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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Not surprisingly a very quiet week with just a few interesting items popping up.
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Health documents reveal patient harm linked to Queensland's new medical record system
Exclusive by state political reporter Josh Bavas
24 December, 2019
Almost 100 cases of patient harm have been linked to Queensland's new electronic medical record system in just over a year, including instances of patients being administered incorrect doses of drugs.
Key points:
- Documented cases include child given 10 times the amount of insulin they were prescribed and a patient administered morphine in milligrams, not micrograms
- One patient in severe pain was unable to be given pain relief because of a 'computer system failure'
- Queensland Health says the Integrated Electronic Medical Record (ieMR) is working well
On one occasion late last year, a child at Queensland Children's Hospital was mistakenly given 10 times the amount of long-acting insulin they were prescribed.
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Credit card and other details of Perth rental applicants may have been public for 21 months
By Hamish Hastie
December 24, 2019 — 3.05pm
Information such as credit card details and birth certificates uploaded during tenancy applications may have been published on the website of a Perth property management business for up to 21 months, a warning to clients has revealed.
On Monday Perth-based Primus Realty emailed 750 of its clients warning that tenancy application information collected via its website from March 2018 to December 12, 2019 may have been made public.
The tenancy information may have been online for up to 21 months.
The information could include sensitive identifying information such as names, birthdays, addresses, telephone numbers, driver licences, passports, birth certificates and even Medicare numbers.
Worryingly, financial documents may have also made it online including credit card details, bank statements, proof of income and bills.
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Website to compare medical specialists' costs to go live without key details
By Dana McCauley
December 27, 2019 — 10.00pm
The Morrison government's $7.2 million specialist fee transparency website is set to go live in the coming days, but will not detail individual doctors' fees – as initially promised – or enable patients to determine their out-of-pocket costs.
The website, promised by Health Minister Greg Hunt before the federal election in response to concerns about overcharging by some specialists, will give an average cost of a range of procedures and will not detail how much each health fund will pay towards each procedure.
Mr Hunt pledged in March to deliver a searchable website listing individual specialists' fees for specific services to help patients avoid "bill shock" and crack down on doctors charging egregious out-of-pocket sums, but the project has been hampered by a lack of co-operation from doctors.
The minister initially said the website would go live by January 1 with individual fee information to be provided by obstetricians, gynaecologists and cancer physicians.
National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists president Gino Pecoraro said of the hundreds of doctors in the field he had spoken to about the website over the past nine months, "not one" had indicated a willingness to publish their fees.
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Government funds new efforts to bolster political parties’ cyber security
New program launched in wake of parliament hack
Editor, Computerworld | 20 December 2019 13:05 AEDT
The Department of Finance will administer a new program to help political parties better improve the security of voter information that they hold.
Funding of $2.7 million was allocated in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2019-20, building on a 2017-18 budget measure that earmarked $300,000 to the four largest parliamentary parties to help boost security.
In early 2017 the government revealed plans to help political parties strengthen security in the wake of state-sponsored hackers penetrating a server belonging to the Democratic National Committee in the US.
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Advance care directives frequently written by someone other than the patient
About 18% have been completed by someone else, survey shows
27th December 2019
Nearly one-fifth of advance care directives for end-of-life care are completed by someone other than the patient, putting their legal validity in doubt, a new survey has revealed.
Last year, researchers examined the health records held at 15 GP clinics, 27 hospitals and 58 aged care facilities.
Among the 4200 patients aged over 65, they found 1100 had a written advance care directive.
In most cases, the directives can only be treated as legal documents when written and signed by the individual when they have decision-making capacity.
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HISA and ACHI vote ‘Yes’ to unite and form a new organisation
Making history!
HISA and ACHI members and Fellows have voted ‘Yes’ to unite and form a new peak body for digital health.
The proposal to merge and form a new organisation has been passed by a majority vote with more than 89% of members and Fellows voting for the merger.
The Australasian Institute of Digital Health will be launched on 24 February 2020.
HISA and ACHI members and Fellows will be the inaugural members of the Digital Health Institute which will be accepting new members from all sectors of healthcare after it is launched.
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App gives foster kids chance to report abuse
Children and teens in foster care and group homes will be able to report abuse or ask for immediate help on a phone app that for the first time connects them directly to their case worker and emergency contacts.
Western Australia is the first state or territory in Australia to trial the newly developed MyView app as part of the state’s response to the 2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
In the farming and mining region of Murchison, north of Perth, the McGowan Labor government is giving mobile phones to foster kids and others aged 10-17 in out-of-home care so they can use the app.
In the city of Rockingham on the fringe of Perth’s southern suburbs, children and teens who already have phones have started taking part in the trial.
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https://www.smh.com.au/technology/apple-watch-health-app-cuts-through-the-noise-20191223-p53mf0.html
Apple Watch Health app cuts through the noise
By Alice Clarke
December 26, 2019 — 4.22pm
When the new updates for Apple’s Health app for iOS and WatchOS were announced at WWDC, I was pretty sure that the new Noise app would become one of my favourite features of the Apple Watch. But what I didn’t realise was just how much it would become a part of what I do every day.
