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 think it would be fair to say COVID-19 has basically consumed all the news bandwidth for the week!
However, I have found a few extra morsels! Enjoy.
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Revealed: The rebates and rules for claiming the new GP telehealth items
The patients of any GP placed in isolation will be able to access the items as well
13th March 2020
The rebate for the new telehealth consults rolled out for GPs to tackle the coronavirus epidemic has been set at $38.20 for a standard consult.
Today, the Federal Government unveiled details of its MBS package which is to support "susceptible" patients, as well as those already placed in isolation.
It has confirmed rules that mean all patients will have to be bulk-billed, however it has said that the current bulk-billing incentives for eligible patients will be available.
They are three main time-based items for GPs.
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Australia’s PrimaryClinic and HealthEngine introduce measures to tackle COVID-19
A new update implemented by the Australian federal government will allow doctors, nurses and mental health practitioners to provide telehealth services, such as video conferencing, to people isolated at home due to the coronavirus.
By Dean Koh
March 11, 2020 03:37 AM
Australian GPs using the PrimaryClinic practice management software by software provider Global Health can conduct remote video conference consultations with patients showing symptoms for COVID-19, the company recently announced. Through Global Health’s video-conferencing platform, GPs can screen clients and avoid having them present to the clinic thereby reducing the risk of contamination.
HealthEngine, which is one of Australia’s largest consumer healthcare perform with about 3.6 million visits monthly, is also working on a series of measures to combat COVID-19. This includes the launch of a COVID-19 information portal on its website, COVID-19 triage via its website and app (a guided online survey for patients/people experiencing symptoms or who have been at risk of exposure to complete a self-assessment and guidance on next steps for care), a booking form public service announcement and a telehealth infrastructure at no or low cost for all GP providers to serve their patients.
WHY IT MATTERS
GPs in Australia have long been calling for coronavirus-specific telehealth item numbers to be added to assist with managing the sudden surge of cases across the country. To date, telehealth for GPs was generally available only in remote areas, however to make sure GPs providing telehealth services to coronavirus people are being properly reimbursed, the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) items needed to be updated with immediate effect.
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‘Patient choice of pharmacy is important.’
With initial plans for a rollout from mid 2020 set to be fast tracked, here’s an overview of the e-prescribing system from a Department of Health insider
Electronic prescribing is well on its way, and the rollout of a national system may come even soon than expected.
“We’ve got a fairly robust framework that’s being tested at the moment,” Rowena Sierant, Director of Electronic Medication Management at the Commonwealth Department of Health, told delegates at the recent eMedication Management Conference held in Sydney and organised by Informa Australia.
While plans for a soft rollout were initially indicated for mid 2020, the Prime Minister has said this week in a statement that the government will fast track the rollout of electronic prescribing across Australia with funding of $5 million to help in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) has been contracted by the Commonwealth to develop and manage the technical components of electronic prescribing.
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GPs finally get telehealth MBS items to tackle coronavirus outbreak
'Vulnerable' patients and those in home quarantine will be eligible for MBS-funded telehealth from Friday
11th March 2020
GPs will have access to MBS-funded phone or online consults for patients in home isolation as part of the Federal Government’s plan to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.
With fewer than 48 hours to go before the item is introduced on Friday, key details remain unclear, but Australian Doctor has been told it will have the same rebate as a level B attendance — $38.20.
Again, although there is no official announcement, it is being suggested there will be a requirement for doctors to bulk-bill, to ensure there are no costs to the patients.
The item can also be claimed for vulnerable groups: those aged over 70; people with chronic diseases; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders aged over 50; those who are immunocompromised; pregnant women; and new parents with babies.
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March 11 2020 - 6:39AM
100 pop-up clinics and free telehealth services on the way to test for coronavirus
Free telehealth services and pop-up testing clinics will be set up as part of the federal government's $2.4 billion health response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The government released the details of its health package on Tuesday night, promising further measures are on the way.
From Friday, Australians will be able to bulk-bill phone hook-ups with GPs to diagnose coronavirus symptoms.
Health authorities would also establish up to 100 "pop-up" clinics, with each expected to handle 75 patients a day.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said some pop-up clinics were already running, including at hospitals in Melbourne and South Australia.
