-----
This weekly blog is to explore the news around the larger issues around Digital Health, data security, data privacy, AI / ML. technology, social media 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 were dated 6 December, 2018 and we have seen none since! Its pretty sad!
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.
-----
New legal battle brews against Google
Australian small businesses are set to wage a fresh legal battle against Google, claiming the tech giant is turning a blind eye to “click fraud” because it benefits financially from it.
Melbourne lawyer Mark Stanarevic said his firm, Matrix Legal, had been approached by a number of small businesses over the past year concerned about the practice that occurs when a bot imitates a legitimate user and clicks on an ad — driving up the cost of advertising because it is based on a pay-per-click system.
“We have been approached by a number of clients over the last 12 months with concerns of ‘ghost’ clicking and potential (AdWords) frauds by a number of small businesses,” Mr Stanarevic said.
“These small businesses spend upwards of tens of thousands of dollars a year in advertising and it seems Google has a strong monopoly in regards to this market.
-----
‘It’s a bad deal’: Google’s offer to pay French publishers revealed
By Zoe Samios
January 29, 2021 — 5.07pm
Google has agreed to pay 120 French media companies €90 million ($142 million) over three years to participate in its new journalism product, in a sign its proposal to sidestep new Australian regulations may fall short of publisher expectations.
Industry sources told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age Google would pay some of France’s biggest publishers between €25 million and €30 million a year to participate in its soon-to-launch Google News Showcase product.
The revelation comes as Google attempts to convince the federal government the Showcase product would be a better way to pay media companies for news in Australia, as it fights back against tough new government proposals to regulate its relationships with publishers.
The government’s new media bargaining code, deemed “unworkable” by Google and Facebook, would force the two digital giants into binding commercial agreements to pay Australian news businesses or risk steep fines of up to 10 per cent of their annual revenues. It will be debated again by a Senate committee next week.
-----
Apple CEO sounds warning of algorithms pushing society towards catastrophe
Tim Cook says there will be consequences to having 'rampant disinformation and conspiracy theories juiced by algorithms'.
By Chris Duckett | January 29, 2021 -- 00:38 GMT (11:38 AEDT) | Topic: Security
Apple CEO Tim Cook has said it is time to face the consequences of having algorithms push users towards more engagement at any cost.
Speaking at the Computers, Privacy, and Data Protection conference on Thursday, Cook said too many companies are asking what they can get away with, rather than what happens if they follow through on boosting metrics.
"At a moment of rampant disinformation and conspiracy theories juiced by algorithms, we can no longer turn a blind eye to a theory of technology that says all engagement is good engagement -- the longer the better -- and all with the goal of collecting as much data as possible," he said.
"What are the consequences of seeing thousands of users join extremist groups, and then perpetuating an algorithm that recommends even more?"
Cook touched on the recent US Capitol riots in Washington, saying the time was over to pretend there are no costs to boosting conspiracy theories and incitements to violence simply because users get engaged.
-----
Friday, 29 January 2021 10:29
Google directly appealing to Australian Google Search users over News Media code
Google is displaying a notice to Australian Google search users whenever they do a Google search, which leads to a YouTube video featuring Mel Silva, the MD of Google Australia, stating there is "a workable news code that doesn’t break Google Search."
With Google the most popular search engine in the world, despite the efforts of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Yahoo and others, Google effectively has a direct line to tens of millions of Australian eyeballs, whenever they search for something online.
You've probably already seen Google's notice, which I've embedded an image of below.
The notice states:
"Google
Search is in the news
"You may have heard about a proposed law. We are willing to pay to support
journalism."
"Hear our proposal"
-----
What to know about tech in 2021
Gary O’Brien
2020 will long be remembered as the year that disrupted every corner or our lives and left a path of destruction in its wake. Australian businesses have been hit hard, despite our market fairing comparatively well. Now, talk of recovery has sparked cautious and, in some cases, desperate optimism for 2021.
But the relief we’re hoping for may not come soon enough for some, with the UN anticipating more obstacles ahead as the fallout of COVID-19 continues to wreak economic havoc. Business leaders need to be prepared for continued disruption in 2021.
If decision makers have learned anything from the last year it’s that technology is at the core of building stronger organisational resilience, by stabilising operations and developing capabilities to respond quickly to the changing market landscape.
