Now Here Is A Provocative Little Article!

 This turned up last week:

https://medicalrepublic.com.au/nz-to-be-latest-country-to-outpace-australia-in-digital-health/46973

7 June 2021

NZ to be latest country to outpace Australia in digital health

Technology Telehealth

By Holly Payne

Despite a pandemic-driven boost in telehealth services, Australia continues to lag behind its peers in terms of digital health, with New Zealand unveiling an ambitious plan to centralise health services.

New Zealand’s Health Minister Andrew Little announced the changes last month, saying the current system was “overly complex” and forced artificial barriers between regions, professionals and populations.

“What it doesn’t do is allow us to focus on the needs of the New Zealand population and the system as a whole, or to identify and spread good ideas,” Mr Little said.

The overhaul would touch on four key aspects:

• revising the scope and duties of the Ministry of Health,
• decommissioning all 20 district health boards and replacing them with a national organisation, Health New Zealand,
• establishing a M?ori health authority, and
• creating a public health agency.

Mr Little singled out greater access to digital health tools and tailored local services as key outcomes of having a national body.

“Consumers have repeatedly asked for the ability to use modern technology, such as virtual diagnostic tests at home, the ability to book doctors’ appointments online and digital monitoring of health conditions,” he said.

“To put it plainly, successive governments have failed to deliver on this.

“With a truly national health service, we can deliver on this promise.”

In theory, once all the reforms were rolled out, New Zealanders should be able to see any health professional anywhere in the country and be confident that the provider would be able to access all their relevant health information.

……

Australian services, meanwhile, had limited interoperability despite a former ADHA CEO acknowledging that the concept would be key to making digital health viable.

Although an interoperability community consultation process was launched by ADHA in 2019, it appeared that very little had come of it thus far.

My Health Record-esque concepts had also been dropped by New Zealand, with the Ministry instead pushing for cloud-based solutions similar to those the NHS used in the UK.

The full article is here:

https://medicalrepublic.com.au/nz-to-be-latest-country-to-outpace-australia-in-digital-health/46973

In summary it looks like NZ is moving to a sunlit upland while we go down an obsolete rabbit-hole!

Sad that!

David.

This Seems To Be Another Example Of Government Just Running Riot Over Citizens Because They Can!

This appeared last week:

Privacy experts alarmed medical data is collected without consent

The health secrets of millions of Australians have been extracted from GP computers in a data grab without permission. See what it means for you.

Sue Dunlevy

June 11, 2021 - 8:24AM

News Corp Australia Network

Exclusive: The individual health records of almost 25 million Australians have been scraped from medical clinics under a secret data grab that has alarmed privacy experts.

The move has laid bare information on patients’ mental health, alcohol consumption, weight, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV.

In most cases the material is being collected by data firms without explicit patient consent and patients have not been given the opportunity to opt out.

The Australian Privacy Foundation said if the records were to fall into the wrong hands they could be used to blackmail powerful people, track down a domestic violence victim or by employers to vet job applicants.

They could also be used against a person with mental health problems in a custody battle.

“While almost 10 per cent of Australians opted out of My Health Record, most may be unaware they are giving consent to their default data upload, when they sign the patient registration form to see their own doctor,” Juanita Fernando, Health Committee Chair of the Australian Privacy Foundation said.

Doctors are providing the patient health information under the Primary Health Insights program via two data collection firms which gives the files to 31 Primary Health Networks (PHN’s).

These are administrative health regions established by the government and the Department of Health said they would use it to improve health care and determine where new health resources are needed.

IT consultant to the medical profession Paul Power who raised the alarm that saw privacy protections in the My Health record legislation substantially strengthened said the data could be a hacking target for China or Russia and nefarious actors.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner said patient protections were imperative.

“It is essential that privacy protections are in place when dealing with such sensitive information,” a spokesperson said.

General practices are meant to seek patient consent to take the data but those who have been seeing the same GP for many years are unlikely to have been explicitly informed or given their consent or the chance to opt out.

And some patients who did ask to opt out said it took three months for the process to happen, others were told by GP’s they had no idea about the process.

The data is meant to be de-identified but when the Department of Health published “de-identified” health data of three million Australians in 2016, it took researchers at Melbourne University just three days to decode it and re-identify it.

In 2017 the Medicare numbers of Australians were found for sale on the dark web.

ANU researcher Dr Vanessa Teague, who was part of the team who re-identified the health data in 2016, said patient information containing Medicare or medicines information — or even the year a woman’s child was born — was the most vulnerable.

