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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://www.innovationaus.com/ellen-broad-on-the-future-of-artificial-intelligence-regulation/
Ellen Broad on the future of artificial intelligence regulation
Denham
Sadler
National Affairs Editor
4 August 2022
It’s time to ditch the catch-all term “artificial intelligence” and move away from efforts to simplify and “neaten” regulation in the space, ANU School of Cybernetics Associate Professor Ellen Broad says.
In a policy paper included in The Innovation Papers, launched in Canberra on Thursday, Professor Broad said we need to move away from using artificial intelligence as a term to bind together a huge range of tech offerings and solutions, and instead develop a “more precise vocabulary to describe technical systems”.
“If we are actually going to realise the promise of more robust, reliable and safe AI systems, then first we need to relinquish our desire to contain many different kinds of systems under the term AI in pursuit of making things simple,” Professor Broad said in the policy paper.
“We could entertain years of objections about how low-risk activities could get swept up in efforts to regulate a few bad actors in high-risk settings, because we are reluctant to let go of AI as a discrete industry, its limits to be defined by an elite few. These debates would only serve those who benefit from inaction.
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Residential aged care and My Health Record: Linkage is mission critical
Aug 1, 2022 | Aged care, Community Chats, Community of Practice, Data, Digital Health, eHealth, Innovation, Nursing & Midwifery Informatics
Residential aged care organisations in Australia have been slow to not only move to digital clinical information systems but embrace the benefits of digitalisation in general. The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (Royal Commission) and others have stated that the residential aged care sector as a whole has not kept up with even other healthcare sectors in the use and application of technology1,2. The Australian Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council has recently completed a review of digital maturity of systems in use in aged care and the final report indicated that electronic clinical systems are only used by 59% of aged care organisations3.
My Health Record (MHR) is federal government initiative to enable all Australians to keep an online summary of their key health information. Dating back to the 2010 May budget, establishing a personally controlled electronic health record was viewed as an opportunity to facilitate person-centred care, support informed consumer decision making, enhance quality and safety of care, reduce waste and inefficiency, and improve continuity and health outcomes for the recipients of healthcare4. Those providing healthcare can access and contribute data, including records of medications, hospital visits, allergies, vaccinations, pathology results and advanced healthcare directives5. Anticipated benefits of a personally controlled electronic health record are improved availability of key health information in an emergency and strengthened care connectivity5. These benefits and potentially improved healthcare for persons of all ages could be realised if the record is contemporary and readily accessible.
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Bernie Zipf RN GradDipNursing (Geront) MNursing (Geront), July 2022
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Video recording – Digital Transformation tech talk webinar – 26 July 2022
At this webinar the speakers discussed aged care reform and how our digital transformation initiative is approaching co-design, partnering with the Australian Digital Health Agency, undertaking the development of future technical data models, and more.
Date published: 5 August 2022
Video type: Presentation
Description: On Friday, 26 July 2022 we held a Digital Transformation Tech Talk webinar.
Presented by: moderator:
Janine Bennett, Digital Engagement Lead
Panellists:
Fay Flevaras, First Assistant Secretary, Digital Transformation and Delivery
Division
Nick Hartland, First Assistant Secretary, Home and Residential Division
Greg Pugh, Assistant Secretary, Reform Implementation System Policy and Evidence Branch
Brian Schumacher, Assistant Secretary, Aged Care Funding Reform and Systems Branch
Laura
Toyne
Assistant Secretary, Policy Programs and Engagement Branch
Louise
York
Community Services Group, Head Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
John
Perkins
Digital Transformation Sector Partner Group
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/gp-takes-attorneygeneral-court-over-vad-telehealth-ban
GP takes Attorney-General to court over VAD telehealth ban
Dr Nick Carr wants the Federal Court of Australia to declare VAD is not suicide
4th August 2022
A GP is taking the Federal Government to court over laws that ban doctors from discussing voluntary assisted dying in telehealth consultations.
Since 2005, federal laws have banned ‘using a carriage service to counsel or incite suicide’, including phone calls, text messages, emails and video.
The punishment is a fine of up to $220,000.
