Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Commentators and Journalists Weigh In On Digital Health And Related Privacy, Safety, Social Media And Security Matters. Lots Of Interesting Perspectives - August 17, 2021.

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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.

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https://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/healthcare/1101830/vital-signs-digital-health-law-update-summer-2021

Worldwide: Vital Signs: Digital Health Law Update | Summer 2021

13 August 2021

by Alexis S. Gilroy (Washington, DC) , Jörg Hladjk (Brussels), Laura Koman (Washington, DC), Kimberly Lovett Rockwell (Boston), Cristiana Spontoni (Brussels), Benjamin O. Lang (Tokyo) and Chiang Ling Li (Hong Kong)

Jones Day

NOTE FROM THE EDITORS

The "dog days of summer" certainly provide a welcome, if brief, break in the extremely rapid pace of statutory, regulatory, and various other policy and industry efforts applicable to digital health. Just in time for us to collectively catch up on the impacts of the recent actions.

As is the hallmark of our Vital Signs effort to bring you this curated, one-stop resource quarterly on the most notable digital health law updates from our contributors globally, the level of activity during the past quarter has truly outpaced any to date. As the volume and breadth of topics identified below indicate, digital health policy is a "KEY HEALTH POLICY TOPIC" in most jurisdictions, so stay alert as changes continue, and we collectively seek to understand and apply these new policies to innovative digital health offerings.

Given that we wanted to make room for some notable multinational developments, we are taking a break from Industry Insights in this issue, but we will be back with more in the future. In the meantime, it may be a good time to revisit some of our prior, yet very relevant, Industry Insights features on Digital Health Dealmaking: Challenges and Opportunities, The Intersection between Telehealth and Fraud, Abuse, and Enforcement, and IP Protection for Virtual Health Treatment Modalities.

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https://www.smh.com.au/business/entrepreneurship/how-hotdoc-helped-millions-of-younger-australians-get-vaxxed-20210810-p58hga.html

How HotDoc helped millions of younger Australians get vaxxed

By Emma Koehn

August 13, 2021 — 11.35am

If you looked at a list of the top iPhone apps downloaded in Australia last week, you might have come across something unusual. Sitting at No.5 — ahead of the likes of viral video platform Tiktok, streaming video player Disney+ and fast good giant McDonald’s — was HotDoc, a previously little-known medical appointment booking service founded by a doctor from Melbourne.

HotDoc shot to prominence over the past few months as younger Australians figured out it allowed them to find GPs offering doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and book in for a jab, a realisation many went on to share on social media or in group chats. It can also be used to book with GPs offering the Pfizer vaccine.

More than 4 million people have now used the platform to book in for a COVID-19 shot. And remarkably, the sudden surge of interest in HotDoc comes despite the company being knocked back by both the federal and Victorian governments in their respective vaccine rollout tenders.

Chief executive Ben Hurst says his company has become a “pretty important ingredient” in the national vaccine rollout. “A big part of the vaccine rollout is making it easy for patients to book. We have been able to harness our strengths. And I guess more recently, that has helped a lot of young people,” he says.

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https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/data-deal-denial-thwarts-nsw-plans-for-covid-passport/news-story/20831cf23d9e13c06b529b08eb3e496c

Data deal denial thwarts NSW plans for Covid passport

Chris Griffith

11:07PM August 12, 2021

The NSW government’s plan to include a Covid vaccination certificate within the Service NSW app has been thwarted after the federal government refused to share necessary health data.

The Service NSW app is used for accessing a series of state-based services such as renewing registrations and checking fines and demerit points. As with similar apps in other states, it is used for Covid QR code check-ins and has been used to distribute $25 food and entertainment vouchers to residents.

In February, NSW Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello told The Australian he wanted to include a Covid vaccination passport in the app.

He said the federal government would obviously control the Covid vaccination register, but he believed NSW citizens should be allowed to download a vaccination certificate to the Service NSW platform as a secure asset.

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https://www.innovationaus.com/nsw-may-add-vaccine-record-to-service-nsw-app/

NSW may add vaccine record to Service NSW app

Ben Grubb
Editor

The NSW government is exploring whether it can integrate federal COVID-19 immunisation records into its Service NSW app.

