Note: I have excluded (or marked out) any commentary taking significant funding from the Agency or the Department of Health on all this to avoid what amounts to paid propaganda. (e.g. CHF, RACGP, AMA, National Rural Health Alliance etc. where they were simply putting the ADHA line – viz. that the myHR is a wonderfully useful clinical development that will save huge numbers of lives at no risk to anyone – which is plainly untrue) (This signifies probable ADHA Propaganda)
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Media release - Opt in or opt out of My Health Record at any time in your life: Australian Parliament strengthens privacy protections of My Health Record
26 November, 2018 ADHA Sourced
The Australian Parliament has this morning passed legislation to strengthen privacy protections in My Health Records Act 2012 without debate or division.
The new legislation means that you can opt in or opt out of My Health Record at any time in your life. Records will be created for every Australian who wants one after 31 January 2019. After then, you can delete your record permanently at any time.
More than 6.3 million Australians already have a My Health Record and over 14,000 healthcare professional organisations are connected, including general practices, hospitals, pharmacies, diagnostic imaging and pathology practices. My Health Record supports the health and care of Australians who choose to have one.
Briefly, the changes will:
- Allow Australians to permanently delete their records, and any backups, at any time.
- Explicitly prohibit access to My Health Records by insurers and employers.
- Provide greater privacy for teenagers 14 years and over.
- Strengthen existing protections for people at risk of family and domestic violence.
- Clarify that only the Agency, the Department of Health and the Chief Executive of Medicare (and no other government agency) can access the My Health Record system.
- Explicitly require law enforcement and other agencies to produce a court order to access information in My Health Records.
- Make clear that the system cannot be privatised or used for commercial purposes.
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Joint media release with Australian College of Nursing - Nurse champions for My Health Record
ADHA Sourced
The Australian Digital Health Agency, in collaboration with the Australian College of Nursing (ACN), has appointed six Nurse Champions to drive engagement with the My Health Record nationally.
“Our Nurse Champions will work with the Agency, ACN and the broader nursing profession to educate and enable nurses to use the My Health Record in their everyday practice,” said Australian College of Nursing CEO Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward FACN.
“The six Nurse Champions represent the nursing profession’s passion for digital health and the potential benefits it offers for improving delivery of quality health care in Australia,” said Adjunct Professor Ward.
“Our Champions work in a range of health settings with each bringing a different perspective of nursing. They will be a key resource for ACN and the Agency as we seek to better understand the needs of nurses and patients as My Health Record is put into practice.
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Whatever happened to ‘evidence based policy making’?
Alf Rattigan Lecture 2018
26 Nov 2018
Description
Few within government would deny that evidence-based policy-making is important to achieving good outcomes. Australia’s history provides ample support for that. But it is also apparent that practice over the past decade has fallen short of the ideals espoused.
In this, the third Alf Rattigan Lecture, Professor Gary Banks will consider why that has been so and what might be done, at the political and bureaucratic levels, to moderate the increasing tendency for policy to be made 'on the run’.
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Australians granted power to permanently delete My Health Record
By Robert Fedele ADHA Propaganda
November 29th, 2018|
Australians can now opt in or opt out of My Health Record at any time and permanently delete their records following the passing of new legislation in Federal Parliament this week aiming to strengthen privacy protections.
Every Australian who wants a My Health Record will have one created for them after 31 January 2019.
They will then be able to permanently delete their records and any backups at any stage.
Responding to community calls for stronger privacy and protections, The My Health Records Amendment (Strengthening Privacy) Bill implements a range of new safeguards for people who choose to create a digital summary of their key health information which can be shared across healthcare providers.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), along with other unions, made a submission to a Senate Inquiry investigating amendments to the controversial system.
The ANMF stated it supported an opt-out system and introducing a range of measures to tighten privacy and security including denying parties such as health or life insurers access to records.
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Seniors Learn About My Health Record
November 28, 2018 ADHA Propaganda
At EuroSCUG’s last meeting, Darren Marcus, Digital Health Officer at COORDINAIRE South Eastern NSW Primary Health Network, gave a talk on My Health Record. This is an on-line summary of each person’s key health information, bringing together medical conditions, allergies, medications, healthcare providers, and test results, all in one place
Darren showed members a short video which illustrated the advantages of setting up a My Health Record. It is a national system, private and secure, accessible at all times, and can be personally controlled. The owner can be alerted whenever the record is accessed, and can also opt out of joining the system, or cancel the record at any time.
