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This weekly blog is to explore the news around 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 still dated 6 December, 2018! How pathetic is that for transparency? Secrecy unconstrained!
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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How did the Covidsafe app go from being vital to almost irrelevant?
The PM told Australians in April the contact tracing app was key to getting back to normal but just one person has been identified using its data
Sun 24 May 2020 06.00 AEST Last modified on Sun 24 May 2020 06.01 AEST
It was sold as the key to unlocking restrictions – like sunscreen to protect Australians from Covid-19 – but as the country begins to open up, the role of the Covidsafe app in the recovery seems to have dropped to marginal at best.
“This is an important protection for a Covid-safe Australia,” the prime minister, Scott Morrison, said in late April. “I would liken it to the fact that if you want to go outside when the sun is shining, you have got to put sunscreen on.”
“This is the same thing … If you want to return to a more liberated economy and society, it is important that we get increased numbers of downloads when it comes to the Covidsafe app … This is the ticket to ensuring that we can have eased restrictions.”
The health minister, Greg Hunt, tweeted that it was the key to being allowed to go back to watching football.
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23 May 2020
No snapback for GPs; RACGP’s decade defining month
Posted by Jeremy Knibbs
This week in COVID looks at the likely path for GP recovery given some new survey data from April on revenue and consults and the upcoming RACGP dilemma of their president changeover with a new CEO due soon
If you’re wondering how your fellow GP fraternity are faring during COVID-19, and where you might sit in a spectrum that seems to stretch from imminent bankruptcy to increased business year on year (and what’s the problem here), you probably aren’t alone.
While several surveys that are statistically significant suggest that more than 50% of practices are undergoing severe financial stress – a sustained revenue drop of more than 30% – neither MBS data, nor data emerging from several practice financial aggregator systems are suggesting so far that such stress exists.
There are several factors – flu vaccine timing, increased PIP payments, and some early JobKeeper and other government grants – which are blurring the picture here, but it seems unlikely that April’s MBS data will continue to show that there has been little impact on the sector. That data should be available this week and will likely start to confirm just how hard GPs are being hit.
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4 tips on breaking bad news using telehealth
Doctors share strategies for having difficult conversations by phone or video in COVID-19 era
22nd May 2020
One year ago, a doctor made headlines around the world for telling a man that his lung condition was terminal — via a computer link.
The device was rolled to the man’s bedside, and the 78-year-old heard the news that he was dying via a screen-based message from his doctor.
The man died the next day and his family, deeply unhappy with the experience, released footage of the interaction to the press, and headlines such as ‘'Robot doctor' used to deliver bad news to patient’ appeared.
However, as two doctors write in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the COVID-19 pandemic has made telehealth communications more commonplace, with doctors now delivering even the most difficult news via telephone or video.
Dr Ashwin Kotwal and Dr Lynn Flint, both geriatricians of the University of California, US, have shared strategies they’ve found useful in using telehealth for working with rural patients, in a time of coronavirus.
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Before you press play...
Kids love YouTube. But the sophisticated algorithm feeding their attention should give parents second thoughts.
By Richard Godwin
· From The Weekend Australian Magazine
May 23, 2020
I experienced my first full-on moral panic as a parent thanks to a hypnotically inane toy channel on YouTube. My son, Teddy, was coming up to his third birthday, and like a lot of boys that age he’d developed an obsession with Thomas the Tank Engine. Naturally I turned to Google to feed that obsession. A simple search directed me to the old episodes narrated by Ringo Starr that I enjoyed as a boy. They were freely available on YouTube. So I did what millions of parents across the world have been doing since the lockdown deprived us of professional childcare: I propped up the iPad, thanked my lucky algorithms and enjoyed the luxury of a few moments’ peace.
Teddy liked Thomas – at least at first. But he liked something that he called “Silly Thomas” a lot more. This was, as far as I could see, just some guy who had bought lots of plastic Thomas toys and created his own homemade adventures. It looked rubbish to me. But given the choice, Teddy would go for Silly Thomas every time.