The potential integration comes as it also moves ahead with its plan to have a digital birth certificate prototype ready by the end of the year.

Once NSW begins to open up after lockdown, it’s expected some types of venues will require patrons to provide proof of vaccination in addition to checking in via a QR code, on top of requiring ID if they’re an establishment like a nightclub. This type of experience is already required in some countries overseas that have begun opening up.

NSW Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello with a prototype of a digital birth certificate.

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https://www.innovationaus.com/angelene-falk-reappointed-as-privacy-tsar/

Angelene Falk reappointed as privacy tsar

Ben Grubb
Editor

Angelene Falk will spend at least another three years in her role as Australian Information and Privacy Commissioner after Attorney-General Michaelia Cash confirmed her reappointment.

Ms Falk’s re-appointment through to August 2024 comes as the government searches for a Freedom of Information Commissioner after it provided $1 million in funding in the May budget to establish the position, and as the nation’s Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) battles an ever-growing freedom-of-information case backlog.

As established in 2010, the OAIC was meant to have three separate commissioners – for information, privacy and freedom of information. But Coalition funding cuts in 2015 left just a privacy commissioner to perform all of these roles, which has remained the case in the years since, with Ms Falk currently serving in all three roles.

On Friday, as the OAIC announced it was investigating Optus, the government announced Ms Falk’s re-appointment.

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https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=086e0e29-be69-4ff4-9b59-42a68ec59666

Mandatory Internet of Things (IoT) Device regulations on the horizon

Gilbert + Tobin - Lesley SuttonSimon BurnsMichael CaplanMelissa FaiTim GoleAndrew Hii and Sheila McGregor

Australia August 10 2021

Consumer 'Internet of Things' (IoT) devices, also known as smart devices, are products that have the added functionality to connect to the internet (e.g. smart lightbulbs, smart TVs, smart watches) and equipment that actually connects the devices to the internet (like Wi-Fi routers). These devices are present in many aspects of our lives, and their security is a significant issue for both consumers and businesses to be aware of. In 2019, almost half of Australian organisations had implemented at least one IoT solution, and in 2020, over 60% of Australian households had adopted at least one IoT device. Globally, cyber attacks on IoT devices have increased, almost tripling in 2019 when compared to the previous year.

In September 2020, the Australian Government implemented its voluntary, principles-based Code of Practice: Securing the Internet of Things for Consumers (IoT Code). At the time we questioned the sufficiency of a voluntary code, given that other jurisdictions, such as the UK and the US have adopted mandatory cyber security standards for IoT devices. The Government has now indicated that a shift towards a mandatory standard is on the horizon in Australia, with the publishing of its discussion paper on 13 July 2021: Strengthening Australia’s cyber security regulations and incentives (Discussion Paper), opening consultation on regulatory reform to strengthen cyber security standards and inviting stakeholders to make submissions.

Shift towards a mandatory IoT standard

The shift towards favouring a mandatory IoT standard is likely the result of industry research conducted by the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources and Department of Home Affairs in March 2021 (six months after the voluntary code was released), which found that the voluntary, principles-based IoT Code was largely failing in achieving its objectives. The research, which is set out in Annex A of the Discussion Paper, found that major manufacturers had not been basing decision-making on the IoT Code, and expressed difficulty in meeting the requirements of the IoT Code, suggesting a preference for following internationally aligned standards. Lower-cost manufacturers were also not engaging with the IoT Code. Moreover, even those manufacturers that attempted to follow the IoT Code were facing difficulties implementing 'low cost, high priority' parts of the IoT Code, like implementing a vulnerability disclosure policy.

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https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=227d980a-4d71-48d2-bd03-e1c4d5e45c73

Why we should be concerned about the rapid roll-out of vaccination certificates

Gilbert + Tobin - Peter Waters

Australia August 10 2021

In June 2021, Bruce Springsteen announced that he would only perform to an audience that could provide proof of full vaccination status. A month later, when probed about the topic, Eric Clapton declared he “will not perform on any stage where there is a discriminated audience present.”

The differing personal beliefs of our Rock and Roll Hall of Famers is just a microcosm of an issue hotly debated by mainstream media and academic discourse.

