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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I have to say the first article calls into question just how the Feds have been procuring IT and what implications there are for Federal Digital Health – a worry!
Otherwise a few other good ones as well!
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Thursday, 22 September 2022 07:29
Audit office releases scathing report on DTA's ignoring of procurement rules
By Sam Varghese
The Australian National Audit Office has released a scathing report about the Digital Transformation Agency's handling of nine selected procurements, saying it "did not conduct the procurements effectively and its approach fell short of ethical requirements".
In the review, released on Wednesday, the ANAO also said for these nine procurements the DTA failed to manage contracts effectively and, while it had a procurement framework, the implementation and oversight of it were weak. The original value of seven of these procurements was $25.4 million, but the amount blew out to $55.7 million by July 2022.
The review said of one direct-approach procurement that the contract value had increased 40 times from $121,000 to close to $5 million over two years.
This procurement involved a direct approach to a company known as Nous Group for myGov funding case support. Initially, Services Australia told DTA in March 2020 that some Nous contractors were available for hire.
The company agreed to begin work on myGov updates with a change to a Services Australia contract, but began the work before the contract was finalised. The new contract was signed on 25 May 2020 for $121,000 and then varied 10 times to take its final value to $4.9 million.
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https://www.innovationaus.com/my-health-record-funding-void-adds-to-budget-pressures/
My Health Record funding void adds to Budget pressures
Justin Hendry
Editor
21 September 2022
A decision by the former Coalition government not to fund the My Health Record system beyond the current financial year is contributing to the “immediate” financial pressures now weighing on the federal Budget.
Ahead of the release of the Final Budget Outcome for 2021-22 next week, Finance minister Katy Gallagher on Tuesday said that around $5.5 billion in unexpected costs have emerged since the end of June.
The revelation comes as the government expects a $50 billion improvement in the budget bottom line, largely due to the spike in tax revenue from commodities in the first half of this year, as well as lower-than-budgeted payments.
While the bulk of the $5.5 billion stems from COVID-19-related costs and at least $2 billion in flood-related costs, Senator Gallagher said numerous programs that were ongoing but had only been funded for the short-term were adding to the “immediate pressures”.
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https://wildhealth.net.au/new-hope-for-patients-in-the-bush/
21 September 2022
New hope for patients in the bush
Decades of waiting for access to treatment for inflammatory skin conditions may soon be over for rural and remote Australians.
After successfully netting Flexible Approach to Training in Expanded Settings funding earlier this Ruyear, the Australasian College of Dermatologists might just have another winning shot lined up.
ACD president Dr Clare Tait, along with college CEO Dr Haley Bennett, recently spoke with Assistant Minister for Rural Health Emma McBride, who was “very receptive and engaged” in considering novel solutions to bridge the rural-metro health gap.
The minister was particularly interested in the potential of store-and-forward teledermatology, which is not currently MBS-supported.
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https://wildhealth.net.au/pressure-in-rural-regions-bears-interesting-innovation-fruit/
21 September 2022
Pressure in rural regions bears interesting innovation fruit
EHR/EMR Hospital Interoperability Technology
With limited money and no mandated networks for regional hospitals and health centres in the state, this central Victorian region has solved a problem many large city hospital groups have yet to crack properly: high fidelity discharge summary delivery.
“Pressure creates diamonds” is something I once saw on an ad agency white board.
In Australia’s eclectic and divided healthcare setup, the pressure to deliver effective continuity of care is nowhere greater than in our rural and remote regions. In the regions, the money doesn’t go far: the physical obstacles to delivering continuity across large geographies with many small towns, most now struggling to even have full-time doctors, are large and getting larger.
One could argue that the problem is exacerbated in rural and remote Victoria, because in that state, there exists no mandate for various regional hospitals and services to work together on common problems. Each hospital can, if they want, build and develop their own solutions.
In the cities the hospitals are big and often clustered so they have throughput and funding to afford to go the high ground on expensive EMR centred solutions, which will often be tied into statewide continuity initiatives, such as electronic GP e-referrals to outpatient clinics and discharge summaries sent to both a patient’s GP via secure messaging and their My Health Record.