It’s been a lesson learned the hard way for some, but the businesses that are still standing and finding success in the mid-pandemic economy are those which have accelerated technology’s injection from the IT department into the boardroom as the core foundation of their strategy. These same organisations are now making the right capability investments and clearly prioritising initiatives that will see them through the ‘new normal’ – and they have the agility to adapt to whatever 2021 serves up.
-----
ACCC faces tough task reining in Google’s ad tech power
The ACCC ad tech report shows how Google dominates the $9bn ad tech market, which is a bit like saying the Pope is a Catholic — the real test is how to open up the market to make it more competitive. That is the task ahead of Rod Sims at the ACCC and his global peers because, as he notes in the report, it is a global issue but the solutions are a lot tougher because of the complexity involved.
The debate over the media bargaining code is a walk in the park by comparison because the issue there is basic theft, whereas the lines are more blurred in ad tech.
The practical outcome is no less serious with the aim being to open the market to competition.
The European Commission is the most litigious antitrust regulator, but last month it flagged a series of rules to control the adtech market, which meant simply writing rules to tell Google and Facebook do this and don’t do that.
Two years ago, Google’s DoubleClick blocked access to customer IDs, which meant advertisers had no idea who was looking at which websites at what location.
-----
Online micro credentials ideal for learning on the job
Cameron Botterill found a digital health ideal for honing his skills as ICT director for business growth and innovation at Australian Red Cross Lifeblood. Aaron Francis/The Australian
Cameron Botterill’s first degree was a bachelor of science in molecular genetics followed by honours in pathology, which set him up nicely for his 21-year career at Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, where he is ICT director for business growth and innovation.
The clue is in his title: he is a classic lifelong learner, so there have been many other courses, most recently a Digital Health Strategy and Change microcredential from RMIT Online. It has the potential, combined with another short online course, of making him eligible to enrol in a graduate certificate of digital health.
Lifeblood, as the venerable institution now styles itself, is more than a blood bank: among its other activities are organ matching and tissue typing, and it also banks breastmilk for very premature babies and is about to establish a microbiots bank to contribute to the new push for gut health. And the drive to encourage more donors is unrelenting.
-----
‘Marking its own homework’: ACCC weighs up action against Google for alleged anti-competitive conduct
By Lisa Visentin
January 28, 2021 — 5.55pm
The competition regulator is considering enforcement action against tech giant Google over allegations it is wielding its dominance in the $3.4 billion digital advertising technology market to stifle rivals.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is also examining whether further regulation is needed to address concerns Google is leveraging its power to “self-preference” its own products and further consolidate its business.
“Many companies are complaining that Google is marking its own homework regarding the effectiveness of the ads it supplies,” ACCC chair Rod Sims said.
“This includes Google very often acting on behalf of both publishers and advertisers for the same ad sale across the ad tech supply chain, while also selling its own ad inventory.”
-----
https://nwmphn.org.au/news/digital-health-specialist-toolkit-now-available/
Digital Health Specialist Toolkit now available
28 January 2021
The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) have published the Digital Health Specialist Toolkit at specialist-toolkit.digitalhealth.gov.au
This toolkit will assist the growing number of medical specialists who are using digital health tools such as My Health Record, electronic prescriptions, secure messaging and telehealth platforms. It includes fact sheets, how-to guides, videos, FAQs and continuing professional development modules for specialists.
The toolkit was developed following extensive consultation with:
- The Australian Medical Association
- The Royal Australasian College of Physicians
- The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
- The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand
- Australian Association of Practice Management
- The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine.
It is designed to support specialists and their practice teams to adopt digital health tools and become digital health ambassadors for their patients.
-----
Acting Chief Medical Officer, Professor Michael Kidd's interview on 4BC Breakfast on 26 January 2021
Read the transcript of Acting Chief Medical Officer, Professor Michael Kidd's interview on 4BC Breakfast on 26 January 2021 about coronavirus (COVID-19).
Date published: 28 January 2021
Media event date: 26 January 2021
Media type: Transcript
Audience: General public
NEIL BREEN:
I've got the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Michael Kidd, on the line to explain. Good morning to you, Professor.
MICHAEL KIDD:
Good morning, Neil.
