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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We are really in the Pre-Christmas slow down and the contents reflect this. Still one or to interesting ones. Have fun!
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Ultrasound Alzheimer’s treatment starts human trials
By Jamie Walker
9:24AM December 13, 2022
Australian-developed technology using ultrasound to clear toxic plaque in the brain linked to Alzheimer’s disease has entered human trials, in a promising step forward.
Animal studies have shown that blasts of ultrasound can restore cognitive function and boost the effect of drugs, University of Queensland researchers say.
A team at UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute led by professor of dementia research Jurgen Gotz has taken a decade to ready a prototype device to try on human subjects.
“The results we are seeing with this treatment in animal testing makes us hopeful that it could also work for people,” he said, announcing the clinical trial.
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Aust health sector dominates race to invest in the metaverse
Tuesday, 13 December, 2022
A global study has revealed that businesses within Australia’s healthcare sector are ahead of other nations with plans to launch initiatives in the metaverse.
Over half (56%) of organisations within Australia’s healthcare sector plan to conduct business in the metaverse in the next 7 to 12 months, while 41% of UK and 17% of US healthcare businesses are expected to do so in the same timeframe.
Exposure Management company Tenable commissioned the study, Measure twice, cut once: Meta-curious organizations relay security concerns even as they plunge into virtual worlds, which surveyed 1500 professionals representing roles in cybersecurity, DevOps and IT engineering across Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The study examined how organisations are approaching the opportunities and challenges associated with building, securing and participating in the metaverse, as well as offering insights into the risks and rewards of investing in this space.
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https://chf.org.au/events/my-health-record-take-control-your-health-information
My Health Record: Take control of your health information
Date 8 February 2023 - 12:30pm
Location Zoom (Note- times are in AEDT)
My Health Record: Take control of your health information
My Health Record is a safe and secure place where your key health information can be kept. You decide what is in your record and who can access it – putting you in control. Best of all, your record is available wherever you go, whenever you need it.
My Health Record can give you a more complete picture of your health and is available to you and your healthcare providers whenever it’s needed, including in an emergency.
Join our experts from the Australian Digital Health Agency who will cover the below key topics:
Understand what My Health Record is and the types of information it holds
- How My Health Record keeps your health information secure
- How to access your My Health Record
- Managing privacy and security settings for My Health Record
- Options for managing someone you care for or a loved one’s My Health Record
- Where to learn more about My Health Record and digital health: self-paced eLearning modules
There will also be an opportunity for questions throughout the presentation so please come prepared with any queries you might have.
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https://wildhealth.net.au/listen-to-the-ehealth-insights-podcast/
8 December 2022
Listen to the eHealth Insights podcast
By Sponsored
Telstra Health has launched the eHealth Insights podcast, a podcast dedicated to discovering the key developments in digital health.
In bite size chunks, the podcast discusses how digitisation of health systems is the future and unpacks how digital health is being embedded in our health and aged care sectors after the acceleration of the pandemic. You can also hear discussions and insights on ‘where to next’ for digital health solutions.
Episodes of eHealth Insights discuss:
- how technology makes health care easier, more efficient and enables quality patient care;
- making interoperability a reality; and
- the importance of underpinning high quality digital health solutions with robust cyber security and clinical governance.
You can listen to eHealth Insights wherever you listen to your podcasts:
While you’re there, please subscribe, rate and review.
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/medical-board-sets-sights-on-tele-only-docs/83436
16 December 2022
Medical board sets sights on tele-only docs
By Holly Payne
Prescribing medicine for a patient you have never consulted with in real time is not good practice, according to draft guidelines.
Doctors who prescribe medicines to patients they’ve only interacted with via text, email or online asynchronous appointments should be prepared to justify their actions, the Medical Board warns.
The board, which is supported by AHPRA, laid out its stance on telehealth-only medicine in a draft set of new guidelines for telehealth consults.
The current guidelines for technology-based consults have not been updated since 2013.
Most of the proposed changes are relatively minor – e.g. changing the terminology from “technology-based consultations” to “telehealth” and shuffling the order of sections – but the section on prescribing without live consulting is brand new.
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IIS Activities
Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC) assessment of 20 GP clinics’ security and access governance
for the My Health Record system conducted by IIS
IIS assessed GP clinics’ security and access governance for the My Health
Record (MHR) system on behalf of the OAIC. The report found that most GP
clinics assessed had implemented a written policy governing the use, security,
and access of the MHR record system, but it was unclear how well they understood
the substantive legislative requirements that they must follow.
- Nearly half of the GP clinics assessed lacked physical and information security measures.
- Some of the GP clinics assessed disclosed potential misuse of the MHR system that had not previously been reported to the OAIC.
The report of the assessment
has been published on the OAIC’s website.
