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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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https://gphn.org.au/burst/webinar-digital-health-standards-selection-process/
Webinar on ‘Digital health standards selection
process’
July 24, 2020
Latest News
The
Australian Institute of Digital Health is working with the Australian Digital
Health Agency to develop a process for digital health standards
selection for national use and adoption.
This session
on Tuesday 28 July from 1-2pm is titled ‘Digital health standards selection
process’ and will be followed up by targeted industry and key stakeholder
consultation sessions through August coordinated by the AIDH.
Leading
healthcare executive, Dr Tim Smyth, will facilitate the discussion with senior
representatives from the standards community, the AIDH and the Agency.
Specifically,
webinar participants will talk about ways to develop a process of digital
health standards selection for national use and adoption to form part of a
broader strategic approach to standards and standards lifecycle management.
To find out
more or to register visit the Australasian Institute of Digital Health (AIDH) event webpage
(There may be
a recording of this session available from this session a month ago)
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https://www.innovationaus.com/wa-future-health-innovation-fund-gets-a-new-focus/
WA Future Health Innovation fund gets a new focus
Brandon
How
Reporter
25 August 2022
Four
new areas of focus have been unveiled for the Western
Australian government’s Future Health Research and Innovation fund.
Building
on the four strategic themes outlined in the WA Future Health Research and
Innovation (FHRI) Fund Strategy 2020-22, the next three years will include a
particular focus on:
- Aboriginal, rural, and remote health
- Burden of diseases
- Living with Covid-19 and Long-Covid
- Mental health
The
fund has awarded $63.6 million worth of grants to 364 recipients in its first
two years. Although worth around $1.6 billion, only forecast investment income
is made available through FHRI programs. One per cent of the state’s forecast
annual royalties are added to the FHRI fund.
It
is expected to have $36.4 million available for distribution in financial year
2022-23, according to the most recent state budget. This is expected to decline
to less than $30 million in each of the following three years.
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https://digitalhealth.org.au/blog/call-for-expressions-of-interest-to-be-part-of-the-aidh-expert-advisory-groups/
Call for Expressions of Interest to be part of the AIDH
Expert Advisory Groups
Aug 23, 2022
| Advocacy, Community
of Practice, Expert
Advisory Group, Shifting the
Dial
Director
of Leadership & Policy
As
the Institute embarks on its new strategy to shift the dial on our nation’s
transition to a digital health future, we’re asking for the support and
involvement of our Fellows and members.
The
first step in delivering Shifting
the Dial is the establishment of our Expert
Advisory Groups.
Expert
Advisory Groups – or ‘EAGs’, will be the driving force behind the further
development, continual refinement, and the delivery of the Shifting the Dial
strategy.
The
strategy has intentionally been kept high-level to allow AIDH Fellows and
members – the pioneers and leaders within the digital health sector – shape its
development and have genuine input into how we influence the future direction
of Australia’s healthcare system.
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https://www.menzies.edu.au/page/Research/Projects/Kidney/My_Health_Record_upload_from_Territory_Kidney_Care/
My Health Record upload from Territory Kidney Care
Objective:
The
primary objective of this project is the technical implementation and change
communication of the capability to upload synopsis letters from the TKC System
to the My Health Record.
Summary:
Territory
Kidney Care (TKC) is an innovative clinical information system used to assist
with the early identification and best-practice management of kidney disease.
It utilises a service-orientated architecture which automatically and securely
transfers the clinical information of patients from existing health platforms,
based on agreed criteria, to provide a complete patient picture. The technology
applies algorithms to the collected patient data, which then stratifies
patients according to risk and Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) stage, enters
patients into surveillance loops and initiates triggers to alert clinical teams
of actions required.
In
December 2021, the Northern Territory Department of Health (NT Health) and
Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) agreed to implement the capability to
upload synopsis reports from the TKC system to the My Health Record (MHR).
The agreement between NT Health and ADHA, and subsequently between NT
Health and Menzies School of Health Research (Menzies), contains a schedule of
deliverables to be completed by September 2022.
Chief
Investigator:
Project Contact:
Project Dates:
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/dignity-over-data-medical-ai-fails-to-impress/75721
26 August
2022
Dignity over data: medical AI fails to impress
By Wendy
John
Computer says
yes, but patient says no to automated decision making.
AI
in healthcare is only going to get bigger, and new Macquarie University research
reveals how to do it better.
In
this podcast, we hear from Associate Professor Paul Formosa from Macquarie
University. He’s been researching how patients respond to AI making their
medical decisions compared to how they respond if a human is
involved.
Professor
Formosa says that patients see humans as appropriate decision makers and
that AI is perceived as dehumanising; even when the decision outcome is identical.
