Here are a few I have come across the last week or so. Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
General Comment
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The most news this week seems to be about vaccine apps and how they will be made to work etc.
Otherwise more news on the NBN and various commercial initiatives
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https://www.healthcareit.com.au/article/new-south-wales-trial-covid-19-vaccine-passport-app-october
New South Wales to trial COVID-19 vaccine passport app in October
Adam Ang | 23 Sep 2021
The Australian state of New South Wales will begin a two-week trial of a COVID-19 vaccine passport app on 6 October.
This comes ahead of the possible reopening of hospitality venues on 11 October on the condition that the state fully vaccinates 70% of its population.
WHY IT MATTERS
Sydney Morning Herald reported that the vaccine passport app is being developed by Service NSW to simplify the check-in process at pubs, restaurants and other venues, so people do not need to move through separate apps for QR codes and proof of vaccination.
The app will integrate the check-in features in the Service NSW app with the proof of COVID-19 vaccination stored in the Medicare Express app of the federal government.
According to the news report, the trial will involve around 500 volunteers, including those from aged care facilities and community clubs.
The state government is currently obtaining vaccination information via the federal government's Australian Immunisation Register; prior consent from residents will be secured to store their vaccination status in the app.
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https://www.arnnet.com.au/article/691429/servicenow-replaces-nsw-health-vaccine-platform-6m-deal/
ServiceNow replaces NSW Health’s vaccine platform in $6M deal
Designed to manage the vaccination administration process.
ServiceNow has won a $6.3 million deal to replace NSW Health’s in-house vaccination booking system CoVax with its own platform.
Under the two-year deal the enterprise software vendor will provide the ServiceNow Vaccination Administration Management platform for NSW Health vaccination centres.
According to an eHealth NSW spokesperson, the new platform provides scalability, ease of use and is designed to manage the vaccination administration process.
This includes appointment booking, vaccination dosage tracking, recording clinical information, managing clinic workflows and interfacing with the Australian Immunisation Register.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nsw-health-moves-to-servicenow-vaccine-management-system-570117
NSW Health moves to ServiceNow vaccine management system
By Justin Hendry on Sep 21, 2021 4:44PM
Progressively migrating hubs off in-house CoVax system.
NSW Health-run vaccination centres are migrating to a new ServiceNow-based vaccination management system after the software giant won a $6.3 million deal.
eHealth NSW revealed the two-year contract with ServiceNow for its Vaccination Administration Management (VAM) platform last week.
VAM, which first went live in June, is replacing CoVax, a stopgap solution developed in-house over 21 business days earlier this year with help from Microsoft, DGL and Whispir.
CoVax went live in February at South Western Sydney Local Health District (LHD) to support the frontline worker vaccinations and, by August, had expanded to all but three LHDs and speciality networks.
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https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/580891/Northland-trials-telehealth-for-emergency-consults.htm
Northland trials telehealth for emergency consults
Tuesday, 21 September 2021
NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
Northland DHB is piloting the
use of telehealth service Emergency Consult to provide care for lower acuity
patients who present overnight to rural hospitals.
Sarah Clarke, clinical director rural hospitals at Northland DHB, says the
virtual health care trial began in February of this year to help ease the
pressure on local rural hospital doctors.
Emergency Consult connects lower acuity patients who present at Kaitaia
Hospital with an ED specialist via video link. It is also used at Bay of
Islands and Dargaville Hospitals to help when it gets especially busy
overnight, reducing wait times for patients.
Data collected over eight weeks showed that of 224 presentations overnight, 40
percent were seen via video consult and of those, 73 percent were treated and
discharged.
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Queensland's Gold Coast Health deploys Rauland's Concierge platform to reduce contact in COVID-19 wards
Its installation comes following an uptick in coronavirus infections across the state.
By Adam Ang
September 20, 2021 02:52 AM
Queensland's Gold Coast Health has set up a bedside terminal solution by health IT provider Rauland Australia to reduce physical interactions in its COVID-19 ward.
WHAT IT DOES
Rauland's Concierge platform combines Siemens HiMed bedside terminals and Rauland’s software and services. It supports patient engagement with features including telehealth, on-demand patient education, patient information, electronic meal ordering, patient communications and entertainment.
WHY IT MATTERS
The platform was installed in the COVID-19 ward at Gold Coast University Hospital to minimise nursing contact amid rising coronavirus infections and to enable remote consultations.