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'Sweep it under the carpet': Health tech cyber threats loom
By Emma Koehn
May 22, 2020 — 12.00am
Cyber security experts are warning that Australia’s digital healthcare networks are not as secure as they should be and are under threat of cyber attacks as the nation becomes increasingly reliant on remote services after the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Historically in the health sector, when it comes to security and privacy many have been under-funded," said chief executive of security tracking firm LMNTRIX, Carlo Minassian.
Telehealth and other internet-based services are in demand during the COVID-19 crisis.
Mr Minassian warned Australia must develop clearer guidelines for minimum security standards for digital healthcare, saying that even though telehealth platform providers had safety front of mind, many practitioners have below-standard security on their own laptops and devices.
"They are working from home offices or spaces with very limited security in place," he said.
Over the past two weeks high-profile cyber attacks at transport giant Toll Holdings and miner BlueScope Steel have prompted experts to warn the health sector will be next.
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'You’re being watched and recorded, every breath': Students unsettled by exam software
By Natassia Chrysanthos
May 22, 2020 — 12.01am
Turn on your webcam, enable your microphone and share your computer screen, an anonymous voice told university student Emily Johnston as she sat her first online exam from her bedroom.
Don't look away from your screen for too long, in case artificial intelligence scans your face and registers suspicious behaviour. Any noise or movement you make will be recorded, reviewed and stored for two years.
Many university students have been unsettled by proctoring software being used to invigilate their online exams during the coronavirus pandemic.
Ms Johnston watched with discomfort as her cursor moved around her screen, controlled by someone on the other side of the world. They closed her tabs, accessed her computer and disabled the screenshot function.
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Australia could lose its quantum computing lead, CSIRO warns
May 22, 2020 – 7.56am
Australia could have a quantum technology industry conservatively worth $4 billion a year, on par with the wool and wheat industries, but the government needs to develop a co-ordinated, national strategy to ensure that the nation's early lead in the emerging science is not squandered, the CSIRO has warned.
The national science agency has called on the government to make long-term commitments to help take quantum computing and related technologies out of the research phase – where Australia has already established a leadership position at institutions such as the University of Sydney, the ANU and the University of NSW – and into the commercialisation phase, where Australia has an unfortunate track record of letting technology leadership slip through its fingers.
Quantum computers harness the seemingly strange properties of atomic and sub-atomic particles to make computations that are impossible for ordinary supercomputers to make in a useful timeframe. A calculation that might take 1000 years on classical computer, if it can be performed at all, might be done on a quantum computer in minutes or hours, opening up new possibilities in fields such as pharmaceutical development, finance, engineering and artificial intelligence.
Globally, quantum computers and related technology could create an $86-billion-a-year industry by 2040, and Australia could have a share of that which would create 16,000 jobs and be worth at least $4 billion, CSIRO Futures, the science, technology and economic arm of the CSIRO, estimates in a report issued on Friday.
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Pawsey to install quantum-emulator at supercomputing centre
By Matt Johnston on May 22, 2020 12:43PM
Developing quantum capability with Canberra’s Quantum Brilliance.
The Pawsey Supercomputing Centre is taking a stake in the race to develop quantum computing capabilities by partnering with Canberra based company Quantum Brilliance.
Pawsey staff will establish an expertise in quantum computing systems through the partnership, before installing and providing access to a quantum emulator at its supercomputing centres.
Ugo Varetto, chief technology officer at Pawsey, said the partnership will help ensure the research community has access to the best possible service.
“We are looking forward to exploring how quantum computing can contribute to solving grand challenges alongside existing and future high-performance computing systems,” he said.
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RACGP cautions against use of ‘pop-up’ telehealth services
The college is reminding patients to continue the relationship with their regular GP instead of relying on corporate telehealth services.
21 May 2020
‘Ensuring continuity of care is vital in achieving the highest possible standard of primary care. If you can get to know your own GP that is ideal.
‘An ongoing GP–patient relationship is critical to delivering patient-centred, comprehensive and coordinated care.’
RACGP President Dr Harry Nespolon is discussing the importance of maintaining clinical relationships amid concerns of fragmentation of care from new corporate telehealth services.
