-----
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.
------
Elon Musk’s Starlink to deliver internet nearly worldwide within weeks
Thomas Seal
Jun 30, 2021 – 5.02am
Elon Musk’s satellite network Starlink is on track to beam broadband internet everywhere in the world except polar regions by August, he said on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST).
Space Exploration Technologies has launched more than 1500 satellites so far and has Starlink operations in about a dozen countries, Musk said during a presentation at the Mobile World Congress conference. That’s costing a lot.
SpaceX’s total investment in the network will be between $US5 billion ($6.7 billion) and $US10 billion before cash flow is positive, he said.
“We recently passed the strategically notable number of 69,420 active users,” Musk joked. “We’re I think on our way to having a few hundred thousand users, possibly over 500,000 users within 12 months.”
------
https://www.innovationaus.com/mygov-rebuild-panel-is-finally-made-public/
myGov rebuild panel is finally made public
Denham
Sadler
Senior Reporter
2 July 2021
The federal government has finally revealed the private contractors working on the redevelopment of the myGov platform, with a panel of providers dominated by multinational technology firms building the new version of the government services portal.
Services Australia established the Systems Integrator Panel late last year for technical support on the myGov rebuild, but has continually refused to reveal which companies are members of it.
Big four consultancy Deloitte was the only company known to be a member of the panel, with the firm having worked on the myGov rebuild since the beginning in early 2020.
In response to questions from InnovationAus, Services Australia has now revealed that the other members of the myGov panel are Irish-based consultancy Accenture, American tech giant IBM and Australian company ARQ Group, along with the UK-based Deloitte.
-----
https://www.innovationaus.com/qld-police-accessed-qr-code-check-in-app-data/
Qld police accessed QR code check-in app data
Denham
Sadler
Senior Reporter
29 June 2021
Police in Queensland accessed data from the state’s QR code check-in contact tracing app to investigate a theft, with legislative changes now being considered to prevent this happening again.
It was revealed this week that the Queensland Police Service (QPS) legally obtained a warrant for data from the Check in Qld app, which allows users to scan QR codes to check in to venues in the state, to find information on individuals “reported to be acting suspiciously” in a pub where a police firearm and taser were believed to have been stolen.
“The firearm was subsequently located on June 10 after a more detailed search of the hotel premises,” a QPS spokesperson said.
“The taser is yet to be located and investigations are ongoing. The data was accessed in relation to a group of people reported to be acting suspiciously in the area around the time of this incident.”
-----
New My Health Record pathology training modules as more labs are uploading patient test results
Published 2 July 2021
The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) and Australian Digital Health Agency launched new My Health Record Continuing Professional Development (CPD) at the Pathology Update 2021.
To enable healthcare providers to get maximum value from My Heath Record and increase the number of test results uploaded for viewing by GPs and their patients, RCPA and the Agency developed the CPD modules for the estimated 35,000 people employed in pathology in Australia.
Dr Michael Dray, pathologist and RCPA President said, “Pathology services range from diagnostic testing and monitoring of chronic diseases to cutting-edge genetic research and blood transfusion technologies. Pathology is integral to the diagnosis of every cancer and Australians are becoming more familiar accessing their own test results in My Health Record.”
“This new education resource will help pathologists, scientists and other laboratory team members to develop a comprehensive understanding of My Health Record.”
-----
Telstra Health announces 2021 Women’s Digital Health awards program
Nominations now open for Telstra Health’s inaugural Brilliant Women in Digital Health awards
Telstra Health has announced its inaugural 2021 Brilliant Women in Digital Health awards program, designed to recognise and celebrate women working in digital health across Australia.
The initiative, driven by the Brilliant Connected Women in Digital Health network, will celebrate women for their achievements in digital health, whether it be mentoring, medical research, contributing to technology development, improving health outcomes, or introducing new digital process for the delivery of health and aged care.
Nominations for the awards program are now open until Friday 16 July, with individuals able to both self-nominate or nominate another person. The awards will recognise twenty-five women in digital health, selected by four notable judges across the health and aged care sectors.
“We have launched these awards to recognise the contributions of brilliant women working in digital health across Australia: to recognise the way they’re improving lives; and to encourage more women to take up rewarding careers in STEM,” said Professor Mary Foley AM, Managing Director of Telstra Health.
The nominees will be judged by Professor Christine Bennett AO, a Director of the Telstra Health Board and Deputy Vice Chancellor at University of Notre Dame, Dr Louse Schaper, CEO of the Australasian Institute of Digital, Jane Halton AO PSM, Chair of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Co-Chair of the COVAX initiative, and Michael Walsh, Chair of the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre.