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Beamtree signs deal with Abbott
Beamtree Holdings (ASX:BMT) announced a new agreement with Abbott, a leading global healthcare company, to distribute Beamtree’s RippleDown products.
Abbott will distribute RippleDown, branded as ‘AlinIQ Clinical Decision Support, Powered by RippleDown’ to pathology and radiology clients.
“Beamtree is a pioneer in the automation of human expertise, and this new partnership approach will enable us to bring RippleDown’s industry-leading technology to an expanded global market,” said Beamtree’s CEO, Tim Kelsey.
The deal will see Abbott pay an annual product fee for smaller single laboratory clients and revenue share for larger customers.
In the context of Beamtree’s current company forecast, Beamtree expects the agreement to be a material contribution to its total revenue.
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Beamtree Holdings (ASX:BMT) pens new global contract with Abbott
ASX:BMT MCAP $86.88M
- Beamtree Holdings (BMT) partners with global healthcare company Abbott to distribute its RippleDown AI products
- The company says the three-year contract marks a step forward and joint approach to advancing automation through its core diagnostics product
- Abbott will distribute RippleDown, rebranded as AlinIQ Clinical Decision Support Powered by RippleDown, in pathology and radiology clinics
- Abbott will retain exclusive distribution rights, except for a single existing distribution agreement
- Beamtree Holdings is up 11.3 per cent, trading at 34.5 cents at 12.26pm AEDT
Beamtree Holdings (BMT) has penned a new agreement with global healthcare company, Abbott to distribute its RippleDown products.
The company said the three-year agreement marked a step forward to advancing automation and value through its core diagnostics product.
The company’s RippleDown product automates expert decision making in clinical and administrative processes in pathology, automatically applying clinical expertise to generate patient-centric reports.
Beamtree CEO Tim Kelsey said he was delighted to announce the expansive opportunity for Beamtree, which he believed further solidifies the company’s international growth and ambition.
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https://brisbanenorthphn.org.au/events/my-health-record-refresher-training
My Health Record refresher training
Hosted by RACGP and Australian Digital Health Agency
Event details
Date Mar. 22, 2023
Time 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Phone: 03 8699 0006
Location Online
Address online
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‘Order and discipline’ to be imposed on health tech spend – Rob Campbell
Monday, 12 December 2022
NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
Te Whatu Ora – Health NZ will
focus its technology spend on solutions “which bring immediate, measurable
benefits, and which promote our equity and efficiency objectives”, board chair
Rob Campbell says.
Campbell gave a keynote address at Digital Health Week NZ 2022 in Rotorua,
where he talked about Te Whatu Ora’s goal of ‘unify to simplify’, which he
described as “not centralisation for its own sake, but simply to get
understanding and control of the health services we inherited.
“We do not and will not have much money to spend on new technologies. That
means we have to prioritise those which bring immediate, measurable benefits,
and which promote our equity and efficiency objectives,” Campbell said.
“To get to that point we have to sort through a veritable haystack of projects
and impose some order and discipline on the process of technology spend.
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Te Whatu Ora looks to attract and retain data and digital staff
Monday, 12 December 2022
NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
Te Whatu Ora – Health NZ Data
and Digital has a workstream focused on He Tangata Our People to attract and
retain its data and digital workforce, which is now the largest in the country.
The campaign aims to retain and attract permanent staff, connected to the
vision of Te Whatu Ora, and highlights the ‘why’ of working in the health
sector - “an equitable Te Tiriti based health ecosystem designed for and by our
people, whānau and communities; delivering meaningful person-centered
experiences, health and wellbeing outcomes.”
One of the four core workstreams focuses on ‘our people’ and is supported by an
Employee Value Proposition, with the tagline ‘be the change’.
Another is about ‘empowered leadership’, which is looking to grow leadership
capability and have national, regional and local change champions.
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https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/625824/Top-Ten-Stories---2022.htm
Top Ten Stories - 2022
Tuesday, 13 December 2022
NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
News of resignations and appointments in the data and
digital health space garnered the most interest from eHealthNews readers in
2022, followed closely by the pandemic response.
The top-read story was that deputy director general data and digital, Ministry
of Health, Shayne Hunter had resigned in May, and second most-read was
that Stuart Bloomfield had been appointed interim chief data and digital at interim Health
NZ in June.
Hunter was DDG at the Ministry, but the data and digital function moved to Te
Whatu Ora – Health NZ when the new organisation was formally created in July of
this year.
HiNZ board chair Karen Blake said at the time of Hunter’s departure that he had
led the sector through one of its most difficult times and been absolutely
fundamental to the Covid-19 response.
The pandemic, and the data and digital response, continued to interest
eHealthNews readers this year.
