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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Quite a busy week with lots about the MSIA and the Telcos.
Also some heat for Greg Hunt just as he packs up!
Enjoy!
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'Invisible' health technology companies in Australia call for procurement reform and sustainable government investment in industry-first survey
The surveyed companies overwhelmingly reported that the federal government stifles innovation.
By Lynne Minion
March 15, 2022 02:25 AM
Following two years of a pandemic in which technology has underpinned Australia's COVID-19 response, digital health companies have claimed the federal government stifles innovation and called for the reform of procurement processes, according to a new report by the peak organisation representing the industry.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
The Medical Software Industry Association's "Beyond The Pandemic – Future Proofing Australia's Health Technology Industry", surveyed its members – which include 150 companies from start-ups to large listed entities – and found two thirds of respondents (68 per cent) provided pandemic-related services.
However, companies overwhelmingly reported the federal government stifles innovation (59 per cent), while almost 61 per cent said international companies are favoured over Australian companies in federal government contracts. More than half (53 per cent) also see the government's ICT procurement processes as unfair and 74 per cent felt unsupported by government.
WHY IT MATTERS
According to the report, which has been released in the lead up to the federal budget and the upcoming election, health technologies have "replaced the stethoscope" as the single most important tool of GP practice.
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Wednesday, 16 March 2022 11:04
Health technology companies demand for fairer procurement process and better recognition
Health technology companies are calling for fairer procurement processes and improved funding, according to a report by the Medical Software Industry Association.
However, according to MSIA’s Beyond the Pandemic – Future Proofing Australia’s Health Technology Industry report, it claims the sector remains unsung and invisible.
On the heels of the government announcing the federal budget and upcoming election, the report found that health companies overwhelmingly believe the government stifles innovation (59%) while almost 61% said companies are at a disadvantage compared to international companies in federal government contracts.
More than half (53%) see the government's ICT procurement processes as unfair and 74% feel unsupported by government.
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https://www.innovationaus.com/healthtech-firms-unsupported-by-government-industry-report/
HealthTech firms ‘unsupported by government’: industry report
Brandon
How
Reporter
16 March 2022
More funding and a fairer procurement process are needed to support the local HealthTech sector, according to a new report published by the industry body.
Alongside five recommendations, the Medical Software Industry Association (MSIA) published the results of its industry survey, which indicated the need for greater support from the federal government.
In particular, 59 per cent of companies say the federal government “stifles innovation.” Further, the federal government’s ICT procurement processes were deemed unfair by nearly half of companies.
The MSIA’s ‘Beyond the Pandemic’ report says that HealthTech companies have made significant contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes the delivery of 96 million telehealth services since March 2020, and more than 38 million ePrescriptions since February 9, 2022. In the last month alone, more than 62 million COVID-19 tests have been processed.
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Hills Health's parent company buys connected care firm Extensia
The publicly listed firm continues its expansion into digital health.
By Adam Ang
March 16, 2022 01:05 am
Australia-listed Hills Limited, the parent company of health tech provider Hills Health Solutions, has announced its acquisition of connected care firm Extensia.
Extensia offers the RecordPoint platform which provides practitioners with real-time access to patient records and test results from anywhere. It enables safe sharing of health information through rigorous data security, user authentication, access control and audit trail views. Its solution has been used by governments, health services, aged care providers, indigenous health organisations, disabilities care providers, and research institutions.
WHAT IT'S FOR
According to a media release, Hills' acquisition of Extensia is part of its strategy to further expand into the digital health sector.
Hills, through Hills Health, delivers health tech solutions to hospitals and aged care facilities, including its nurse call, GetWell's patient engagement solutions, TV rental, and guest WiFi services
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The WearOptimo smart patch could help detect a heart attack ahead of time
2:41PM March 14, 2022
A cutting-edge patch being developed in Australia has the potential to easily detect heart attacks before they happen.
The wearable sensor, a thin silver sticker around the size of a 10 cent coin, is designed initially to monitor hydration levels for workers on remote mining or high intensity construction sites.
But the ANU-backed tech company WearOptimo is planning to expand its health monitoring into an area that could save lives.
WearOptimo founder and chief executive Mark Kendall says his wearable tech has the potential to help tackle cardiovascular disease and get ahead of heart attacks for timely treatment. This could benefit those people in a high risk category or under significant stress.