Commenting on the installation, Dr Kylie Alcon, Gold Coast Health's clinical director overseeing the COVID-19 ward, said: "It is one thing to talk on the phone to a patient while looking at their observations on a computer screen, but to see the patient, even virtually, gives the treating doctor a more complete picture as well as cementing a therapeutic doctor-patient relationship that is hard to do on the phone."
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Australian radiology centre Sonic Imaging to implement annalise.ai's chest x-ray platform
Adam Ang | 23 Sep 2021
Sonic Imaging, one of Australia's largest diagnostic imaging providers, has partnered with annalise.ai to deploy the latters' artificial intelligence-powered chest x-ray platform across its 300 radiology clinics.
WHAT IT DOES
Founded in 2019, annalise.ai is a joint venture of two Australian healthcare companies, Harrison.ai and I–MED Radiology Network.
The AI company is the developer of the Annalise CXR, which they claim is the only comprehensive AI clinical support solution for chest x-rays in the world that detects 124 findings – to compare, typical chest x-ray AI products on the market can detect fewer than 15 findings. Its model was based on over 520,000 chest x-ray studies, comprising over 820,000 individual images. The datasets were labelled by a group of 148 radiologists.
Annalise CXR is available for clinical use in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Malaysia and Europe. It is now being used by around three in 10 Australian radiologists, annalise.ai says.
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https://wildhealth.net.au/software-vendors-get-invitation-to-join-vax-booking-party/
23 September 2021
Software vendors get invitation to join vax booking party
Clinical Admin COVID-19 Government Patient Management Systems Technology
By Wendy John
Practice management software vendors can now cash in on the government’s plan to aggregate covid vaccination bookings through the Healthdirect Vaccine Clinic Finder.
In the race to vaccinate, tiny tech startups have outpaced the government big guns. But now the Department of Health have upped the stakes and are inviting practice management software (PMS) vendors to connect with the national clinic finder and will pay them to do so.
The industry offer tempts PMS vendors with funding that ramps up to a cap of $210,000 as it increases its integration of approved vaccination clinics. Vendors must already have at least 10 vaccination clinics subscribers and will be paid to develop an application programming interface (API) and uniform resource locators to Healthdirect specifications.
The API will connect the Vaccine Clinic Finder to real-time appointment-booking availability in vaccination clinics, according to a Healthdirect press release. It will also create efficiencies for both the public and clinics staff who are increasingly busy fielding call enquiries,
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Changes to the National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) PKI certificates
The Australian Digital Health Agency has been working closely with Services Australia and the medical software industry to upgrade the NASH authentication system to enhance security when accessing digital health services.
The transition from NASH SHA-1 to NASH SHA-2 will provide enhanced protection of healthcare information and ensure Australians can continue accessing digital health services safely and securely.
From today, healthcare organisations can obtain a NASH SHA-2 certificate in Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) if their software products are NASH SHA-2 ready.
NASH certificates expiring on or before 13 March 2022 can be renewed now. We will make a subsequent announcement about the transition of NASH SHA-1 certificates that expire on or after 14 March 2022.
Healthcare provider organisations should upgrade their software products to a NASH SHA-2 ready version prior to their NASH certificate expiry date where possible and no later than 13 March 2022. Please refer to the readiness register at https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/nash.
We appreciate the support of medical software providers for this important initiative.
Support:
If you would like more information on the NASH SHA-2 transition or how to request a NASH SHA-2 certificate, please visit our website at: https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/nash
If you are a software developer and would like more information on NASH SHA-2 readiness, please visit the Developer Centre at: https://developer.digitalhealth.gov.au/nash
Regards,
Kieron McGuire
A/g Director, Identity Authentication & Directory Products
Architecture, Informatics & Product Ownership, Digital Strategy
Australian Digital Health Agency
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https://www.innovationaus.com/adobe-lands-32-million-mygov-tech-contract/
Adobe lands $32 million myGov tech contract
Denham Sadler
National Affairs Editor
21 September 2021
The federal government will pay US multinational Adobe more than $30 million to provide “core technology components” to underpin the new version of myGov, with total contracts for the project now worth nearly $80 million.
Services Australia entered into a contract with Adobe last month to provide “core customer experience technology to enable a Digital Experience Platform”, which was posted publicly on Monday.
The contract is worth $32,323,500 and runs for three years, and relates to GovDXP, an “enhanced” version of myGov which will eventually replace the government services platform with one with a user experience more in line with private sector offerings from the likes of Facebook and Netflix.