NEIL BREEN:
It was an exciting day, wasn't it?
MICHAEL KIDD:
It was a very welcome announcement, absolutely.
NEIL BREEN:
The plan for the roll-out - okay, I look at the numbers and they're eye watering. You've got 80,000 a week to start with, okay we'll eventually get more; then the Government's talking about four million by April. How on earth are you going to get needles into the arms of four million in a short space of time?
MICHAEL KIDD:
Well, you're exactly right. This is the largest mass immunisation programme in our nation's history. But, there has been a lot of work happening over recent months to prepare the nation to get the vaccines out and administered as quickly as possible. Clearly, what we're aiming to do with those people in the initial priority group is to protect the people who are most at risk, and particularly those who are most at risk of serious disease and deaths related to COVID-19 which, of course, includes the residents of aged care facilities and disability care facilities around the country. But, there's been a lot of work happening between the Australian government and with the states and territories identifying the initial hubs around the country where the Pfizer vaccine will be sent to, and from those hubs, people will either be coming to those hubs to receive their vaccines or the vaccine in smaller amounts will be transported out in the special containers to the residential aged care and disability care facilities to provide coverage to the residents and the staff.
-----
https://wildhealth.net.au/the-unexpected-rise-of-the-qr-code/
The unexpected rise of the QR code
January 28, 2021 Clare Watson
The COVID-19 pandemic has resurrected an almost defunct technology in QR codes, raising fresh privacy concerns for the security of personal data collected.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resurrected an almost defunct technology in QR codes, raising fresh privacy concerns for the security of personal data collected.
Smartphones in hand, most people have become quite accustomed to plugging in their personal details by scanning a code that opens an app or website before entering a restaurant, gym or other venue.
While cyber crime or identity theft might seem like a remote possibility, the risk is multiplied in COVID times when practically every outing means registering your name, phone number and possibly email.
Electronic check-in systems, now compulsory for businesses and venues in every state, are designed to make contact tracing more efficient in the event of an outbreak.
-----
The inside loop on the secret squirrel govt COVID vaccination booking system (not)
January 28, 2021 Jeremy Knibbs
As they say in the navy, loose lips sink ships. But that’s the navy. This is a national health crisis. Why is the digital health industry almost completely in the dark on the government’s plans (or even actions) to provide the country with a centralised COVID vaccination booking system?
Can the Department of Health really build a centralised booking system for GP COVID vaccinations within the next three weeks – or has it already built one?
That’s what it promised us all in last week’s release of expression of interest for GPs wanting to partake in the rollout.
Not that anyone actually understands yet what the DoH actually mean by a centralised government booking system for GP COVID vaccinations, as so far the only official words we have on the subject are:
- Participating GP clinics will receive “vaccine stock and access to a National Booking System”
- Said “National Booking System” will integrate with the major GP patient booking systems.
Three weeks?
OK, that feels ridiculous given that we’ve asked every major tech vendor how busy they are providing specifications and working on integrations, and none so far has a clue what the government actually wants or is doing. Our market leading GP patient management system Best Practice appears not even to have been contacted yet by the DoH, or any contractor working for it. Some of the major booking engines have had a chat to the DoH but they remain in the dark as to what the DoH actually is thinking or wants.
Let’s give them six to eight weeks for a fighting chance and call things even here.
They still need to do a hell of a lot to make such an idea work.
-----
Thursday, 28 January 2021 10:54
ACCC report claims Google dominates digital advertising in Australia
The Australian competition watchdog claims Google has immense power in the local online advertising industry, and is able to favour its own related business interests while supplying ad services.
In an interim report on Digital Advertising Services in 2019-20 released on Thursday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it had looked at Google's industry-leading position and concerns about opacity in the pricing of ad tech and ad agency services among others.
The watchdog said it had been following overseas developments in this area, with a number of anti-trust suits having been filed against Google in the US.
It said most of the allegations and concerns raised with the ACCC and discussed in the 222-page interim report had been also present in the complaints made in the US.
-----
In the age of QAnon, is internet bigotry the new forbidden thrill for kids?