When Victoria became the first state to legalise voluntary assisted dying (VAD) in 2017, the state's Minister for Health warned GPs to only discuss VAD face to face because of the federal laws.
But with all states now passing VAD laws, Melbourne GP Dr Nick Carr has launched a court case against the Commonwealth Attorney-General in an attempt to remove any legal threat to doctors.
His hope is that the Federal Court of Australia will declare that VAD does not count as suicide under the law.
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https://ia.acs.org.au/content/ia/article/2022/facebook-receiving-your-personal-health-data.html
Facebook receiving your personal health data
Patient data sent via the notorious Meta Pixel.
By Rosalyn Page on Aug 04 2022 10:30 AM
You don't mind if Facebook has a little squiz at your health data, do you? Photo: Shutterstock
Already facing a raft of privacy lawsuits, it’s been revealed Facebook has been receiving sensitive personal medical information without people’s knowledge or consent.
It comes as the US Congress considers a new nationally-binding privacy law.
The Meta Pixel, installed on US hospital websites, has been collecting details about medical conditions, prescriptions, appointments and personal details, and sending it to Facebook, non-profit technology newsroom The Markup has found.
Its analysis showed 33 of Newsweek’s top 100 hospitals had the tracking tool on their website, although some have since removed it.
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Privacy preachers’ push will ‘destroy’ value for data businesses: PC
Tom Burton Government editor
Aug 4, 2022 – 12.28pm
The push to create personal privacy rights could hamper the creation of economic value by businesses using data, productivity tsar Stephen King has warned.
The Productivity Commissioner’s comments came as a major review by the Attorney General’s department to modernise the Privacy Act is being pressed to create a citizen privacy right and a tort to allow compensation for egregious privacy breaches.
“The privacy debate gets caught up in what are called ‘privacy preachers’,” Dr King told a Melbourne University law school competition policy forum.
“So people who view that somehow this poorly defined thing called privacy is an absolute right of ownership over data by certain people in the economy, usually the consumers.
“It’s not clear that that makes any legal sense. It’s... certainly clear that it doesn’t make economic sense and if you follow that along you will inevitably destroy value, you’ll hurt consumers and you’ll hurt competition.”
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Checkmate for ASX’s big tech bet
August 4, 2022
Three days into the job new ASX chief executive Helen Lofthouse has called out the costly and much maligned technology overhaul that initially promised to turn the nation’s main stock exchange provider into a cutting edge market.
Critically, the ASX has also waived the white flag on the promised delivery date of the clearing and settlements platform (CHESS) now guiding their big customers to the end of 2024. When the project was launched under a different CEO in early 2017 the go-live date was estimated to be late 2020 or “early” 2021. The most recent timing had been April 2023. Now the project is to be four years overdue.
It shows how dangerous a technology overhaul can become for all businesses, which is why there is an in-built bias among Australian boards and management to stay away from the hard stuff and work the old technology well past their use by dates.
And the ASX’s woes coincide with a landmark Productivity Commission review into the economy urging businesses and governments to double down on their investment in technology particularly which will lead to a productivity dividend.
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Phone app builds body profile
The mPort app uses Apple iPhone depth sensing technology to build a complete dossier of your body health.
The days when you assess your health simply by checking your weight on bathroom scales are passing. One measurement doesn‘t tell the story. That’s where tech health company mPort comes in. mPort is known for its scanning booths in Australian shopping centres which have rolled out since 2013, starting at Westfield centres in Sydney.
Now it‘s adapted its scanning to smart phones to assess your health. It uses Apple iPhone infra-red and depth sensing technology not only to record measurements, but also posture and metrics around your skeletal frame. The depth sensing can classify fat and muscle regions.
I tested the system and scanning your body using your phone camera isn’t hard. Videos guide you on what to wear and how to perform the two separate upper and lower body scans. However, it’s not instantaneous either.
You wear minimal close-fitting workout clothes such as a tight-fitting T-shirt, tights and no footwear. The upper body scan requires you place your hands on your head and successively turn 90 degrees in four movements. You fit your head to your hips into the phone display frame.