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11 March 2020
Medicare for phone calls amid $2.4bn virus response funding
A Medicare item number for COVID-19 telephone consultations will be available from Friday, as part of a $2.4 billion federal funding package to get the health system through the anticipated strain of the next few months.
The package announced this morning also includes 100 dedicated clinics, additional aged care workforce funding, hospitals, expanding testing capacity, upgrading phone hotlines, providing medicines to those isolated at home, and support for vulnerable populations.
The funding will be demand-driven and uncapped, Prime Minster Scott Morrison told a media conference in Canberra.
Patients eligible for the Medicare item are those in isolation on medical advice or in quarantine, and those without COVID-19 but who are otherwise vulnerable: people over 70, pregnant women, people with chronic conditions, parents of new babies and Indigenous people over 50.
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1 March 2020
Appointment engines gear up for COVID-19 screening and telehealth
The two major Australian GP appointment engines, HotDoc and HealthEngine, which between them can reach over 10 million patients through their apps, and are used by more than 80% of the country’s GP practices, have both rushed to develop specific modules to their patient-facing apps, which could significantly increase the efficiency of GP practices in managing COVID-19 issues.
Currently many practices are struggling with managing panicked patients who are arriving asking for help, information, and even to be tested, when they are showing no symptoms. One GP The Medical Republic spoke to yesterday described the situation trying to get to the patients who really needed help as mayhem. She described the patient situation as “coronavirus anxiety syndrome”.
HotDoc announced yesterday that it had updated its software to allow patients to pre-screen themselves, self identify according to the new criteria for COVID-19 telehealth consults, and make a telephone-based appointment which could be bulk-billed.
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New bidders locked out of $65 billion federal procurement opportunity
Tom Burton Government Editor
Mar 13, 2020 – 5.17pm
More than half of the Commonwealth government's $65 billion annual procurement is let without competitive tendering, according to a new Audit Office study released this week.
Lack of competition means new vendors are not able to bid for lucrative government contracts, and taxpayers are not getting the benefit of potentially lower-cost suppliers or innovative vendors able to deliver a better solution.
The ANAO analysis of AusTender data over the last decade showed 44 per cent of eligible tenders had not been opened up to new vendors. In 2018-19, 55 per cent of parent contracts were reported as using the limited tender procurement method.
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My Health Record receives upgrade for improved security controls and advance care plans
The latest upgrade makes it easier for people to control who sees and accesses their health information.
By Dean Koh
March 13, 2020 05:21 AM
The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) today announced that the My Health Record System will be upgraded over two days to improve usability for consumers and healthcare providers.
There will be three new features with the upgrade. Firstly, the upgrade will make it easier for people to find where to set access codes, add emergency contacts and nominate representatives. Next, consumers can also their own advanced care plans into My Health Record. A new functionality with the upgrade allows healthcare providers to generate and upload Advanced Care Planning and Goals of Care documents into My Health Record via their clinical information system.
A Goals of Care document contains a patient’s preferences for their end of life treatment and is agreed between the patient and their healthcare provider. It can only be completed and uploaded by the treating healthcare provider.
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Media release - My Health Record system upgrade to make it easier to set security controls, make treatment needs known and help avoid issues related to medicines
13 March 2020: The My Health Record System is being upgraded on 13 and 14 March to improve usability for consumers and healthcare providers.
We have seen the important role My Health Record has played in large scale crises such as the Queensland floods and the recent bushfires, where pharmacists and hospital staff have relied on information in the My Health Record to provide care.
The changes in this new release improve the way a person’s medicines list appears in the My Health Record and will provide a better user experience for consumers logging into their own Record and setting security controls.
We are confident these improvements will continue to build trust within the community for the My Health Record and provide crucial support to the health system and consumers over coming months.
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Coronavirus misinformation spreading fast: Fake news on COVID-19 shared far more than CDC, WHO reports
Content engagement on false and misleading news about the COVID-19 virus illness is over 142 times that of legitimate and expert sources such as the CDC and WHO, according to NewsGuard.
