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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Silliness and penny-pinching seems to run the health. Why can’t they just work out a model for telehealth and just fund it?
Otherwise we will see lots restart after next week as we move into February!
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/its-back-76-mbs-rebate-gp-phone-consults
It's back: $76 MBS rebate for GP phone consults
Equivalent to a level C consult, the item will remain in place until June
17th January 2022
GPs can once more claim the $75.75 Medicare rebate for phone consults lasting more than 20 minutes as a result of the Federal Government’s latest response to the Omicron outbreak.
The U-turn comes after longer level C and D phone consults were scrapped outside remote areas (MM6-7) last July on the basis that they were inadequate, with video consults offering a “richer information transfer”.
The phone rebate, which comes into effect in the coming days, will remain in place at least until 30 June.
Minister for Health Greg Hunt said the item was justified given "the high infection rate and need to provide healthcare support across the community”.
Australian Doctor is seeking clarification on whether a level D equivalent will also return for phone consults over 40 minutes.
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/return-of-the-level-c-phone-consults/60893
17 January 2022
Return of the level C phone consults
By Holly Payne
Tis the season! Long telephone consults and extra PPE are back, in what no one except this reporter is calling “GP Christmas in January”.
Under an additional $24 million in funding, level C phone consults will be back until 30 June.
Some 20 million units of PPE are also headed to primary care, with about nine million P2/N95 masks earmarked for GPs and prioritised for clinicians in rural, regional and remote areas.
Healthdirect – which provides the National Coronavirus Hotline, symptom checker and other online resources – will also be developing a national assessment, triage and notification system to connect covid cases with the care they need.
Additionally, the $25 bonus payment for face-to-face consults with covid positive patients will now apply when a patient has only tested positive on a rapid antigen test. Up until now, people had to have a positive PCR in order for their GP to claim the additional money.
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Calls for long-term funding in light of $24 million telehealth announcement
Tuesday January 18, 202
News of the federal government’s boost to telehealth services has been ‘cautiously welcomed’ by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), who met with ministers to discuss the support needed to provide essential care during the pandemic.
The money will fund video and telephone specialist inpatient telehealth medical benefits scheme (MBS) items, initial and complex specialist telephone consultation items, and longer telephone consultations for GPs (level C).
RACGP president Dr Karen Price said the multimillion-dollar funding, which temporarily restores nationwide telehealth services to peak COVID-19 settings, was a ‘step in the right direction’. But, she noted, the need for these services would also continue beyond the government’s 30 June 2022 cut-off date.
“A six-month restoration of these rebates is welcome; however, we must not stop there — this must be a permanent fixture of telehealth for years to come and the RACGP will continue fighting to make that happen,” Price said.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/govt-dumps-covid19-hotspot-exemption-telehealth
Govt dumps COVID-19 'hotspot' exemption for telehealth
Patients isolating under public health orders will still be able to claim telehealth irrespective of a pre-existing relationship with the GP
18th January 2022
Patients in areas of high COVID-19 transmission have lost automatic eligibility for Medicare-funded telehealth, with exemptions to the ‘existing relationship’ rule no longer applying in COVID-19 hotspot areas.
Commonwealth-designated hotspots covered all of NSW between August and October last year, along with the ACT and much of Victoria and Tasmania.
However, hotspot status ends within a particular state or
territory once 80% of its over-16s are fully vaccinated, according to the
National Plan for managing COVID-19.
The Department of Health is stressing that patients in quarantine or isolating
under public health orders do not need to show a previous face-to-face consult
at their doctor’s practice has occurred in the previous 12 months.
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Australia makes temporary changes to telehealth amid Omicron outbreak
Some subsidised specialist phone and video consultation items are being offered until 30 June.
By Adam Ang
January 18, 2022 01:26 AM
The Australian government is briefly subsidising some telehealth services as it deals with a new COVID-19 outbreak.
These include specialist inpatient video and phone consultation items under the Medicare Benefits Schedule, complex specialist telephone consultations and level C or longer telephone consultations for general practitioners.
Offered until 30 June, these telehealth items have been made available nationwide, unlike when these were targeted only to hotspot areas previously.
WHY IT MATTERS
These changes to telehealth are being done to support the continuity of patient care amid the current COVID-19 restrictions and to help relieve the pressure on the overwhelmed hospital system.
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Roundup: Melbourne's digital chief joins St. Vincent's Health, Kensington Hospital moves to cloud and more briefs
Also, Australians can now download their digital vaccination passes from their My Health Record accounts.
By Adam Ang
January 21, 2022 12:10 AM
Melbourne's digital chief joins aged care provider St. Vincent's Health
The chief digital officer of the city of Melbourne has announced her move to aged care provider St. Vincent's Health Australia.
