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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The biggest news of the week was a the leaky, security-wise, of the Victorian Public Health sector – as well as some new medication list for the #myHR.
A host of other security leaks also get a mention!
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New MHR medicines list
May 27, 2019
THE government's My Health Record (MHR) electronic platform will be enhanced from next month with a new pharmacist-written list detailing the prescription and over-the-counter medicines being taken by patients with chronic conditions.
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Engaging pharmacists to enhance medicines safety
30 May 2019: The Pharmacist Shared Medicines List is a new feature coming to My Health Record that provides a complete view of a consumer’s medicines, including non-prescription and over the counter products.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia’s report Medicine Safety: Take Care cites some sobering statistics on medicines safety in Australia: 250,000 hospital admissions annually as a result of medication-related problems, at an annual cost of $1.4 billion. The good news is that half of these problems are thought to be preventable, and the Agency is developing tools to assist in this endeavour.
“Proactive engagement of pharmacists has the potential to significantly reduce the number of medication-related hospital admissions and adverse medication events in Australia due to their place in the healthcare system, the frequency with which they have patient contact, developments in health infrastructure, including My Health Record, and the availability of digital tools to support medication management.” [Medicine Safety: Take Care, p. 20]
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Vic public health 'highly vulnerable' to Singapore-like data breach
Four health services audited, all four exploited.
Victoria’s public health system is “highly vulnerable” to an attack like the one experienced in Singapore last year where 1.5 million patient health records were exfiltrated.
An auditor-general report released Wednesday exposed widespread security weaknesses and vulnerabilities that it said left patient data at risk.
“Victoria’s public health system is highly vulnerable to the kind of cyberattacks recently experienced by the National Health Service (NHS) in England, in Singapore, and at a Melbourne‐based cardiology provider, which resulted in stolen or unusable patient data and disrupted hospital services,” the auditor-general said in its report. [pdf]
Full Text Report:
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Victoria’s public health system ‘highly vulnerable’ to cyber attacks
Audit finds default user names and passwords, limited MFA
Victoria’s public health system is “highly vulnerable” to the kind of cyber security incidents that had a devastating impact on the UK’s NHS in 2017, according to the state’s auditor-general.
Scrutiny by Victoria's auditor-general revealed weaknesses in physical security as well as password management and user access controls across a number of the state’s health services.
“Staff awareness of data security is low, which increases the likelihood of success of social engineering techniques such as phishing or tailgating into corporate areas where ICT infrastructure and servers may be located,” states the report, which was released today.
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Victorian patient health data 'highly vulnerable' to attack, Auditor-General's hack finds
30 May, 2019
Victoria's Auditor-General has hacked into some of the state's biggest health databases and exposed serious weaknesses in cybersecurity, which could put patient data at risk.
Key points:
- Staff at three major Melbourne hospitals have low awareness of data security, an investigation found
- The Auditor-General found Victoria was highly vulnerable to a hack attack, leaving patient data at risk
- Another report tabled this week pointed to a "weak security culture" posing a significant risk to security in government buildings
Auditors used "basic hacking tools" to access sensitive patient data at Barwon Health, the Royal Children's Hospital and the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital to demonstrate "the significant and present risk to the security of patient data and hospital services".
The hackers also examined how two parts of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Digital Health Branch and Health Technology Solutions, were supporting health services.
"There are key weaknesses in health services' physical security and in their logical security, which covers password management and other user access controls," a Victorian Auditor-General's Office (VAGO) report said.
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Auditor-General hacked into hospitals to expose online security flaws
By Adam Carey
May 29, 2019 — 2.34pm
Victoria’s Auditor-General successfully hacked into the IT systems of some of the state's biggest hospitals and accessed sensitive patient data, exposing serious cybersecurity weaknesses in the health sector.
Patient data was accessed by government auditors who used basic hacking tools to breach security systems at the Royal Children’s Hospital, the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Barwon Health and sections of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The audit has exposed poor cybersecurity systems among Victorian health service providers, including agencies with weak passwords that can easily be hacked and even one that used default account names and passwords set by manufacturers, which can be found on the internet, to protect patients’ personal data.
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Audit rules Victoria's public health system as 'highly vulnerable' to cyber attacks
The Victorian Auditor-General's Office finds health system could suffer the same fate as the UK's National Health Service and Singapore's SingHealth.
