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This weekly blog is to explore the larger issues around Digital Health, data security, data privacy, AI / ML. technology, social media and related matters.
I will also try to highlight ADHA Propaganda when I come upon it.
Just so we keep count, the latest Notes from the ADHA Board are dated 6 December, 2018! Secrecy unconstrained! This is really the behaviour of a federal public agency gone rogue – and it just goes on! When you read this it will be over 16 months of radio silence, and worse, while the CEO, COO and the Chief of Staff have gone, still no change. I wonder will things improve at some point, given the acting CEO seems not to care, as well. I think it is fair to assume no change will come in the foreseeable future.
Note: Appearance here is not to suggest I see any credibility or value in what follows. I will leave it to the reader to decide what is worthwhile and what is not! The point is to let people know what is being said / published that I have come upon.
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GPs call for relaxation of prescribing regulations
A change to legislation would give GPs an interim solution amid the coronavirus crisis, with most consultations likely to become telehealth-based.
26 Mar 2020
‘It is unnecessary, it defeats the principles of social distancing. Our priority now is to stop the spread of the coronavirus and reduce unnecessary exposure and demand on healthcare services.’
Dr Nathan Pinskier, GP and member of the RACGP Expert Committee – Practice Technology and Management (REC–PTM), is referring to the current legislation that requires a paper prescription with a GP’s wet-ink signature as authorisation for pharmacists to dispense medication to patients and claim through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
Despite a number of GPs working remotely, and the majority expected to transition a significant percentage of consultations to a
telehealth format as of next week, as the law stands, patients or carers would still be required to visit a clinic in person to pick up the prescription.
Alternatively, for patients who are in self-isolation or quarantine, doctors would need to eventually send the prescription via post and pharmacists would have to chase them up – time that GPs argue would be better spent responding to needs of patients during the current crisis.
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News
Planned telehealth expansion welcome, but must look beyond doctors alone
23 March 2020
Four leading health organisations have urged the Government to expand telehealth to nurses to reduce COVID-19 infection risks and support care of chronically ill people at home.
Today’s ‘stage 3’ announcement by Health Minister Greg Hunt allows vulnerable general practitioners and health professionals currently authorised to use telehealth item numbers to use telehealth for all consultations with all their patients.
‘Given South Korea has shown how effective telehealth can be in responding to COVID-19, this is most welcome’, Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association Chief Executive Alison Verhoeven said.
‘We also welcome the government’s intention to move to “Stage 4”, involving four doctors organisations in co-designing “best practice expansion of telehealth items for all patients, with or without COVID-19, to see any general practitioner, medical specialist, mental health or allied health professional during the COVID-19 health emergency’.
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Coronavirus: Sacrificing privacy with tracking device ‘is worth it’
· 8:13PM March 26, 2020
Legal and privacy advocates say they’re open to South Korean-style tracking of coronavirus patients, which has helped the country successfully “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 infections.
South Korean ambassador to Australia Baeksoon Lee said his country’s citizens had willingly sacrificed personal privacy to fight the virus, accepting real-time GPS tracking of positive cases by the government and the public.
Mobile phone location data is used by the country’s health authorities to undertake extensive contact tracing of COVID-19 cases, and has been made available for smartphone apps that sound a warning in the vicinity of an infected person or a high-risk location.
Mr Lee said the tracking system had been a key plank in the nation’s coronavirus fight, along with extensive coronavirus testing and South Koreans’ strong sense of social responsibility.
“We shared that information with the public so the public could know where that
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Coronavirus (COVID-19): Understanding your privacy obligations to your staff
18 March 2020
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) appreciates the unprecedented challenges
Australian Government agencies and
private sector employers are facing to address the spread of COVID-19. This guidance is intended to help entities regulated by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) to understand their privacy obligations in the context of the pandemic.
The Privacy Act will not stop critical information sharing. Agencies and private sector employers (including
private health service providers)
[1] have important obligations to maintain a safe workplace for staff and visitors and handle personal information appropriately, and already have practices in place to handle employee health information. For private sector employers, the
employee records exemption will apply in many instances to permit the handling of employee health information.
[2]
In order to manage the pandemic while respecting privacy, agencies and private sector employers should aim to limit the collection, use and disclosure of personal information to what is necessary to prevent and manage COVID-19, and take reasonable steps to keep personal information secure.
Regulated entities should also consider whether any changes to working arrangements will impact on the handling of personal information, assess any potential privacy risks and put in place appropriate mitigation strategies as part of Business Continuity Planning.
Key points
- Personal information should be used or disclosed on a ‘need-to-know’ basis
- Only the minimum amount of personal information reasonably necessary to prevent or manage COVID-19 should be collected, used or disclosed
- Consider taking steps now to notify staff of how their personal information will be handled in responding to any potential or confirmed case of COVID-19 in the workplace
- Ensure reasonable steps are in place to keep personal information secure, including where employees are working remotely.