“There’s
this dual aspect to people’s relationship with data. They want decisions based
on data and they don’t like it when data is missing. However, they also don’t
like themselves to be reduced merely to a number,” Professor Formosa says.
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https://itbrief.com.au/story/why-cloud-adoption-is-only-the-first-step
Why cloud adoption is only the first step
24 August,
2022
Article
by Cloudera VP industry solutions Cindy Maike.
The
global pandemic highlighted, without a doubt, the importance and vulnerability
of our national healthcare system. It also showed that while leaders may
collectively understand the need for foundational healthcare infrastructure,
there is a lot more work needed to strengthen the healthcare sector’s digital
resilience.
One
way the sector can accelerate this path to resilience is by unlocking its
untapped potential of cloud and data. The sector has already had a taste of
what this looks like. Data and analytics played a crucial role in vaccine
rollout acceleration; large volumes of patient data from decentralised clinical
trials could be aggregated and analysed as fast as possible.
Today,
boards by necessity are having more frequent conversations around digital
initiatives, which is encouraging. These conversations are also broader,
looking at technology’s role as an enabler of organisational strategy rather
than seeing it as an isolated cost centre. There are two key issues driving
this change. A need for hospitals to achieve more efficient and effective
healthcare services and the impact of regulatory change on compliance and
governance.
Within
Australia, boards have increased reporting obligations aligned to the updated
critical national infrastructure bill. Unfortunately, within Australia and New
Zealand, we now have a history of cyber events disrupting service delivery to
patients. Across both sides of the Tasman, we are also seeing tightened cyber
security legislation.
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https://www.afr.com/companies/retail/amazon-keeps-growing-and-so-does-its-cache-of-data-on-you-20220824-p5bce9
Amazon keeps growing, and so does its cache of data on
you
Amazon will spend billions of dollars in two gigantic
acquisitions that, if approved, will broaden its ever-growing presence in the
lives of consumers.
HALELUYA HADERO
Aug 24, 2022
– 1.51pm
From
what you buy online, to how you remember tasks, to when you monitor your
doorstep, Amazon is seemingly everywhere.
And
it appears the company doesn’t want to halt its reach any time soon.
In
recent weeks, Amazon has said it will spend billions of dollars in two gigantic
acquisitions that, if approved, will broaden its ever-growing presence in the
lives of consumers.
This
time, the company is targeting two areas: healthcare, through its $US3.9
billion ($5.6 billion) buyout of the primary care company One Medical, and the
“smart home”, where it plans to expand
its already mighty presence through a $US1.7 billion merger with iRobot,
the maker of the popular robotic Roomba vacuum.
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https://itwire.com/science-news/health/scientists-develop-tool-to-monitor-medical-patient-decline.html
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 11:40
Scientists develop tool to monitor medical patient
decline
By Kenn
Anthony Mendoza
CSIRO
scientists have led a study to develop a machine learning tool that informs
medical professionals of a patient’s deteriorating condition.
Published
in Nature: Scientific Reports in collaboration with Princess Alexandra
Hospital and Metro South Health, the study
showed that the early warning deterioration alerts can be set to monitor
patients two to eight hours before they are triggered by current clinical
criteria.
CSIRO scientist
Dr Sankalp Khanna said medical
professionals could now use the data contained in electronic medical records
(EMRs) to predict when a patient’s vital signs such as blood pressure or
temperature are likely to reach a danger zone—triggering patient decline.
With
the massive amount of data in the EMR comes the potential for better patient
care.
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https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2022/08/csiro-medical-alert-tool/
CSIRO’s New Warning Tool Detects Patient Deterioration,
but It Requires Better Electronic Medical Records
Asha Barbaschow
August 24,
2022 at 1:43 pm
Imagine a
future where medical professionals are alerted to a patient’s deteriorating
condition well before physical signs can be seen. That’s a future CSIRO is
working towards, leading a new study to develop such technology through machine
learning.
The
study, CSIRO explained, showed
that early warning deterioration alerts can be set to monitor
patients two to eight hours before they are triggered by current clinical
criteria. This early warning detection isn’t through the use of sensors, but
rather an algorithm that pulls data stored in electronic medical records.
Medical
professionals could use the data contained in electronic medical records (EMRs)
to predict when a patient’s vital signs such as blood pressure or temperature
are likely to reach a danger zone, triggering patient decline. But that would
require medical records to be kept up to date, and for people to actually use
them. My Health Record has a pretty
abysmal uptake and as someone who received one as part of the
initial trial, there are chunks missing from my record as I moved
state-to-state, bulk-billed late-night medical centre to medical centre. There
are a number of EMRs out in the wild, not just My Health Record, but a problem
CSIRO would run into is interoperability with other hospitals, for example, and
the issue of the files not being complete.
“With
the massive amount of data in the EMR comes the potential for better patient
care,” CSIRO wrote in a press release.