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen the introduction of government-subsidised Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) items expanding patient access to telehealth and telephone services.
‘An ongoing GP–patient relationship is critical to delivering patient-centred, comprehensive and coordinated care.’
RACGP President Dr Harry Nespolon is discussing the importance of maintaining clinical relationships amid concerns of fragmentation of care from new corporate telehealth services.
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen the introduction of government-subsidised Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) items expanding patient access to telehealth and telephone services.
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Thursday, 21 May 2020 11:22
New Australian law will give Americans access to encrypted info: expert
Information that Australian law enforcement authorities collate using the country's 2018 encryption laws will be freely available to their US counterparts under the provisions of a new law which is currently the subject of a parliamentary inquiry, a legal expert says.
Helaine Leggat, managing partner of law firm ICT Legal Consulting Australia, told iTWire in response to queries that the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (International Production Orders) Bill No. XX 2020 — legislation that seeks alignment with the US CLOUD (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data) Act so that Australian agencies can gain faster access to information than through the mutual exchange process — was also intended to amend the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Act 2018, or TOLA Act – which in common parlance is the encryption law passed in 2018.
"The extra-territorial reach of TOLA means that it will ease access to encrypted data and work hand-in hand with the CLOUD Act to facilitate access to electronic data held by 'communications-service providers'", Leggat said.
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Coronavirus: We need our own virus rule book as we exit lockdown
We have the Prime Minister’s rules and the Premiers’ rules on coronavirus restrictions, but there’s another rule book in the making.
It’s Chris’s rules: my personal dos and don’ts for avoiding the virus out and about. My rules don’t contradict public health advice, but add to it. They are for me and no one else.
We’re entering a new phase. As the lockdown unravels, it becomes desirable for older and medically vulnerable people to adopt measures that are tougher than relaxed government demands.
The government’s aim is to finely balance minimising coronavirus with reviving the economy, but for many, the imperative remains to never contract COVID-19 and never be at its mercy should it spread to air passages and lungs.
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The robots-are-taking-our-jobs threat gets real in the pandemic
By Anjani Trivedi
May 21, 2020 — 10.14am
If there was ever a good time for the robots-taking-over-jobs argument, this may be it. Not just because factory owners don't want to pay for rising labour costs, but because workers don't want to gather every day in petri dishes.
Chinese manufacturing is facing a challenge since employees returned to production lines: keeping them on the job. Some companies reported a 90 per cent turnover in workforce after the economy started reopening in March, compared to 25 per cent to 30 per cent in a normal, pre-coronavirus year.
Such spikes are expected worldwide as lockdowns ease. The pandemic has made "humans the risk to continued operations" in supply chains, note analysts from Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Leave aside how businesses reopen. The bigger question is, how will they be thinking about the future of their factories?
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App rewrites the rules for government services
May 21, 2020 – 12.01am
Things work fast in government when the Prime Minister wants something.
Four weeks after Scott Morrison expressed interest in a Singaporean contact tracing app in a teleconference with the Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Australia's COVIDSafe app was launched.
Singapore was being cited at the time as a model response to the virus and had just launched its tracing app. It used mobile phone Bluetooth signals to identify possible close contacts during the infection period.
With case infections surging, health officials were confronted with how to scale up traditional manual contact tracing — so-called disease detectives — to stop the runaway transmission then emerging in Europe.
The top end of the federal public service was primed and ready to act as one. Dogged by previous high-profile digital failures, cyber missteps and infrastructure delays, a very different approach was ordered.
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18 May 2020
Patients Embrace Telehealth – Covid-19 Reforms Must Be Made Permanent
Australian patients are overwhelmingly embracing telehealth as an important part of their health care management, making a very strong case for the Government to make the COVID-19 telehealth reforms a permanent feature of our health system.
AMA President, Dr Tony Bartone, said today that the AMA has been a strong telehealth advocate for many years and is delighted that patients are now reaping the benefits.
Dr Bartone said that around 10 million Medicare-funded telehealth services have been provided, either over the phone or via video, a significant majority of which have been provided by GPs and other specialists since the Medicare telehealth items were introduced in March.