The Victorian Auditor-General's Office (VAGO) has labelled the state's public health system as highly vulnerable to cyber attacks, with a report flagging that security weaknesses within the Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) own technology arm are increasing the likelihood of a breach in 61% of the state's health services.
In Security of Patients' Hospital Data [PDF], VAGO said the state's public health system is in a similar position to its international peers in both the United Kingdom and in Singapore when they were respectively breached in 2017 and 2018.
"There are key weaknesses in health services' physical security, and in their logical security, which covers password management and other user access controls," VAGO wrote. "Staff awareness of data security is low, which increases the likelihood of success of social engineering techniques such as phishing or tailgating into corporate areas where ICT infrastructure and servers may be located."
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Weak passwords putting patient records at risk: audit
Hospital staff treat data security as 'just a task for IT', says report
30th May 2019
Sensitive patient records are at risk of being compromised in some of Australia’s biggest public hospitals because of weak passwords and staff complacency, an audit has found.
The Victorian Auditor-General has warned that weaknesses in data security practices at the state’s public health services have made them vulnerable to attacks that could steal or alter patient data.
The weaknesses include inadequate user access controls, weak passwords and limited network monitoring.
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DHS claims urgent child support IT problems fixed
By Justin Hendry on May 30, 2019 12:30PM
But wider overhaul remains postponed.
The Department of Human Services claims to have fixed the most urgent problems with its new child support IT system after an independent review urged it to “immediately” prioritise upgrades.
But the department remains undecided about restarting the overhaul, which has so far cost in excess of $130 million, under the new moniker of the ‘child support transformation program’.
The extent of the long known problems with the 'Pluto' front-end SAP platform were exposed last week in a scathing independent review of the department’s botched redesign project that was only publicly released after pressure from Labor Senator Murray Watt.
The April 2018 review conducted by Deloitte, which DHS had previously refused to release to iTnews under Freedom of Information laws, found “significant functional gaps and performance challenges” with Pluto that led to “inefficiencies in day to day operations”.
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How a GP caught in the Fluvax scare developed a national vaccine safety program
His monitoring system earned him the AMA’s Excellence in Healthcare award
30th May 2019
Dr Alan Leeb’s experiences as a GP caught in the middle of a national vaccine scare led him to devise technology to track adverse events in real time.
In April 2010, the Perth GP was blindsided to discover nearly a third of children had an adverse reaction after being vaccinated for flu at his practice.
He then learned from hospital discharge summaries that three of his young patients had febrile convulsions and at least eight were hospitalised — from a total of 337 given the 2010 trivalent vaccine, known as Fluvax.
And his practice wasn’t alone. WA had a program of publicly funded flu vaccines for children aged five and under, and across the state, there were over 1000 adverse events reports.
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27 May 2019
Local data key to boosting vaccine safety message
A Perth GP has been awarded the AMA Excellence in Healthcare Award for renewing confidence in childhood vaccines through his innovative adverse events tracking system.
So far this year, Dr Alan Leeb’s SmartVax technology has followed up with around 105,500 patients who had received the influenza vaccine.
The technology works by automatically texting patients three days after a flu shot to ask whether they experienced any adverse events.
The best way to flag a potential problem with a vaccine was to monitor the rate of medical attendance, Dr Leeb (pictured) told The Medical Republic.
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Ministry to pilot MyMeds app
Tuesday, 28 May 2019
eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
The Ministry of Health is developing and piloting a mobile app called MyMeds, which displays medicines dispensed to a consumer.
Deputy director general data and digital Shayne Hunter says the proof of concept app is being designed to help the Ministry “understand how we can create a secure reusable digital identity that can be used to provide people with access to their health information and engage with digital services”.
MyMeds will pull information from the national Electronic Prescription Service and show any publicly funded medicines dispensed by a community pharmacy.
It may also link to NZ Formulary information leaflets for medications.
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NT government launches open data portal
250 government datasets available online
The Northern Territory government’s 2018-19 budget earmarked $1.72 million to launch the portal. Budget documents said that the portal would “support digital innovation and promote transparency by making government data more accessible.”
The initiative followed the 2017 establishment of the NT Office of Digital Government. In October last year the government launched the Territory’s first digital strategy, which flagged the open data portal as a key project.
The government said that before it is posted on the new portal data sets will be assessed “including against provisions in the Information Act to protect sensitive data and to ensure it is meeting appropriate data standards.”