-----
Have Your Say in Digital Health State of the Industry Report
There is
enormous potential for the digital health sector to drive Australia’s economy
and healthcare system into the future, if properly supported.
This is your opportunity as a digital health company or industry
participant that supports, engages or is impacted by digital health
technologies to identify the gaps, challenges and opportunities in digital
health commercialisation that need to be addressed for your business to reach
its potential.
We know that you are probably besieged with surveys – but we want to hear what
your have to say about your goals, your challenges and what is important
to you and your business. Your anonymous data* will contribute to this year’s
edition of Digital Health: The Sleeping Giant of Australia’s Health
Technology Industry.
Last year’s report was used extensively by industry and government stakeholders
to benchmark the state of the industry and identify needed reforms. Based on
comprehensive analyses of data from more than 300 emerging high growth
potential digital health companies across Australia, it demonstrated
Australia’s potential to become a global destination for digital health
development, commercialisation, clinical trials and implementation. Importantly
it also identified the reforms needed to build a robust, sustainable digital
health industry in Australia.
-----
Dental Health and My Health Record
Dental Health and My Health Record
About this event ADHA Propaganda
Moreland City Libraries and Merri Health are providing these free health information sessions where you can learn about the importance of dental health and what your My Digital Health Record is.
Please book only for the adults attending. Please note this is an information session not a dental check up.
Thursday 15 July with Urdu interpreter
Thursday 12 August with Arabic interpreter
Thursday 26 August with Pashto interpreter
Thursday 9 September with Turkish interpreter
Due to changes in COVID-19 restrictions this event may change. Please check the library Facebook page or website for updates.
Registrations essential.
-----
https://wildhealth.net.au/baby-steps-towards-a-global-travel-pass-solution/
1 July 2021
Baby steps towards a global travel pass solution
In a proof-of-concept step to becoming a digital solution for international travellers seeking to navigate border restrictions, Australian company goPassport is launching a website at the start of July to help Aussies smoothly cross state borders.
The Know Not No website brings together state government advice on travel restrictions, entry requirements and safety precautions in a one-stop location. goPassport is hoping to have the website’s URL included on 5,000 airline and hotel reservations a day by the end of July.
The Cairns-based company’s bigger ambition is an end-to-end journey app for international travel that provides the user with travel and testing requirements before departure, including the location of verified testing centres. Once a user is at the airport, they can show officials a QR code that proves details of vaccination, a negative COVID test or recovery from COVID. The vision is for travel passes such as goPassport’s to enable “green” express lanes at the airport for compliant travellers.
“Our [app] has unique guiding, monitoring, alerting and escalation capabilities,” goPassport CEO Matt McKinley told Wild Health. “[It] is built to connect to other systems such as border agencies, health departments, airlines and airports to fully support the effective operation of green lanes and to expedite traveller processing.”
-----
https://wildhealth.net.au/privacy-still-a-concern-but-dont-be-afraid-of-mhealth-apps/
1 July 2021
Privacy still a concern, but don’t be afraid of mHealth apps
Apps Clinical Privacy Technology
The number of mental-health-care apps available has exploded in recent years but research out of Macquarie University suggests clinicians and users need to take a closer look at privacy terms before blindly recommending or downloading an app.
In a study of more than 15,000 free medical and health-and-fitness apps available on Google Play, researchers found 88% of apps had code that could potentially collect user data such as contact details, device identifiers and geolocation.
Only 4% of apps were detected to be transmitting user information, but the researchers cautioned in their BMJ paper that, because of obfuscation in app coding, the figure could be much higher.
More glaringly, privacy policies were nonexistent in 28% of apps and at least 25% of user data transmissions violated privacy policies. However, users did not seem worried, with only 1% posting reviews regarding privacy concerns.
-----
https://wildhealth.net.au/provider-connection-project-would-save-practices-a-bomb/
1 July 2021
Provider connection project would save practices a bomb
When I first read about the latest iteration of Australian Digital Health Agency’s Provider Connect Australia (PCA) project, I was actually impressed.
It appeared that the agency had iterated its way out of a deep bog (the project is a reboot of a much older project with a different main goal that was probably never achievable) and onto a path that that is a practical and meaningful solution to a problem that every practice manager in the country is hugely frustrated with: all the paperwork that has to be processed, digitally and otherwise, when a new health professional starts in your practice, or one leaves.