“It would be entirely inaccurate to describe it as de-identified,” she said.

More here:

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/privacy-experts-alarmed-medical-data-is-collected-without-consent/news-story/7e2d7e8a224bdf3fe02f45e6bd8ec8a8

This program has been controversial since BC (Before COVID)

27 September 2019

PHN data arrangements a bit of a mess

By Penny Durham

GP bodies remain uneasy with data-sharing arrangements under the Practice Incentive Payment – Quality Improvement, despite having won a reprieve of sorts without sacrificing the payments promised.

The Australian GP Alliance (AGPA) and the RACGP say the incentive scheme is poorly designed, insecure and unready, but that the Health Department is “holding a financial gun to GPs’ heads”.

Worth up to $50,000 a year for the largest practices, the PIP QI requires the sharing of deidentified patient data with your Primary Health Network using data-extraction software supplied by the PHN, such as Polar or Pen CAT.

The data, which is deidentified before it leaves the practice, will be analysed at the PHN stage to yield 10 improvement measures (including the proportion of patients with smoking status recorded, the proportion of female patients with up-to-date cervical screening, and so on). The data will then be sent to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare for national-level analysis.

The program went live on August 1 after several delays. The Health Department told The Medical Republic that in the first three weeks 4023 practices had registered for the incentive, or more than 65% of accredited general practices.

After the AGPA complained in July that the program risked compromising patient privacy and commercially sensitive information, the Health Department released a fact sheet clarifying the requirements, including the option to seek a time-limited exemption.

With the exemption, a practice that wishes to participate but does not wish to use the PHN-supplied software has, at most, 12 months in which to implement an acceptable alternative. During that year “practices will need to work in partnership with their local PHN to meet the other requirements of the PIP QI Incentive” but will not have to share any data, and they will still receive quarterly payments.

“The one-off exemption is for a maximum period of 12 months, or until a solution has been implemented, whichever occurs first,” the department told The Medical Republic.

AGPA board member and former AMA president Dr Mukesh Haikerwal told The Medical Republic this was still not satisfactory and the AGPA was writing to the department again to seek a different interim arrangement.

The department has made another concession for the first year of the program, agreeing that no data will be sent onwards. “PHNs will not provide data to the AIHW for the first 12 months of the PIP QI Incentive, however trial data exchanges will commence to ensure readiness for this to occur,” it said.

Dr Haikerwal said the AGPA wanted GPs to participate in the collection of quality data that would benefit the health system, but the data should go straight to the AIHW.

“We want them to participate in quality improvement, but we want to be sure that when they’re doing that, they’re not putting their practices or patients in jeopardy in terms of the data, because of the way it’s gathered, governed and passed on,” he said.

While the health department has justified using PHNs as the middleman by saying many practices already share data with their PHNs using supplied software, Dr Haikerwal said the PIP completely changed the premise and the expectations of the exercise.

The AGPA signatories to the original letter include other prominent GPs with a track record in digital health such as Dr Rob Hosking, Dr Karen Price and Dr Nathan Pinskier.

“The group of eight of us who wrote the letters, we’ve got around 35 years of average experience in the space,” Dr Haikerwal said. “We’ve actually pushed the whole e-health technology data, quality improvement agenda for that length of time. So it’s something that comes with a significant amount of knowledge and expertise.”

The department says it has consulted with all relevant doctor groups, citing representation on the PIP Advisory Group by the RACGP, ACRRM, AMA, the Rural Doctors Association of Australia, Australian Association of Practice Management and the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.

But the AGPA says all these representatives are also involved with PHNs, which are funded directly by the department.

“The vast majority of members of that group are directly involved in PHNs or work for somebody who actually is a chair of those organisations at the PHN,” Dr Haikerwal said. “So you’re not getting a clean steer, you’re not getting expertise from people who work in the sector.”

Dr Hosking, chair of the RACGP Expert Committee on Practice Technology and Management, told The Medical Republic there nothing wrong in principle with using data in this way, but that there were concerns around consent and the ability of PHNs to manage data securely.

Lots more here:

https://wildhealth.net.au/phn-data-arrangements-a-bit-of-a-mess/

Here is the official view on all this:

The National Primary Health Care Data Asset

Primary health care is a vital component of Australia’s health care system accounting for a large proportion of health care expenditure annually. It is often the first point of contact individuals have with the health system and encompasses a broad range of professions and services. Despite this, there is limited availability of primary health care system data making it difficult to assess the positive impact of this sector on the health of Australians and or identify where improvements are needed.