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Despite high consumer demand, digital care efforts are lagging
Nathan Eddy | 30 May 2019
Although patients are hungry for consumer-based healthcare tech and interested in services like virtual care, the bulk of technologies doctors are implementing don’t improve access for consumers or assist people in proactively managing their health.
These were among the findings of an EY report that determined the bulk of technologies that doctors are implementing are focused on reducing their administrative burden, diagnostic support, or to communicate with other medical professionals.
More than a third (36 percent) of Australians surveyed in the report said they would be willing to be treated through on-demand e-visits for common acute symptoms, such as colds, flus, rashes, instead of in-person visits.
In addition, 51 percent of doctors acknowledge that video consults would produce better and more efficient patient outcomes -- close to 20 percent of doctors already use tools to support virtual visits, remote monitoring and patient engagement tools such as apps.
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New guidelines for telehealth consultations
The updated RACGP resource is designed to help practices make use of MBS-supported video consultations.
27 May 2019
The RACGP’s Telehealth video consultations guide has effectively consolidated current resources into a single point of reference.
The guide is designed to support general practices in making use of Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS)-supported telehealth video consultations, and provide safe facilitation and coordination of these consultations. It outlines the clinical, administrative and technical considerations when introducing this mode of healthcare delivery, and focuses on telehealth video consultations covered under the MBS.
There are currently 23 MBS items available for practitioners – including GPs, nurse practitioners and Aboriginal health workers – who provide patient-end clinical support during video consultations with a specialist, consultant physician or consultant psychiatrist.
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The guide is designed to support general practices in making use of Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS)-supported telehealth video consultations, and provide safe facilitation and coordination of these consultations. It outlines the clinical, administrative and technical considerations when introducing this mode of healthcare delivery, and focuses on telehealth video consultations covered under the MBS.
There are currently 23 MBS items available for practitioners – including GPs, nurse practitioners and Aboriginal health workers – who provide patient-end clinical support during video consultations with a specialist, consultant physician or consultant psychiatrist.
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IPO hopeful Qpro eyes off health tech Pacific Knowledge Systems
May 27, 2019 — 12.01am
Qpro Holdings has its sights set on acquiring health tech company Pacific Knowledge Systems, from the $19.5 million it hopes raise when it debuts on the Australian Securities Exchange on June 6.
As revealed by Street Talk in October, Qpro will use the funds from its IPO to buy up to 100 per cent of the issued capital of DPP Holdings, which owns Pacific Knowledge Systems, as well as hiring additional staff and meeting the costs of the offer.
Qpro, established in June 2018 with the primary purpose of acquiring DPP, is a shell company of Sydney investment firm Bombora Investment Management, which has taken a similar approach with the IPOs of rhipe and Janison Education.
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Paul Fletcher named new comms, cyber safety minister
Replacing Mitch Fifield.
Australia has a new communications minister in Paul Fletcher, a one-time senior executive at Optus who has also advised and assisted former communications ministers.
Fletcher replaces Mitch Fifield, who is set to be named as Australia’s next Ambassador to the United Nations.
In addition to covering communications and the arts - as his predecessor did, Fletcher will also assume ministerial responsibility for “cyber safety”.
“As the National Broadband Network nears full roll out and social media becomes an even more prominent front in the fight to keep Australians safe, Paul Fletcher, as Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts brings extensive experience and insight to the task,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.
Fletcher said in a statement he was “deeply honoured” to be appointed.
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Govt to set up new 'Services Australia' agency
Sets IT integration and better front-facing delivery as key goals.
The federal government is set to replicate the Service NSW model nationally by establishing a new agency called Services Australia.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that Service Australia would come under the Human Services portfolio and would be overseen by a new Minister for Government Services, Stuart Robert.
Morrison said that Service Australia was born out of a desire to see services made available more simply to Australians.
“A key focus for all of my team will be on lifting and improving service delivery for all Australians for the services that [they] rely on,” Morrison said.
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Services Australia assumes govt-wide IT function, replaces DHS
Rebadged department gets expanded remit.
Australia’s governor-general Peter Cosgrove has officially signed off on a raft of structural reforms to create the government’s new centralised government services agency.
Administrative arrangements orders published on Wednesday afternoon reveal the final detail of the changes to service delivery arrangements following the announcement of Services Australia.
Prime Minster Scott Morrison announced the new centralised government services agency, deliberately modelled on Service NSW, as part of a reshuffle of his ministry over the weekend.