What if you had to fill out just one digital form when a new doctor started at your practice, rather than the 15 or so you currently have to fill out and send to 15 different service providers? Even better, what if your patient management system, which captures nearly all the same information, was integrated to the PCA, so that once you’ve entered your new doctor information your PMS, you have very little left to do to finish your normally cumbersome sign-on paperwork job? And what if the system did a whole lot of validity checks on your data which helps protect your practice, and the system?
-----
https://wildhealth.net.au/how-choosing-ibm-during-covid-has-failed-us-big-time/
1 July 2021
How ‘choosing IBM’ during COVID has failed us big time
Choosing big global vendors over agile and experienced local players for state and federal vaccine administration contracts has proven an almost universal fail so far and has likely cost us a fortune
When one of our largest and most successful healthcare booking engines, Hotdoc, announced yesterday that it was moving into the hospital market, it confirmed the third major fail of a state government in building a suitable and robust vaccine administration system in time to serve at least the first stages of the vaccine rollout in their state. If the federal government had not bungled supply in the manner it has the failure would probably have been far more apparent.
Hotdoc expects their solution for the Austin hospital in Melbourne to be up and running within a week. It will include capacity to manage 1000 appointments per day, a complete scheduling solution, eligibility screening and stock management for AZ and Pfizer. A spokesperson for the group said that the solution would be fully transferrable for most hospital set ups, anywhere in the country and the group is already looking at delivering the solution to St Vincent’s hospital in NSW.
That Hotdoc can deliver its solution within a week which meets most of the criteria of the tender by the Victorian state government for vaccine administration in one of its major hospitals, and that the tendered solution, awarded to global provider Microsoft, is apparently still not ready, is a common story now across most of the big states.
-----
https://apo.org.au/node/312937
Tools for trustworthy AI: a framework to compare implementation tools for trustworthy AI systems
28 Jun 2021
Resources
Tools for trustworthy AI: a framework to compare implementation tools for trustworthy AI systems
Description
As artificial intelligence (AI) advances across economies and societies, stakeholder communities are actively exploring how best to encourage the design, development, deployment and use of AI that is human-centred and trustworthy.
This report presents a framework for comparing tools and practices to implement trustworthy AI systems as set out in the OECD AI Principles. The framework aims to help collect, structure and share information, knowledge and lessons learned to date on tools, practices and approaches for implementing trustworthy AI. As such, it provides a way to compare tools in different use contexts. The framework will serve as the basis for the development of an interactive, publicly available database on the OECD AI Policy Observatory.
This report informs ongoing OECD work towards helping policy-makers and other stakeholders implement the OECD AI Principles in practice.
-----
https://medicalrepublic.com.au/telehealth-phone-items-axed-despite-lockdowns/48113
30 June 2021
Telehealth phone items axed despite lockdowns
COVID-19 MBS Medicare Telehealth
The Department of Health will pull the plug on subsidising longer phone-based telehealth consults this week, despite four Australian jurisdictions now facing lockdown orders.
It’s no secret that the changes to the telehealth Medicare item numbers, commencing July 1, will force doctors to consider opting for more video, rather than telephone consults, with their patients.
Under the reforms, patients will be able to receive a Medicare rebate only for level A and B telephone consults. However, video consults will continue to attract the same rebates.
Peak medical
bodies including the AMA and RACGP protested the cuts to MBS telephone-only
rebates.
-----
Why the time for digital technology in aged care is upon us
By Harley Tempest, Person Centred Software Australia
Tuesday, 29 June, 2021
Having spent a week in a state of semi-lockdown, new COVID-19 rules have been applied in Greater Melbourne and regional Victoria in an attempt to control the outbreak of coronavirus.
We can only hope, following the further easing of restrictions, that this will not be as detrimental to the health and social care sectors as we have seen in previous months, which, unfortunately, brought many aged-care homes to their knees.
Care providers relying heavily on paper to evidence care have been hit particularly hard, mainly due to mounting time pressures around administering and evidencing medication, as well as stringent COVID-19 protocols. With time already invaluable in the fight against coronavirus, particularly in paper-dependent care environments, aged-care facilities have been impacted further with regular staff shortages and self-isolation. As a result, medical records are constantly changing hands, increasing the likelihood of becoming lost, misplaced or unnecessarily duplicated.
In these precarious times, such errors can vastly increase the time it takes to record the care of residents, which naturally increases the risk of severe consequences and unnecessary travesties. There is, however, a solution to simplifying administration, freeing up time and increasing communication through the innovative utilisation of technology.