Governments around the world are hastily rolling out COVID-19 vaccination status certifications. An apparent win-win for citizens desperate for things to “return to normal” and the reactivation of a dampened global economy, the esteemed Ada Lovelace Institute (the Institute) asks governments to consider:

  1. Is this the right solution at the present time; and
  2. If it is the right solution, how can we ensure these programs are designed to best protect our safety and rights?

Certificates, passports, or green passes…?

As governments contemplate how the post-Pandemic world works, an obvious solution comes to mind: an official document that proves a vaccination status. This is known as a vaccination certificate.

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https://stayhappening.com/e/my-digital-health-record-E3LUSKG68HBB

My Digital Health Record

Tue Aug 17 2021 at 10:00 am to 12:00 pm UTC+08:00

Bayswater Library | Bayswater

Publisher/HostCity of Bayswater ADHA Propaganda

Find out more about the Federal Government's new My Health Record.
About this Event

Learn how to access your new My Health Record, and why it's important to keep it up to date. You will learn how to manage your My Health Record to share the information you want with your healthcare providers.

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https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/fraudster-concerns-over-fake-covid19-vaccine-passes/news-story/27dbf4836dc7b667f9795ee56830df5f

Fraudster concerns over fake Covid-19 vaccine passes

Liam Mendes

8:13PM August 10, 2021

International fraudsters are selling fake Australian Covid certificates for as little as $120, claiming they are identical to the real ­certificates and that they will never reveal the identities of their clients.

One online counterfeiter told The Australian they had already fulfilled more than 200 orders for Australians keen to subvert the nation’s official vaccination database, and had fielded inquiries from at least 900 others.

The fraudsters guaranteed their fake certificates were so convincing and their security protocols so tight that “you’ll be the only one to know that you’ve not been vaccinated”.

Another online operation on a popular forum with almost half a million subscribers said they could provide “100 per cent valid and authentic” vaccine cards and certificates for Australia.

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https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/shady-firm-behind-pfizer-astrazeneca-smear-campaign-blocked-on-facebook-20210811-p58hof.html

Shady firm behind Pfizer, AstraZeneca smear campaign blocked on Facebook

By David Klepper

August 11, 2021 — 5.55am

Providence: Facebook says it has removed hundreds of accounts linked to a mysterious advertising agency operating out of Russia that sought to pay social media influencers to smear COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

A network of 65 Facebook accounts and 243 Instagram accounts was traced back to Fazze, an advertising and marketing firm registered in the United Kingdom. Facebook said Fazze’s work was primarily done from Russia on behalf of an unknown client.

The network used fake accounts to spread misleading claims that disparaged the safety of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines. One claimed AstraZeneca’s shot would turn a person into a chimpanzee. The fake accounts targeted audiences in India, Latin America and, to a lesser extent, the US, using several social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram.

Russia has been actively marketing its COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, abroad in what some analysts see as an effort to score geopolitical points. But Facebook representatives did not speculate on the possible motivation behind the smear campaign.

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https://opengovasia.com/driving-digital-inclusion-across-australia/

Driving Digital Inclusion Across Australia

·         Alita Sharon  ADHA Propaganda

·         August 9, 2021

In the 1980s, when community members at Yarrabah in far north Queensland were fighting for self-determination, they saw the need for Aboriginal health to be in the hands of their own people and the concept of a community-controlled health organisation was born.

Today, the Health Service organisation delivers primary healthcare across the Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire and has been doing so for decades. To mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on 9 August, the Australian Digital Health Agency has used a series of videos to recognise the Health Service organisation and the Yarrabah community for embracing innovation and the use of technology to deliver better healthcare.

The Director of Clinical Services at the Health Service organisation, a Yued Noongar man from Dandaragan WA, Dr Jason King said one of the fascinating things about Aboriginal culture is that information about the world around them has always been evolving and so communities, almost by second nature, understand the importance of transmitting information from one generation to the next.

“For thousands of years, they’ve been custodians of data and in the 21st Century, with digital health tools at their fingertips, Aboriginal communities have the opportunity to extend their ability to be owners of their own health care,” he said.