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Services Australia takes charge of government ICT
New ministry takes on whole of government IT, ICT procurement
New administrative arrangements formally transfer responsibility for whole-of-government IT from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet — which has been the home of the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) — to the new ‘Services Australia’.
Services Australia, a successor to the Department of Human Services, is now responsible for whole of government service delivery policy, whole of government information and communications technology, and ICT procurement police and services.
It’s also charged with the “design, development, delivery, co-ordination and monitoring of government services, social security, child support, students, families, aged care and health programmes (excluding Health provider compliance) and Australian Hearing Services,” states the order made today by the governor-general.
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Massive data breach hits Canva
- 7:55PM May 26, 2019
Australian tech darling Canva has been hit with a massive data breach with the graphic design outfit telling its 139 million users to change their passwords.
According to Canva, its systems were attacked last Friday with the hackers stealing usernames, their email addresses and passwords,
It added that the passwords had been stolen in their encrypted form, making it harder for the hackers to sell them piecemeal on the web.
“On Friday, May 24, 2019 we discovered an in-progress attack on our systems. As soon as we were notified, we immediately took steps to identify and remedy the cause and have reported the situation to the relevant authorities (including the FBI and AFP).”
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Australian ‘unicorn’ Canva hacked
High-profile startup warns of security breach
High-profile Australian startup Canva has revealed details of significant security breach.
In a statement the company said that on 24 May it “became aware of a security incident”.
“As soon as we were notified, we immediately took steps to identify and remedy the cause, and have reported the situation to authorities (including the FBI),” the company said.
During the breach a number of Canva usernames and email addresses were accessed. In addition, the company said that the hackers had obtained encrypted copies of Canva users’ passwords. The passwords were salted and hashed with bcrypt, Canva.
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Canva criticised after data breach exposed 139m user details
May 26, 2019 — 4.32pm
High profile Australian technology company Canva has faced criticism for its handling of a cyber attack that saw the data of approximately 139 million users stolen by a hacker.
The sizable data breach at the online design company came less that a week after a $70 million funding round saw its valuation soar to $US2.5 billion ($3.6 billion), catapulting its co-founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Orbecht on to the Rich List with fortunes worth over $500 million.
However, it had to re-do its warning email to customers after attracting criticism for burying details of the hack under "marketing fluff," which was likely to mean most recipients simply ignored the message.
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LandMark White says new SCRIBD leak is sabotage
But not related to previous data breach.
Embattled property valuation firm LandMark White can’t seem to win a trick.
After finally resuming trading on the ASX after its epic suspension to clean up its affairs and get vital bank customers back on board, the company late on Thursday fessed-up yet again, calling-in the Australian Cyber Security Centre over more valuation documents being exfiltrated and posted online.
This time, according to LandMark White’s ASX announcement, the leaked PDFs “mostly comprise PDF valuation documents and other operationally related commercial documents” found their way onto sharing website SCRIBD and are now in the process of being removed.
However the company says the latest leak is not related to the previous data breach incident that forced it off the board.
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Science & Medical | 27/05/2019 1:42:01 PM
University of New South Wales
'Submarines' small enough to deliver medicine inside human body
UNSW engineers have shown that micro-submarines powered by nano-motors could navigate the human body to provide targeted drug delivery to diseased organs without the need for external stimulus.
Cancers in the human body may one day be treated by tiny, self-propelled ‘micro-submarines’ delivering medicine to affected organs after UNSW Sydney chemical and biomedical engineers proved it was possible.
In a paper published in Materials Today, the engineers explain how they developed micrometre-sized submarines that exploit biological environments to tune their buoyancy, enabling them to carry drugs to specific locations in the body.
Corresponding author Dr Kang Liang, with both the School of Biomedical Engineering and School of Chemical Engineering at UNSW, says the knowledge can be used to design next generation ‘micro-motors’ or nano-drug delivery vehicles, by applying novel driving forces to reach specific targets in the body.
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PainChek® achieves International Markets Milestone
PainChek® Signs UK Market Distribution Agreement with
Person Centred Software
PainChek® has reached a key milestone in the international expansion of its PainChek® tool – the signing of binding distribution agreement with Person Centred Software.
Person Centred Software provides Mobile Care Monitoring (MCM) which is an intelligent mobile solution for evidencing care interactions, electronic care planning, reporting and analysis. MCM is currently used by over 1,200 care homes across the UK, 94% of which are rated as good or outstanding by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). MCM enables care providers to reduce the time spent on paperwork, exceed compliance measures and improve the quality of care.