Darren answered many questions from members, mostly centred around security. There are multi-layered and strong safeguards in place to protect the information including encryption, firewalls, secure login, authentication mechanisms, and audit logging. Strict rules and regulations apply as to who can access the records.
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The My Health Record system
Thursday, November 29th, 2018
MEAA and other unions affiliated with the ACTU have raised concerns about the implementation of the My Health Record system.
The Australian Government is currently preparing to roll out a national centralised electronic health records system for all Australian residents. An online record will be automatically created for you unless you take steps to opt-out of this system before January 31 2019.
MEAA is broadly supportive of the principles behind a national system creating consolidated health records for patients and other users in the health system in Australia, however there are some concerns that have been raised by unions, health practitioners and other stakeholders. Ultimately, we want you to make an informed decision about whether to opt-out based on what is best for your health needs.
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My Health Record takes vital step forward
28 November 2018 — Media release
Australia’s health system takes a significant step forward now that Parliament has resolved questions concerning security and privacy of the My Health Record, the Consumers Health Forum says.
Australians have until 31 January 2019 to choose to opt out of the personal electronic health record and even after that deadline people will be able to delete their health record from the system at any time.
Legislative changes passed in Parliament this week strengthen privacy and other safeguards, including banning insurers and employers from access to individual MHRs, providing more privacy for teenagers aged 14 and over, strengthening protections against risk of domestic violence and restricting which authorities can access MHRs.
“The Consumers Health Forum has supported the “opt out” arrangement as a means of supporting the earlier roll-out of MHR across Australia than would have been the case if we had stuck with the “opt in” approach which was experiencing a more gradual take-up,” the CEO of the Consumers Health Forum, Leanne Wells, said.
“We acknowledge that the closer scrutiny of MHR in more recent months has exposed weak points and that there were genuine concerns among some people about privacy and security.
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Hunt: My Health Record to be in ‘public ownership forever’
AAP November 29, 2018 3:49PMTopics
The My Health Record system will never be sold off in a cash grab, Health Minister Greg Hunt says.
With the opt out period for the program looming in January, Mr Hunt confirmed no one would be profiting off of it.
“Legislation was passed ... and I am very happy to inform it included a guarantee that My Health Record would be in public ownership forever,” Mr Hunt told parliament.
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House Of Representatives – Question Time – November 29, 2018
2:35pm
Kerryn Phelps, with her first ever quesiton, asks about the My Health Record, and the risk of patients’ data being monetised.
“Will the Prime Minister guarantee to provide the business case for the My Health Record database to this House in this sitting fortnight? This will be the final opportunity before the opt-out period ends on 31 January 2019, and Australians need to be assured about the true intentions of this program,” Dr Phelps says.
Sitting behind her, nodding along with her question, is the now former Liberal MP Julia Banks.
Health Minister Greg Hunt starts his answer by congratulating Dr Phelps on her victory in Wentworth.
“In relation to the My Health Record, legislation was passed unanimously through this House this week, on Monday, and I am very happy to inform that that included a guarantee that My Health Record would be in public ownership forever. There is no scope for revenue, there is no revenue which will be raised,” he says.
“So I’m happy to provide a guarantee that there is no capacity, there is no projection, and there is no revenue that is anticipated. I am also happy to provide the very documents which she is seeking.”
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Health Record attracts almost 52,000
ADHA Propaganda
29 Nov 2018, midnight
29 Nov 2018, midnight
Close to 52,000 Gippsland residents have signed up for a My Health Record, representing a third of the region's population, data from the 2018 annual report of the Gippsland Primary Health Network showed.
Gippsland PHN said 86 per cent of general practices and 68 per cent of pharmacies in the region are also now registered to use My Health Record three years since the new data collection system was introduced in Australia.
"Support and training continue as the Gippsland PHN engages these professionals along with allied health and specialists in the region," the primary health network said in a statement.
The number of Gippsland residents who are currently signed up with My Health Record represent a third of the region's current population of 143,033 based on the latest data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
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Platforms, not projects, key to executing DTA’s ‘Vision 2025’ strategy
By Darryl Carlton • 29/11/2018
The DTA’s role is to create a platform for digital transformation, not to promote individual projects. The projects belong to individual departments and agencies, argues Darryl Carlton.
