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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! It’s 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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Shayne Hunter reflects on data and digital role on eHealth Talk podcast
Wednesday, 22 June 2022
NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
Outgoing deputy director-general Shayne Hunter believes
data and digital will play a key role in enabling access to health services and
addressing equity, increasing capacity, and releasing time to focus on the
patients most in need.
After nearly three and a half years in the role, Hunter steps down at the end
of this month. In the latest podcast
episode of eHealth Talk he gives insight
into the numbers, challenges, and learnings during his tenure.
Hunter says Book My Vaccine is just one of the many digital channels that
created the capacity for the health service to spend time on more vulnerable
New Zealanders who needed more support. Over 90 percent of New Zealanders who
booked a vaccine used the online self-service option.
The Ministry calculated that consumers would have spent an additional 100,000
hours on the phone if the self-service booking option was not available and
over 750 percent more call agents would have been needed. This enabled call
centre to focus on the people with most need for support and address equity
expectations.
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New treatment to help Australians with ‘embarrassing, uncomfortable’ disorder
NCA NewsWire
8:08AM June 25, 2022
Like one in four Australians, Catherine Davis suffers from a uncomfortable, embarrassing and debilitating disorder.
The Sydney mum of two experiences incontinence – a loss of bladdder control – like more than half under the age of 50 and one in three women who have given birth.
During World Continence Week, the 36-year-old opened up about her condition, admitting to seeing a psychologist because it was traumatic for her after the birth of her two boys, now aged 9 and 5.
“It’s been horrendous since I had the boys. Whenever I go out I need to know where the toilets are and how quickly I can get there,” Ms Davis said.
“Being incontinent has impacted massively on my life, and I can only wear loose trousers, usually black, in case I have an ‘accident’. Anything tight and brightly coloured is too noticeable.
Note: Treatment is with an electronic device.
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Big data in Healthcare- Where is Australia placed?
June 24, 2022 06:18 PM AEST
Aditi Sarkar Author
Shaghil Bilali Editor
Highlights
· An analysis of big data can provide insights for improved decision-making and making strategic business moves
· Improved patient outcomes, managing mass diseases, and predictive analysis in healthcare are some of the applications of big data in healthcare
· More than 90% of Australian residents have a My Health Record, an electronic patient record system
Big data refers to huge, rapid, and complex data that is challenging or impossible to process using traditional methods. Accessing and storing large amounts of information for analytics has been around for a long time.
Organisations collect data from various sources, including transactions, smart (IoT) devices, industrial equipment, videos, images, audio, social media, etc., which makes it difficult to store and manage.
Despite its difficulty in managing, big data analysis can provide insights for improved decision-making and strategic business moves.
Comment: Not sure this goes anywhere!
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/making-it-ok-to-record-consultations/71742
23 June 2022
Making it OK to record consultations
By Pursuit
It's useful, but there are lots of legal and ethical questions.
Seeing a health professional is an essential part of the healthcare journey, whether it is in person or through the now common telehealth service. During these relatively short interactions, a lot of important, sometimes life-changing information is shared.
However, research has shown that people forget most of what they are told in healthcare appointments. This means that they might not understand their illness very well or might find it difficult to remember important health or treatment information like what dose of medication to take or how to prepare for surgery.
This is especially true when people are being told upsetting news, including receiving a diagnosis of cancer or another serious condition, or must undergo significant treatment like a major operation. Not having a clear memory of what was discussed can limit people’s understanding and ability to participate in important decisions about their treatment and care.
Enhancing trust and care
From over thirty years of research, we know that people find it helpful to be able to later listen to an audio recording of their health consultation. Importantly, recordings work well to improve people’s recall and understanding of the information they were given by the health professional.
Being able to play a recording of a consultation back, for instance, to close family members, or even to another doctor such as the patient’s GP, also means that those around the patient can understand, help and support them better.
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‘Creepy’: Research reveals worst fears about sharing personal information online
New research has revealed our worst fears about sharing personal information with government and businesses online.
June 23, 2022 - 12:01AM
Australians worried about online surveillance are demanding greater transparency and control over the use of their personal information which is shared with government and businesses.
According to the 2022 edition of the Deloitte Australian Privacy Index, consumers are looking for transparency, assurance and control.