Under the agreement Person Centred Software will distribute the PainChek App to their UK client base through their sales, marketing and service capabilities. PainChek® integration into Person Centred Software’s Mobile Care Monitoring system will provide carers with seamless pain assessment and monitoring of their residents living within Aged Care.
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Sydney Uni forms brain and AI alliance with Shanghai's Fudan
For artificial and biological intelligence.
The University of Sydney has teamed up with Shanghai’s Fudan University to tackle issues around brain disorders and artificial intelligence using each institution’s advancements in computer science.
Sydney University’s academic lead on the Brain and Intelligence Science Alliance (BISA), professor Sharon Naismith, said China in particular faces “immense” challenges in the coming decades when it comes to brain disorders in its aging population.
“Therefore research on the prevention, early diagnosis and early intervention for brain disorders is particularly urgent," she added.
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Samsung watch Keeping tabs on your health
- 8:24AM May 23, 2019
Samsung has continued the trend of smart watches acting as quasi medical devices that monitor vital signs.
The Galaxy Watch Active not only offers optical heart rate monitoring but measures blood pressure as well. It’s like having a GP or a nurse permanently sitting on your wrist.
This trend was begun by Apple whose first three watch models had an optical heart rate sensor that detects the red blood cells flowing through your wrist.
Apple Watch Series 4 took this further with an additional electronic heart sensor designed to produce an electrocardiogram on demand. It achieved this by completing an electrical circuit across your chest.
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ACN, Digital Health Agency partner on EHR training for nurses
Nathan Eddy | 29 May 2019
The Australian College of Nursing (ACN) and the Australian Digital Health Agency are partnering for a series of e-learning modules on My Health Record, the Government's digital health record system.
The training is designed to ensure nurses can use the platform in everyday practice so information is consistent across the healthcare sector, with the overall aim of improving patient outcomes.
The e-learning module is the latest in a series of initiatives conducted by the agency and the ACN to ensure nurses are intrinsic in the use of the platform, which give medical professionals access to a patient’s important health information.
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Nurses to access new e-learning modules on My Health Record
Thursday, 30 May, 2019
Nurses will soon have access to new e-learning modules on My Health Record, according to the Australian Digital Health Agency.
The modules are part of an initiative by the ADHA and Australian College of Nursing that aims to get nurses better acquainted with MHR and improve patient outcomes.
Nurses have previously raised concerns that data entry errors, technical problems and poor use of system communication channels related to electronic health records could jeopardise patient safety.
However, properly trained, they, along with the EHRs, could help minimise medication errors; improve patient data entry, accuracy, completeness and sustainability; and increase efficiencies — allowing nurses to spend more time with patients.
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Paul Fletcher to oversee last leg of NBN rollout after Morrison’s ministerial reshuffle
Government unveils 'Services Australia'
Paul Fletcher will oversee the rollout of the National Broadband Network as Australia’s new communications minister, ahead of the scheduled completion of the NBN in 2020.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison today unveiled his new ministry, with Fletcher appointed to the role of minister for communications, cyber safety and the arts.
Fletcher was first elected in 2009 as MP for the northern Sydney electorate of Bradfield. Prior to his political career, he was the head of corporate and regulatory affairs at Optus for almost eight years and briefly ran his own telco-focused consulting firm. From mid-1996 to early 2000 he served as chief of staff for then-communications minister Senator Richard Alston.
Between 2013 and 2016 Fletcher served as the parliamentary secretary to the minister for communications, Malcolm Turnbull. He then held a string of ministerial positions in the Turnbull government. Fletcher joined the cabinet in August last year as minister for families and social services.
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NBN Co to trial its first FTTN upgrade paths from June
By Ry Crozier on May 27, 2019 1:10PM
Part of wider program of work codenamed COAT.
NBN Co will begin a trial next month that will see 50 fibre-to-the-node users receive an upgrade to either fibre-to-the-curb (FTTC) or fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology.
The trial is the first under a brand new program of work that NBN Co is calling ‘Change of Access Technology’ or COAT.
iTnews understands that the 50 premises to be included in the first trial have already been identified, though it is not clear where in Australia they are located.
COAT appears to be the vehicle that NBN Co is using to test future upgrade paths for subsets of its customer base.
It is likely FTTN users have been selected initially because NBN Co must make sure its entire network footprint can achieve peak speeds of 25Mbps under the government’s statement of expectations.
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Enjoy!
David.
