This article from ZDNet raises the question.
ADHA appoints former Services Australia interim head as its new CEO
The new appointment will start at the end of the month.
By Campbell Kwan | September 7, 2020 -- 00:30 GMT (10:30 AEST) | Topic: CXO
Following a 9-month search, the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) has appointed Amanda Cattermole as its new CEO.
……
During her time at Services Australia, the department kicked off a data-matching program of work that saw the automatic issuing of debt notices to those in receipt of welfare payments through the Centrelink scheme.
The program, colloquially known as robo-debt, automatically compared the income declared to the Australian Taxation Office against income declared to Centrelink, which resulted in debt notices and a 10% recovery fee being issued whenever a disparity in government data was detected.
One large error in the system, however, was that it incorrectly calculated a recipient's income, basing fortnightly pay on their annual salary rather than taking a cumulative 26-week snapshot of what an individual was paid.
Since admitting to getting around 470,000 debts wrong, Services Australia estimated that it needed to refund around AU$721 million back to Australians.
Cattermole will commence her new role on September 29.
More here:
https://www.zdnet.com/article/adha-appoints-former-services-australia-interim-head-as-its-new-ceo/
What is the chance that the new ADHA CEO is actually a victim of robo-debt blowback and we are all now lucky enough to have her to help us with Digital Health in OZ? It may explain why she now has a relatively tiny role compared with her previous activities!
What do you reckon?
David.
8 comments:
You could almost think that previous experience in embarrassing a minister with a failed data matching project and PR disaster was a selection criteria.
A wounded critter cornered can be a dangerous thing.
"What do you reckon?"
I reckon that's very mean, unfair and uncalled for. People make mistakes and from them they learn and grow. Be that as it may I, for one, would not suggest she was responsible or the cause of Robodebt, without some incontrovertible evidence. Please don't condem her out of petty-minded spite. The best you can do right now is apologise and lay off.
No-one has condemned anyone...I just wondered if there was a link between the failure of that program and what has just happened with the ADHA appointment.
Robo-debt was a cruel program that caused much suffering and some suicides. She was a senior exec of the responsible agency at the time so there may or may not be a link to the ADHA appointment.
Robo-debt has been agreed by the Government to be illegal and was certainly an abuse of many defenceless welfare recipients.
I believe it is a fair question to ask. Your mileage may vary.
David.
Amando on LinkedIn:
"Very excited to be joining the ADHA at a time when the role of digital innovation and connection across the healthcare system is more vital than ever in helping improve the health of all Australians."
Meaningless puffery. Not a thing about objectives, outcomes or even capabilities.
She's also joining at a time of huge government debt, a raging pandemic, apathy towards My Health Record and ever increasing lack of trust in government IT.
The ADHA supposedly has a strategy for Australian Digital Health, except it is being ignored by just about everybody in Australian Digital Health.
What ADHA needs is a strategy that defines its own challenges, goals and outcomes. Amanda's vague statement is not a good omen. Unfortuntely it all sounds a lot like Tim Kelsey's PR and spin. Same old same old.
IMHO David's questions (that's all they are, questions) are fair and relevant. A huge mistake and subsequent reluctance to accept the consequences suggest that the problem is cultural. If Amanda is taking that culture to ADAH then it may well make ADHA's performance even worse than it is.
I doubt if we will ever find out what role, if any, Amanda played in RoboDebt. It is quite likely that as a COO, she had no role in archieving Services Australia's organisational outcomes. Which raise a different question. I she was (effectively) in administration, what experience is she really bringing to ADHA and Digital Health?
It does rather lend credence to the theory that as an administrator and lawyer, her role will be more about changes to the machinery of government than health outcomes.
I am very pleased to see the announcement of Amanda Cattermole PSM as the CEO of the Australian Digital Health Agency. Digital transformation, service delivery and importantly strong relationships across the sector.
Through this terrible pandemic the brightest light has been the speed of digital health progress across healthcare delivery, illuminating the way forward for our country, its citizens and a provider community more accepting of virtual care.
Let’s all rally together to support the continued maturation of our healthcare system.
Congratulations on this appointment.
Anyway it is the same customer base just a different entry point.
@ T Rollin, I have read some butt kissing in my time but that really is top notch crawly talk. Peddling anything?
Great questions David, got me thinking. What would be the flip side? What has the government discovered that it expects might enter the public domain and cause all sorts of strife? Would you not want people in there with experience in facing all sorts public enquires and media attention?
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