-----
The promise of telehealth in the care digital revolution
Vocus Group
By Andrew Twining, Industry Specialist —
Healthcare
Wednesday, 30 June, 2021
Telehealth represents the digital transformation that’s currently underway in Australia when it comes to providing care. Technological advancements resulting in faster internet connectivity, high-configuration smartphones and secured mobile payment systems — coupled with increasingly busy lifestyles and growing healthcare costs — have resulted in the growth of telehealth services and a shift in the market towards taking the care to the patient, rather than the patient to the care.
The COVID push
Yeo Tee Joo, Assistant Professor at the National University Heart Centre Singapore, said, “[we] most definitely will be able to see a lasting digital shift”.
In Australia, as in other markets, COVID-19 has provided telehealth a ‘kick’, said Robyn Gallagher, Professor of Nursing at the Faculty of Medicine and Health at Sydney Nursing School (University of Sydney).
She cited the example of a public hospital in Dubbo, NSW, where she recommended the adoption of fitness activity trackers and a simple goal-based health app in November 2019. Her suggestion was rejected. Now, however, with changes wrought by the pandemic, the cardiac unit at the hospital has converted completely to telehealth and its cardiac rehab staff are “absolute proponents”.
-----
https://medicalrepublic.com.au/the-legal-hangover-stopping-telehealth-vad/47962
28 June 2021
The legal hangover stopping telehealth VAD
Aged Care Palliative Political TheHill
Victoria’s voluntary assisted dying laws are regarded as the “safest” set of guidelines in the world, but fears are emerging that some people who qualify for the scheme will never have the chance to access it.
The laws, implemented in 2019, were the first in the country to allow terminally ill patients to apply for the right to receive a lethal dose of medication.
One of the most conservative models in the world, the Victorian system has 68 safeguards in place to ensure only eligible patients access the scheme.
Some of these measures – most notably the requirement to conduct every interaction face-to-face – have come under scrutiny in one of the first studies to come out since the implementation of the laws.
The research, published in the MJA, is based on interviews with 32 Victorian doctors involved with voluntary assisted dying, the same data which formed the basis for a previous paper on the topic.
-----
Kate blamed stress for a racing heart. A smartwatch told her otherwise
By Sarah Berry
June 28, 2021 — 5.00am
It was a cold, clear night in Melbourne on May 20 as Kate Bendall lay rugged-up in bed reading her Kindle. But something felt off. She woke her husband Simon and told him she was having palpitations. “It felt like there was a horse race going on in my chest,” the 50-year-old nurse said. “It felt scary.”
Simon sat up and noticed his wife looked pale. He tried taking the pulse on her wrist, but struggled to locate it. He remembered that his Apple watch had recently been updated with an ECG app, so he gave the watch to Kate. Using the feature they were able to measure the rhythm and strength of her heart’s electrical signals.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect it to work,” said Kate. Besides, after a stressful week, she thought she was having a panic attack. “But it showed something was really wrong.”
The ECG notified her she was experiencing atrial fibrillation (AFib), the most common abnormal heart rhythm and a major cause of stroke in Australia. A second ECG five minutes later confirmed she was still in AFib.
-----
https://apo.org.au/node/312913
Switched on: how do we get the best out of automation and AI in health care?
24 Jun 2021
Tom Hardie, Tim Horton, Matthew Willis, Will Warburton
Publisher Health Foundation
National Health Service (NHS) Artificial Intelligence (AI) Automation Primary health care Digital health United Kingdom
Resources Switched on: how do we get the best out of automation and AI in health care?
Description
This report offers in-depth analysis into the challenges and potential presented by automation and AI in health care and highlights wider implications for the future, setting out considerations for policymakers and the NHS. As well as describing some of the most promising areas of application of automation and AI to health care, the report also explores the challenges, constraints and practical considerations for making the most of automation and AI. The report goes beyond simply considering their potential, to engaging with what it will take to realise the long-term benefits for patients, the public and NHS staff.
Key points:
- Informed by YouGov online surveys of more than 4,000 UK adults and more than 1,000 NHS staff, the report finds that while automation and AI hold huge potential for improving care and supporting the NHS to increase its productivity, in developing and deploying them we must be careful not to squeeze out the human dimension of health care, and must support the health and care workforce to adapt to and shape technological change.
- Health care is a service that is fundamentally co-produced between patients and clinicians, making the human, relational dimension critically important to the quality of care. Given the nature of work in health care is different to many other industries, the impact of these technologies on work will also tend to be different. In many cases, automation and AI technologies will be deployed to support rather than replace workers, potentially improving the quality of work rather than threatening it.
- The benefits of a new technology don’t come from how it performs in isolation, but from fitting it successfully into a live health care setting and redesigning ways of working for maximum gain. Teams and organisations will need to consider the human infrastructure and processes needed to accompany the technology, and policymakers and system leaders will need to fund ‘the change’ – not just 'the tech'.