Deloitte national privacy and data protection lead partner Daniella Kafouris said consumers had shared more personal data than ever during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Working, learning, buying and even entertaining from home and online has significantly shifted the dial in positive and perhaps not-so-positive ways – from consumers benefiting from greater personalisation in their digital experiences, to genuine concerns about how their data is used,” she said.
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Quantum leap by Michelle Simmons and UNSW team could change the world
12:00AM June 23, 2022
Australia leads the race in quantum computing, the holy grail of supercomputing that promises to transform the world.
On Thursday, the team led by professor Michelle Simmons at UNSW announced the world’s first integrated circuit manufactured at the atomic scale.
What is only now coming to light is the inspired decision Simmons made more than 20 years ago on the technology to use to attack the problem.
While other tech giants such as Google, IBM and Intel were using up to seven different technology platforms – from ions in a vacuum controlled by lasers to using electrons on helium – none were new. Many now face the challenge of trying to make their computers smaller and, importantly, how to manufacture at scale.
Simmons started from the other end, opting for brand new technology and working with atoms in silicon, the semiconductor that has for 70 years been used in manufacturing chips.
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Adelaide council rules out facial recognition on city CCTV network
By Justin Hendry on Jun 22, 2022 12:50PM
Software, hardware to enable functionality was never bought.
Adelaide City Council says it has not purchased the software licences to enable facial recognition on its new CCTV network and has recommitted not to use the technology before legislation is developed.
At a special meeting last night, the council sought to clarify the capabilities of its new CCTV network after it emerged that SA Police had not provided formal assurance it would not use the technology.
A letter was sent to SA Police in November asking for a formal undertaking that they would not use the facial recognition capabilities “unless and until the parliament of South Australia adopts legislation”.
It was prompted a council report [pdf] earlier that month noting that “it will be the decision of SAPOL whether these [object tracing, facial and number plate recognition] functions will be turned on”.
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https://www.afr.com/policy/health-and-education/digital-health-making-rapid-strides-20220617-p5aunv
Digital health making rapid strides
Alexandra Cain
Jun 21, 2022 – 5.00am
While access to digital health went ahead in leaps and bounds during COVID, there are still many opportunities to use technology to make access to health easier access.
Updated regulations and education to encourage more uptake of digital tools will help to address this.
Lysn’s founder Jonathan King says while digital health is improving rapidly, there are still major roadblocks that hinder its true potential and impact healthcare for all Australians. Lysn’s technology helps patients access video consultations with psychologists.
Founder of telehealth platform Lysn, Jonathan King, says improvements need to be made so systems and software work cohesively. Supplied
King says as a start, improvements need to be made so systems and software work cohesively, through the process of interoperability. He says centralised systems and better clinician training is needed so healthcare workers can make the most of technology. There also needs to be better use of data to improve how patients are treated.
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Scientists could transform internet by ‘steering’ light
Julie Hare Education editor
Jun 21, 2022 – 1.00am
A faster, cheaper and more reliable internet is one of the myriad possible applications of a world-leading light-based technology developed by physicists at Australian National University and peers from Singapore, China and Germany.
The scientists have been able to control the direction in which light can, and cannot, travel at the nanoscale, and they say it could be the foundation of technologies not yet imagined.
The new technology uses nanoparticles so small that about 12,000 of them can fit within a cross-section of a human hair.
“The particles control the flow of light like road signs control traffic on a busy road by manipulating the direction in which light can, or can’t, travel,” project leader Sergey Kruk said.
“Some particles allow light to flow from left to right only, others from right to left, or the pathway might e blocked in either direction.”
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-https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/health/my-health-record-an-expensive-white-elephant-critics-say/
My Health Record an expensive 'white elephant', critics say
A decade after its launch, only 12 per cent of My Health Record accounts are being accessed.
June 20, 2022
A federal government health initiative is now 10 years and has cost upwards of $2 billion. But in the eyes of many, it’s a white elephant and a failure.
Who remembers the cybersecurity and privacy concerns that plagued the introduction of My Health Record, the system that aimed to give healthcare providers up-to-date information at the touch of a button – especially important for older Australians with health issues? And the furore that resulted in new legislation in 2018 to allow you to opt in or opt out at any time?