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Report by Atlas VPN finds more than 300,000 suspicious coronavirus-themed websites as phishing goes rampant
· March 27, 2020
Researchers have discovered more than 300,000 suspicious coronavirus-themed websites as part of an alarming 350 per cent increase in phishing websites.
The report, based on data gathered by Atlas VPN, has found that cybercriminals have been using innocent looking malware-infected COVID-19 maps to attempt to gain access to people’s data.
“Now hackers are taking it even further by building scam websites and tricking people into purchasing fake cures, supplements, and vaccines,” it says.
Cybercriminals use phishing to gather personal information using deceptive e-mails or, in this case, websites, and highlights the danger of internet browsing during the pandemic.
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Cyber crime threat advice updated over coronavirus scams
March 27, 2020 — 9.34am
Australia's cyber security body will updated its threat advice in a bid to stop hackers using the outbreak of COVID-19 to send fake emails and texts to infect computers and networks with malware and steal user information.
The upturn in "phishing" emails and SMS messages with coronavirus-related titles comes as the Morrison government will overhaul its long-awaited cyber security strategy to take into account the threats of COVID-19.
There is also growing concern from cyber experts about work-from-home arrangements giving cyber criminals the opportunity to access the computer networks of government departments and large companies.
The coronavirus emails and text messages are offering advice and information on detection which are embedded with malicious links or documents, which when clicked or opened unleash remote access trojans giving hackers control of a computer, phone or network.
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'Digital divide': 2.5 million Australians isolated with no internet connection
March 27, 2020 — 10.05am
A coalition of major community organisations has called for urgent efforts to help the 2.5 million Australians not connected to the internet as the country turns to online education, remote work and telehealth during the COVID-19 crisis.
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, Australian Council of Social Service, Choice, Anglicare, Smith Family and almost 30 other groups have written to Communications Minister Paul Fletcher warning people without internet connections and technology face an "alarming escalation of the digital divide".
Telehealth and other internet-based services are in demand during the COVID-19 crisis.
Praising the economic support packages announced by the government so far, the groups said more was needed for the many low income and remote households "who will remain isolated and struggle in these circumstances due to barriers in accessing communications services and equipment".
The pre-existing problem is heightened during the pandemic, the groups warned, hindering access to government services, children trying to undertake online education and people needing access to telehealth services.
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Thursday, 26 March 2020 13:49
ACS responds to COVID-19 with home working tips for small business
The Australian Computer Society has released a top 10 list of tips for small businesses wanting to work from home during the COVID-19 crisis.
The ACS says its fact sheet containing
tips for businesses that do not have a history of working from home provides SMBs with the basic steps required to maximise working from home arrangements over a three-month timeline.
ACS President Dr Ian Oppermann said “Following the meeting of the National Cabinet yesterday, the advice has been unequivocal – businesses are strongly encouraged to work from home where you can do that.”
“Public health must be our primary objective in combating COVID-19. The secondary objective after must be keeping the economy strong and consequently to save jobs. Any loss of skills, capacity or capability from the Australian economy will lead to a slowdown coming out of the current economic volatility, and that will impact living standards.
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Navigating cybersecurity in a work from home environment
COVID-19 represents an unprecedented challenge to business. Most of corporate Australia is now operating remotely in line with 'work from home procedures' and a business continuity plan. However, with remote working comes inherent cybersecurity risks and potential data breaches. Below we outline some steps you can take today to safely navigate your company through this time.
Cyber risks are increasing
Cybersecurity incidents affect approximately 1 in 3 Australians and cost businesses $29 billion per year.1
With the advent of COVID-19, cybercriminals have been capitalising on public fear surrounding the pandemic in a number of phishing scams. The scams have been using trusted brands such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Australian Government Department of Health, and the U.S. Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) to send 'phishing lures' in emails and online messaging platforms.
In light of these increased risks, timely consideration needs to be given to the strategies a company has in place to mitigate cybersecurity threats.
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Cyber security volunteers protect Australian healthcare in COVID-19 crisis
Inspired by a UK effort, the Australian cyber security professionals will help healthcare organisations and small charities in Australia and New Zealand.
CSO | 26 March 2020 6:00 AEDT
Cyber security professionals in Australia are coming together and volunteering their services to protect health facilities and small charities from cyber attack during the COVID-19 crisis.
The group, Cyber Volunteers-19 Australia, has been formed in response to a call to action from the founders of the UK’s
CV19 group, created for the same purpose by prominent cyber security professional Lisa Forte, a partner at Red Goat Cyber Security.