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Aspen Medical invests in wearable sensor technology
Tom McIlroy Political reporter
Mar 15, 2022 – 5.00am
The government’s largest COVID-19 healthcare provider has made a multimillion-dollar investment in the development of a wearable body sensor designed to help track vital signs for military personnel and mining and resources workers.
Aspen Medical, which has won in excess of $1.5 billion in government contracts in the past two years, will invest in Queensland-based health tech company WearOptimo. The business is developing a tiny wearable sensor that detects dehydration risks.
Smaller than a 50 cent coin, it is applied directly to the skin and is designed to be worn in the field. The product is pitched at employers concerned about safety and optimal performance of their teams and can be applied anywhere on the body.
WearOptimo was incorporated in 2018, as part of the Australian National University’s innovation program. The program was established to help entrepreneurial academics around the country to successfully commercialise intellectual property, including with corporate funding assistance.
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Digital Health CRC appoints Annette Schmiede as Acting CEO
Monday, 14 March, 2022
The Digital Health CRC (DHCRC) has appointed Annette Schmiede to the role of Acting CEO, following the resignation of former CEO Terry Sweeney who took on the role in December 2020.
Schmiede, who is the current Chair of Research Australia and former Executive Leader of the Bupa Health Foundation, has been active within the DHCRC since its establishment in 2018, more recently as Senior Advisor. The appointment is effective immediately.
DHCRC Chair Kate Munnings said Schmiede brings a wealth of experience across health care, tertiary education and research. "She recently completed 10 years on the Board of the Northern Sydney Local Health District as Deputy Chair and is a Senator for the Australian Catholic University," Munnings said.
"Schmiede has been working with the DHCRC since our establishment and brings intimate knowledge of our core objectives, participants and breadth of current projects and exciting pipeline. We are confident in her ability to lead the organisation during this time, supported by a very capable executive team."
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/elizabeth-koff-appointed-managing-director-of-telstra-health/65152
18 March 2022
Elizabeth Koff appointed managing director of Telstra Health
Sponsored
Telstra has announced the appointment of Elizabeth Koff as Managing Director of Telstra Health, effective from 1 July 2022.
Elizabeth will succeed Professor Mary Foley AM who has decided to retire from full-time executive roles. Mary will join the Telstra Health Board as a Non-Executive Director and serve as a Special Adviser to the business.
Elizabeth is currently Secretary for NSW Health, a position she has held since May 2016. NSW Health is Australia’s largest health system with 228 hospitals and 127,000 staff with an operating budget of $30 billion. In her time as Secretary, Elizabeth has overseen a number of key initiatives and changes across the NSW Health system including:
- Leadership and management of NSW Health system through the COVID-19 pandemic
- Development of Value-Based Healthcare at scale across the NSW health system
- eHealth transformation with data and analytics reform to drive clinical care improvements and business intelligence
- Transformation of NSW Ministry of Health to agile and flexible work practices
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/greg-hunt-has-reneged-450million-pledge-gp-patient-enrolment-says-ama
Greg Hunt has reneged on $450-million pledge for GP patient enrolment, says AMA
The government has spent the money on other things, according to its president
15th March 2022
The Federal Government has dumped its plan to introduce Medicare rebates to fund patient registration by GPs because it has already spent the money, the AMA claims.
Voluntary patient enrolment has been in the works for more than a decade.
Under the scheme, pledged by the current government, GPs were going to be offered up to $156 annually for each patient they signed up.
But the $450 million allocated for rebates in the 2019/20 federal budget was no longer available, said AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid.
He said the message was conveyed at a meeting with Minister for Health Greg Hunt three weeks ago.
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/10-year-plan-abandoned-says-ama/64995
15 March 2022
10-year plan ‘abandoned’, says AMA
By Holly Payne
Has the pandemic drained government coffers so badly that there is nothing left for the health sector?
In a media blitz today, the AMA claimed it had been privately told by the government that there is no money available for the Primary Health Care 10 Year Plan in the next budget, thanks in part to pandemic spending.
Just as we were going to press, however, the Department of Health told us the plan would in fact be released in the budget on 29 March.