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https://wildhealth.net.au/chronic-insomnia-will-digital-health-succeed-when-everything-else-fails/

9 August 2021

Chronic Insomnia – will digital health succeed when everything else fails?

Apps Clinical COVID-19 Technology

By Ben Falkenmire

Marie* was not sleeping properly.

Which is normal sometimes, but not over a period of 12 months. Falling asleep was not the issue, it was the waking in the middle of the night, her mind racing with thoughts and not letting her fall back asleep. 

Headaches and teeth clenching were regular visitors in her working day as a nurse and at night, and constant fatigue ebbed away at her concentration and memory, two vital skills to perform her job and role as mother to three school children.

She could vaguely trace the cause. Covid lockdowns had meant she had added the unwanted job of online classroom teacher for her children’s schooling. The grandparents would usually be on hand to lighten the load, but they had been immobilised by isolation orders. Tension accumulated in her body, and her mind felt more wired than tired. She really needed sleep – a full night’s sleep. But she kept waking in the night in a hyperaroused state, desperately attempting to fall back asleep and desperately failing.

‘Coronasomnia’

While some studies suggest we are sleeping more on average during the pandemic, there is strong evidence that for a proportion of the population, including Marie from NSW, the opposite is true. This pandemic is a tale of the sleepers and the sleep nots.

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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/telstra-buys-medical-director-it-all-changes-from-here/50566

9 August 2021

Telstra buys Medical Director: it all changes from here

By Jeremy Knibbs

At Telstra’s press conference today on the acquisition of Medical Director, one of the journalists on the line awkwardly suggested to Telstra Health’s CEO Mary Foley that she had paid way too much for a company that had lost a lot of its market share and shine over the years.

The price has been reported as $350 million, which would be about 11-15 times profit, and more than double what Affinity private equity paid for the outfit five years ago ($155 million). Its share of the GP market has probably dropped significantly in the past five years, some suggest from a market leading 42% or so, down to as low as 28%.

That journalist wasn’t giving much credit to what would have been a pretty expensive and experienced team doing the due diligence for Telstra. And possiblly hadn’t done much mapping of the possibilities that such an acquisition presented the company.

Yes, it’s a lot. Not out of range in profit multiples for a digital platform group, though, but more importantly, there are plenty of reasons to suggest that if Telstra handles the acquisition in the right way, one day, the price could end up being a bargain price.

There’s a lot to do, of course, but the timing is right, and if Telstra is prepared to invest, which in today’s press conference they confirmed they were specifically in respect to this acquisition, then Medical Director could end up transformative for the business and, in many respects, for large parts of our healthcare system.

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https://www.afr.com/technology/how-your-next-doctor-could-be-a-machine-20210715-p58a18

How your next doctor could be a machine

John Davidson Columnist

Aug 9, 2021 – 12.00pm

Dr Allison Young, an audiologist and researcher at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred hospital, is working on modified swim goggles that she hopes one day will be able to feed data into an artificial intelligence algorithm and help diagnose the dizziness disorders suffered by 40 per cent of Australians at some point in their life.

Across town, at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital, Dr Narinder Singh is working on a digital otoscope – the combination of flashlight and magnifying glass that healthcare workers stick in your ears – that uses AI to quickly and accurately diagnose ear diseases among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, before the diseases lead to hearing loss.

Helping Siri tell you what the weather’s like outside isn’t the only thing machine learning and artificial intelligence are good at, it’s emerging.

AI machines are good at medicine, too. In fact, it could be the thing they’re best at.

“Medicine is the use case for AI,” says Nicholas Therkelsen, co-founder and CEO of Max Kelsen, a Brisbane-based AI company that builds machine-learning models for industries as wide-ranging as fast-food, car share and healthcare.

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https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/financial-services/deloittes-data-dynamo-kellie-nuttal-turns-to-digital-twins-to-tame-covid19/news-story/4dcbd0b9cba46e3a7bdb8b0653b03b29

Deloitte's data dynamo Kellie Nuttal turns to ‘digital twins’ to tame Covid-19

Ticky Fullerton

8:34PM August 8, 2021

“When you turn on the news, you just see queues: queues for vaccination, queues for tests. I see data.”

From her office in Brisbane, Dr Kellie Nuttall’s job is to build solutions to wicked problems and Covid-19 ticks the box.