The founder of the Australian group is Louisa Vogelenzang, associate managing director for data breach and identity theft a global cyber risk firm Kroll. She told Computerworld Australia, “I saw Lisa’s LinkedIn post and so did Dan Goldberg [principal partner at cyber security advisory firm Cybza]. We shared it and said, ‘Let's get something started in Australia’. Then we connected to each other and we brought onboard another couple of people: Gareth Willis [director of Cognitive Security] based out of Hobart, and Jacqui Loustau, founder of the Australian Women in Security Network.”
A closed group had been set up on LinkedIn where cyber security professionals can express interest in joining the group, and there’s
a public page to keep people updated on the group’s progress and activities.
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Security tips for working from home
The rapid spread of COVID-19 has resulted in an unprecedented global crisis. Many companies are encouraging, or enforcing, employees to work from home, so as to reduce the impact of the spread of COVID-19. A number of these decisions are being made quickly, with a focus on the health and well-being for all staff members, clients, and the public at large.
This quick response to a rapidly changing situation may leave organisations at risk of security vulnerabilities. Security obligations are not suspended during these times of crisis!
This article sets out some security tips for working from home.
Only take home the essentials
Taking home hard copies of confidential or other sensitive information should be avoided. If it is necessary (and permitted by your security requirements!) to take this information home, ensure it is protected by appropriate safeguards (e.g. in a locked drawer, with yourself as the only keyholder).
This principle should apply to all important documents – ensure any irreplaceable documents (like originals) are kept away from pets, artistic toddlers, and muddy shoes.
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Mind that Zoom in the work-from-home boom
Mar 24, 2020 – 6.27pm
On March 19, Google search interest in Australia for the term "Zoom" hit peak popularity, as organisations across the country sent more staff to work from home where possible to encourage social distancing practices to help contain the spread of COVID-19.
And while The New York Times declared just last week that "We Live In Zoom Now", Australian National University Cyber Institute research fellow James Mortensen told The Australian Financial Review that Zoom was not his first choice when it came to secure, private video-conferencing software.
"Given the huge rise in the use of Zoom, and the sort of data Zoom collects, basically, uninhibited speech and video, because our legal framework around privacy is so poor, we're about to create a new animal," Mr Mortensen said.
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The trouble with Zoom
Video conferences are now king. But a popular technology could be putting corporate privacy at risk with little power to prevent it.
Mar 24, 2020 – 4.47pm
As businesses grind to a halt, markets fall and bottom lines plummet as a result of COVID-19 containment measures, there remain a few winners: pharmaceutical companies, medical suppliers and toilet paper mills all come to mind.
Another big winner is Zoom, the online meeting technology used by many of Australia’s big businesses, government departments and universities. As working remotely from home or in smaller groups becomes the norm in these virus-hit times, Zoom has quickly seemed indispensable. But serious and unresolved issues around its security, privacy and data use may mean that the cost of using the platform could be higher than most realise.
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Recent My Health Record system upgrade - enhances to setting security controls, advance care planning and medicines view
23 March 2020 ADHA Propaganda
The latest My Health Record system upgrade on 13-14 March aims to improve usability for consumers and healthcare providers. It enables easier setup of security controls, treatment needs made known, and help avoiding issues relating to medicines.
We have seen the important role My Health Record has played in large scale crises such as Queensland floods and the recent bushfires, where pharmacists and hospital staff have relied on information in the My Health Record to provide care and foresee the important role it will play for future crises.
Read the Australian Digital Health Agency's media release
here.
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Privacy in the Time of COVID-19: Australia
Nothing can stop us from talking about privacy, including a pandemic! Today, the Australian Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) issued
guidance on the collection, use and disclosure of personal information during the COVID-19 pandemic (Guidance).
It mainly serves as a reminder to organisations that even in these pressing times, they must comply with the Australian privacy regime. However, it also highlights what organisations can collect and do with personal information for the purposes of preventing and managing the spread of COVID-19.
Our key takeaways highlight what organisations can collect and what they then can do with the information. These include:
Primary purpose of collection – organisations can collect personal information, including sensitive health information, from their employees or visitors and then use or disclose it if the use or disclosure is related to the primary purpose of collection. In these circumstances, organisations collecting health information for the purpose of preventing or managing the risk and/or reality of COVID-19 can use and disclose that information to ensure that necessary precautions are adopted in relation to that individual and any other individuals.
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24 March 2020
E-scripts for isolated patients will happen sooner not later, says MSIA and government
A fully operational token based e-script system could be up in less than eight weeks, albeit, likely only for about 60% of GPs, according to the CEO of the Medical Software Industry Association (MSIA) of Australia, Emma Hossack.