-----
Transforming mental health care with AI-powered telehealth
By Kath Blackham, CEO and founder of VERSA
Wednesday, 23 June, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic saw telehealth consultations become the new normal in healthcare service delivery. Now the combination of telehealth and artificial intelligence (AI), including AI-powered chatbots, is set to transform the delivery of mental health services globally.
AI-powered telehealth is quickly disrupting the way mental health care is delivered — gathering information to facilitate diagnosis, treatment, prevention and support, especially for individuals who feel uncomfortable talking to a human about their problems.
AI: a helping hand for those in need
In a new telehealth world, AI can mimic the in-person patient–clinician experience. Conversational, AI-based remote monitoring and diagnostic tools allow patients and physicians to interact in a way that closely reflects an in-person experience, no matter where they are located.
AI has the ability to analyse and screen for mental health conditions remotely and at scale. By reading facial cues and analysing voice patterns during telehealth consultations, AI can identify distress indicators and monitor for signs of increasing anxiety, agitation and psychiatric distress. It can then provide feedback and alert care teams if it detects a worrying change or a deterioration in a patient’s mental health.
According to Mia Lander, a psychologist presently working with KPMG, diagnosing and identifying changes early is a crucial benefit of AI in mental health care.
-----
https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2021/23/cyberbullying-by-medical-practitioners-respect-your-peers/
Cyberbullying by medical practitioners: respect your peers
Authored by Vicki Kotsirilos
THE Australian Medical Board’s Good Medical Practice guidelines clearly highlight the importance of professional, respectful and courteous behaviour among and towards medical colleagues and allied health professionals, including behaving professionally and courteously over social media and in other digital commentary.
Harassment, bullying and discrimination are unlawful and should never be tolerated by anyone.
Yet, from my observation, negative commentary by doctors towards medical authors in response to their published articles and opinion pieces is not uncommon. Of course, diversity of views and robust debate are healthy, but derogatory personal comments attempting to undermine authors’ authority or humiliate and embarrass them are unacceptable. Unfortunately, sometimes written abuse and negative comments by doctors on the internet are available to the public, and this reflects poorly on the whole medical profession.
-----
https://www.afr.com/technology/health-software-ipo-taps-into-xero-growth-story-20210625-p5849y
Health software IPO taps into Xero growth story
Paul Smith Technology editor
Jun 28, 2021 – 5.00am
Aussie investors will soon have another software-as-a-service stock with rapid growth potential vying for their attention on the ASX boards, after Brisbane-based Genie Solutions began courting potential backers last week, ahead of an IPO in the second half of 2021.
Genie is the company behind medical practice management software Gentu, which says it is used by 21,000 medical practitioners around Australia, predominantly specialists.
It has been around since 1995, when it was founded by former GP Dr Paul Carr, but came under the stewardship of private equity player IFM Investors in March 2017, when it paid about $55 million for a majority stake.
As first reported by Street Talk, the company has been using investment firms RBC Capital Markets and Evans & Partners to help formulate an IPO strategy, and it kicked off a non-deal roadshow last week.
Chief executive James Scollay, who was previously a senior executive at MYOB as it shifted its software operations into the cloud computing era to compete against Xero, declined to talk about specifics of any IPO plans, but said Genie’s transition from being a desktop software provider to software as a service (SaaS) player mirrored these investors’ favourites.
-----
My Health Record: a practical demonstration (Fred IT)
Event details
When
Tuesday,
13 July 2021
4:00pm - 5:00pm (AEST)
Where Online
Hosted by Australian Digital Health Agency
Contact us
General enquiries
Phone: 1300 901 001
8am - 5pm (AEST/AEDT) Monday - Friday
Email: help@digitalhealth.gov.au
Using the Agency's training environment, the instructor will demonstrate how to upload dispense records and view clinical documents including a range of medicines information, for the purposes of medicines reconciliation and also ensure effective care delivery.
Pharmacists and other staff who may access My Health Record are welcome to attend this session.
Key features covered during this session include:
- Using filters to identify clinical documents such as Discharge Summary, Shared Health Summary etc.
- Step through consolidated views, such as Medicines Overview & Pathology and Diagnostic Imaging Reports Overview
- Upload dispense records and allergy information to individual’s My Health Record
- Validating Healthcare Identifiers within the software (e.g. HP-I and IHI)
- Input access codes for patients with protected documents/records
- Familiarise with appropriate security and access requirements for organisations participating in My Health Record.
-----
Comments more than welcome!
David.
No comments:
Post a Comment