A digital native still in her 30s, Nuttall is one of Deloitte Australia’s youngest partners, promoted under chief executive Adam Powick’s leadership and now the artificial intelligence lead for the firm. For the past nine years, she has been knee-deep in big data analytics and artificial intelligence and more recently data-rich virtual models known as “digital twins”. She says these will give Australia a much-needed boost to get ahead of the curve in the pandemic.

“I see data. I see supply and demand issues that are just waiting to be optimised,” Nuttall tells The Australian.

“Imagine looking at that vaccination and testing system as a whole. We could build the digital twin of it, and we can quickly see where we have supply and where we have demand issues and how we optimise that system. The digital twins can tell us where tomorrow’s bottlenecks are likely to be before they have even occurred. That’s how we can reduce pressure on the system,” she says.

Digital twins use data to understand fiendishly complex and ever-changing environments.

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https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=f39e8fc1-5301-4a7d-8458-2293dc4d1070

mHealth apps and Software as a Medical Device: Running at pace but beware the legal issues

Clayton Utz

Australia August 5 2021

Businesses should ensure that any disclosures and other statements to app users are clear, transparent and not misleading.

Technology is increasingly driving health and wellness initiatives. The rise of Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) and mobile health (mHealth) applications mean that these innovations are firmly entrenched in Australians’ everyday lives. Many such Apps live on our smartphones, watches, tablets and computers.

As more non-traditional market participants enter into the healthcare and wellness sector, those companies need to be keenly aware of the regulatory regimes that impact these highly regulated fields. Privacy, data, competition, consumer and therapeutic goods laws must all be navigated.

Consumer and competition issues associated with "mHealth"

The health and life sciences sector has long recognised the power of data. Set out below is a high-level survey of some of the consumer and competition issues which may arise as mHealth apps increasingly become more important collectors of data for health care companies, and the source of data for commercial insights.

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https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=562dc7f3-27e2-4d4f-ac96-53a74efa5df3

Australian Court determines that an Artificial Intelligence system can be an inventor for the purposes of patent law

DLA Piper

Australia August 5 2021

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning are increasingly used in the life sciences industry for research and drug discovery, including:

  • finding molecular targets (i.e. molecular structures with which certain APIs interact);
  • finding a “hit” or “lead” (e.g. a “hit” may be found through automated high-throughput screening, allowing identification of candidates for lead structures, which are investigated as a starting point for drug design);
  • drug repurposing;
  • identifying existing drug candidates (including for polypharmacology) by screening existing databases to analyse molecular structures, correlate them with certain properties, and convert them into algorithms;
  • designing new compounds for single targets and polypharmacology by harvesting and integrating information from databases (e.g. that contain information of molecular pathways, crystal structures, binding affinities, drug targets, disease relevance, chemical properties and biological activities);
  • the development of vaccines (including via gene sequencing, and simulations of vaccines to assess likely efficacy);
  • determining the three-dimensional structure of proteins including their folding forms; and
  • for use in clinical trials (e.g. patient selection, detecting the relevant disease/condition, identifying gene targets and biomarkers, predicting the effect of a molecule, and on/off target effects).

This rapid uptake of AI and machine learning in the life sciences industry has raised questions regarding the effects of incorporating such technologies into the inventive process, including the patentability of resulting inventions, to ensure a company’s investments in new drug candidates, methods of treatment, and/or therapeutic uses are protected and rewarded.

In Australia, a first instance decision by Justice Beach of the Federal Court has provided some guidance: pursuant to Thaler v Commissioner of Patents [2021] FCA 879, an AI system can be the named inventor for an Australian patent application, with a person or corporation listed as the applicant for that patent, or a grantee of the patent.

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https://www.hospitalhealth.com.au/content/technology/article/harnessing-the-human-genome-to-personalise-health-care-457999849

Harnessing the human genome to personalise health care

By Jane Allman
Thursday, 05 August, 2021

Genomic sequencing is a valuable tool that can be wielded to improve health outcomes, and it holds great promise for the future of medicine. In recent months we have seen its ability to rapidly identify transmission pathways of COVID-19, which has been vital in our ability to manage outbreaks and track variants. But analysis of the human genome has a bright future in a whole host of medical applications, giving specialists better tools to make treatment decisions for individual patients.