Under the new contract, Adobe will be providing the technological platform that the new version of myGov will run on. It’s a significant step in the development of an “enhanced” version of myGov, which the federal government has been working on for the last 18 months.
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Tuesday, 21 September 2021 10:09
Hewlett Packard revamps Chemist Warehouse’s data centre
Chemist Warehouse has commissioned Hewlett Packard to modernise its data centre with a hyperconverged platform and virtual desktop infrastructure environment to improve productivity for onsite and remote staff.
HPE is helping Chemist Warehouse transform its IT with an infrastructure environment delivered through HPE ProLiant DL325 Gen10 Plus servers using 2nd Gen AMD EPYC processors that take advantage of the latest VMware vSAN all-flash capabilities for a software-defined experience. The upgraded data centre will also increase energy efficiency by consuming 30% less power than its existing solution, advancing Chemist Warehouse’s sustainability goals.
“Our IT is critical for us to achieve our transformation goals and continued growth. With reduced administrative overheads, we can reallocate resources to innovation,” explains Chemist Warehouse IT general manager Simon Hibbert.
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https://www.itwire.com/health/sigma-healthcare,-sap-partner-to-deliver-new-customer-portal.html
Thursday, 23 September 2021 11:22
Sigma Healthcare, SAP partner to deliver new customer portal
By Staff Writer
Pharmaceutical wholesaler Sigma Healthcare has partered with SAP to create a new customer portal to improve how Sigma customers order and manage stock for their stores.
Under the deal Sigma - which processes more than $3 billion in transactions each year.- has combined SAP Commerce Cloud and SAP Qualtrics Customer Experience (CX) to deliver a “best-in-class” digital experience for its customers.
Sigma says the implementation is part of its growth plans and mission to create an intuitive and seamless ordering experience for its customers, helping pharmacists optimise their day-to-day operations and better serve their patients.
Sigma’s previous systems relied on complex and manual processes that led to frequent errors and higher costs for customers and it needed a solution that would elevate the customer experience and “make doing business with the company easier, faster and more transparent”.
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South Korean Samsung Genome Institute’s Helixa, US group Kumanu land in SA
6:30AM September 21, 2021
Two overseas health technology businesses are establishing a presence in SA, lured by grants totalling $160,000 from the state government.
Cancer-focused genetic analysis company Helixa Proprietary Limited, a commercial entity of South Korea’s Samsung Genome Institute, will get an $80,000 grant to set up its Australian business at Tonsley.
Using artificial intelligence, Helixa undertakes genetic analysis on cancer samples to predict the best treatment options for patients.
The company’s initial focus will be the introduction of its CancerSCAN and LiquidSCAN services for in-vitro cancer sample analysis.
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Telco CEOs appeal to NBN's sense of social responsibility for lockdown CVC relief
Vocus has accused NBN of using the latest lockdown as an opportunity to profiteer.
By Chris Duckett | September 23, 2021 | Topic: Networking
The CEOs of Telstra, Optus, TPG, Vocus, and Aussie Broadband have written to NBN asking for the national broadband wholesaler to do more than the current CVC relief program is offering, citing increasing costs to acquire capacity.
The telcos say the current program does not come close to covering CVC cost increases that have been experienced since lockdowns hit primarily New South Wales and Victoria, and costs to retailers have risen each month at an "unmanageable rate".
The telcos are asking for a retrospective change to the program to have May 2021 usage as a baseline, and to calculate the credit on each telco's individual overage charge and not on the overall industry overage, as it currently occurs. The group says that failure to do so would lead to poorer consumer outcomes.
"We write to appeal to NBN Co's social responsibility towards all Australians and request NBN Co provide additional broadband capacity in their time of need," the telcos said.
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Telcos accuse NBN of ‘profiteering from lockdowns’
5:05PM September 23, 2021
Australia’s top broadband providers including Telstra, Optus, TPG, Vocus and Aussie Broadband have called on NBN Co to provide additional capacity amid bumper lockdown demand for data, declaring that the government-run company is “failing its social responsibilities” during the pandemic.
In a letter sent to NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue on Thursday, top telco executives – representing 96 per cent of all Australians connected to the NBN – called on the company to overhaul its “relief” system which they described as unfair and insufficient.
“We are thankful for the relief that NBN Co has provided in the past. However, now is not the right time to pull back on the levels of support NBN Co has provided for previous lockdowns, and now is not the right time to profit from Covid-driven increases in consumer demand,” the letter reads.