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https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=d564d78e-e50e-4628-8482-1f20e73c684c
Securing Australia’s critical infrastructure: The role
of the Cyber and Infrastructure Security Centre
Nyman Gibson
Miralis - Dennis
Miralis
Australia August 22 2022
Critical
infrastructure delivers the essential services for our daily lives such as
communications, financial services and markets, data storage and processing,
healthcare, and many others.
Cyber-attacks
can rapidly impact multiple critical infrastructure sectors, and therefore
robust cyber security is essential to
protect the community.
Established
on 1 September 2021 and sitting within the Department of Home Affairs, the
Cyber and Infrastructure Security Centre (CISC) partners with governments,
industry and the community to assist critical infrastructure providers to
manage risks and protect Australians.
This
article explores the key functions of the CISC as
outlined on its website.
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https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/living-standards-at-risk-without-big-data-and-artificial-intelligence-20220823-p5bbyt.html
Living standards at risk without big data and
artificial intelligence
By Shane Wright
August 23, 2022 — 10.30pm
Australian
living standards could slip behind those of other countries if the government
and businesses fail to use and analyse data or take advantage of new
technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Productivity Commission has
warned.
As
part of its broader examination of ways to lift the nation’s economic speed
limit, the commission on Wednesday will release new research that suggests the internet
of things, robotic automation and big data analysis could
revolutionise the country and boost the living standards of everyday
Australians.
The
agency, renowned for its advocacy of classic economic solutions, also says
governments may have to invest more heavily in rural and regional areas to
ensure they are not left in technological wastelands.
Productivity
growth in Australia and globally has slowed since before the global financial
crisis, contributing to downward pressure on real wages growth. The commission
has already estimated Australians are working longer than comparable countries
to maintain living standards because of the slowdown in productivity.
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https://www.digitalnationaus.com.au/news/metaverse-to-enhance-medical-and-biopharmaceutical-industry-accenture-584313
Metaverse to enhance medical and biopharmaceutical
industry: Accenture
By Athina
Mallis on Aug 24, 2022 5:43AM
Scientists
and medical technology leaders expect the metaverse to have a positive impact
on their organisations according to a new report.
The
Accenture Life Sciences Technology Vision 2022 report
explained that nearly half of the biopharma executives surveyed believe the
metaverse will have a breakthrough or transformational impact on their
organisations.
The
report explores the technology trends that will transform how biopharmaceutical
and medical technology companies solve manufacturing and device problems,
improve equity in clinical trial participation and build more resilient supply
chains to provide patients and healthcare professionals with more personalised
experiences.
Petra
Jantzer, global industry life sciences lead at Accenture, said, "We are in
the early days of the metaverse, and the technology
innovations we implement today — the solutions, products and services companies
offer, how they develop and distribute them and how they fundamentally operate
their organisations — are the building blocks of the future for life sciences.
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https://wildhealth.net.au/is-tech-pushing-older-gps-out-the-door/
23 August
2022
Is tech pushing older GPs out the door?
By Francis
Wilkins
When
is it time for a GP to retire?
The
pace of change in new technology and clinical evidence is accelerating, making
it harder for older doctors to stay on top of things.
But
with a “workforce cliff” approaching as up to a fifth of GPs plan to retire,
and a continuing decline in the number of graduates wanting to specialise in
general practice, is there an argument for incentivising GPs to keep working as
long as possible?
The
pandemic inspired an all-hands-on-deck mentality, and showed that recently
retired GPs could help in various capacities besides regular clinic days.
Similar thinking may need to be applied more generally as we face a workforce
shortage, especially in regional and rural Australia.
Currently,
there’s no regulatory barrier. AHPRA does not conduct age-based assessments or
specify a retirement age. GPs can continue to practise so long as they comply
with the MBA’s registration standards and requirements of the National
Law.
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https://wildhealth.net.au/digital-health-pilots-where-many-good-ideas-go-to-die/
23 August
2022
Digital health pilots: where many good ideas go to die
By Tim Blake
Implementing
pilot projects for digital health solutions in healthcare is
hard.
There
are a myriad of complex considerations which impact adoption, ranging from
funding, incentivisation and motivation through to the digital literacy of
patients and health providers. As a result, many projects, even those
that show reasonable results, never make it beyond pilot stage. The
“digital health pilot” is where many good ideas, implemented poorly, go to
die.
And
if implementing pilot programs for digital health solutions in healthcare is
hard, then taking solutions from pilot project to systemic, large-scale
adoption is harder still. Turning a successful pilot project into a
widely-adopted, sustainable, digitally-enabled model of care is an art that few
have truly achieved. The huge variety of current state infrastructure,
digital literacy, clinical workflows and organisational cultures make
implementation on a large scale extremely challenging.