In the May 2018 Federal Budget the AIHW was funded to establish a Primary Health Care Data Unit and to develop a National Primary Health Care Data Asset (Data Asset). The Data Asset development aligns with priorities outlined in the 2018 Heads of Agreement on public hospital funding and health reform; specifically Enhanced health data as one of the goals of long-term system wide reform.

It is envisaged that an enduring Data Asset will contain reliable, detailed, high-quality data about primary health care which will assist in the creation of a comprehensive understanding of the system and a patient’s journey and experiences within it. It has the potential to create new avenues of analysis for providers, policy-makers and healthcare researchers to enable better population health planning, help identify gaps in primary health care services and ultimately improve patient health outcomes. The process of establishing the Data Asset will also be used to drive cyclical improvements in the quality and standardisation of contributing data.

The proposed Data Asset will:

• enable better population health planning
• support improved patient health outcomes, and enable comparison across geography, remoteness and socio-economic gradients
• enable and inform integrated care
• help identify gaps in primary health care services and outcomes
• enable an assessment of the equitable distribution of care
• shape primary health care programs and policies
• allow for international comparisons.

The AIHW oncluded the consultation phase of this multi-phase project. A Consultation Report outlines feedback on the Data Asset received through the AIHW consultation workshop series and the associated online public submission process conducted in the first half of 2019. 

The key issues raised by participants were consolidated and summarised in the report which also includes a brief outline of the next steps in developing the Data Asset. 

Developing a National Primary Health Care Data Asset: consultation report (PDF 932KB)

Ongoing consultation is a key focus for the AIHW in developing the Data Asset, to this end, AIHW partnered with the Consumers Health Forum of Australia (CHF) to promote consumer and community awareness and confidence in the Data Asset. To stimulate this conversation webinars were held on 30 October and 11 November, chaired by CHF CEO Leanne Wells featuring a panel of knowledgeable consumers and clinicians. The Webinars focused on issues of privacy, security, patient consent and overall benefits of the Data Asset and are now available online 

Here is a link:

https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-data/health-welfare-services/primary-health-care/primary-health-care-data-development

There is a useful article (full text) on all this from the MJA here:

https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2019/210/6/gathering-data-decisions-best-practice-use-primary-care-electronic-records

Gathering data for decisions: best practice use of primary care electronic records for research

Rachel Canaway, Douglas IR Boyle, Jo‐Anne E Manski‐Nankervis, Jessica Bell, Jane S Hocking, Ken Clarke, Malcolm Clark, Jane M Gunn and Jon D Emery

Med J Aust 2019; 210 (6): S12-S16. || doi: 10.5694/mja2.50026
Published online: 31 March 2019

In the fine print we read that best practice is to make it easy to opt-out but does not seem to make it clear that this needs to be offered.

Here is the full best practice approach:

Box 3 - A model for primary care data sharing for research

1. Preparing for data collection

·         Obtain ethics approval for data collection and undertake legal review.

·         Establish a robust and secure data housing environment with independent data governance oversight and proactive security review.

·         Establish a comprehensive standard operating procedure and policies for data curation and stewardship.

2. Recruiting a general practice

·         Establish a legal agreement with the practice and gain their informed consent. This ensures that both parties have a clear understanding of the terms under which data are shared.

·         Support any technical requirements for data extraction.

·         Inform patients that the practice is sharing de‐identified data. Explicit patient consent is not required if the data extraction tool can provide de‐identified data that satisfies the definition of de‐identification as per the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). NHMRC guidelines on waiving patient consent should also be met.34 A best practice approach would enable patients to easily withdraw consent.

3. De‐identifying and transmitting patient and practitioner data

·         Data should be de‐identified on the practice computer.

·         Data should be transmitted securely to a protected database in a secure, on‐shore data storage facility.

4. Following due process

·         Maintain ongoing, proactive data security. This may include using accredited secure environments from which authorised researchers can access the data (depending on sensitivity of the data and the amount of data).

·         Ensure that researchers who are provided with data obtain ethics approval and sign a legal agreement stipulating the terms under which they manage, store, use and dispose of the data.

·         Use mechanisms to assess competence of researchers to safely and responsibly use the data for research.

·         Ensure that the research group includes (or consults with) someone who has experience practising in Australian general practice to ensure that results are interpreted appropriately.

·         Ensure that an independent data governance committee reviews all applications by researchers to access data.

·         Use principles of data minimisation to limit data sharing with researchers to the minimum necessary to complete their research.

5. Delivering research outputs

·         Research funders should not prevent researchers from publishing their findings.