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https://www.afr.com/chanticleer/telstra-ceo-s-30b-parting-gift-20220801-p5b6ek
Telstra CEO’s $30b parting gift
Andy Penn’s report card after seven years reads a lot better than the 36 per cent fall in the share price thanks to a deal that comes to fruition in October.
Aug 3, 2022 – 12.00am
With less than four weeks left before Andy Penn ends his seven-year tenure as chief executive of Telstra, it is timely to consider whether the 36 per cent plunge in the share price is the best measure of his performance.
The share price is clearly a measure of value delivered by Penn, but in Chanticleer’s view a realistic assessment of his legacy should wait until the company’s annual meeting this year.
On the same day as the October annual meeting, shareholders will be asked to vote at an extraordinary general meeting on the official structural separation of Telstra’s fixed-line infrastructure business, InfraCo Fixed.
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/why-medicine-should-learntocode/74136
2 August 2022
Why medicine should #learntocode
The international language of SNOMED can make our data meaningful and precise without clinicians needing to change a thing.
When we think about health data what do we actually mean? Is health data words, or codes, or both, and who is it for?
Let’s start with words.
There is a scene in The Hobbit in which Bilbo Baggins says “Good morning” to Gandalf. Gandalf replies:
“What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not? Or perhaps you mean to say that you feel good on this particular morning. Or are you simply stating that this is a morning to be good on?”
This is reminiscent of the unique challenges we face when we try to make sense of the words contained in health records. For those of us who deal with health data downstream, after clinicians and patients have gone home, we know well that the same meaning is often expressed with different words. And in the current context of pressured health budgets, no one can afford to waste time and resources pouring through records manually or calling clinicians to ask them what they meant.
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https://www.ama.com.au/media/three-familiar-faces-honoured-special-presidents-award
Three familiar faces honoured with special President’s Award
Published 2 August 2022
Outgoing AMA President Dr Omar Khorshid has recognised Professor Kerryn Phelps AM, Dr Chris Moy and Associate Professor Dr Rosanna Capolingua with the special President’s Award for outstanding service to the Australian Medical Association.
Dr Khorshid said the two past AMA Presidents and out-going Vice President had been outstanding leaders during their time in office.
“As AMA President, Professor Phelps played a leading role in resolving the emerging medical indemnity crisis, established an advisory committee on Indigenous health, and was the first AMA President to publicly state the effects of climate change on public health.
“She also served as Deputy Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney, and as the Federal Member for Wentworth, taking the seat after the removal of former Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull.
“On arrival in Federal Parliament, she secured Opposition and cross-bench support to amend government legislation to give greater authority to doctors to allow medical evacuation of asylum seekers to Australia from Nauru and Manus Island.”
Dr Khorshid said Dr Chris Moy is often referred to as ‘Australia’s hardest working GP’ for good reason.
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/fiscal-challenge-adha-funding-due-to-expire/74190
2 August 2022
Fiscal challenge! ADHA funding due to expire
My Health Record and the aged care PIP are also among the core federal health programs that lack secure funding.
Health Minister Mark Butler may have been in the job for two months, but he’s still learning something new every day.
Often that’s a seemingly permanent health program with funding due to expire within 12 months.
“A whole lot of ongoing health programs that I certainly thought were funded right through the forward estimates in the budget are not funded,” the Health Minister told delegates at the AMA National Conference.
These weren’t obscure programs, either.
“The after hours [Practice Incentive] Program is not funded beyond June next year, the aged care incentive … is not funded beyond next year,” he said.
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https://www.afr.com/technology/tech-lobby-told-to-unite-ahead-of-federal-jobs-summit-20220801-p5b69m
Tech lobby told to unite ahead of federal jobs summit
Paul Smith and Tom Burton
Aug 1, 2022 – 6.22pm
Industry and Science minister Ed Husic will host a technology meeting before next month’s jobs summit, after he called for the sector’s three peak groups to work better together to reach the government’s target of 1.2 million technology jobs by 2030.
Mr Husic will run the “growth stream” for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Jobs and Skills Summit on September 1-2. This will include digital economy, renewable energies and advanced manufacturing.