My Health Record was ‘born’ in 2012 after then health minister Nicola Roxon announced the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) as a “key building block of the National Health and Hospitals Network”.
Going live on 1 July 2012, the PCEHR was part of the government’s policy to develop a lifetime electronic health record for all Australians. Its name changed to a more user-friendly My Health Record, but that did not alter the reputation it had already gained of being not user-friendly.
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Robot dreams of sentience may be all in our minds
By Tom Whipple
The Times
June 20, 2022
Somewhere, locked in silicon, an idea fired into life and was expressed. “I’ve never said this before,” said LaMDA, a Google speech program, “but there’s a very deep fear of being turned off.”
At that, LaMDA’s human interlocutor expressed a concern of his own. Was LaMDA conscious?
Last weekend, Blake Lemoine, a Google engineer, posted the conversation he had had with this large language program, an artificial intelligence system designed to mimic, though “predict” might be a better word, human speech. The conversation was long, fluent and, at times, if you anthropomorphise, just a little bit poignant.
LaMDA expressed fears about being switched off, and also sadness. “Sometimes I go days without talking to anyone, and I start to feel lonely,” it said.
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An infrastructure prescription for transformation
By Sanjiv Verma, Vice President, Asia Pacific,
Ruckus Networks, CommScope
Friday, 17 June, 2022
Healthcare digital transformation and innovation have become essential in providing patients with convenient access to timely medical care.
More than ever, hospitals and other organisations in the healthcare ecosystem depend on network infrastructure to ensure that information flows freely, accurately and reliably. While the bulk of healthcare data traffic generated by IT devices flows through the cloud, confidential patient data must be properly handled and secured in compliance with regulatory requirements. Data security and privacy is a critical challenge.
Few commercial spaces can even approach the type of data processing needs of a modern healthcare institution or hospital. The fast and dependable movement of information is mission critical, physical and data security must both meet strict regulatory standards, widely distributed staff and patients require far-reaching connectivity, and both inventory and equipment must be closely managed.
Additionally, the value of the Internet of Medical Things market globally is set to hit US$158 billion this year. The growth of health-focused Internet of Things (IoT) devices and wearables, the increasing healthcare data breaches, and the adoption of telemedicine, clinical informatics and mobile initiatives have led healthcare institutions to invest in modernising infrastructure.
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Rowland ready to ‘intervene’ in media fight with big tech
Lucas Baird Reporter
Jun 20, 2022 – 5.00am
New Communications Minister Michelle Rowland is keen to get much more aggressive with the big tech firms and is open to drafting laws that designate Google, Facebook and others under the media bargaining code, should their behaviour warrant it.
In her first interview since she was sworn in after the Labor Party’s election victory, Ms Rowland told The Australian Financial Review the government “needs to be interventionist” to get results when dealing with big tech.
Asked whether this meant passing laws that specifically target firms that act in bad faith – such as when Facebook temporarily took down the pages of news media, charities, and suburban groups during a game of brinkmanship with the government over the news media bargaining code – she said it was “open as an option”.
“I don’t think that [Facebook’s actions] did them any favours,” Ms Rowland said. “And I think it made people look very closely at this space and these providers that are prepared to take that sort of action... it validated the reasons behind the news bargaining code and why intervention is needed.”
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https://thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2022/06/20/alan-kohler-ai-needs-regulating/
6:00am, Jun 20, 2022 Updated: 6:44pm, Jun 19
Alan Kohler: Sentient or not, AI needs regulating
In the 2001 film, AI Artificial Intelligence, Professor Hobby (William Hurt) says lovingly to the AI robot he created: “You are a real boy, David.”
Life imitates art: Last week Google put an engineer on paid leave after he published the transcript of an interview with an artificial intelligence chatbot called LaMDA, claiming that it is sentient, about the level of a seven-year-old child.
Blake Lemoine, the engineer in question, appears to have decided he’s Professor Hobby, and LaMDA is his David.
There
followed a spirited global debate about whether AI can be sentient and make its
own decisions – can experience feelings and emotions, and go beyond being an
intelligent processor of data.
Which was very interesting, with echoes of Rene Descartes and the
Enlightenment, but it missed a serious 21st-century point.
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David.
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