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Thursday, 15 December 2022 12:27
Smaller telcos gain as wholesale broadband market slows: ACCC
By Gordon Peters
Smaller broadband providers continued to increase their share in the NBN wholesale market and expand their presence across the NBN in the September quarter 2022, the ACCC reports.
The Australian Comeptition and Consumer Commission’s latest NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report looks at the wholesale market for NBN services, particularly the residential broadband services that retailers purchase from NBN Co for resale to consumers.
The report reveals that in the September quarter, the number of NBN residential services increased by 0.2 per cent, or almost 17,000, to more than 8.73 million services.
The number of NBN residential services with the four largest providers (Telstra, TPG, Optus and Vocus) decreased by over 123,000 in the September quarter, and their combined market share dropped by 1.6 percentage points to 85.8 per cent.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nbn-co-wont-say-how-many-premises-got-a-fibre-upgrade-589214
NBN Co won't say how many premises got a fibre upgrade
By Ry Crozier on Dec 16, 2022 7:25AM
In the first nine months of its overbuild program.
NBN Co won’t say how many fibre lead-ins it has built in the first nine months of a multi-billon dollar network upgrade, making it hard to track the progress of the scheme.
Quarterly numbers on active services that are collected by the ACCC indicate customers are dropping fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) and fibre-to-the-curb (FTTC) services.
However, it’s not possible to ascertain how many of these customers are moving off their FTTN/C connections to take up a fully fibre-based service under NBN Co’s FTTN/C overbuild program, which is known as ‘fibre connect’.
NBN Co continues to talk about the fibre overbuild program only in terms of the number of premises it is passing, not actually building lead-ins for and activating services.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nbn-co-wants-to-lift-50mbps-prices-but-not-service-quality-589151
NBN Co wants to lift 50Mbps prices but not service quality
By Ry Crozier on Dec 15, 2022 11:49AM
Declares its product pricing is a package deal.
NBN Co is unwilling to offer better service standards for 50Mbps users in exchange for a planned price rise, setting up a potential flashpoint in its industry negotiations.
The operator said it broadly does not want to create an expectation that price rises mean better baseline service standards, arguing it should be able to charge more just to maintain its current service levels.
The issue has come up in recent months owing to plans by NBN Co to increase charges for its 50Mbps tier, which is home to more than half its fixed-line user base.
Retailers that participated in closed-door forums in September had queried why the latest proposed increase - and price rises since 2020 - had not resulted in better baseline service standards for users.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nbn-co-has-high-use-free-riders-in-its-sights-589097
NBN Co has high-use 'free-riders' in its sights
By Ry Crozier on Dec 14, 2022 6:50AM
NBN Co has criticised users once again for buying plans that supposedly don’t fit their usage profiles, saying “high-data usage” customers on low-speed plans, in particular, “in effect ‘free-ride’” on its network.
Big downloaders have long been in the crosshairs of operators: iiNet infamously referred to high-use customers on the former AAPT unlimited ADSL product as “leeches”.
In the NBN era, NBN Co itself has kept tabs on the biggest downloaders, and declared earlier this year that almost one in three users are on a plan that is out of step with their consumption habits.
Late yesterday, the ACCC released more parts of a supporting submission for NBN Co’s revised special access undertaking (SAU).
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Monday, 12 December 2022 21:17
NBN home broadband services price up in 2021-22 while standard measurements remained unchanged, ACCC report shows
The price of NBN home broadband services increased for consumers in 2021-22 while NBN Co’s own service standard measurements remained largely unchanged over the same period, according to the ACCC’s Communication Market Report.
The report shows that consumers on entry-level NBN plans paid 3.6% more in 2021-22 than they did the year before, and those on middle-of-the-range plans paid an extra 4.7%. Consumers on higher-end and very high-speed plans experienced the largest price increase at 9%.
“More than eight million households and small businesses rely on the NBN for their internet, so the trade-off between the price and service quality of NBN plans affects most Australians,” noted ACCC commissioner Anna Brakey.
The ACCC noted that the only key service metric that improved last year was NBN Co’s appointment scheduling system.
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NBN Co shows 4.1 percent of free fibre upgraders don't stay on high-tier plans
By Ry Crozier on Dec 12, 2022 5:54PM
Figure expected to climb.
NBN Co has revealed that 4.1 percent of households that received a free fibre upgrade did not stick out their minimum commitment to a plan of 100Mbps or more.
The figure is contained in a consultation document [pdf] shared with retail service providers (RSPs) on Monday afternoon.
While the figure is within expectations - NBN Co had set an acceptable limit of five percent - the company said the volumes “are statistically significant” and expected to climb as the fibre upgrade program rolls on.
“NBN Co realises the program is in its early phase with technically savvy early adopters likely making up the first cohort of end users,” the company said.
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Enjoy!
David.
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