By Jason Perlow for Tech Broiler | March 3, 2020 -- 19:59 GMT (06:59 AEDT) | Topic: Coronavirus: Business and technology in a pandemic
The vast majority of coronavirus information shared across social media comes from fake news sites, according to Newsguard, a service that rates the credibility and transparency of web news content. Meanwhile, official sources like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) receive only a tiny fraction of the social engagement concerning COVID-19.
The NewsGuard subscription service recently launched a Coronavirus Misinformation Tracking Center that lists websites reporting misleading and outright false information about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19 respiratory illness.
Since launch, its list of websites with false and misleading content related to COVID-19 has grown from 31 sites to over 106 in the US and Europe.
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Data and digital key to coronavirus response
Wednesday, 11 March 2020
eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
The COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity to rapidly deploy digital and data solutions into the health sector, experts say.
Digital technologies can be used to monitor and treat people at home, allow medical staff to work remotely and slow the spread of the virus.
Director-General of health Ashley Bloomfield said at a media standup on March 11 that GPs are already thinking about using technology much more to do consultations, giving the examples of phone calls or Skype.
"This is a really good idea and a good way of keeping in touch with people in self-isolation," he said.
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Sydney hospital trials multilingual wayfinding robot
Easing anxiety and reducing wait times.
Fairfield Hospital in southwest Sydney has introduced a wayfinding robot to make visits to greet patients and visitors and help anxieties and wait times.
Fairfield was chosen to trial the Pepper humanoid robot for the Southwestern Sydney Local Health District and University of Technology Sydney because it falls in one of Australia’s most culturally and linguistically diverse areas, hospital general manager Paul Crowe said.
“The robot is extra-special because it converses in five prevalent languages in south western Sydney – English, Mandarin, Arabic, Vietnamese and Italian,’’ Crowe said.
Pepper, from Softbank Robotics, was programmed with 500,000 lines of code at the University of Technology Sydney’s Magic Lab Centre of Artificial Intelligence to tailor it to Fairfield’s needs and use neural networks for multi-lingual speech analysis.
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App will bring all up to speed on coronavirus outbreak
Health Minister Greg Hunt has announced the development of a coronavirus app to give people the latest news on the disease outbreak and flagged that staff working on the COVID-19 hotline would be bolstered amid concern at call waiting times.
Mr Hunt revealed his department was working on a one-stop shop for the latest updates and advice on how to self-isolate after Labor made its first significant policy intervention by calling for an app to be designed immediately.
Anthony Albanese has been careful to keep in lock-step with Scott Morrison on the handling of the epidemic, only criticising his initial use of Christmas Island as a quarantine zone and engaging in a short political bout over disease response briefings.
But opposition health spokesman Chris Bowen on Tuesday called for an app, more home tests, and a ramped-up coronavirus public information campaign.
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RACGP closes shareGP website, citing lack of interest
After four years, the college says the cost of the social media experiment cannot be justified
13th March 2020
The RACGP is closing its member-only social media website, shareGP, because of a lack of interest from grassroots GPs.
The college unveiled shareGP to great fanfare in September 2016, with then-president Dr Frank Jones saying it was “on a scale unlike anything ever seen for general practice in Australia”.
A college media release publicising the platform predicted it would become a vital service delivering information to the specialty, offering content from guest bloggers and the views of GPs themselves.
“As GPs are the content drivers, they will shape and lead the conversation.”
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Could this Aussie device end period pain forever?
A 27-year-old entrepreneur's company has raised $1.5 million capital for its electrotherapy device, which tackles the pain associated with endometriosis and periods.
Mar 9, 2020 — 12.00pm
Until a year ago entrepreneur Alice Williams didn't know what "VC" meant, had never heard of a "Series A" and did not even realise she was creating a medical device.
What the 27-year-old freelance film production manager was acutely aware of was that 90 per cent of women suffer from period pain and for some, like her, this pain could be completely disabling for up to a week of every month.
Her fledgling company Ovira has just raised $1.5 million from Blackbird Ventures, to help establish its small egg-shaped electrotherapy device in the market, after promising early sales.
