Quote Of The Year

Timeless Quotes - Sadly The Late Paul Shetler - "Its not Your Health Record it's a Government Record Of Your Health Information"

or

H. L. Mencken - "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Suddenly We Have A Better Idea Why The #myHealthRecord Is So Long-lasting!

It seems to me the explanation came into clear view last week:

Labor leadership devoid of tech talent: ALP autopsy

By Julian Bajkowski on Nov 8, 2019 1:26PM

Bemoans “lack of digital literacy within Labor’s senior ranks.”

“Few, if any, Party officials have genuine expertise in how digital platforms work and how progressive organisations can make the most of the opportunities they offer.”
“Labor employs very few digital specialists and often the default position is to define digital as the responsibility for managing some social media accounts and to allocate this to relatively junior staff and officials.”
Those are just two of the brutal observations made in the Australian Labor Party’s election loss autopsy that found multiple causes of electoral death – and no detectable digital pulse at a time when campaign technology and online communications have become politically weaponised.
In an excoriating take-down of the progressive party’s organisational structure and leadership competencies, the review by Craig Emerson and Jay Wetherill says “Labor’s reluctance to embrace ‘digital-first’ campaigning left it flat-footed and falling behind its opponents.”

It’s a far cry from a decade ago when Kevin Rudd held an ageing Toshiba laptop aloft to declare the ‘Digital Education Revolution’ and online campaigning talent and techniques from the Obama campaign were flown in and feted like rock stars.
Or when Senator Kate Lundy irritated clueless bureaucrats with endless questions about open source and Microsoft lock-ins.
One example of extent of the digital edge the ALP held over the Coalition in 2007 is that former Prime Minister John Howard forced himself to get an official Twitter account in the sunset of his final campaign that days later saw Labor swept into office as an altogether more modern party.
Back then of course platforms like Google, Facebook, Twitter were the go-to accessories for politicians trying to slot into the digital groove as tech companies trawled the ranks of political advisors for future lobbying talent and public policy hires.
But it seems fewer and fewer people with hands on tech or digital experience are returning to the ranks of the Labor machine, either as party officials or candidates, producing a major skills deficit that helped hobble its campaign at the last poll – though whether it would have made a tangible difference is questionable.
Win or lose, you do need to front on the field to be in the game, which is where the autopsy gets really grizzly.
“Over the past two decades digital campaigning has graduated from a novel afterthought to a key plank in parties’ efforts to reach and persuade voters,” the autopsy says.
“In 2019 Labor’s reluctance to embrace “digital-first” campaigning left it flat-footed and falling behind its opponents.”
A big part of the problem it appears, was that people with digital roles were relegated to back office and support functions during the campaign.
The autopsy says Labor's digital team “was responsible for a diffuse set of functions which were mostly shared with other teams including online advertising, fundraising, supporter communication and mobilisation, web development, content production and design, data analytics, and maintaining Labor’s social media presence.”
Much more here:
As I read this I thought to myself if the Labor Party could not properly get its collective head around using tech for what amounts to political survival, what chance understanding the intricacies and issues surrounding the #myHealthRecord – to say nothing of those vexatious encryption laws and so on.
Clearly without better tech advice than they were receiving they could not realise just how dopey the present Health Record Policy was and how vulnerable the Libs were on it – and other issues. Opportunity missed I reckon.
One can only hope that it will not take then till the next election to get up to speed tech wise and to realise the #myHealthRecord is a useless dog!
BTW, I am not sure the Liberal Party digital literacy is so much better! Do you think it is that both sides can’t work out what to do so it just festers on?
David.

12 comments:

Nice but Dim said...

You are probably right David, all parties seem devoid of working knowledge around information technology, or any form of technology. Maybe just coincidence then that two leading the digital interoperability charge are well known labour gits.

Bernard Robertson-Dunn said...

Technology isn't the problem, it might not even be the answer. The problem is how to deliver better healthcare. ADHA know even less about how to improve healthcare than they do about technology.

The ADHA is running a webinar:

https://www.myhealthrecord.gov.au/news-and-media/events/use-my-health-record-for-oncologists-webinar

"This webinar will focus on the benefits of My Health Record in supporting patient care and focusing on a patient’s journey with bowel cancer through the healthcare system. It will highlight the key elements of My Health Record to improve continuity of care for patients and better transition of care."