Of overriding importance when reading the ‘Vision 2025’ strategy is to consider the role of the DTA.
Is the DTA the custodian of projects, or is it responsible for creating the conditions that will allow agencies, businesses and citizens to perform the actions that would be of value to them? This is unclear when reading the DTA 2025 Strategy and Vision document.
I am going to argue that the DTA has the role of creating a platform for digital transformation, and not for promoting individual projects. The projects belong to individual departments and agencies. The idea of building a platform is common to the successful internet companies. You build common and shared frameworks which can scale through open, published APIs. You create scale that, in this case, the departments can leverage.
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Australia needs integrated e-government, says security expert
- 29 November 2018
- Written by Sam Varghese
Australia's move towards a digital government should be more of an integrated effort and should not be restricted in silos, a cyber security expert says, expressing scepticism about the ideas put forward by recently by Human Services and Digital Transformation Minister Michael Keenan.
Fergus Hanson, head of International Cyber Policy Centre at the lobby group Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said it would be better to have co-ordination between the three levels of government - local, state and federal - rather than provide digital services in little silos.
This was much better, both in terms of cost and security, as there would not be a single target for attackers, he pointed out. And it would avoid that great bugbear of public service: duplication.
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28 November 2018
ALP to keep pressure on health pain point
After its victory over the My Health Record legislation, federal Labor shows no sign of letting up on health as a pain point for the government.
The MHR amendments were rubber-stamped on Monday, after a battle in the Senate in which the government was forced to accept demands for stricter safeguards and tougher penalties for privacy breaches.
However, Labor’s health spokesperson Catherine King is maintaining a call for the Privacy Commissioner to conduct a review of the security settings available to patients who choose to keep a My Health Record.
The opposition party says the review is needed to ensure “an appropriate balance between utility for clinicians, patients and others such as carers, and privacy and security for individuals”.
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November 28, 2018 6:02 am
Legislative Changes Improve My Health Record
The National Rural Health Alliance – Australia’s peak rural health body representing more than 7 million Australians – has welcomed the legislative changes to My Health Record which have passed through Parliament.
Alliance CEO, Mark Diamond, said the changes protected the right of individuals, including teenagers and vulnerable groups, and improved the My Health Record program.
The new measures allow Australians to opt in or out of having a My Health Record at any time and provided increased security protections for people using the electronic record system.
Mr Diamond said the Alliance supported My Health Record, which was particularly important for people living in regional, rural and remote areas and often suffered from the tyranny of distance and isolation in accessing health services.
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My Health Record Changes: Too Little, Too Late?
Australia's Parliament on Monday passed legislation that strengthens privacy protections for My Health Record, the country's embattled digital medical records program. But questions remain about whether the changes go far enough to restore confidence in electronic health records.
The new changes, included in a bill called the My Health Records Amendment (Strengthening Privacy) Bill 2018, aim to assuage concerns that entities outside of care providers, such as employers and insurers, could gain access to records. Also, there were lingering questions about whether law enforcement agencies would need a court order to be allowed to obtain any records.
The amendment will allow individuals to delete their record at any time, reversing the original policy that allowed people to deactivate their record, although the government would retain a shadow copy of it for decades.
"These changes are in response to the Australian community's calls for even stronger privacy and security protections for people using My Health Record," says the Australian Digital Health Agency in a statement.
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Is the My Health Record technology out of date?
Hafizah Osman | 28 Nov 2018 ADHA Propaganda
The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) has defended My Health Record from criticisms from a leading international ehealth figure that the system relies on outdated technology.
Harvard Medical School International Healthcare Innovation Professor Dr John Halamka told News Corp Australia that the $2 billion My Health Record was nothing more than “digitised paper” as it uses such “out-of-date” technology that crucial patient information on test results and diseases are unable to be read or shared by computers.
“The My Health record is a noble idea but the standard they chose is from 1995; it uses PDFs, it’s not computable, it is just digitised paper,” he told News Corp Australia.
However, an ADHA spokesperson told HITNA that the claim of My Health Record being based on outdated technology is incorrect.