·         Researchers should make publicly available plain language community reports of their research outcomes.

·         Researchers should contribute their data coding to repository‐specific data user groups.

6. Using consumer, clinician and researcher panels

·         Consult health care consumers and providers — ask them for ideas on how data are used and suggestions regarding potential research projects and questions. Such input should be fed back to researchers to inform future research.

·         Engage researchers to contribute insights, data cleaning and analytic codes, so that other research can build on what has already been done.

---- End extract.

Right now I note there has been a deferral of a similar plan in the UK which has much more careful privacy laws following a public outcry. This follows the failure of a similar plan (care.data) hatched by our old friend Tim Kelsey. I note that in the UK access to your record is provided – not here apparently.

Overall I tend to agree with the Sue Dunlevy that the public has heard too little about what is being done – just as we have come to expect these days. The process and data protections offered also seem a little flimsy to me.

Overall I think that this is happening needs to be better known and the right to review and opt out should be embedded in the system. A public awareness campaign would also not go astray where both benefits and issues are canvassed!

What do you think?

David.

 

Commentators and Journalists Weigh In On Digital Health And Related Privacy, Safety, Social Media And Security Matters. Lots Of Interesting Perspectives - June 15, 2021.

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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 were dated 6 December, 2018 and we have seen none since! Its pretty sad!

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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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-13/what-is-a-covid-19-digital-certificate/100205908

COVID-19 digital vaccination certificates are here. This is what you need to know

ABC Radio Melbourne

By Fia Walsh

13 June, 2021

Australians fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can now use a digital certificate as proof of vaccination.

The certificate is automatically generated and available on the Express Plus Medicare app.

But it's unclear if it can be used as a  "vaccine passport" out of coronavirus restrictions.

What is a digital vaccine certificate?

For those who have had both doses of an approved vaccine – currently Pfizer or AstraZeneca – the COVID-19 digital certificate will be automatically generated and available through their Medicare account.

The proof of vaccination can be accessed and downloaded on a smartphone app or found online.

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https://www.innovationaus.com/govt-launches-covid-19-vaccine-digital-certificates/

Govt launches COVID-19 vaccine digital certificates

Denham Sadler
Senior Reporter

9 June 2021

The federal government has launched digital certificates for Australians to show on their smartphones to prove they have received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The COVID-19 vaccine digital certificate will be available through myGov and the Medicare apps, with vaccination providers also able to print out or send the certificate to individuals without access to a phone or the internet.

The certificate will be facilitated through the Australian Immunisation Register, but will be separate from other vaccinations received by an individual, with only information relating to the COVID-19 vaccination included.

Parliament recently passed laws making it mandatory for information to be recorded on the immunisation register after an individual has received a vaccine. Receiving the COVID-19 vaccination is still voluntary.

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https://www.croakey.org/on-public-health-and-the-digital-platforms/

On public health and the digital platforms

·         Melissa Sweet

·         Jordan Guiao and Peter Lewis

Regulation of digital platforms such as Facebook is a public health necessity, according to Jordan Guiao and Peter Lewis from the Centre for Responsible Technology.

Jordan Guiao and Peter Lewis write:

Moves this week by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to stymie Clive Palmer’s latest foray into political advertising highlight the different rules that apply between the traditional media and the new social media platforms.

Whereas the TGA has warned that Palmer and the regional radio station running his anti-vax ads breach their responsibilities as advertisers and broadcasters, in the online environment, it’s up to platforms to make their own call.

On Facebook and other social networks, this sort of disinformation is circulating in groups and targeted networks, far away from the gaze of health professionals.

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https://www.zdnet.com/article/australian-government-looks-to-make-essential-eight-essential/

Australian government looks to make Essential Eight essential

The not-so-essential Essential Eight might soon become essential for Australian government entities, the Attorney-General's Department has signalled.

By Asha Barbaschow | June 9, 2021 -- 04:28 GMT (14:28 AEST) | Topic: Security

The Australian government has flagged its intention to mandate the Essential Eight mitigation strategies, despite many entities not fully wrapping their heads around the Top Four.

Since 2013, non-corporate Commonwealth entities (NCCEs) have been required to undertake an annual self-assessment against the Top Four strategies, which are mandated by the Attorney-General's Department (AGD) Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF). Entities report their overall compliance with mandatory requirements to AGD.

The Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA) last year reviewed a pair of reports from the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO). A report on this probe from the JCPAA in December asked AGD whether it was feasible to mandate the Essential Eight, a call the committee made in October 2017, as well as report back on why any entities have yet to implement the Top Four mandated in April 2013.