“Telehealth is the norm in many parts of the world, providing patients with a convenient option to access care where they don’t need a physical examination,” Dr Bartone said.
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AMA warns of ‘opportunistic’ telehealth models
As doctors call for telehealth provisions to become permanent, pharmacy stakeholders have some concerns: remuneration for pharmacies, and whether takeup is being quantified
The Australian Medical Association says that Australian patients are “overwhelmingly” embracing telehealth, and called for the recent reforms to be made permanent after the COVID-19 pandemic.
AMA president Dr Tony Bartone says such a permanent system should follow the “proven” approach of building it around the relationship between a usual GP and a patient.
“One suggested approach is to allow GPs or general practices to allow patients to voluntarily nominate a GP and/or a practice in order to be able to access telehealth services from their GP once the current interim telehealth arrangements are due to end,” he said.
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Electronic Prescribing Update for Prescribers
Electronic prescriptions provides an option for prescribers, dispensers and their patients to have a digital prescription as an alternative to a paper prescription. The session will cover an overview of the roadmap for electronic prescriptions including core features and benefits and how it may be used in routine practice. There will also be an opportunity for a Q&A
Wed 27 May
When
6:30pm - 8:00pm,
Wednesday 27th May 2020
6:30pm - 8:00pm,
Wednesday 27th May 2020
Where Webinar
Organiser Australian Digital Health Agency
CPD Points Available? No
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https://www.governmentnews.com.au/type_contributors/trust-in-healthcare-data-is-at-an-all-time-high/
Trust in healthcare data is at an all time high
17 May, 2020
COVID-19 has increased public confidence in healthcare data, writes Peter Cronin.
Talks of ‘flattening the curve’ have occurred in almost every household now thanks to the COVID pandemic but prior to this, the last time healthcare data was even close to being discussed at the dinner table was when criticism emerged over MyHealthRecord, writes Dr Peter Cronin.
Thankfully, Australia appears to be over the worst of COVID-19’s primary impact but the emergence of the second and third wave impacts are still hitting the nation hard. For example, there are now huge concerns around the delays in elective surgery, the 60 per cent reduction in patients presenting for routine pathology tests and the 30 per cent reduction in GP consultations. These trends need correcting rapidly and data analytics will have a huge role to play in monitoring these trends.
The short and long term collateral damage to other health conditions could be the real tragedy of this virus and so our nation’s healthcare system needs to plan accordingly. And, now that the general public understands why it is that we need healthcare data, this is going to have a huge impact on how future policy making will improve our health.
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Top health official issues telehealth warning after his GP 'chatbot' consult
A GP registrar has reportedly retracted their $74 MBS claim for the four-minute, 48-second consult
19th May 2020
A top health bureaucrat has told telehealth corporates their future is on trial after he had “a four-question chatbot-type exchange” with a GP who then billed a level C.
Shane Solomon is chair of the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority, which advises the Federal Government on funding for public hospitals.
But last week he took to social media about his experience with GP telehealth, having booked a consult via Medinet — an app part-owned by the founder of MyHealth Medical Centres — which he said was no different to using a "vending machine".
He said the consultation was conducted entirely via instant messages, culminating in a script being sent to him electronically.
It took four minutes and 48 seconds from start to finish, he claimed, and involved no communication with the doctor via phone or video.
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Tuesday, 19 May 2020 10:11
ACCC seeks input to develop code for digital firms to pay for news
The Australian competition watchdog has called for input from the public as it looks to develop a draft mandatory code that will prescribe what digital companies like Facebook and Google should pay for the use of Australian news content.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission was tasked with creating the code on 20 April by the government, which brought forward its timetable for such a code by about five months.
The ACCC conducted an inquiry in 2018 and released the results to the government in June last year. The findings were made public in July.
At that time, the government said it would give its response by the end of the year; the shape of that was to ask the ACCC to work along with digital platforms like Facebook and Google to develop a voluntary code so that publishers were not disadvantaged.
