatically created by the Australian Digital Health Agency for them. Individuals can choose to delete their MHR at any time.
What information is stored on a MHR?
Risks and impacts of your MHR
Control who can look at your MHR information
How MHR information is protected
Control your health information securely, in one place
Note The (NAPWHA) is The National Association of People with HIV Australia.
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UN report scolds digital welfare systems
A UN report on global welfare systems has questioned the legal basis of Australia's robo-debt system and criticised its use of cashless welfare cards.
Finbar O'Mallon
Australian Associated Press October 18, 20195:12pm
A United Nations human rights expert has questioned the legality of Australia's controversial Centrelink robo-debt scheme and the country's use of cashless welfare cards.
A UN report on poverty and human rights has taken aim at welfare systems in several countries, including Australia.
Special rapporteur Phil Alston, who is an Australian, said digital technologies in welfare systems are being increasingly used to punish individuals.
"As humankind moves, perhaps inexorably, towards the digital welfare future, it needs to alter course significantly and rapidly to avoid stumbling zombie-like into a digital welfare dystopia," Mr Alston said on Friday.
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Zuckerberg defends allowing politicians to lie in Facebook ads
By Tony Romm
October 18, 2019 — 11.14am
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg worries "about an erosion of truth" online, but has defended the policy that allows politicians to peddle ads containing misrepresentations and lies on his social network, a stance that has sparked an outcry during the 2020 presidential campaign.
"People worry, and I worry deeply, too, about an erosion of truth," Zuckerberg told The Washington Post ahead of a speech at Georgetown University in Washington DC. "At the same time, I don't think people want to live in a world where you can only say things that tech companies decide are 100 per cent true. And I think that those tensions are something we have to live with."
Zuckerberg's approach to political speech has come under fire in the US in recent weeks. Democrats have taken particular issue with Facebook's decision to allow an ad from President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign that included falsehoods about former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Senator Elizabeth Warren responded to Facebook's decision by running her own campaign ad, satirically stating that Zuckerberg supports Trump for re-election.
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ADHA to overhaul underlying infrastructure of Australia’s health services
The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) has gone towards market for assistance with molding the forward course of its secretive national infrastructure for all the services that fall under its umbrella.
As per the ADHA, the upcoming times could incorporate any semblance of, huge information and investigation, “bots” and mechanical autonomy, computerized reasoning (AI) and AI, blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), and portable applications for facilitation of access, gathering of information, use of information and it boarding”.
Where there is a concern of enormous information and investigation, My Health Record framework’s operator stated it is keen in investigating the utility of analytic systems with high performing capabilities
Where enormous information and investigation are concerned, the administrator of My Health Record framework said it is quick to investigate the utilization of superior expository frameworks that are fit for gathering, arranging, and analysis of big data sets, in both organized and unorganized structure from different sources with the point of finding trends and patterns to improve social wellbeing.
Note: I am not sure how legitimate this post is!
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https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/news-and-events/news/fifth-global-digital-health-partnership-summit
Fifth Global Digital Health Partnership Summit, Hong Kong – Global Collaboration On Implementation Of Digital Health Services
18 October 2019: The Australian Digital Health Agency has joined digital health leaders from 18 countries, territories and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Hong Kong SAR, on 15-16 October 2019, for the fifth Global Digital Health Partnership Summit (GDHP) to collaborate and share their experiences, and to improve the implementation of digital health services.
The Australian Digital Health Agency has joined digital health leaders from 18 countries, territories and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Hong Kong SAR, on 15-16 October 2019, for the fifth Global Digital Health Partnership Summit (GDHP) to collaborate and share their experiences, and to improve the implementation of digital health services.
GDHP Chair and Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, Ms Preeti Sudan said “The fifth summit of the Global Digital Health Partnership has been a pathbreaking event highlighting advances and experiences around the world and the importance of patient centred health care”.
Dr Ramesh Krishnamurthy, Senior Advisor, World Health Organization said “Digital Health interventions are fundamentally changing the way healthcare is delivered. These interventions are most useful when they help countries to advance their sustainable development goals and health coverage for their population. Our partnership provides an extraordinary opportunity for countries to share their best practices to advance their health-related Sustainable Development Goals”.
Note: Group Photo seems to be missing TK!
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The technologies that will reshape health
17 October, 2019
The Australian Digital Health Agency’s recent request for information seeking advice on next-generation technologies to enhance its electronic health system is good news for the future of Australia’s health sector, writes NARAYAN IYER.
Technologies such as bots, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), or big data and analytics, have been making strides in industries such as manufacturing, retail, banking and finance for some time now, and the health sector also has a lot to benefit from them.
Why blockchain?
Healthcare presents one of the greatest opportunities to leverage the power of blockchain, given the industry’s need to integrate data from multiple sources such as patient and administrative data, health records, claims, and survey data.
Blockchain can radically restructure the way these medical data are stored and accessed, improving clinical and administrative data interoperability overall. Since Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) is decentralised, it’s almost impossible to breach, providing a stronger security framework for medical data. Additionally, blockchain can be used to combat counterfeit drug prevention and detection, as well as expedite claims processing via smart contracts.