The Morrison government first committed to the plan in October 2019, and it was touted as a blueprint for strengthening and modernising Australia’s primary health system over the next decade.
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MyHR - Incorrect or missing information
Help manage your record
Support and other contact information available to you
While unlikely, it’s possible that incorrect information could be uploaded to your record, or that information is missing. It’s important that you check that all your health information is up to date and correct. Just as you would tell your bank if you saw a withdrawal that you didn’t make – you can check that the information stored in your record is correct.
Incorrect information
If you find incorrect information in your record, please contact us as soon as possible on 1800 723 471 (option 1). You can also remove the document from your record.
If the incorrect information is in a document from a healthcare provider (e.g. your GP), you can ask them to correct this.
Missing information
The first time you access your record, there may be little or no information in it.
If information is missing from your record, first check that your healthcare provider is connected and able to upload documents to the My Health Record system. If they are, ask them to upload the document to your record.
Note that if your healthcare provider is not yet connected to the My Health Record system, they won’t be able to access your My Health Record or upload documents.
Once your healthcare provider is connected, they can start to upload information about you.
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MyHr - Emergency access
Who can access restricted records and documents in an emergency.
Initiatives and programs
Access to your health information can be lifesaving in an emergency.
Access to restricted records and documents in an emergency
Healthcare providers can override access controls to view your health information if they use Emergency Access. This includes information and documents that are restricted.
Find out how to control access to documents.
Access to removed documents in an emergency
Healthcare providers won’t be able to view any documents you have removed from your record, including in an emergency. They also won’t be able to see personal health notes you have uploaded.
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Uploading allergy information to My Health Record from your clinical software - Webinar 31 March 2022
When you upload information about a patient’s allergies and adverse reactions to My Health Record it becomes available to a their other treating healthcare providers. This is important for their safety. Documents uploaded to My Health Record by specialists and viewed by other healthcare providers increased by 23% in January 2022.
Find out how to upload allergy information in our upcoming 30-minute webinar suitable for specialists using a range of conformant clinical software. Dr William Smith (Clinical immunology/allergy specialist) and Dr Kathy Rainbird (Australian Digital Health Agency) will explain why this is important and how you can do this directly from your clinical software. The webinar will include a step-through demonstration using Genie software, and time for questions.
Date and time: 8pm AEDT (5pm WST) Thursday 31 March 2022
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Telstra Ventures reveals investment recipe after 10 years and five ‘decacorns’
3:09PM March 13, 2022
A decade ago, start-ups were grateful for any type of funding. Now the tables have turned, with fledgling businesses becoming increasingly picky when selecting investors.
It is a theme familiar to Telstra Ventures’s co-managing director Matthew Koertge, despite overseeing one of Australia’s biggest venture capital firms, with more than $1bn under management.
Like many other funds, he now finds himself pitching to entrepreneurs rather than start-ups knocking on the door, cap in hand, underscoring the biggest shift since Telstra Ventures was formed a decade ago.
“We tend to pitch to entrepreneurs,” Mr Koertge said, speaking on the firm’s 10th anniversary.
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Case study: eHealth NSW gets a more holistic view of its customers costs
By Athina Mallis on Mar 17, 2022 11:05AM
EHealth NSW is a shared service agency within NSW Health, responsible for planning, implementing and supporting ICT and digital capabilities across the state’s public health system.
The digital department needed a better way to help its customers understand how its services are costed.
Warren Clarke, director of finance at eHealth NSW and a member of the Technology Business Management (TBM) council said they replaced their legacy system with TBM to give their customers better insights into the services that the department was charging them.
He said the legacy model used “very simple metrics”, which were not aligned to consumption based data.
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Ministry considers future uses of Covid technologies
Tuesday, 15 March 2022
NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
The Ministry of Health’s data
and digital team is looking at how the many systems developed for the Covid-19
response could be used in other health settings in the medium to long-term.
GM national digital services and CTO Michael Dreyer says potential uses include
for future vaccine roll-outs, such as the winter flu vaccine, and tracking
outbreaks of other diseases, such as measles. Also, text campaigns, inventory solutions,
testing data services and booking services.
“We’ve built a lot of really useful assets for the health sector, particularly
in the disease management space,” he tells eHealthNews.