When Williams first got her period as a teenager, the symptoms were immediate. Her pain was so bad that she would blackout and vomit, but at the time endometriosis was a condition that flew under the radar and her doctors put her on the contraceptive pill, told her she had chronic fatigue, or depression, and prescribed her pain killers.
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March 10 2020 - 1:21PM
Vic coronavirus hotline crashes, tests up
· Christine McGinn
Victoria's coronavirus help hotlines have crashed due to an influx of calls, as Australia's former federal medical association boss resorts to swabbing patients in a car park.
The state's dedicated COVID-19 phone line and the Nurse-On-Call Hotline have crumbled under the pressure "experiencing system issues due to extraordinary call volumes".
"We thank the community for their patience as we work to increase the capacity of the hotlines - including putting on additional staff," Ambulance Victoria said on Tuesday.
While the phone lines have crashed, one Melbourne doctor has resorted to seeing patients in their cars.
Former Australian Medical Association president Mukesh Haikerwal puts on a moon suit, mask and shoe covers before meeting patients outside his Altona North clinic.
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Robotic arm designed in China could help save lives on medical frontline
Researchers at one of China's top universities have designed a robot they say could help save lives on the frontline during the coronavirus outbreak.
The machine consists of a robotic arm on wheels that can perform ultrasounds, take mouth swabs and listen to sounds made by a patient's organs, usually done with a stethoscope.
Such tasks are normally carried out by doctors in person. But with this robot, which is fitted with cameras, medical personnel do not need to be in the same room as the patient, and could even be in a different city.
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NSW govt pledges to introduce mandatory data breach reporting
By Justin Hendry on Mar 10, 2020 6:55AM
Becomes first state or territory to commit.
NSW is set to become the first state or territory in Australia to force government agencies to report data breaches to affected individuals and the privacy commissioner.
Attorney-General Mark Speakman committed to introducing a mandatory notification data breaches scheme in the state last month after a review found there was “overwhelming public support”.
It comes five years after former privacy commissioner Elizabeth Coombs first called for changes to privacy laws to require state agencies to notify the commission and affected persons.
Under the existing Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act, agencies are not required to report data breaches to the commission or individuals, though they are encouraged to do so.
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Melbourne TAFE data breach exposes 55k student, staff files
Sensitive financial, health data accessed.
The personal information of students and staff from one of Victoria’s largest TAFEs has been accessed in a data breach that exposed more than 50,000 files from held on institute’s IT systems.
Melbourne Polytechnic disclosed the “highly complex” data breach, which occurred sometime between September and December 2018, on Wednesday after extensive forensic analysis.
It said it was notified of the “data theft” in October 2019 following an investigation by Victoria Police and has spent the past months working to determine the extent and scale of the breach.
The individual allegedly responsible for the breach has been charged by police, with a trial expected later this year.
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Monday, 09 March 2020 22:35
Global healthcare sector pressured to transform digitally
Healthcare organisations around the globe are under pressure to drive digital transformation to meet increasing patient care demands, according to a new report which also found that digital transformation significantly impacted cloud implementation across various industry verticals, including in the healthcare sector.
In line with top healthcare IT trends, the report from global enterprise cloud vendor Nutanix revealed that healthcare companies ranked personalised healthcare (52%) and AI assistants (44%) as positively impacting their cloud adoption - with embracing cloud essential for healthcare organisations to deliver the most advanced care.
More than half of healthcare respondents (55%) cited regulations governing data storage as a top factor influencing future cloud model adoption at their organisations.
The report also found that healthcare organisations were marginally less concerned with cost and budget than they were with accelerating IT deployment.
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Friday, 06 March 2020 12:21
Forescout, Medigate partner on medical IoT devices security
Security control solutions provider Forescout Technologies is partnering with medical device security and asset management solution provider Medigate in a move aimed at helping healthcare organisations secure all Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), IoT, operational technology (OT) and IT network connected devices.
Through the new collaboration, the companies say they have developed an integration to bring together Medigate's in-depth IoMT visibility, anomaly detection and lifecycle management capabilities with Forescout’s enterprise device visibility, automated segmentation and incident response capabilities.
The collaboration will also see Forescout resell the Medigate Platform.