In a social media post, Michelle Fitzgerald, who is also the city council's customer and digital general manager, said she is filling in the same position of CDO at the hospital group.
Fitzgerald has held her post at the council for the past six years. She had led its smart city office in her first four years and eventually took on the technology and digital innovation director role from 2019.
She had previously worked as a partner at accounting firm PwC for over a decade.
The digital chief said she is looking forward to work with her new colleagues in "[scaling] up digital and data solutions to benefit our patients, residents, staff and partners across our hospitals and aged care facilities".
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Digital Health CRC project to enhance telehealth capabilities
Monday, 17 January, 2022
A $2m Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre (DHCRC) project aims to enhance telehealth capabilities and improve patient, clinician and caregiver experiences for mental health and palliative care services.
The ‘Enhanced Telehealth Capabilities’ project will deliver user-centred and research-based software solutions to enhance telehealth services like real-time transcription, smoother integration of personal diagnostic data from medical devices and better accessibility for the elderly or Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
The project will be led by Monash University’s Faculty of Information Technology (IT). Affiliates include Monash Health, researchers from the University of Melbourne, industry partners, Healthdirect Australia and the Department of Health (Victoria).
Project Lead Associate Professor Rashina Hoda, from Monash University’s Faculty of IT, said with more than 16 million Australians accessing health services remotely since March 2020, it is essential that telehealth experiences are robust, especially for those in regional and rural communities.
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Interoperability issues prevent Northern region from going with Epic
Tuesday, 18 January 2022
NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
The Regional Collaborative
Community Care (RCCC) tender for the Northern Region DHBs was closed unawarded
more than three years after it went out and a new tender has been released.
Epic was the chosen supplier for the community system but interoperability
issues prevented the project from moving ahead, says Northland DHB chief
executive Nick Chamberlain.
The original tender, released in September 2018, was on behalf of Auckland, Northland, Waitematā and
Counties Manukau DHBs, but the chosen system could also be used by community
care organisations and general practices.
The new system was to be implemented first at Northland DHB to replace Jade
Community Care, which was due to be unsupported from 2020. This solution
supports referral, case and bed management, prescribing, care planning, group
and individual patient scheduling, and clinical documentation for community
care and inpatient mental health services.
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https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/592670/75m-to-improve-cybersecurity-in-health.htm
$75m to improve cybersecurity in health
Monday, 17 January 2022
NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
Up to $75.7 million will be
spent on improving cybersecurity for the health and disability system to better
protect sensitive health information.
The funding will be invested over 3 years on upgrading existing software and
systems, establishing national security standards and guidelines, strengthening
assurance and testing capability, and increasing the use of cloud security
services.
A national Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), a primary care CISO and
10 further cybersecurity FTEs will be recruited to lead on and manage cyber
risks.
Shayne Hunter, deputy director-general, data and digital says the number and
sophistication of cyber-attacks is increasing globally and healthcare is one of
the most targeted sectors.
Waikato DHB was hit by a ransomware attack on May 18 causing a full outage of
its information services across the region. Patient and staff details were
stolen then later posted online by the cyber criminals.
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https://www.afr.com/technology/four-tech-trends-that-will-invade-our-lives-this-year-20220113-p59nx5
Four tech trends that will invade our lives this year
Here we go again: Virtual reality, now called “the metaverse,” will be a thing. So will the smart home.
Brian X. Chen
Jan 18, 2022 – 9.01am
Each year, I look ahead at what’s new in consumer technology to guide you through what you might expect to buy – and what will most likely be a fad.
Many of the same “trends” appear again and again because, to put it simply, technology takes a long time to mature before most of us actually want to buy it. That applies this year as well. Some trends for this year that tech companies are pushing are things you will have heard of before.
A chief example is virtual reality, the technology that involves wearing goofy-looking headgear and swinging around controllers to play 3D games. That is expected to be front and centre again this year, remarketed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and other techies as “the metaverse”.
Another buzzy category will be the so-called smart home, the technology to control home appliances by shouting voice commands at a speaker or tapping a button on a smartphone. The truth is, the tech industry has tried to push this kind of technology into our homes for more than a decade. This year, these products may finally begin to feel practical to own.
Another recurring technology on this list is digital health gear that tracks our fitness and helps us diagnose possible ailments. And car makers, which have long talked about electric cars, are beginning to accelerate their plans to meet a nationwide goal to phase out production of petrol-powered cars by 2030.