The Noise app sends a notification if your environment is unhealthily loud.
As a kid, I needed several surgeries to be able to hear properly. And then, as a teenager, I became a drummer, much to my doctor’s exasperation, yet managed to maintain my now above-average hearing due to my parents’ insistence that I wore ear protection during practice and whenever I went to gigs. So, I guess it makes sense that I’m more concerned about noise levels than most.
The app works by having the watch sample background noise every 30 seconds using the second microphone introduced to the Apple Watch from Series 4 (2018’s model), and processes it on the device. It doesn’t record, share info, or listen to what’s being said: It just tells you how loud the environment is. If it’s been at 90dB or above (or a custom level you’ve set) for more than three minutes, it’ll send an alert to let you know.
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Open banking reforms delayed as security tests drag on
By Clancy Yeates
December 22, 2019 — 11.55pm
The consumer watchdog will spend more time ensuring a new financial data-sharing regime is resilient against cyber security threats, after technical hiccups delayed the launch of open banking by six months.
In a disappointing development for fintech firms, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission pushed back the start date for the government's open banking reforms on Friday from next February to July.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has delayed the start of open banking. Credit: Michel O'Sullivan
The change will hold back the plans of neobanks keen to entice big bank customers who are willing to share their data, but the ACCC said the rollout had proven more complex than it had expected and that trust in the system was vital.
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‘Step up’ face data checks at borders
Australia’s immigration watchdog has warned the Morrison government that greater use of biometric facial recognition technology and matching of data held by friendly nations and security partners is needed to counter a heightened vulnerability to terrorism and organised crime.
In a detailed brief handed to Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton after the May election, the Department of Home Affairs laid out a case for upgrading its capabilities in biometric analysis, warning that the immigration program was under significant pressure.
The department argued strongly for an overhaul of its information technology infrastructure, saying the system was unable to cope with demand. It said the department’s legacy IT systems were “ageing and failing”.
“Current systems were designed and built to accommodate much smaller volumes and a less sophisticated risk environment,” Home Affairs said.
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Canberra forecast 5,400 small business cyber health checks, but only 35 happened
Despite the federal government expecting over 5,000 cyber health checks of Australian small businesses, only 35 have happened so far.
When it announced its Cyber Security Strategy in 2016, the Australian government set aside AU$136 million for numerous activities, including a threat information-sharing portal, increasing the government's cybercrime intelligence and investigation capabilities, and grants to small businesses to boost their security.
More than three years after it made the announcement, the Department of Industry, Innovation, and Science has laid bare in responses to Senate Estimates questions on notice how few small business cyber health checks were completed.
"Based on the available funding, the government forecast up to 2,400 Small Business Health Check services in year three of the Strategy (2018/19) and 3,000 services in year four of the Strategy (2019/20)," the department said.
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Alcidion signs contract for medications management solution
Highlights:
· Contract for ~A$1.9 million signed with Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust in the UK for medications management
· As announced July 2019, Alcidion was selected as preferred provider for the solution, following a competitive tender process
· Alcidion will implement the Better OPENeP electronic prescribing and medication management solution at Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
Melbourne, Victoria – Alcidion Group Ltd (ASX:ALC) announces that an agreement has been reached with Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, UK, to implement the OPENeP Electronic Prescribing and Medications Administration (ePMA) system produced by Better. Total value of the contract is £1.02 million (~A$1.9 million) to be recognised over six years.
The agreement follows Alcidion’s award as preferred provider by the Trust, a status previously announced in July 2019 and subject to final approval by the Trust and successful negotiation of terms.
Alcidion was appointed as a reseller and implementer of the OPENeP solution in April 2019 for the UK, Australia and New Zealand health sectors. This project will represent Alcidion’s first implementation of OPENeP.
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The agreement follows Alcidion’s award as preferred provider by the Trust, a status previously announced in July 2019 and subject to final approval by the Trust and successful negotiation of terms.
Alcidion was appointed as a reseller and implementer of the OPENeP solution in April 2019 for the UK, Australia and New Zealand health sectors. This project will represent Alcidion’s first implementation of OPENeP.
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Australia's newest internet connection lands in Sunshine State
By Tony Moore
December 23, 2019 — 7.03pm
This fibre-optic cable at Maroochydore will bring download speeds of 36 terabits per second to Queensland within 60 days.
By mid-2020 it will be transferring commercial data.
The fibre optic telecommunications cable being connected at Maroochydore.
After five years, Australia's newest telecommunications link from Asia and the US landed on Monday, promising faster internet connections to the country's east coast by mid-2020.
Singapore-based telecommunications company RTI Connectivity – the technology partner in a five-year $35 million Sunshine Coast and Queensland government project to bring a new data source to Australia – delivered a 550-kilometre cable connecting an existing Japan-to-Sydney undersea cable to the beach at Maroochydore.
"It enables 36 terabits [per second], which is more capacity than all of the capacity combined that goes into Sydney today," RTI Connectivity chief executive Russ Matulich said.
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