“The level of ‘relief’ offered by NBN Co for the current lockdowns is insufficient, and the rebates do not come anywhere close to covering the increases in wholesale costs paid by telecommunications providers to NBN Co.”
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‘NBN is profiteering from lockdowns’: Telcos join forces on pandemic relief
By Zoe Samios
September 24, 2021 — 5.16am
Australia’s five biggest telcos have launched another joint broadside at NBN Co, the operator of the National Broadband Network, saying the company needs to stop profiting off the prolonged COVID-19 lockdowns.
In a letter addressed to NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue and sent to Communications Minister Paul Fletcher, the telco providers say the discounts on wholesale charges provided by NBN Co during the lockdowns are “insufficient” and not close to covering the spike in costs endured by them as consumers spend more time on devices and working from home.
The letter is signed by Telstra chief executive Andy Penn, TPG Telecom CEO Inaki Berroeta, Optus CEO Kelly Bayer-Rosmarin, Aussie Broadband CEO Phil Britt and Vocus Group CEO Kevin Russell.
“We are thankful for the relief that NBN Co has provided in the past. However, now is not the right time to pull back on the levels of support NBN Co has provided for previous lockdowns, and now is not the right time to profit from COVID-driven increases in consumer demand,” the letter said.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nbn-rsps-again-ask-nbn-co-chief-comms-minister-for-relief-570264
NBN RSPs again ask NBN Co chief, Comms Minister for relief
By Ry Crozier on Sep 23, 2021 4:41PM
Say NBN Co has a 'social responsibility' to act.
Australia’s five largest internet providers have appealed to NBN Co’s sense of “social responsibility” in a fresh bid for financial relief from soaring costs due to lockdowns.
The providers - Aussie Broadband, Telstra, Optus, Vocus and TPG Telecom - have again written to NBN Co CEO Stephen Rue and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher to press their case.
They last did so in July, which led to some relief in the form of a rebate scheme that has so far been extended by several months.
However, this rebate is believed to only cover a small portion of the excess fees being incurred by providers, and iTnews understands that some retailers have open disputes with NBN Co over the amounts they have received.
One of the issues is that the present rebate is based on industry-wide excess usage over the course of a month, instead of being a calculation that is specific to each internet provider.
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Queensland court overturns $136k costs ruling in failed NBN tower battle
By Ry Crozier on Sep 23, 2021 7:02AM
But upholds dismissal of the case.
A Queensland man who lost a court battle over having an NBN tower near his house will no longer have to pay NBN Co $136,000 in costs.
The case - and specifically the costs ruling - made brief headlines in January last year, and led to a crowdfunding effort that raised about $25,000.
David Evans, of Peachester in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, said at the time his case was dismissed and that “barring a miracle, it looks like I’ll lose my house in order to pay NBN Co their fees.”
“However, I wish to go back and appeal this decision,” he wrote. “All I’ve ever wanted is to have my day in court.”
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Monday, 20 September 2021 10:47
Australia ranks 55 and New Zealand 20 out of 224 in 2021 Worldwide
Broadband Speed League
Analysis of over 1.1 billion broadband speed tests worldwide has revealed where almost every country, territory and region sits in terms of its internet speeds.
The research was designed and compiled by Cable.co.uk, and the data gathered by M-Lab, an open source project with contributors from civil society organisations, educational institutions, and private sector companies.
Last year, the five fastest countries had download speeds around 276 times faster than the five slowest. That gap is narrowing for the first time since the study began in 2017. This year the top five are 202 times faster than the five slowest. This indicates that the fastest countries are slowing in terms of speed growth, while the slowest countries are gathering speed.
Downloading an HD movie of 5GB in size would take 2m 29s at the average speed experienced in table-topper Jersey, while it would take 22h 34m in last-placed Turkmenistan.
In Australia the average person would take 16m 51s to download the 5GB HD movie, as revealed by Cable.co.uk's interactive map. Australia ranks 55 in the world according to the results with an average speed of 40.50Mbps. In New Zealand, the same 5GB movie would take only 7m 57s to download, as they have more than double the average speed of Australia at 85.95Mbps and ranks 20th in the world.
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Enjoy!
David.
7 comments:
Could someone please show me what the Department of Health has ever got right in the past decade? From the failure of MyHR to the stuff up of the vaccine rollout for people living with disability their track record is dismal.