“Over 100 clinical information systems are accredited to connect to My Health Record and they consume structured data such as SNOMED [Systematised Nomenclature of Medicine] codes on diseases and AMT [Australian Medicines Terminology] codes on medicines. This functionality is driving decision support and other logic in those systems through those computable codes,” the spokesperson said.
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Just how many digital transformation strategies do we need?
By Nicholas Stuart
28 November 2018 — 12:00am
A week ago, Human Services and Digital Transformation Minister Michael Keenan dramatically unveiled this government's "bold vision for Australia's digital future" at the National Press Club.
Again.
It's not, of course, as if Keenan himself had previously launched the strategy, because he hasn't. Indeed, he's been in the job for less than a year – as was his predecessor, Angus Taylor; and his predecessor, Mitch Fifield; and his predecessor, James McGrath; and even his predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull. That's because, ever since the former prime minister established the Digital Transformation Office back in July 2015, the person in charge has changed more often than the incumbent of the Lodge - and that's saying something.
This would be a joke (albeit a bad one) if the digital world wasn't so critical to our future.
Unfortunately, the threats are existential and yet our response is analog. What moves this from farce to tragedy is that our government obviously still doesn't get just how important this is. The whole responsibility for our digital future is still being shuffled from one junior minister to another – but even that wouldn't matter if any of them actually grasped how vital it is and attempted to grapple intellectually with the radical nature of what's occurring.
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RACGP welcomes stronger My Health Record privacy protection for teenagers
Doug Hendrie 27/11/2018 3:38:04 PM
Increased privacy provisions for My Health Record passed by Federal Parliament last week are exactly what Australia’s GPs have been calling for.
RACGP President Dr Harry Nespolon said changes to the My Health Record legislation will enable teenage patients' confidentiality and safety.
The RACGP’s calls to improve privacy for teenagers aged 14–18 by removing default parental access to their child’s health records has now been made law.
RACGP President Dr Harry Nespolon told newsGP he is very pleased the Government included the stronger privacy measures for a potentially vulnerable patient demographic.
The RACGP had developed its position on teenagers’ privacy based on many requests from its members, Dr Nespolon said.
‘The RACGP’s recommendations to the Government regarding My Health Record privacy for teenagers were made with the knowledge that not all minors experience supportive functional home environments. The new legislation will protect vulnerable young individuals,’ he said.
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RACGP President Dr Harry Nespolon told newsGP he is very pleased the Government included the stronger privacy measures for a potentially vulnerable patient demographic.
The RACGP had developed its position on teenagers’ privacy based on many requests from its members, Dr Nespolon said.
‘The RACGP’s recommendations to the Government regarding My Health Record privacy for teenagers were made with the knowledge that not all minors experience supportive functional home environments. The new legislation will protect vulnerable young individuals,’ he said.
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Australians can now opt out of My Health Record at any time
- 27 November 2018
- Written by Sam Varghese
Legislation passed by the Australian Parliament on Wednesday will make it possible for citizens to opt out of the My Health Record digital health program at any time.
The Australian Digital Health Agency, which administers the scheme, said in a statement that records would be created after 31 January 2019 for every Australian who wanted one.
But these records could be permanently deleted at any time, it added.
The government had initially set a date of 15 November for Australians to indicate that they wanted to opt out of the scheme.
But following a big backlash and objections from the Opposition, the government agreed to make changes to the rules around the scheme.
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Parliament passes permanent My Health Record deletion provision
Access by insurers and employers explicitly prohibited
George Nott (CIO)26 November, 2018 16:37
Parliament this morning passed legislation to allow citizens to opt out of My Health Record at any time, and permanently delete their records.
Previously, if an individual had not opted-out their record could not be later deleted but only made “unavailable”, meaning healthcare providers could not access it or upload documents to it. It would be, however, kept for 30 years after an individual’s death or, if the date of death was unknown, for 130 years after their date of birth.
The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) – the system operator of the My Health Record – today said the new bill means individuals can now “permanently delete” their record “at any time”.
“No archived copy or back up will be kept and deleted information won’t be able to be recovered,” the agency said in a statement.
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New MHR legislation passes
The Australian Parliament has passed a second round of protections to strengthen privacy for My Health Record
On Monday the Australian Digital Health Agency announced that the Federal Parliament had passed further amendments to the My Health Records Act 2012 ‘without debate or division’, as part of the My Health Records Amendment (Strengthening Privacy) Bill 2018.