Melbourne-based company GMDx Genomics is blazing pathways towards the future of personalised medicine and the next generation of health care. By extracting valuable information from the whole human genome to obtain a deeper understanding of a particular individual’s immune system, GMDx is translating data into clinical utility.

The company’s clinical-grade analytics platform — backed by big data, powered by Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and driven by artificial intelligence — was designed on the foundation of a decade of research and development conducted by Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Robyn Lindley.

GMDx CEO Bernie Romanin explained that the platform applies a validated algorithm to extracted subsets of metrics to monitor the Innate Immune Fitness (IIF) of individual patients. Analysis of an individual’s IIF can identify if that person is capable of mounting an effective adaptive immune response.

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https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2021/29/telehealth-harm-or-benefit-for-survivors-of-intimate-partner-violence/

Telehealth: harm or benefit for survivors of intimate partner violence?

Authored by Kelsey Hegarty

Issue 29 / 9 August 2021

SEXUAL and domestic violence has wide-ranging impacts on health and wellbeing, resulting in high attendance of women survivors in health settings. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on movement restriction and finances appear to be exacerbating sexual and domestic violence incidence, nature and severity (here and here).

In July 2020, a national survey of 15 000 Australian women showed 4.6% experienced physical or sexual violence, 5.8% coercive control and 11.6% one form of emotionally abusive, harassing or controlling behaviour by a partner in the previous 3 months. For two-thirds of these women the violence started or got worse during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns enhance social isolation of women and their children, a common tactic that some men use as part of coercive control over partners, enabling more abuse to happen. Recent global updates about how to address domestic violence have highlighted how to respond generally and also in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Safety concerns and barriers to accessing help for survivors have been affected by the closure of many face-to-face services. Health practitioners are the highest level of professional group told about  sexual and domestic violence. To a great extent in Australia, health care during lockdowns has moved to remote consultations through electronic communication (phone or video), often known as telehealth. The Australian Government has supported this financially through Medicare, with the greatest uptake being GP and mental health consultations by telephone. An Australian Bureau of Statistics survey in 2020 showed that telehealth was being used by around one in five patients, with half saying they would use telehealth in the future.

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https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2021/29/framework-for-digital-mental-health-services/

Framework for digital mental health services

Authored by Helen Christensen and colleagues

Issue 29 / 9 August 2021

DIGITAL health has been heralded for many years as an excellent means to extend health services in mental health.

Nearly a year ago, we wrote that COVID-19 offered the opportunity for transformational change in the use of digital health and telehealth by improving access and quality of health care. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a ramping up of new digital measures, including extensions of crisis lines, new COVID-19-specific call lines, and the introduction of Medicare-funded telehealth for mental health services. We also saw development of innovative services such as The Essential Network (TEN) service designed to provide support to frontline workers. Following this, the Productivity Commission, the Victorian Royal Commission and the National Suicide Prevention Advisor reports made recommendations about digital reform.

The COVID-19 measures that were introduced in 2020 increased the volume of services available to the community. It appears that demand for these services has increased. A measure of activity is a relatively weak measure of success. It is not yet known if those who visited these services were new patients. It is unclear whether the call centres reduced psychological distress at an individual level, or whether the same levels of distress would be recorded if these services had not been introduced. It is not clear whether they were successful in diverting people in distress from treatment services or that they improved the efficiency of the health services.

Mental health service use data from Lifeline and Beyond Blue and our own web traffic from the Black Dog Institute suggest that call centres and websites experienced increased usage of approximately 15–30% in response to COVID-19. These calls and web traffic continued at a higher than baseline rate for all services and taper and expand in response to lockdowns (here and here). For example, Lifeline is experiencing a 25% increase in the volume of calls Australia-wide since the surge in new COVID-19 cases began this July. a significant increase from pre-COVID-19 levels of approximately 2500 per month, and has again reported an increase in calls in response to the July 2021 lockdowns

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https://www.itwire.com/telecoms-and-nbn/communications-alliance-throws-support-behind-government%E2%80%99s-new-hacking-powers-plans.html

Friday, 06 August 2021 16:10

Communications Alliance throws support behind Government’s new hacking powers plans

By Staff Writer

Telecoms industry peak body Communications Alliance has welcomed the push by the Federal Parliament’s security committee to “rein in” the sweeping new hacking powers proposed to be handed to national security agencies under the Identify and Disrupt Bill.