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My Health Record - a practical demonstration (MedicalDirector)
Event details
When
Thursday,
20 January 2022
1:00pm - 2:00pm (AEDT)
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
These one hour sessions are aimed at GPs, Specialists, Practice Managers, Practice Nurses and Aboriginal Health Workers interested in learning more about My Health Record and how to use it most effectively in routine practice. Using a software simulation platform the instructor will demonstrate how to:
•
access your patients’ My Health Records in your software;
• use filters to find documents;
• view documents and overviews;
• understand how to view immunisation history in My Health Record;
• enter access codes for patients with protected
documents/records;
• upload documents to My Health Record; and
• ensure appropriate security and access governance
mechanisms are in place.
Run via GoTo webinar platform, these sessions will afford an opportunity for participants to raise questions directly with the instructor and to discuss other issues encountered in using My Health Record. These demonstrations will be run on a weekly basis at varying times throughout the day.
If you can not find a session time that suits you, we may be able to provide an out of schedule session to accommodate you and your staff. For more information on this or for follow up My Health Record support for your practice please contact education@digitalhealth.gov.au.
This education is CPD accredited by AAPM, RACGP, ACRRM and NAATSIHWP.
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My Health Record for hospital staff
Event details
When
Tuesday,
25 January 2022
1:00pm - 2:00pm (AEDT)
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
Having access to health information contained in the My Health Record can reduce the instance of adverse medication events (including hospital re-admissions), decrease duplicate diagnostic testing and improve continuity of care for patients across the primary and secondary care sectors.
Given the increased use and adoption of the system, embedding the use of the My Health Record very early in a clinician’s journey through the healthcare system will ensure it will become one of many valuable digital decision support tools routinely accessed to improve patient care.
Content
will include:
• pathology and diagnostic report viewing
• medicines view
• discharge summaries
• primary care shared health and event summaries
• advance care planning documents
The sessions will also provide advice on general security and access compliance processes.
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https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/newsroom/events-and-webinars/my-health-record-for-specialists-2022
My Health Record for Specialists
Event details
When
Friday,
28 January 2022
11:00am - 12:00pm (AEDT) and later
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
Join us in a Genie training environment to learn the core features of My Health Record including how to effectively view and upload information. The sessions are designed to be interactive where participants are encouraged to ask questions and raise any issues.
Understand how to:
- Save time by accessing overview summary documents including medicines, immunisations, pathology and diagnostic imaging
- Find documents relevant to your clinical practice e.g. discharge summaries
- Understand how to view the available Medicare information.
This activity is tailored specifically for Specialists, Practice Nurses and Practice Managers.
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ResApp Health : Binding LOI signed with Homify to launch ResAppDx in the Philippines
01/19/2022 | 10:56pm EST
Brisbane, Australia, 20 January 2022 - ResApp Health Limited (ASX:RAP), a leading digital health company developing smartphone applications for the diagnosis and management of respiratory disease, is pleased to announce that it has signed a non-exclusive, three-year binding letter of intent (LOI) with Philippines-based telehealth start-up Homify Corporation ("Homify") under which Homify will integrate ResApp's smartphone-based acute respiratory diagnostic test ResAppDx into their telehealth services. Homify plans to launch ResAppDx on its platform in the middle of this calendar year.
Homify was founded in 2021 by Wilson, Wayne and Rachelle Uy. Wilson is also the founder of Kaching Technologies AI, a Philippine company that is a product reseller of Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence and other technology solutions for businesses and consumers. The Homify platform will integrate digital diagnostic and patient support tools from inception, with ResAppDx being the foundational technology. The Philippines has a population of 112 million people with many people facing difficulties accessing health care.
ResAppDx is ResApp's acute respiratory diagnostic test that uses machine-learning technology to analyse signatures in cough sounds to diagnose respiratory disease using a smartphone's inbuilt microphone. It is CE Marked in Europe and TGA approved for ARTG (Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods) listing in Australia.
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How the US messed up its new 5G rollout: ‘It wasn’t our finest hour’
By Dow Jones
January 22, 2022
The Biden and Trump administrations had years of warnings. But the government failed this week to avoid a collision between U.S. telecom companies and airlines over the rollout of new 5G cellular networks.
That failure, rooted in longstanding disagreements over potential risk and a lack of cooperation by U.S. regulators, led to a last-minute scramble that threatened the cancellation of thousands of flights and raised tensions between two powerful industries.
Since 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration has questioned whether decades-old aviation equipment would be disrupted by new cellular signals. The risk to aircraft from new 5G services has been dismissed by the telecom industry and its regulator.
Yet the FAA, still sifting through a flood of wireless-company data, was altering flight-safety instructions in the days leading up to the 5G rollout. Boeing Co., meanwhile, began talking last weekend with users of its 777 jets about possibly halting flights into major U.S. airports ahead of the 5G debut. Along with questions about shifting FAA restrictions, that set off days of panicked calls among airline chiefs and White House officials, people familiar with the matter said.
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Enjoy!
David.
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