These amendments were announced by Health Minister Greg Hunt early this month. The changes will:
- Allow Australians to permanently delete their records, and any backups, at any time. A My Health Record that was cancelled in the past (and archived) will also be permanently deleted.
- Explicitly prohibit access to My Health Records by insurers and employers. Under these measures, insurers and employers are prohibited from accessing any information within your My Health Record or asking you to disclose your information.
- Provide greater privacy for teenagers 14 years and over. Under these measures, once a teenager turns 14, parents will automatically be removed as authorised representatives.
- Strengthen existing protections for people at risk of family and domestic violence. Under the changes, the Agency will no longer be obliged to notify people of certain decisions if doing so would put another person at risk. Additionally parents subject to a court order, where they do not have unsupervised access to their child, or who pose a risk to the life, health and safety of the child or another person will no longer be eligible to be an Authorised Representative.
- Increase penalties for misuse of information. Civil fines will increase to a maximum of $315,000, with criminal penalties including up to 5 years’ jail time.
- Clarify that only the Agency, the Department of Health and the Chief Executive of Medicare (and no other government agency) can access the My Health Record system.
- Explicitly require law enforcement and other agencies to produce a court order to access information in My Health Records.
- Make clear that the system cannot be privatised or used for commercial purposes.
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Possibilities of the Humanitarian Robot
With technology playing a bigger part in our lives everyday, Lizzie O’Shea is combining her work with Digital Rights Watch, and as a humanitarian lawyer, to ensure the digital world is as ethical and and democratic as it can be. She is this week’s Changemaker.
The automation of machines, welfare, government programs and whole industries is moving at a pace the average person finds hard to comprehend.
Everyday, people around the world give away their personal details when signing up to things that make their lives easier, trusting that this information and these programs will serve them in the way it says it will.
But how this information is being used is coming under scrutiny, as unethical and unfair practices used by tech companies target some of the most vulnerable in society.
O’Shea believes there is a way to use technology for good however, and is on a mission to expose and educate people about the humanitarian side of the digital world.
In this week’s Changemaker, O’Shea discusses the human influence on making technology, keeping people to account, and the democratic underpinnings of technology.
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Getting ready for a cyber-security aware 2019
by Phil Kernick, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, CQR Consulting
It’s been a big year in the cyber-security sector. Attacks on individuals and enterprises have become ever more frequent and the tactics employed by hackers and cyber-criminals ever more innovative.
Australian organisations paid out an estimated $3.8 billion in protection money in 2018, according to Gartner Group. That figure is likely to grow, not shrink, in 2019, as enterprises continue to invest significant sums to reduce the likelihood of their experiencing a disruptive and expensive attack or data breach.
So what will the new year have in store on the cyber-security front? These are the trends and topics we expect will make headlines over the next 12 months.
Ransomware on the wane
Infecting individuals’ or organisations’ systems with ransomware – malicious programs designed to block access until the hapless victim pays up – has been a profitable exercise for cyber-criminals in recent years. We’ll likely see less of it in 2019, courtesy of the fact that companies have wised up to the risk, improved their security posture and become increasingly reluctant to cough up. That doesn’t mean the perpetrators will hang up their hats any time soon. Cyber-criminals are nothing if not adaptable and it’s a guarantee they’re working on clever new ways to part the careless and poorly protected from their hard earned.
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- Updated Nov 26 2018 at 12:00 AM
Government's 'mind-boggling' digital transformation policy steps out of a time warp
by Paul Smith
When Minister for Human Services and Digital Transformation Michael Keenan took to the stage at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday lunch time, his bold speech title gave attendees and the watching masses on live television warning that he was about to do something special … "OUR BOLD VISION FOR AUSTRALIA'S DIGITAL FUTURE" it shouted.
The Minister then proceeded to launch what he called the government's Digital Transformation Strategy, a plan he said would have all government services available online by 2025.
No more lengthy queues for payments at Centrelink, a digital online identity that would enable citizens to transact across agencies without dozens of different passwords, and digital democracy platforms that would enable greater transparency and a greater ability for the government to reach out directly to Australians.
It was dazzling stuff, and presumably aimed at calming the anger of the millions of Australians unfortunate enough to have to deal with government agencies like the Department of Human Services in order to make ends meet.
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Comments welcome!
David.