Exactly how a shared health summary, with very little meaningful information, and a few test results can help with a highly complex healthcare problem like cancer has never been explained or justified.

And then you get vendors jumping on the bandwagon:

https://www.mastercare.net.au/positive-behaviour-change-as-a-result-of-my-health-record-is-what-drives-benefits-realisation/

with their ridiculous claims that just viewing myhr brings about behaviour change.

https://www.mastercare.net.au/wp-content/uploads/MHR-PDF-1.pdf

The gap between reality and hyperbole is growing daily.

The other gap is the one between the sellers and buyers. Vendors are trying to get patients and doctors to shell out money. ven the government is selling, even if they don't appear to be charging for their toys.

Very few patient's are interested in this stuff. When it comes to health they prefer the advice from magazines and social media influencers or to just ignore their health.

Doctors see no benefit from the effort they have to put in to include myhr into their already stretched consultation and administrative time.

The ADHA is giving every impression they are struggling to justify myhr while at the same time planning to "replatform" it because it is not fit for purpose.

The reality is that myhr is not a technology solution to a medical problem, it's an unwanted, unnecessary, privacy invasive, business distraction. Replatforming it based on its flawed goals and assumptions will never be a success.

Dr Ian Colclough said...

Bernard's comments are all well and good, absolutely valid. So too David's comments on the ALP Autopsy and why the My Health Records continues to fester with the inability of Labor and Liberal parties to both understand what's wrong and do anything about it.

So what then can be done? Is the answer nothing? Should one just accept the status quo?

Anonymous said...

We don't have to do anything. It is built on sand and will eventually just crumble away. The government is very good at ignoring the evidence and facts, but what they won't be able to do is get anyone to actually use it. Timmie will move on and the government will find it harder and harder to get people to work in ADHA. Accenture will happily take money to keep the lights on but it's a dead duck and no amount of life support will make it work.

Anonymous said...

@11:56 AM So, in other words, accept the status quo with government continuing to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into the MyHR blackhole until the money drought arrives!

That should open a whole new opportunity for the likes of Accenture to start all over again just like they did last time while we all sit back and do nothing as you suggest.

Anonymous said...

11.55 AM is your classic do-nothing bureaucrat from the school of 'just watch and hope, smile and nod'..... tick tock, tick tock..... till the bomb explodes.

Anonymous said...

Gosh, with bushfires everywhere and people being displaced it shouldn't be too long before Tim distributes more media releases describing how My Health Record has come to the rescue once again. Tally ho Tim.

Anonymous said...

11:55 AM pathetic.

Anonymous said...

There's always the good old "thoughts and prayers"

Anonymous said...

@12:36pm
You mean like this:
https://twitter.com/AuDigitalHealth/status/1194483672990322689

Bernard Robertson-Dunn said...

1:46pm That's an interesting tweet/claim.

"Our thoughts are with all Australians affected by recent fires. Please remember to include #MyHealthRecord in your crisis planning by uploading your health information so that it is available securely online to #healthcare professionals who may need it. http://bit.ly/MHR_Benefits"

Doesn't ADHA know that all you can upload yourself is limited to what you can add to your Personal Health Summary? - i.e. An allergy or adverse reaction summary and/or a medication summary. You can add a "personal health note". However, your personal health notes cannot be seen by your healthcare providers.

According to the latest statistics (28 July) only 160,000 PHS have ever been uploaded after seven years, a number which includes changes and/or updates (and probably, deleted, inactive, deceased patient records). That's about 0.7% of registered Australians

Unless they mean talk to your GP so they can add a tiny amount of summary information, limited to what they know and/or what you can tell them about your history. If neither of you know, tough.

Looks like more hype and exaggeration all round.

Anonymous said...

@3:01 PM a clear, precise, valid observation.

Today we live in a fast moving information overloaded world of false claims and counter-claims, poorly researched information backed-up by instant door-stop interviews and sound-bites, false news and repetitive syndicated news feeds and twitters - a barrage of noise, massive hype, untruths and fast-talking egos. It's seen by the look-at-me generation as progress.