“Connected medical devices represent a fast-growing threat attack vector and the lack of device manufacturer standardisation and interoperability has created a significant problem for clinical care network operations,” said Pedro Abreu, chief product and strategy officer, Forescout.
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Bupa to drive automation deeper into ops
Brings several bots online, skills up to find more use cases.
Australian health insurer Bupa has set a strategic objective to embed more artificial intelligence and automation technology into its business operations.
The company said in a statement that it has been ramping up its development and deployment of customer-facing bots since last year.
One of those, the overseas student health cover (OSHC) enrolment bot, had “autonomously processed 22,900 new overseas student enrolments during and outside of business hours” since October 2019.
“This has freed up the international corporate partnerships team to focus on complex issues and enquiries while speeding up the enrolment process for customers,” Bupa said.
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NBN MTM decision could impact Coronavirus eHealth options
Jason Cartwrighton March 12, 2020
Remember when the NBN was going to deliver great internet speeds to 93% of the population? We thanks to the coalition’s decision to go with a mix of technologies, predominantly Fibre-to-the-node, we’re now in 2020 and the quality of internet services is dramatically different based on your postcode.
If the original focus on delivering fibre to the premises (FTTP) had been delivered, we’d be incredibly well positioned right now, to deliver remote health between your Doctor and your home.
Instead the connection quality differs so much, particularly upload speeds, that reliability is a real issue.
Today the Government announced that medical and mental health staff will be allowed to bulk-bill sessions conducted over video conferencing services like FaceTime, Skype and the like as part of the Government’s containment strategy.
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Telstra is coming for NBN customers
Mar 11, 2020 — 3.27pm
Telstra chairman John Mullen has vowed to go head to head with the national broadband network for customers in lucrative city areas, warning that the government-owned wholesale provider could lose a lot of customers.
In comments that will alarm executives at NBN Co, as it closes in on the completion of its initial rollout, Mr Mullen told The Australian Financial Review Business Summit in Sydney that he believed up to 30 per cent of the market could ditch fixed-line internet connections.
He had been asked to clarify earlier remarks made by Telstra chief executive Andy Penn, which had suggested a focus on fixed wireless. This would go against perceptions of a non-compete agreement between Telstra and NBN, that was part of the deal signed to transfer Telstra's assets.
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Wednesday, 11 March 2020 09:24
NBN Co warns against scams
NBN Co has warned that scammers are increasing their efforts to use the NBN brand to steal people’s personal or financial details, with over 180,000 people contacting the builder of the National Broadband Network to report a scam over the six months to December 2019.
Approximately 31% of those calls over the six months came from residents in NSW, 28% from Victoria and 19% from Queensland, with NBNCo’s contact centre receiving an average of 643 enquires a week on suspected scam calls between July and December 2019.
Many contacted residents reported they received an automated call from ‘Nicole at nbn’ with a warning that their services would be disconnected if they didn’t ‘press 1' to speak to a technician - while other popular scams designed to defraud the community include requests to remotely access a computer or laptop to fix an issue with the connection, or help “set -up” or activate services.
NBN Co’s Chief Security Officer, Darren Kane, said the company remains focused on scams prevention and helping people to identify and avoid scammers.
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Monday, 09 March 2020 21:23
SMBs on NBN with wrong broadband plan missing out on full benefits of network
Many small and medium businesses (SMB) on the NBN access network are embracing the cloud to save time and grow, but many think they don’t have the right broadband plan to take full advantage of future opportunities, according to research released by NBN Co and analyst firm Telsyte.
The Telsyte Digital Workplace Study 2020 indicates that businesses on the broadband access network see the biggest benefits to them are broadband availability where none were available previously, improved connectivity for branches, and helping businesses become more competitive.
The survey also revealed the growing penetration of cloud technologies amongst small and medium businesses, while highlighting many of them don’t think they have the right solution to fully meet their requirements in the future.
According to the research, two thirds (64%) of SMBs are now using cloud applications such as virtualised servers, storage, databases, networking and software as a service, but more than half (54%) don’t think their current broadband plan is adequate to support both their current and future cloud needs.
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Enjoy!
David.