By Monica Dux
January 27, 2021 — 12.00am
Shortly after starting high school, I was scandalised by a book. The naughty tome in question was not by de Sade, or Anais Nin, but stodgy old Jeffrey Archer. I'd borrowed his Kane and Abel from our school library, precisely because it was dauntingly thick, boasting a cover which struck the 12-year-old me as terribly grown-up and sophisticated. So, I probably shouldn't have been surprised when I came across a sex scene, set in a lifeboat, if I remember correctly. But I was surprised. Indeed, my tiny Catholic brain nearly exploded.
Did the school librarian realise such salacious literature populated her shelves? It was a very long book, so perhaps she'd put it down before she got to the lifeboat-bit. I certainly didn't, racing to the end, fuelled by a desire to find the next naughty part. When I eventually took Kane and Abel back to the library, I carried it sandwiched between two more innocent books, slipped it into the return slot, and ran.
No one had told me that Kane and Abel was forbidden; indeed, the fact that it was in our school library suggested the exact opposite. But I soon discovered there were a great many books with naughty reputations, passed around among my peers, precisely because they were seen as illicit. I remember a school friend reading out a section from such a book, which she’d nabbed from her older sister. I don’t recall the title, but the passage concerned a man called Brique, and featured a vivid description of a bodily organ that rhymed with his name.
-----
Talking HealthTech
98 – What is the future of population health management? Edweana Wenkart, Pen CS
What is the future of population health management in Australia?
In this episode, Pete chats with Edweana Wenkart, Managing Director of Pen CS.
Pen CS facilitates data sharing of over 22 million patient records per month across Australia, and this year was awarded as the Australian Digital Health Agency Innovation Challenge winner for the ‘Outbreak Surveillance’ platform.
Edweana is also a Director of the company CareMonitor and Ocean Health Systems, is a member of MSIA and Associate Fellow of AIDH, and she holds an MBA from AGSM
Learn about Edweana’s unique background and journey into healthcare, the long and proud history of Pen CS, the Practice Incentives Program (PIP) Quality Improvement (QI) program, and her reflections on building effective relationships with Primary Health Networks (PHNs).
Check out the episode and full show notes here.
-----
Media code is a Stalinist show trial
The Morrison government needs to come to its senses and recognise that its proposed media bargaining code is absurdly slanted in favour of media companies.
Richard Holden Contributor
Jan 27, 2021 – 11.23am
Last week Google Australia’s managing director Melanie Silva told a Senate committee that if the government’s proposed media bargaining code becomes law then Google will turn off its widely used search engine in the country. Yikes!
This is neither an idle threat, nor an unreasonable one. The media bargaining code is hopelessly flawed. It misunderstands the cause of the decline in media revenues, seeks to extract money from unrelated activities of technology companies like Google and Facebook, has requirements that threaten the core business of those companies, and has a bargaining system that could most politely be described as “rigged”. It is the public policy equivalent of Stalinist show trial.
And it is, sadly, easy to see how it came about. An overzealous competition regulator with questionable economic acumen in Rod Sims proposes something that, if one doesn’t really think about it sounds plausible. This benefits local media companies and hurts big bad multi-trillion dollar, multi-national technology companies. Those local media companies naturally come out in favour of it and politicians, who live and die by their media coverage, fall in behind it. It is the perfect storm of bad policy with no check on it.
-----
Democrats in US Congress gear up for battle with Big Tech
By Cecilia Kang
January 27, 2021 — 10.50am
WASHINGTON — The last time Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Demcorat from Minnesota, sat in the majority, her party was fawning over Silicon Valley. Lawmakers praised the ingenuity of Facebook and Amazon, while President Barack Obama and regulators fought alongside Google and Twitter to protect the growth of internet businesses.
Now, many of those same politicians are gearing up to tame those companies. And Klobuchar, who leads the Senate panel overseeing antitrust, is expected to play a leading role.
Many Democrats, as well as some Republicans, want to take on Big Tech with laws and regulations to address issues like market power, data privacy, and disinformation and hate speech. Those ambitions have only grown since the insurrection at Capitol Hill, with more members of Congress pointing to the power of the tech companies as the root cause of many problems.
The growing talk of new federal laws adds to the industry’s many headaches. Facebook and Google are fighting federal and state regulators in court over allegations of anti-competitive conduct. Regulators continue to investigate Amazon and Apple over antitrust violations. President Joe Biden and his nominees for attorney general and Commerce secretary have also promised to hold tech companies to account for the speech they host and to strengthen policing of competition violations.