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As Australia’s top researcher in medical informatics, Johanna Westbrook improves the safety of health care
When Johanna Westbrook developed an interest in what is now called medical informatics as a school leaver in the late 1980s, paper records and early computer systems were the norm in hospitals.
By the time she become quality manager at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital, in her mid-20s, she determined there must be ways to collect and crunch data that would yield information to improve patient care and safety, as well as to devise evidence-based methods to lift efficiency and professionalism in the health workforce.
Westbrook now leads a team of 40 as director of the Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research at Macquarie University’s Australian Institute of Health Innovation and she was named Australia’s top researcher in the field of medical informatics in The Australian’s 2019 Research magazine.
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defends free speech
· The Wall Street Journal
Mark Zuckerberg has spent the past two years apologising to a chorus of critics for misinformation, privacy violations and more. But on Friday (AEDT) the Facebook chief executive took the offensive, asserting a commitment to free expression as consistent with American values.
In a rare policy speech that will likely stir further debate over his company’s role in politics and global social movements, Mr Zuckerberg said he worries that “increasingly today across the spectrum, it seems like there are more people who prioritise getting the political outcomes that they want over making sure that everyone can be heard.”
“I am here today because I believe we must continue to stand for free expression,” he said in a talk at Georgetown University that cast Facebook as being in line with a tradition spanning the First Amendment and the civil-rights movement.
Reporters were not allowed to ask questions and video coverage of the speech was limited to a livestream on the university’s social mediasite or footage made available by Facebook.
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Guide to health privacy
16 Oct 2019
This guide is written to help health service providers comply with their existing obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act). It should be read in conjunction with the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) Guidelines.
Health service providers range from doctors and private sector hospitals, through to allied health professionals, complementary medicine practitioners, pharmacists, private schools and childcare centres, gyms and weight loss clinics.
Health service providers constantly handle health information about their patients and understand that health information is sensitive in nature and needs to be treated carefully. Handling this information appropriately underpins the trust in a provider-patient relationship.
The guide outlines the key practical steps that health service providers should take to embed good privacy in their practice. In addition, the guide outlines how key privacy obligations apply to and operate in the healthcare context.
Taking these key practical steps and understanding your privacy obligations will enable you to identify and implement practices that reduce privacy risk and generate public trust in your handling of individuals’ health information.
Publication Details
Copyright: Commonwealth of Australia 2019
Language: English
License Type: CC BY
Published year only: 2019
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The great opportunity of FHIR & Healthcare for interoperability
Posted on October 17, 2019
By JESSICA DAMASSA, WTF HEALTH
A few weeks ago, WTF Health launched the show on its way to Australia's Digital Health Conference HIC 2019. We've received more than 30 interviews (!) From the conference, which is conducted by the Health Informatics Society of Australia (hence the HISA Studio) branding) and I had the opportunity, with most executives of the Australian Digital Health Agency, of many administrators the country's largest health system and a range of health informatics, clinicians and patients. I will highlight a few of my favorites in a four-part series to give you an idea of what's going on in the health innovation "Down Under". For more information, see all the videos on the playlist here.
I'd like to start the series with my interview on all issues of interoperability with Grahame Grieve, arguably the most famous Australian in health technology.
Grahame Grieve, the "father of FHIR", has given the best insight into the interoperability of EMR data in healthcare as the founder of HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR). Grahame tells the surprisingly personal and emotional story and how he thinks the FHIR adoption has progressed so far. If your business has anything to do with health IT, EMR or the impact of healthcare on big data, you should make sure that you find out what's next planned for FHIR. Grahame believes that we will ever finalize the healthcare interoperability problem be solved.
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My Health Record Update
Oct 15, 2019
By JESSICA DaMASSA, WTF HEALTH
A few weeks ago, WTF Health took the show on the road to Australia’s digital health conference, HIC 2019. We captured more than 30 interviews (!) from the conference, which is run by the Health Informatics Society of Australia (hence the HISA Studio branding) and I had the opportunity to chat with most of the Australian Digital Health Agency’s leadership, many administrators from the country’s largest health systems, and a number of health informaticians, clinicians, and patients. I’ll be spotlighting a few of my favorites here in a four-part series to give you a flavor of what’s happening in health innovation ‘Down Under.’ For much more, check out all the videos on the playlist here.
What trip Down Under would be complete without an update on the Australian government’s My Health Record program? The “opt out” period is over and now 22M Aussies (90% of the population) have electronic records managed by the gov’t. Bottom line: They’ve built it, no one’s really opted out, but no one’s really come yet either…especially on the provider side to populate the record with info.
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AI to add the prestige of Australia’s digital health agency
Shreyas Tanna October 15, 2019
The Australian Digital Health Agency today announced the upgrade of My Health Record, an online, electronic summary of one’s key health information, with enhanced clinical workflow capabilities, which will enable healthcare providers to more easily identify and group together relevant tests and results and provide the best possible healthcare. This includes keeping track of tests, knowing when they were carried out and monitoring patients’ results over time.