One
of the great risks in the “pilot” approach to driving adoption of digital
health solutions is that it rewards health services which are already mature.
Digital health maturity is a quantitative and qualitative measure of the extent
to which a health organisation has already adopted, and is positioned to adopt,
digitally-enabled models of care in the future.
Therefore,
organisations that are progressively minded and have had previous success are
more likely to put their hand up to implement new digital health
solutions. And whilst this is not inherently a bad thing, it risks
exacerbating the “digital divide” between health services. The already
mature become more mature. Those without digital confidence get left
behind.
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https://www.innovationaus.com/ixup-homomorphic-encryption-and-the-future-of-data-sharing/
IXUP, homomorphic encryption and the future of data
sharing
Justin
Hendry
Editor
22 August 2022
As the
sharing of personal identifiable information between government
agencies and businesses becomes increasingly commonplace, there is growing risk
that data is leaked publicly.
The
arrival of the Consumer Data Right in 2019 and the passage of legislation that
opens a “new path” for public sector data-sharing, more recently, has only
accelerated this process in the name of convenience and research.
That’s
where secure data software company IXUP, which hoovered up the assets of the
collapsed data-sharing startup Data Republic for $3 million last year, comes
in.
The
ASX-listed Australian scaleup (pronounced ‘eyes up’) has collaborated with
Microsoft to produce homomorphic encryption technology aimed at maintaining
data confidentiality.
In
practice, the technology allows organisations to share encrypted data and
generate insights without having to decrypt the original dataset, enhancing the
privacy of those whose details are contained in the dataset.
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https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/labor-looks-to-protect-and-promote-critical-tech-20220821-p5bbjm
Labor looks to protect and promote critical tech
Tom McIlroy Political
reporter
Aug 22, 2022
– 12.00am
Australia
should be at the forefront of critical technology development, boosting
domestic industry and positioning the country as an innovation powerhouse,
Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic says.
Set
to open a new consultation period on how best to harness and manage critical
technologies to support Australia’s national interest, Mr Husic has asked for
feedback on emerging sectors and categories.
The
2021 national list featured 63 technologies across seven categories, including
advanced materials and manufacturing, artificial intelligence, computing and
communications, quantum and biotechnology.
Businesses,
researchers and the broader community are encouraged to provide feedback on the
list, used by the federal government to clarify which technologies are critical
to the economy or have the potential to become critical within the next decade.
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https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/australia-s-cyber-shield-boosted-for-jewel-assets-20220820-p5bbfq
Australia’s cyber shield boosted for ‘jewel’ assets
Tom McIlroy Political
reporter
Aug 22, 2022
– 5.00am
Companies
and institutions considered the “crown jewels” of the Australian economy will
get beefed up protection from foreign cyberattacks as the Albanese government
activates laws designed to safeguard critical infrastructure and nationally
significant systems.
Using
national security laws passed by the Coalition for the protection of essential
services – including energy, utilities, communications, banking, healthcare and
education operations – Home
Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has designated 82 of the most
sensitive as critical infrastructure assets.
Managed
by 38 different entities, the assets cannot be publicly named under the laws.
Together the group is considered the most susceptible to attack from malicious
cyber threats and interference, coming amid a deteriorating global threat environment
in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Companies
and owners behind the systems, including major Australian and multinational
firms, have been alerted to the new designations and associated
responsibilities.
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https://itwire.com/guest-articles/guest-research/global-ransomware-survey-reveals-one-in-three-organisations-see-malicious-insiders-as-a-route-for-ransomware.html
Friday, 19 August 2022 10:47
Global ransomware survey reveals one in three
organisations see malicious insiders as a route for ransomware
By Gigamon
GUEST
RESEARCH: Gigamon, the leading deep observability company, today launched its
first State of Ransomware 2022 and Beyond report aimed at providing insights
into how the threatscape is evolving and how the severity of the ‘blame
culture’ in cybersecurity is escalating.
According
to the global survey of IT and security leaders across the US, EMEA and APAC,
nearly one-third of organisations have suffered a ransomware attack enabled by
a malicious insider, a threat seen as commonly as the accidental insider (35%).
Furthermore,
59% of organisations believe ransomware has worsened in the last three months,
with phishing (58%), malware/computer viruses (56%) and cloud applications
(42%) cited as other common threat vectors.
As
the ransomware crisis worsens, threat actors like Lapsus$ group are now
well-known for preying on disgruntled employees to gain access to corporate
networks – 95% (and 99% of CISOs/CIOs) view the malicious insider as a
significant risk.
Fortunately,
66% of these respondents now have a strategy for addressing both types of
insider threats. However, it’s clear that many organisations lack the
visibility required to distinguish which type of insider threat is endangering
their business, which makes it significantly harder to mitigate risk.
-----
David.