-----
Artificial intelligence weapons creates ‘moral imperative’ to study them, US body says
By Jeffrey Dastin and Paresh Dave
January 27, 2021 — 10.22am
San Francisco: The United States should not agree to ban the use or development of autonomous weapons powered by artificial intelligence (AI) software, a government-appointed panel said in a draft report for Congress.
The panel, led by former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, on Tuesday concluded two days of public discussion about how the world’s biggest military power should consider AI for national security and technological advancement.
Its Vice Chairman Robert Work, a former deputy secretary of defence, said autonomous weapons are expected to make fewer mistakes than humans do in battle, leading to reduced casualties or skirmishes caused by target misidentification.
“It is a moral imperative to at least pursue this hypothesis,” he said.
The discussion waded into a controversial frontier of human rights and warfare. For about eight years, a coalition of non-governmental organisations has pushed for a treaty banning “killer robots,” saying human control is necessary to judge attacks’ proportionality and assign blame for war crimes. Thirty countries including Brazil and Pakistan want a ban, according to the coalition’s website, and a United Nations body has held meetings on the systems since at least 2014.
-----
https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/doctors-call-new-laws-tackle-fake-vax-news
Doctors call for new laws to tackle fake vax news
Immunologists say they are playing catch-up with a 'misinformation machine that is always two steps ahead'
25th January 2021
Doctors have joined forces with tech experts in calling for new laws to counter the spread of fake news on vaccination via social media.
Immunologists are part of a coalition wanting social media giants to disclose information on trending COVID-19 material being shared on their sites.
Health experts would then be able to use the 'Live List' to counter false claims.
Digital reform group Reset Australia set up the coalition, which includes tech experts, the not-for-profit Immunisation Foundation of Australia, as well as medical groups such as the Immunisation Coalition, the Doherty Institute and Coronavax.
------
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher backs misinformation code
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has backed an industry-wise tech giant misinformation code, following mounting calls to mandate “live lists” to assist in identifying increasingly rampant Covid-19 misinformation.
As reported by The Australian on Monday, Reset Australia has written to all federal ministers urging the Australian government to create the lists that could reveal demographic information of people sharing fake news.
The group is backed by a newly formed coalition, including the Doherty Institute and the Immunisation Foundation of Australia and Reset Australia, amid a recent report from US-based non-profit organisation AVAAZ that found that over the past year, content from a global health misinformation network spanning five countries has been viewed an estimated 3.8 billion times on Facebook.
“During Covid-19, we’ve seen first-hand the harm misinformation can cause as it spreads rapidly online,” a spokesman for Mr Fletcher told The Australian.
“It can create public confusion and is particularly harmful to those most vulnerable in our community.
-----
https://www.seek.com.au/job/51379880?type=standout
Team Lead, Clinical Incident Management
Australian Digital Health Agency
About the Agency
The Australian Digital Health Agency is responsible for national digital health services and systems, with a focus on engagement, innovation and clinical quality and safety. Our focus is on putting data and technology safely to work for patients, consumers and the healthcare professionals who look after them.
About the Role
A challenging and exciting opportunity exists for a talented individual with clinical experience to help shape the future direction of services within the Agency, ensuring Clinical decisions are at the forefront of everything we do.
Sitting within the Operations branch, managing day to day incidents involving the My Health Record system including infrastructure, privacy, security and clinical risks, this position provides management support to the Agency’s Governance and Quality Assurance functions in accordance with the Event and Incident Management Framework, with a strong focus on clinical safety and adherence to the Agency’s Clinical Governance Framework.
The multidisciplinary position entails the use of excellent analytical skills, problem solving and clinical judgment, with an understanding of business needs of different areas within the Agency.
-----
Chips the next economic flashpoint as costs rise and the US battles to contain China
When microchips were invented in 1958, the first significant market for them was inside nuclear missiles. Today about a trillion chips are made a year, or 128 for every person on the planet.
Ever more devices and machines contain ever more semiconductors: an electric car can have over 3000 of them. New types of computation are booming, including artificial intelligence and data-crunching. Demand will soar further as more industrial machines are connected and fitted with sensors.