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19 May 2020
A chance to pitch your medtech idea
Posted by Sponsored
Pen CS Medtech Pitch Night, hosted with Fishburners, is an initiative designed to support data-driven improvement in general practice.
This event provides the chance for innovative technology applications to receive support for distribution and engagement in general practice. It is open to all Australian companies who meet eligibility criteria, data governance requirements and clinical guidelines.
“The primary goal of clinical decision support is to improve patient outcomes, increase provider satisfaction, optimise general practice workflow and serve affordable care, using data-driven improvement,” said Managing Director Edweana Wenkart.
“The Pitch Night will showcase a selection of applications which will be viewed by a judging panel.”
Event Details
The Pen CS Medtech Pitch Night will be held virtually online at 5pm on Friday 19th June 2020 via Zoom. Submit your application by 29th May 2020 to be considered.
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Big Tech’s viral boom could be its undoing
The tech industry might seem unstoppable in the coronavirus crisis, but ultimately it will be curbed.
May 18, 2020 – 11.22am
Contact apps that trace where we have been and who we have touched; software that tells bosses how hard we’re working from home; face masks that light up to show whether we have a virus. These are just a few of the technologies being deployed to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Surveillance capitalism was a dirty phrase before coronavirus hit. Now, it seems to be business as usual, something investors are pricing into share valuations, as information technology has grown to represent a quarter of the value of the S&P 500. But although the “techlash” now seems a thing of the past, the very success of the digital giants and their role in virus-fighting may eventually prove their undoing.
The conventional wisdom is that Big Tech will emerge far bigger and more powerful than ever once the pandemic is over. Amazon is unquestionably the world’s most essential retailer, hiring 100,000 extra staff to manage its quarantine-related demand surge.
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Public Hearing: Cyber resilience and defence major projects
House of Representatives
The Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit will be holding a public hearing for its Inquiry into Cyber Resilience, based on Auditor-General’s Report No. 13 (2019-20), Implementation of the My Health Record System, and Report No. 1 (2019-20), Cyber Resilience of Government Business Enterprises and Corporate Commonwealth Entities.
The public hearing is scheduled for TUESDAY, 19 MAY 2020.
The Committee will also be holding public hearings for its Inquiry into the Defence Major Projects report, Auditor-General’s Report No. 19 (2018-19), and Auditor-General’s Report No. 22 (2019–20), Future Submarine Program—Transition to Design.
The public hearings are scheduled for the following dates:
– WEDNESDAY, 20 MAY 2020, which will consider in detail Auditor-General’s Report No. 22 (2019-20) and related matters
– WEDNESDAY, 27 MAY 2020, which will examine Auditor-General’s Report No. 19 (2019-20) and related matters
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Recent cyber attacks just the tip of the iceberg for Australia
Toll Group, BlueScope and Service NSW have all fallen victim to cyber criminals in recent days. The government and industry need to sharpen their response.
Alastair MacGibbon Contributor
May 18, 2020 – 1.00pm
In a year already marred by natural and biological crises, cyber security failures remain a critical threat.
Government agencies and big Australian companies have fallen victim to cyber attacks with unprecedented visibility.
Industry and government need to understand why we are more exposed, what we can learn from recent national security events, and how to build a more cyber-resilient nation.
The increased reporting of cyber incidents among big Australian companies has been noticeable. Toll Group, the Melbourne based global logistics company, has been hit twice by ransomware attacks, in January by MailTo and last week by Nefilim.
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Special Report Future of AI and Digital Healthcare
In this joint commission from The Lancet and Financial Times, we explore how AI and other digital advancements are being harnessed to improve healthcare in the world’s poorest regions
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https://www.afr.com/technology/keeping-an-eye-on-the-elderly-leave-it-to-the-sensors-20200514-p54svr
Keeping an eye on the elderly? Leave it to the sensors
Whether you're caring for an isolated parent – or just worried about your own chances of being found alive after a fall – this new monitoring system could help.
May 18, 2020 – 10.11am
If I find myself lying at the bottom of my stairs, crumpled from a fall and unable to move, my fervent hope is that it happens on a Monday.