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New HealthLink eReferral forms for SLHD clinics and services
HealthLink e-Referral is now available for referrals to Concord Hospital Neurosurgical clinics, SLHD Multidisciplinary Long COVID Rehabilitation, RPAH Post COVID-19 Respiratory Assessment service and the new rpaVirtual Hospital Virtual Fracture service.
Access to each service is via the HealthLink function in your practice software or the HealthLink portal.
For more information visit the service information listings on HealthPathways Sydney.
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https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/healthcare-providers/webinars
Webinars for healthcare providers
Training and events on digital health, My Health Record, electronic prescribing and more.
Healthcare providers can register for webinars to learn more about digital health tools and how to use them in practice.
Introductory and general sessions
- Introduction to My Health Record
- My Health Record overviews
- My Health Record summary documents comparison
- Implementing and maintaining My Health Record policies
Interactive My Health Record sessions by preferred software or the National Provider Portal
Using the Agency’s clinical software simulators, these small group sessions show participants how to access and use My Health Record, and provide participants with the opportunity to ask questions in real time.
Sessions by specialty or area of practice
- My Health Record for specialist practices
- My Health Record for hospital clinicians
- My Health Record for pharmacists
- My Health Record for aged care
- My Health Record and Telehealth for aged care
- My Health Record for community health organisations
- My Health Record in radiology demystified
- Improving data quality - diabetes data
- Improving data quality - immunisations
- Getting to know the Active Script List
Contact us
If you cannot find a session time that suits you or you would like education about other digital health products and services, please contact education@digitalhealth.gov.au
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https://allevents.in/mobile/amp-event.php?event_id=10000406662397177
Introduction to My Health Record - Port Adelaide Library
Thu Sep 29 2022 at 05:00 pm Port Adelaide Public Library, 2-4 Church Street, Port Adelaide, AustraliaLearn how to download and use My Health Record with help from our
Digital Team.
About this Event
In this session, gain an overview of the platform as well as an opportunity to access and use a My Health Record.
Bookings Required.
Refreshments provided.
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Ticket Information |
Ticket Price |
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General Admission |
Free |
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Video recording – Digital Transformation Tech Talk – 6 September 2022
At this webinar the speakers talked about the emerging Government priorities in Aged Care, as well as an update on our progress with the Government Provider Management System (GPMS) and our work in the care funding space.
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https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/careers/benefits-analyst
Benefits Analyst
APS6
($101,757 - $114,800)
Digital
Strategy Division > Data and Research
Brisbane,
Canberra, Sydney
Closing - 9 Oct 2022
Division Overview
Digital strategy – responsible for national digital health design and strategy, underpinned by strong clinical governance and digital health standards.
Primary Purpose of Position
The Benefits Analyst supports best practice benefits evaluation methodologies to clearly articulate the impact of digital health initiatives. Reporting to the Senior Benefits Analyst (Research & Insights), the Benefits Analyst supports the design, development and delivery of benefits methodologies that convey accurate and true representations of user needs and behaviours for clear and actionable recommendations to policies, products, and services for digital health system management. The Benefits Analyst will have highly developed coordination skills and be proficient in decision making, problem solving and negotiating successful outcomes in potentially challenging circumstances.
Essential Requirements
Ability to obtain and maintain a Baseline security clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain a higher clearance if required by the Agency. Ability to obtain and maintain national police check. Australian Citizenship is a condition of eligibility.
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https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/617432/South-Canty-live-with-regional-patient-information-system.htm
South Canty live with regional patient information system
Thursday, 22 September 2022
NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
Te Whatu Ora Health NZ South Canterbury is live with the
South Island Patient Information Care System (SI PICS).
Provided by Orion Health, SI PICS will ultimately become the region-wide
solution for patient management and administration across the South Island.
Christchurch first introduced the system at Burwood Hospital in 2016, followed by implementation
across Canterbury in 2018, the same year that it went live at Nelson
Marlborough. Southern is due to go-live in May next year.
The system includes patient demographics, master patient index, appointment
booking, waiting list management, patient transfers, records of patient activity,
reporting, admission and discharges, and alerts and allergies.
South Canterbury was due to go-live in November 2021 but that was delayed until
July, 2022.
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Wednesday, 21 September 2022 09:36
Poor mobile coverage ‘most prominent’ issue for telco services: Ombudsman
Complaints about phone and internet services decreased 33.4% in the last financial year ending 30 June 2022, but despite this poor mobile coverage was the most prominent issue for telco services, according to the latest report from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO).