For decades a vast network of chip firms has co-operated and competed to meet this growing demand; today they crank out $US450bn ($583.2bn) of annual sales. No other industry has the same mix of hard science, brutal capital intensity and complexity. Its broader impact is huge, too. When the supply chain misfires, economic activity can grind to a halt. This month a temporary shortage of chips has stopped car production lines around the world.
And no other industry is as explosive.
-----
Monday, 25 January 2021 09:23
Local search marketing firm urges compromise over news media code
Digital marketing solutions provider Localsearch has urged the government and Google to reach a compromise on the proposed news media code, saying it fears that else small businesses could suffer.
Both digital platforms that will be covered by the proposed code — Google and Facebook — have taken stands that they will not be able to operate under the regulations.
Google has said it will pull its search engine from Australia while Facebook says it will not allow the posting of news from Australian publications in its news feed.
They want a code that incorporates many changes from the one which the government introduced into Parliament on the last sitting day of December.
-----
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=8c08552e-7cff-413c-a2d9-da2fc6ebee28
Australia: Cybersecurity laws strengthened in health care and medical sector
On 10 December 2020, the Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill 2020 (Bill) was introduced and read into Parliament only a month after its release.
The Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018 (SoCI Act) currently does not impose any positive security obligations on critical infrastructure assets (e.g. electricity, gas, water and maritime ports), including mandatory cyber security reporting. The Bill aims to strengthen the security of infrastructure in a number of key sectors, including the health care and medical sector.
The Government intends to achieve this by introducing additional positive obligations, including sector specific risk management programs, mandatory cyber incident reporting, enhanced cyber security obligations for systems of national significance and the introduction of government assistance in responding to significant cyber attacks.
Who will the reforms apply to?
The proposed reforms extend the application of the SoCI Act to a number of additional “critical infrastructure sectors” including those operating in the “health care and medical sector”.
The “health care and medical sector” is broadly defined as the sector that involves:
- the provision of “health care”. “Health care” includes services provided by individuals who practice in a range of medical professions, including, for example; dental, optometry, pharmacy, psychology and nursing. It also includes treatment and maintenance as a patient at a hospital; or
- the production, distribution or supply of “medical supplies”. “Medical supplies” includes goods for therapeutic use. This would include, for example, personal protective equipment and diagnostic equipment), pharmaceutical products and medicines, pacemakers and prosthetics.
-----
Inevitable Big Tech will pay for Australian news content, says Treasurer
Josh Frydenberg has declared it “inevitable” digital giants will pay for original Australian news content, as the Morrison government shores up support for its landmark news media bargaining code.
The Treasurer lashed tech giants Facebook and Google for “changing the goalposts” after Google Australia’s local boss Melanie Silva threatened to shut down search and news sharing on its Australian platform last week if the proposed legislation passes federal parliament.
The code, which was unveiled by the Morrison government in December, aims to fairly compensate news companies for their original content that appears on the digital platforms.
“It seems the digital giants keep changing goalposts,” Mr Frydenberg said.
-----
Teleproctoring: helping patients with aortic stenosis through COVID-19
Authored by Sonny Palmer Umair Hayat Heath Adams
TRANSCATHETER aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is now the recommended intervention for severe aortic stenosis in elderly patients or those with significant comorbidity (here and here). At the beginning of 2020, TAVI was a treatment option for patients in all states in Australia, except Tasmania.
Collaboration between Tasmanian Health Service stakeholders and clinicians led to the development of a statewide Tasmanian TAVI service. The new service was to be ratified by the national TAVI Steering Committee following a period of direct clinical supervision and proctorship of 10 successful TAVI cases. In 2020, Tasmanian patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis, deemed suitable by the local heart team for TAVI, would no longer have to travel interstate for treatment thanks to the new service. This would allow for timely patient access to care and have beneficial economic benefits for Tasmania, which has the highest proportion of patients over the age of 65 years in the country.
But then the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic happened. The respective state health services properly acted to reduce direct contact, meetings, training and travel between specialists from different states. Quarantine restrictions also posed a threat to the new TAVI program. We describe how the new TAVI program was, nevertheless, successfully established during the pandemic.
-----
Comments more than welcome!
David.
No comments:
Post a Comment