According to ADHA, more than 31 million clinical documents and more than 1.3 billion Medicare documents have already been uploaded to MHR. The upgrade means that Pathology and Diagnostic Imaging Overviews are automatically available from Clinical Information System applications that implemented the My Health Record Document List. Earlier this month, ADHA partnered with 42 organizations to ensure they are able to easily share information when using different secure messaging platforms across 56 separate software products. In June, statewide pathology providers in the Northern Territory and South Australia connected to MHR, giving patients and clinicians faster and direct access to pathology reports. “Many of us have diagnostic tests ordered by different healthcare providers and undertaken at different locations over time. As a GP, it can be challenging to keep track of these reports with our patients and determine whether, where and when a particular test has been done, particularly when a patient is seeing a range of healthcare professionals to manage multiple conditions,” said Professor Meredith Makeham, Chief Medical Adviser, ADHA, in a statement.
Note: I would take this article with some scepticism!
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Google, Facebook data use ‘must benefit consumer’
US data expert Christopher Yoo will caution the ACCC against taking actions against the big digital platform companies for the sake of it, warning of the need to ensure consumers are the beneficiaries.
Professor Yoo will deliver the annual Bob Baxt lecture at Melbourne University tonight with the theme that big is not necessarily bad.
The federal government is due to hand down its response to the ACCC digital platforms report by year’s end. As a bare minimum, the media industry is hoping that the government directs the ACCC to do more work on the adtech market, which is where Google, Facebook et al use their data to dominate digital advertising.
Knowing just how the data is used will then be used to force the platforms to pay for the data it gets from others (like media companies) to share the benefits in an equitable way.
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https://itwire.com/government-tech-policy/efa-queries-why-facial-recognition-inquiry-hearing-scrapped.html
Monday, 14 October 2019 10:56
EFA queries why facial recognition inquiry hearing scrapped
Digital rights organisation Electronic Frontiers Australia has expressed concern over cancellation of a public hearing into the proposed national facial recognition database.
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security was due to hold the hearing as part of its inquiry into the Identity-Matching Services Bill 2019 and the Australian Passports Amendment (Identity-matching Services) Bill 2019.
A statement from the EFA said the hearing had been scheduled to take place on 18 October, with representatives of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Law Council of Australia, Human Rights Law Centre, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Electronic Frontiers Australia, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Home Affairs set to appear.
EFA Policy Committee chair Angus Murray, who had been due to give evidence, said: “We don’t know why the public hearing has been cancelled. It is our view that the scope of the Bills dramatically and inappropriately exceeds Australian’s reasonable expectations to human rights protections including the right to privacy and freedom of association.
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Why informed consent must be a priority for big tech
Oct 14, 2019 — 4.00pm
Devouring crime novels with a glass of vino in hand on a Saturday afternoon usually provides a break from my daily work routine of tech. But this week was different.
One of the main characters in Dervla McTiernan’s The Ruin uses a feature in Google Maps called Timeline to find a lost phone. In a note at the end of the book she explains that she didn't want to use a feature like Find My iPhone or anything that would have needed to be installed previously because she wanted it to be realistic and not just a convenient solution.
Google came to her rescue with the Timeline function it enabled in 2015, which is a record of everywhere you've been, what route you took to get there and what types of transport you used.
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Queensland police officer pleads guilty after leaking woman's details to violent ex-husband
Neil Punchard pleads guilty to nine counts of computer hacking in crime that victim says was a ‘betrayal’ and left her feeling unsafe
Mon 14 Oct 2019 14.34 AEDT Last modified on Mon 14 Oct 2019 15.05 AEDT
Neil Punchard thought it was funny. The Queensland senior constable used a police database to obtain the personal details of a domestic abuse victim and then joked when he sent her address to her violent former husband.
“Just tell her you know where she lives and leave it at that. Lol,” Punchard said in a 2014 text message to his childhood friend, who would later threaten to kill his former wife and strap bombs to their children.
On Monday, more than five years after sending that message, Neil Glen Punchard pleaded guilty to nine counts of computer hacking. The Brisbane magistrates court heard Punchard illegally accessed two separate computer systems in 2013 and 2014 as he became “became more and more embroiled” in his friend’s acrimonious separation.
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Monday, 14 October 2019 10:56
EFA queries why facial recognition inquiry hearing scrapped
Digital rights organisation Electronic Frontiers Australia has expressed concern over cancellation of a public hearing into the proposed national facial recognition database.
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security was due to hold the hearing as part of its inquiry into the Identity-Matching Services Bill 2019 and the Australian Passports Amendment (Identity-matching Services) Bill 2019.
A statement from the EFA said the hearing had been scheduled to take place on 18 October, with representatives of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Law Council of Australia, Human Rights Law Centre, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Electronic Frontiers Australia, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Home Affairs set to appear.
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Comments more than welcome!
David.
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