The TIO reports that problems about connection delays, failing to cancel a service, and billing issues have improved compared to last year with the number of complaints dropping by over 40 % - while complaints about a telco being uncontactable have decreased considerably, and this is no longer a major issue for residential consumers and small businesses.
And while overall complaint numbers declined significantly in the period, the proportion of mobile complaints increased to 39.7% of all complaints, from 32.7% in the previous year. - the highest proportion of complaints about mobile services in over five years.
Mobile complaints about poor coverage have increased 6.3%, and problems with partially restricted mobile services and mobile service drop outs have increased 12.4% and 9.9%
Other key points include:
· The TIO received 26,989 complaints about internet services, a decrease of 32.3% compared to the previous year.
· Complaints about landline services and multiple services declined by over 45%. There were 6,814 complaints about landline services in 2021-22.
· The number of complaints about phone and internet services from small businesses decreased 44.2%.
· Mobile complaints that had a fault or connection issue increased by 2.4%. Fault and connection complaints decreased for all other service types.
· Problems with poor mobile coverage appeared in the top ten issues in all states and territories except for the Australian Capital Territory.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/qld-gov-lands-favourable-decision-in-optus-nbn-fibre-dispute-585433
Qld gov lands favourable decision in Optus-NBN fibre dispute
By Ry Crozier on Sep 20, 2022 6:40AM
Telco needs specific approval.
Optus is unable to run fibre through an NBN Co conduit attached to a bridge in Gympie without the specific consent of the bridge’s owner, the Queensland state government, according to a majority ruling by the Full Federal Court.
The telco has been in a long-running battle over installation of the cables, which it argued constituted a form of “maintenance” of an existing facility under telecommunications law.
Such a determination avoided the need for Optus to seek specific land access permission from the state.
It had previously secured favourable rulings from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) and the Federal Court in 2021.
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https://www.afr.com/street-talk/big-four-banks-get-busy-for-nbn-co-bond-deal-20220912-p5bhdv
Big four banks get busy for NBN Co bond deal
Anthony Macdonald, Sarah Thompson and Kanika Sood
Sep 19, 2022 – 11.04am
NBN Co Ltd’s out to tap bond investors for a new four-year Australian dollar debt raising.
The company has mandated Australia’s big four banks - ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac - to handle the mooted deal.
The banks’ desks were lining up investors on Monday morning, telling them NBN Co was looking to sell senior unsecured four-year fixed rate Australian dollar medium term notes, subject to market conditions.
It’s the latest in a growing list of bank and capital markets debt deals for NBN Co, which has been slowly replacing debt from the Commonwealth with non-public sources.
The group had $24.7 billion debt as at June 30, including only $6.4 billion owing to the Commonwealth.
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NBN Co taps debt markets for first time since pricing reset
Lucas Baird Reporter
Sep 19, 2022 – 2.52pm
NBN Co is testing debt markets for the first time since its big pricing reset, which is set to limit returns substantially over the coming decades, with investors getting a chance to gauge if the government-owned entity is still a good bet.
Forced by a directive from the new Labor government, the radical change in direction will see NBN Co do away with capacity-based wholesale fees on retail internet providers. It is also committed to drop prices on its fastest plans by $5 to $7 and limit any price rises to inflation, as opposed to a prior plan.
Moody’s vice president and senior credit officer Ian Chitterer said the move away from privatisation was a “credit positive” for NBN Co.
NBN Co understands this will limit its revenue ambitions.
It has, nevertheless, forged ahead with plans to raise more on-market debt to replace taxpayer funding, mandating Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, ANZ and Westpac for a potential unsecured four-year bond.
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Enjoy!
David.
1 comment:
Service Australia needs a look into, although it is DTA and MyGov taking the hit from the national audit office it is clear Service Australia bears some responsibility- $120K varied over time to more then $4m - Service Australia directs investments into MyHR, you have to wonder what types of “variations” are going in there.
The other aspect is all these unfounded but seemingly ongoing concerns like the MyHR/ADHA. All luxury goods in my book and we need to tighten the spending belt. What service does it provide? What value is being created and how is it tied to jobs and growth? Seems a small number grow fat of the vast majority while uptake amongst caravan owners is limited
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