On a Monday, I have a regular deadline that I have not missed in 20 years. If I become incapacitated at home on a Monday, there's a very decent chance my editor would notice, and raise the alarm.
If I fall on a Tuesday, I'm a dead man. People might wonder why I'm not answering the phone, but in all likelihood, my body won't be found till the following Monday.
Thursday I also have a regular deadline (for this review, in fact), but it's a flexible deadline and experience tells me it would also be Monday before that editor took any action. (Note to editor: in future please call the police if I don't file by Friday evening.)
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Telehealth services shaping healthcare delivery beyond COVID-19
14 May, 2020
The delivery of healthcare at a distance, using information communications technology (telehealth) can be used to connect and provide patient care, assessments, education and supervision. It has traditionally been associated with overcoming barriers to health service provision in rural and regional areas, for primary care and as a means of supporting the ‘hospital in the home’ initiatives for hospital-admitted patients or managing a patient’s ongoing care after discharge from hospital. However, in order to enable social distancing, the federal government recently introduced new Medicare items during the COVID-19 pandemic to fund telehealth services for patients in metropolitan parts of the country. Private health insurers have also recognised the provision of allied health services such as tele-physiotherapy and the provision of treatment outside of the hospital setting. These are important developments in the use of telehealth services that may change community expectations about how healthcare can and should be delivered in the future. However, it remains to be seen whether public and private funding of telehealth services will be implemented permanently after the pandemic is over.
New Medicare rebates for telehealth and telephone attendances
On 13 March 2020, temporary telehealth items were included onto the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) to allow people to access essential Medicare funded health services via videoconference or telephone while in isolation in their homes and reduce the risk of community exposure to COVID-19. These items are specified in the Health Insurance (Section 3C General Medical Services – COVID-19 Telehealth and Telephone Attendances) Determination 2020 and will only be available until 30 September 2020.
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‘Dr Google’ wrong more often than not
New research has found people who check their symptoms online only receive correct medical advice about a third of the time.
Researchers believe a lack of government regulation and data assurance are major issues affecting the quality of online symptom checkers.
18 May 2020
The study, conducted by Edith Cowan University (ECU) researchers, analysed 36 international mobile and web-based symptom checkers and found they produced a correct diagnosis as the first result just 36% of the time, and within the top three results only 52% of the time.
The research also found that the advice provided regarding when and where to seek healthcare was accurate less than half the time.
Nearly 40% of Australians look for online health information to self-treat medical issues, and it is estimated there are approximately 70,000 health-related searches on Google every minute.
Lead study author and ECU masters student Michella Hill said the findings should give people pause for thought.
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The research also found that the advice provided regarding when and where to seek healthcare was accurate less than half the time.
Nearly 40% of Australians look for online health information to self-treat medical issues, and it is estimated there are approximately 70,000 health-related searches on Google every minute.
Lead study author and ECU masters student Michella Hill said the findings should give people pause for thought.
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Info from 'Dr Google' poses risk: study
About 40 per cent of Australians turn to “Dr Google” for advice but get the correct diagnosis as the first result just 36 per cent of the time, a study shows.
Ashlea Witoslawski
Australian Associated Press May 18, 202012:05am
Health treatments and diagnosis from the comfort of home are becoming more prevalent in Australia and although at-home treatment is leading to fewer hospital readmissions and deaths, initial diagnoses made online can be risky, new studies have found.
New research published in the Medical Journal of Australia from Edith Cowan University shows close to 40 per cent of Australians turn to "Dr Google" for online information to self-treat.
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WebMD and Mayo symptom checkers 'leading patients astray'
A study suggests patients could get into trouble if they’re seeking online help on whether to go to the doctor
18th May 2020
Popular online symptom checkers produce a correct diagnosis only about one third of the time, an Australian study shows.
In addition, triage advice often suggests seeking medical care when it’s not needed and conversely can be potentially dangerous, such as suggesting stroke care was ‘non-urgent’.
Researchers tested the accuracy of 36 popular mobile and web-based symptom checkers, using 48 clinical scenarios that were vetted by two GPs and an ED specialist with a combined 87 years of clinical experience.