According to the Australian Computer Society’s latest Digital Pulse report, there are about 870,000 tech jobs in Australia. Mr Husic said Australia needed to find hundreds of thousands of people to meet the 1.2 million target, and that this could happen only if the technology industry and government worked closely together.
The meeting’s agenda includes methods to increase community understanding and awareness of emerging job opportunities; ideas to fix gaps in education and training; the need to improve diversity of the tech workforce; and plans to target skilled migration to areas of high need.
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Virtual lung therapy delivered through a smartphone app
Monday, 01 August, 2022
QUT PhD candidate Clarence Baxter has developed a browser-based smartphone app to deliver therapy for people recovering from surgery and those with lung conditions involving overproduction of mucus.
The QUT Inspire ISy app has been tested and compared with a Triflo II clinical incentive spirometry device by 24 healthy participants with the study’s results published in the BMJ Open Respiratory Research journal.
It is a web app using the built-in microphone available in all smartphones to detect inspiratory sounds, which offers a responsive animated graphic display for as long as detectable breath sound is sustained.
Clarence Baxter said the app, a ‘virtual’ form of a longstanding clinical incentive spirometer (ISy) used to detect a person’s inspiratory breath, is intended to encourage persistence with repeated gradual maximal inspirations for respiratory therapy.
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Double extortion ransomware and patient data protection
By Paul Prudhomme, Head of Threat Intelligence
Advisory, Rapid7
Monday, 25 July, 2022
With access to a network and holding data for ransom, it’s no surprise that ransomware is one of the most pressing and diabolical threats faced by cybersecurity teams. Causing billions in losses around the world, it has stopped critical infrastructure like healthcare services in its tracks, putting the lives and livelihoods of many at risk.
To better understand how ransomware attackers think, what they value and how they approach applying the most pressure on their victims to get payment, Rapid7 recently released a report titled ‘Paint Points: Ransomware Data Disclosure Trends’, revealing insights on the data that threat actors prefer to collect and release.
The report investigates the trend pioneered by the Maze ransomware group, of “double extortion”, examining the contents of initial data disclosures intended to coerce victims to pay ransoms.
Threat actors have upped the ante by using double extortion as a way to inflict maximum pain on an organisation. Through this method, not only are threat actors holding data hostage for money, but they threaten to release that data (either publicly or for sale on dark web outlets) to extract even more money from companies.
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Friday, 29 July 2022 11:27
Six million households subscribe to at least one streaming service with Netflix as the top streaming provider, Kantar data shows
Six million households in Australia subscribe to at least one video streaming service in Q2 22 with Netflix as the dominant streaming provider, according to a study by data, insights, and consulting company Kantar.
However, there was a fairly steep decline in subscription for 62,000 households that have younger family members, Kantar noted, as the cost of living continues to rise and soaring prices force consumers to find ways of saving money.
Kantar highlighted the following in their results:
1. While Netflix remained as the dominant streaming provider, Kantar data shows that Netflix’s share has fallen from 80% in Q1 22 to 78.8% in Q2 22.
2. An estimated 666,000 Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) services were cancelled in Q2 22 with 16% planning to cancel a service.
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/sitting-ducks-for-cyber-attacks/73871
1 August 2022
Sitting ducks for cyber attacks
If you work in the health sector, assume you’re being targeted at any moment.
Organisations across the Australian healthcare sector – from hospitals, medical centres and telehealth vendors to medical equipment and pharmaceutical manufacturers – house a wealth of highly sensitive information.
The collection of patient data, treatment documentation and financial records linked to Medicare and private health insurance makes these organisations obvious targets of threat actors seeking to steal data or network access for profit.
Compounding this is the digitisation of records and reliance on third-party software, the growth of which will almost certainly align with a continuous rise in the number and severity of attacks.
If successful, these cyber threats stand to increase delivery costs, affect patient outcomes and directly impact the healthcare system’s ability to provide care for patients. It could be a matter of life and death.
It’s vital for these organisations to gain awareness of the risk apertures and implement threat intelligence tools that enable quick identification, mitigation and prevention of cyber attacks.
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David.
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