In the report of its inquiry, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has recommended 34 amendments to the controversial legislation, which CA says would allow agencies to covertly hack and disrupt the networks, accounts and devices of Australians where there is suspicion of a crime being committed.

The PJCIS recommendations include changes to strengthen the oversight of the activity of agencies, allow for review of how the proposed powers are used and to better protect the privacy of Australians whose devices could be hacked and/or confiscated under the planned new laws.

Communications Alliance CEO, John Stanton, praised the comprehensive nature of the PJCIS scrutiny of the legislation and the fact that the Committee had supported and included several recommendations that were put to the PJCIS by Communications Alliance in its submission to the inquiry on behalf of Australia’s telecommunications sector.

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https://audioboom.com/posts/7920076-dr-andrew-rochford-my-health-record

2NM Breakfast

Dr Andrew Rochford - My Health Record

Aug 9, 7:30 AM  ADHA Propaganda

My Health Record allows you to keep all your important test results safe in one place, which you and your healthcare providers can access at any time to make more informed decisions about your treatment and care.

Dr Andrew Rochford was on the show this morning to talk about the importance of digital health record right now.

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https://www.psa.org.au/practice-support-industry/digital-health-guidelines-for-pharmacists/

Digital Health Guidelines For Pharmacists

About the guidelines  ADHA Propaganda

Purpose

The Digital Health Guidelines for Pharmacists describe the professional obligations of pharmacists when interacting with digital health systems in performing their professional clinical roles. These guidelines provide guidance on expected professional practice when using digital health systems, so that pharmacists can provide optimal patient outcomes, while meeting legal and ethical obligations relating to data access and stewardship. The guidelines should be used as a tool to support practice and professional decision making, and ensure that patients’ needs, beliefs and preferences are met. They can be used as an educational resource to inform quality assurance processes, and provide support when resolving legal disputes and ethical dilemmas.

Scope

The Digital Health Guidelines for Pharmacists are applicable to all settings in which pharmacists practise and interact with digital health, including settings where the pharmacist does not dispense medicines.

Guidelines produced by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) are not definitive statements of correct procedure but represent agreement by experts in the field. The guidelines do not set a prescribed course of action or a mandatory standard to which pharmacists must adhere.

The guidelines do not provide a technical guide on how to operate digital health systems; rather, they provide guidance on the minimum professional and ethical behaviour for pharmacists when using digital health systems in the delivery of health services.

Acknowledgements

Development of the Digital Health Guidelines for Pharmacists has been supported by the Australian Digital Health Agency. This document supersedes the My Health Record Guidelines for Pharmacists (2019), and incorporates much of this previous version. The work to update the guidelines included review by experts, stakeholder feedback, and the consensus of organisations and individuals involved. The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia thanks all those involved in the review process and, in particular, gratefully acknowledges the contribution of the following individuals and organisations.

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https://marketplace.service.gov.au/2/digital-marketplace/opportunities/15121

Senior Architect (expert advisory for clinical information modelling)

Opportunity ID

15121

Deadline for asking questions

Wednesday 18 August 2021 at 6pm (in Canberra)

Application closing date

Friday 20 August 2021 at 6pm (in Canberra)

Published

Friday 6 August 2021

Category

Data science

Overview

This is a part time role 10 hours per week. The Australian Digital Health Agency’s team of clinical information modellers requires an expert FHIR (Fast Health Interoperability Resources) advisor (Senior FHIR Architect) to support its work program. The team will utilise this expert advice to further develop their FHIR modelling and authoring skills and to deliver FHIR-based clinical information models and information architectures. This is an expert role that requires deep involvement with the Australian and international FHIR communities and the facilitation of the Agency’s ongoing and effective engagement and collaboration with these communities.

Estimated start date

1-09-2021

Location of work

Australian Capital Territory
New South Wales
Queensland

Length of contract

12 months

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Comments more than welcome!

David.

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