“Some of these services have utility more broadly in the future and a good
example is the digital identity solution.”
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16 Mar 2022 10:18 AM AEST
Nanoveu (ASX:NVU) Nanoveu Launches Disinfection Robot Under a RaaS Model
Highlights
- Nanoveu has launched NanoshieldTM Bot - a Robot as a Service (“RaaS”) based disinfection robot that will dispense a fine mist of the Company’s newly launched e-water, which contains Complex Oxygen Compounds with excellent antiviral and antibacterial efficacy, e-water is:
- Chemical and alcohol-free, halal certified, pH neutral disinfectant; and
- Of food grade1, safe to inhale2, causes no eye3 or skin irritation4.
- e-water is proven effective in eliminating viruses - inactivating 99.93% of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) after 30 minutes5 , >99.99% of feline coronavirus within 30 seconds6 , and 99.86% of Influenza A within 30 seconds. 7
- e-water has excellent antibacterial efficacy, reducing >99.999% of Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus within 30 seconds8 .
- The product will be marketed and sold under the NanoshieldTM brand as a RaaS, whereby the Company will provide a complete autonomous robot based disinfecting solution.
- The RaaS business model significantly reduces the capital expenditure for clients, and has the potential to result in cost savings of disinfecting public areas.
- The NanoshieldTM Bot was trialled at several hotels in Singapore with highly positive feedback received, and Nanoveu will initially focus on the Singapore market.
- With international travel reopening and staff shortages due to the global pandemic, the NanoshieldTM Bot will reduce manpower through automation, and staff exposure to the virus.
- The technology targets a significant market with 700,000 hotels and resorts globally9 and the RaaS market expected to reach US$103.3 billion by 2026 at a CAGR of 23.3%10.
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https://www.zdnet.com/article/nbn-fibre-alternatives-cannot-keep-up-accc/
NBN fibre alternatives cannot keep up: ACCC
Users on Uniti's network have slower connections and experience a higher rate of outages compared to those on full fibre NBN lines, the ACCC has said.
Written by Chris Duckett, APAC Editor
on March 17, 2022 | Topic: Broadband
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has gone some way to answering the question of what is worse than being on the NBN? When it comes to full fibre, it seems to be other fibre providers.
In the latest instalment of the Measuring Broadband Australia report, NBN-alternative fibre connections sold by Uniti under its LBNCo and OptiComm monikers were included for the first time, albeit with a sample size of only 40 lines.
The report said busy hours download speeds on Uniti were 101.6% of plan speeds while NBN full fibre could hit 103%. It was a similar story for upload speeds with Uniti lines reporting 88% of plan speeds and NBN lines hitting 91%.
Uniti lines also had a higher outage rate, but this was mostly due to a pair of apartments having a high number of outages. As a result, the report said there was an average of 1.75 outages per day, but the error bars stretched between 0.5 and 3 outages. Regardless of where the average lies in that range, it is still higher than NBN's 0.3 number.
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Friday, 18 March 2022 10:48
Aussie Broadband warns over new NBN Special Access Undertaking
Aussie Broadband’s Managing Director Phillip Britt has warned the telco industry is holding its breath waiting for the new NBN Special Access Undertaking (SAU).
The SAU is a key part of the regulatory framework that governs the price and non-price terms and conditions NBN can impose on the services it supplies to Retail Service Providers (RSP).
The consultation process began in April 2021 and was initially expected to be completed within 12 months. However, this has now been delayed with no end in sight, Britt advised.
Phil said that there’s no certainty for RSPs and the process continues to drag on with NBN playing a cat and mouse game with the ACCC and industry.
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Aussie Broadband says drawn-out NBN review pressuring RSPs, prices
By Ry Crozier on Mar 18, 2022 11:38AM
Wants an actual deadline put on the process.
Aussie Broadband has warned the renegotiation of NBN Co’s price model is fast becoming a drawn out and open-ended affair, and that retailers may be forced to act on prices before NBN Co does.
Managing director Phillip Britt sought to inject a sense of urgency back into the process at a presentation to the CommsDay Summit on Wednesday.
At stake is a major renegotiation of NBN Co’s special access undertaking (SAU), which contains price and non-price terms that are meant to govern NBN Co’s existence through to 2040.