This flies in the face of recent speculation that the eight-week time frame being pushed by the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) with the major patient management system and dispensing vendors was neither logistically nor financially feasible given other issues during the current COVID-19 crisis.
However, Ms Hossack told The Medical Republic this morning that some vendors were a lot more advanced than others, and the timeframe that was being dismissed by many a week ago as a pipedream, is a lot closer for some vendors than many people think.
The e-script project is a paperless and secure cloud and mobile solution for patients, doctors and pharmacists, driven by a token system which exchanges between the PMS and dispensing vendors and the existing Rx exchanges, eRx and Medisecure. If it was running then patients in isolation would not need to leave home to get scripts.
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Can 3D printing algorithms save lives from coronavirus?
24th March 2020
But it has been suggested that at least 10 patients were saved, thanks to 3D printing.
The technology is usually sold as a cheap way of producing custom prosthetics or splints, with machines creating plastic objects to order, based on computer-specified designs.
But last month, a hospital in northern Italy, where the coronavirus outbreak was at its most severe, ran out of valves for oxygen masks.
With 250 patients in intensive care with COVID-19 complications, and no new supplies imminent, the day was saved by local 3D printing engineers who collected a used valve from the hospital and, within three hours, wrote a computer algorithm for its replication.
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Tuesday, 24 March 2020 12:15
As more people work from home, Telstra's Penn makes silly plea
In the midst of any national crisis, it is common to find people who want to make themselves heard somehow, even if they can only do so by making the most stupid statements possible. That is clearly the case with the utterance issued by Telstra chief executive Andrew Penn who has called on Australians to be more mindful of how they use the Internet.
Let this sink in: Penn's words of wisdom were uttered more than a week after a goodly portion of the country's workers were asked to go home and work from there. Exactly how they would work without using the Internet is unknown to me; perhaps Penn has an answer to that.
This garbage was dressed up as an exclusive and
printed in
The Australian. And the man behind it was no less a person than the publication's technology editor, David Swan.
Penn's logic (??) was that just as people were asked to moderate their behaviour in supermarkets and not indulge in panic buying, Internet users should lessen their impact on the network.
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Telstra plea to reduce internet use
· March 24, 2020
Telstra chief executive Andy Penn has called on Australians to be more mindful of how they use the internet as pressure mounts on the country's telecommunications infrastructure.
Speaking exclusively to The Australian, Mr Penn said that just as panicked shoppers had to monitor their behaviour, internet users should take steps to lessen their impact on the internet.
“This is an unprecedented situation that we’re all going through. and it’s going to require all of us to make some changes, adapt our behaviour and make a contribution to getting through this, as successfully as we possibly can,” he said.
“What would be helpful is as users, we can actually find ways to actually help.”
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23 March, 2020. ADHA Propaganda
The current MyGov outage is not affecting healthcare providers' access to My Health Record.
Now more than ever, it is important that your health information is available to healthcare providers if needed.
For more information on digital health, visit digitalhealth.gov.au
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Start-ups have the agility to survive then thrive in virus chaos
Tech entrepreneurs are seeing the COVID-19 devastation at close hand already, but know that downturns can also produce a new wave of business models and IP.
Mar 23, 2020 – 1.00pm
As a founder and chief executive of a tech start-up, I knowingly signed up for the highs and lows of navigating a small business through an unpredictable and ever-changing landscape. And I’ve had my share of both.
I founded my first start-up shortly before the 2000 dotcom bubble burst and charted it through that period as well as the subsequent global financial crisis in 2007, finally exiting the business in 2010.
However, over the course of my entrepreneurial career, I’ve never had to lead through a crisis that came as unexpectedly, rapidly and impactfully as COVID19.
First, let me share some context. My current company, Local Measure, provides customer experience and customer engagement solutions predominantly in the tourism, leisure and retail verticals. We operate globally and have team members in 6 countries.
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Seven big COVID-19 driven digital health innovations already up
March 23, 2020 Jeremy Knibbs
COVID-19 distress has let our GPs, software vendors, pharma companies and government to be suddenly move oceans and more innovative and pragmatic about how they deliver services
There’s nothing like a crisis to get humans thinking harder and co-operating more effectively for the greater good. Hardship breeds innovation.
So for all the awful downside of the COVID-19 crisis, one silver lining is that there has probably never been a time in recent history when the digital healthcare community has come together to solve complex issues of patient care more effectively than now.
Individual GPs, all the governments, software vendors, the colleges, service providers, GP corporates and the pharmaceutical industry are all rapidly innovating, and co-operating like never before to expedite more effective systems to manage the crisis.
Following are just some of the innovations and examples of co-operation that have emerged in the last few weeks, all of which are likely to have a long-lasting effect on the efficiency of our healthcare system.
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Comments more than welcome!
David.