Among the diagnostic symptom checkers, findings showed that the correct diagnosis was listed as the first result only 36% of the time, made the top three results 52% of the time, and was among the top 10 results 58% of the time.
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Online symptom checkers: still a long way to go
Authored by Nicole MacKee
ONLINE and mobile application symptom checkers get the diagnosis right first time in just a third of instances, but the only Australian-based checker included in a recent study,, Healthdirect, did slightly better than the rest.
In pre-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) times (November 2018 – January 2019), Australian researchers put 36 freely available online and mobile application symptom checkers under the spotlight to determine their effectiveness in providing diagnostic and triage advice.
The researchers evaluated the symptom checkers using 48 medical condition vignettes (1170 diagnostic vignettes and 688 triage vignettes). They concluded that symptom checkers may provide unsuitable or incomplete diagnostic or triage advice for users in Australia, resulting in inappropriate care advice.
Their findings, published in the MJA, showed that the correct diagnosis was listed first in only 36% of tests, and the first 10 results in 58% of tests. For triage services, the correct advice was provided in 49% of cases, including 60% of emergency and urgent cases, but only 30–40% of less serious case vignettes.
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Friday, 15 May 2020 12:07
Australians ahead of global counterparts with security concerns
Australian IT professionals potentially have greater concerns about the security of company financials and intellectual property than the global average, according to a new global study which found that Australian respondents appear nearly 4.5 times more concerned about these areas of security than their home security, compared to the 3 times global response.
According to the third annual Oracle and KPMG Cloud Threat Report 2020 report, data security is creating “fear and trust issues” for IT professionals.
The study of 750 cybersecurity and IT professionals found:
· IT professionals are 3 times more concerned about the security of company financials and intellectual property than their home security.
· IT professionals have concerns about cloud service providers; 80% are concerned that cloud service providers they do business with will become competitors in their core markets.
· 75% of IT professionals view the public cloud as more secure than their own data centres, yet 92%of IT professionals do not trust their organisation is well prepared to secure public cloud services.
· Nearly 80% of IT professionals say that recent data breaches experienced by other businesses have increased their organisation’s focus on securing data moving forward.
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Monday, 18 May 2020 01:41
ACCAN concerned over technical ‘shortfalls’ of COVIDSafe app
Telecommunications consumer group ACCAN says it continues to have concerns about the technical shortfalls of the COVIDSafe app, as well as issues relating to public education about the app.
Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) CEO Teresa Corbin said that she was pleased that the legislation was amended to address a number of concerns raised by ACCAN and other consumer groups across the fields of health, technology, privacy, human rights, digital inclusion, communications and community interests.
While welcoming the passage of the Privacy Amendment (Public Health Contact Information) Bill 2020 through Parliament, Corbin said, “We know that for vulnerable groups, such as survivors of domestic violence, there is anxiety about whether someone could deduce who their close contacts are and when and for how long they have visited them”.
Corbin said that ACCAN has highlighted a need for “clear, easy to understand education about privacy aspects of the app and how it operates both for the general population” - and “more specifically for multicultural and Indigenous communities, in multiple languages and in Easy English”.
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Pandemic highlights e-health issues
Experts call for framework to set generic standards
Misinformation and mistrust of Australia’s COVIDSafe app underlines the need for standards to scope, develop, assess and roll out e-health services, Flinders University digital health experts say.
The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the need for a more robust framework for analysis of technologies advances and mobile health applications, especially those with clinical security and patient privacy implications, the Flinders Centre for Digital Health Research authors say in a new journal article.
With new digital health responses playing a vital role in the fight against COVID-19 (such as mobile tracking, telehealth, big data/AI etc.), the authors are calling for wider use of a clear map of the ecosystem so these responses can be appraised.
“In a rapidly changing environment with the increasing development of mobile health, issues related to all aspects of user expectations must be well thought out,” says Professor Anthony Maeder, Flinders Digital Health Research Centre’s co-director.
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Comments more than welcome!
David.