In reality, the current SAU has been rendered ineffective by the way NBN Co conducts business, the party that approved it - the ACCC - said this week.
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NSW gov targets Sky Muster satellite users with $100m gig state upgrade
By Justin Hendry on Mar 17, 2022 3:20PM
Asks for industry feedback on refocused initiative.
The NSW government will use its refocused $100 million gig state initiative to prioritise upgrades to premises currently served by NBN Co’s Sky Muster satellite network.
Earlier this month, the government revealed it had “reprioritised” the project to upgrade only the state’s most underserved regional and rural areas in a bid to prevent duplication.
It follows upgrades in some of the original areas planned to receive upgrades under gig state since the initiative was established three years ago.
In doing so, the government also refined the locations that will received upgrades, with Dubbo, Wagga Wagga and Parkes now excluded from the project.
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Australia is ‘losing the 5G race’, according to Accenture’s Albert Tan
March 16, 2022
Australia is behind much of the rest of the world including North America, Europe and many Asian countries when it comes to 5G, network experts say, with the private sector failing to take advantage of the new use cases and economic benefits of the still-nascent technology.
While consumers are already enjoying fast mobile connections under 5G, the actual value of the technology comes from its ability to turbocharge industries, according Albert Tan, Accenture’s head of network services, who said that Australia is punching above its weight in many areas – but not 5G.
“This is not as straightforward as just switching 5G on. Truly disruptive 5G innovation can’t come from the private sector if the structure, infrastructure and policies aren’t in place,” Mr Tan said in an interview.
“We need government collaboration and co-ordination to create standards and enforce shared interests to harness the technology and to incentivise all stakeholders to invest in a move to 5G and the processes it enables.”
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https://exchange.telstra.com.au/breaking-ground-on-the-fibre-network-of-the-future/
Breaking ground on the fibre network of the future
By Brendon Riley March 15, 2022
Today we started on the journey to deliver tomorrow’s connectivity. It’s a significant step toward the fibre network Australia deserves.
It’s the fibre network that will power everything from small businesses selling to their local neighbourhood, through to cutting-edge Australian innovators creating their businesses in the metaverse.
Using our special fibre-laying dozers and a lot of local know-how, today we’ve kicked off a program of work that will deliver real value to Australians and the economy for years to come.
It represents us breaking ground to actually deliver on the fibre network of the future. The one Australia deserves, that will give us the connectivity we need for the coming decades.
Breaking ground today is especially significant, considering we only announced the project a matter of weeks ago and we’re already rolling it out.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nbn-cos-sau-no-longer-effective-accc-commissioner-says-577432
NBN Co's SAU no longer effective, ACCC commissioner says
By Ry Crozier on Mar 16, 2022 12:39PM
Promises revision will be more than "a tidy-up exercise”.
The set of rules meant to govern the way NBN Co operates until 2040 “hasn’t operated in the way the ACCC and industry intended”, and needed more than a simple “tidy-up” to fix, ACCC commissioner Anna Brakey said.
Speaking at the CommsDay Summit yesterday, Brakey said that “establishing a sustainable long-term regulatory framework for the national broadband network” is the commission’s “top priority for the communications sector at the moment.”
NBN Co is expected to lodge a revised version of these rules - collectively known as the special access undertaking or SAU - imminently.
It has already floated proposals on how it might suggest changes to its pricing construct, though the feedback to date from industry is that the proposals do not go far enough.
Brakey indicated that the ACCC had an appetite for change, given it had accepted the initial SAU from NBN Co in 2013, but that the arrangement had proven largely ineffective since at keeping NBN Co in check.
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Tuesday, 15 March 2022 12:02
NBN announces commitment to science-based targets
NBN Co announced its commitment to setting science-based targets as part of its efforts to reduce emissions and support the nation’s transition to a low carbon economy.
NBN says its science-based emissions reduction targets will align to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a global body enabling businesses to set emissions reductions targets in line with the latest climate science.
The Company has been listed as ’committed to setting a science-based target’ on the SBTi website and expects to provide its science-based targets to the SBTi for validation later this year.
NBN said it is is part of a growing number of companies to register with the SBTi in Australia and joins more than 2,000 leading companies worldwide targeting Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions, which relate to direct and indirect emissions.
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Enjoy!
David.
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