COVID-19 vaccine rollout for people living with disability 'seriously deficient', royal commission report finds
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-27/covid-vaccine-rolllout-disability-australia/100493464
In its draft report, released on Monday, the inquiry described the vaccine rollout as "seriously deficient" and recommended the federal government use its best endeavours to "ensure people with disability and support workers are fully vaccinated before any easing of restrictions".
"It would be grossly unfair, indeed unconscionable, if any people with disability who have not been given the opportunity to be fully vaccinated by the time the 70 per cent threshold is reached are denied the freedoms available to people who have been fully vaccinated," the report said.
It's one thing to throw money at a useless IT system, it's quite another to fail the duty of care they have for the Australians least able to look after themselves.
It's a bloody disgrace.
Oh look, here's another app from the Department of Health
New phone app to support children’s mental health and wellbeing
The Australian Government is today launching a new, free phone application with information, ideas and guidance for parents to help them provide additional support their child’s mental health and wellbeing.
The Hon Greg Hunt MP
Minister for Health and Aged Care
Date published:
28 September 2021
The Morrison Government is today launching a new, free phone application with information, ideas and guidance for parents to help them provide additional support their child’s mental health and wellbeing.
It's called "The Raising Healthy Children App". Pity there's no sign of it in my Google Play store.
Meanwhile Minister Hunt is bragging that "Rapid antigen Covid home testing could be available from November"
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/28/rapid-antigen-covid-home-testing-could-be-available-from-november
"Home testing kits could be available for use in weeks, in what would be a critical step forward, health minister Greg Hunt says"
What he really means is that regulations will permit home testing kits to be available. What he hasn't said is just about anything else - such as how much will they cost, who will be able to get them? how? How will they be distributed? What do you do if you get a positive result - update your vaccination status? Or what. Looks like another app could be on the way.
Headline Hunt - busy playing his boss's game.
and ducking all responsibility by pointing out that "We’ve always said that the question of public health orders was a matter for the states." So maybe each state will need to develop their own approach to reporting. I can just see that happening by November - NOT.
It's not as though home testing kits are a new idea, they are free in the UK and have been for quite a while.
If you look at the number of decisions still to be made, there is no chance of home testing kits being made generally available as indicated by Hunt.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-28/covid-19-rapid-antigen-home-tests-available-from-november/100496776
Maybe some time next year?
And don't forget Hunt bragging last November that the government had access to over 130million vaccine shots. That promise rapidly evaporated like a split beer on a hot Australian day.
The secretary of the Federal Department of Health has become a true blue Australian public servant.
In responding to criticisms from the disability royal commission, which described the vaccine rollout as "seriously deficient", as reported in this:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-28/atagi-doctor-shocked-prime-minister-blamed-vaccine-rollout/100496804
he says:
"It is true in the very early days ... we did give a greater priority to residential aged care when the complexity of the aged care rollout was appreciated.
"That has probably saved over 1,000 lives in aged care."
He throws out an irrelevant fact with no context or comparison. The question was about people with a disability, not aged care. How many disabled people have suffered or died? His obfuscation speaks volumes. He has been got at by the bureaucrats. Their golden rule is "protect the Minister at all costs".
That is why there will not be an election before they have to. Scotty from marketing know full well their days are numbered, he for one seems focused on creating a legacy.
Doctors don't want to search for or filter documents. They want relevant data condensed/collated, sorted & tabulated/graphed ready for integration with local records (copy, DSS, automation), drilldown for more detail or ready for action (eg. referrals, letters, prescription, additional notes).
Finding data is more specific than finding documents. Having a medication listed in 3 places & multiple times often doesn't help. We have the records of prescriptions being written, then 6 entries to see the dispensing, and then it may or may not be listed in SHS & discharge summaries.
If the system was truly useful & saving time it would: allow me to see a new specialist or visit hospital & not have to fill out multiple pages of medical history (forms). Even if it could try, it would be missing a lot of information & be misleading.
I got an email early this morning telling me I should sign on to my mygov account as they had sent me a message.
I started at 7:00am, each time they said they had sent an SMS code to my phone. I rang the support line this afternoon and got a recorded message that they were experiencing "intermittent problems with the SMS system" and to try again.
I wonder if the government realises that SMS was never designed to be a highly reliable messaging system? A study in 2007 showed that the failure rate could be as high as 5%. In times of emergency, oh I don't know, maybe something medically related, the failure rate is likely to be even higher.
You wouldn't want to build a critical infrastructure on such a service would you?
I wonder if the message was important. Guess I'll find out - eventually.
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