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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/telehealth-no-replacement-for-doctor-patient-connection/47231

11 June 2021

Telehealth no replacement for doctor-patient connection

Comment COVID-19 Telehealth

By Miranda Cook

It is no secret the huge uptake of telehealth during the coronavirus pandemic has transformed the way doctors and patients connect. 

But for one respiratory physician, phone and video appointments cannot replace the opportunity to get an intimate insight into their patient and their illness that only face-to-face consultations offer.

Professor Gregory King, staff specialist at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital and research leader at Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, believes telehealth undoubtedly has a place within the respiratory field but warns against virtual consults at scale.

Otherwise, it would run the risk of disintegration in the relationship with specialists and their patients, Professor King said.

He is not convinced adequate care can be achieved in telehealth consultations, when treating patients for a new problem or those with complex chronic diseases.

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https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=e3803f05-aa53-40fd-89d2-8e455e6f3d50

Privacy initiatives announced in the 2021-2022 Budget

Clyde & Co LLP - Alec Christie and Andrea Mitchell

Australia June 7 2021

On 11 May 2021 the Australian Government released the 2021-2022 Federal Budget (the Budget). While the Budget places a distinct focus on aged care and family initiatives such as childcare, which have been much discussed, it has also allocated funds for the development of a number of privacy initiatives within Australia.

The Budget has committed $11 million to privacy initiatives in Australia between 2021-2025. Most notably, $1 million has been allocated on a yearly basis between 2021-2025 to assist the Office of the Information Commissioner (OAIC) with its freedom of information (FOI) functions, including the appointment of a standalone Freedom of Information Commissioner who will sit within the OAIC. The position is currently filled by the Privacy Commissioner.

In addition, the OAIC has been allocated $3.5 million annually in 2021-2022 and the following year under the Digital Economy Strategy to resolve privacy complaints, conduct investigations and ensure timely handling of data breach notifications. The Government, by increasing the yearly funding of the OAIC from $26.405 million to $28.487, has evidenced an intention to bolster its regulatory and investigatory capacity.

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https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/workshop-introduction-to-my-health-record-mornington-14-july-tickets-158684974029

Jul. 14

Workshop - Introduction to My Health Record - Mornington 14 July

by Mornington Peninsula Library Service  ADHA Propaganda

Are you overwhelmed by the Digital world of health care? Would you like to learn more about My Health Record?

Recommended for adult audiences.

My Health Record can store all your health information in one place with any access to that information remaining in your control. Mornington Peninsula Libraries can teach you how during this workshop.

Join us for an information session about My Health Record, Australia’s national digital health record system. Learn how to manage your own health information online and where to access health and well-being resources through the library.

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https://www.itwire.com/networking/the-internet-outage-fastly-a-customer-did-it-kinda.html

Thursday, 10 June 2021 03:29

The internet outage - Fastly: A customer did it (kinda)

By David Heath

Fastly's latest response to yesterday's outage puts the blame indirectly on an unnamed customer.

iTWire has already reported extensively on the outage here, here and here.

According to Nick Rockwell, Fastly's Senior Vice President of Engineering and Infrastructure, in a blog post a few hours ago, "We experienced a global outage due to an undiscovered software bug that surfaced on June 8 when it was triggered by a valid customer configuration change. We detected the disruption within one minute, then identified and isolated the cause, and disabled the configuration. Within 49 minutes, 95% of our network was operating as normal.

"This outage was broad and severe, and we're truly sorry for the impact to our customers and everyone who relies on them."

Rockwell continues, "On May 12, we began a software deployment that introduced a bug that could be triggered by a specific customer configuration under specific circumstances.

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Australian Digital Health Agency Podcast

My Health Record: Digital health in nursing

Australian Digital Health Agency Podcast

Follow Australian Digital Health Agency Podcast and others on SoundCloud.  ADHA Propaganda

Hear advice from nursing professionals using My Health Record and learn how it ensures more meaningful connections for patients with the delivery of safe, quality and person-centred care.

Speakers:
Dr Andrew Rochford (Facilitator), Susan Emerson (Clinical Reference Lead, Aged Care Nurse), Angela Ryan (former Agency Chief Clinical Information Officer), Suzanne Blackeby (Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association Nurse Educator) and Kate Renzenbrink (Bendigo Health Chief Nursing and Midwifery Information Officer).

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https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/newsroom/digital-bytes/digital-bytes-with-catherine-bronger-active-script-lists

Digital Bytes • Electronic prescriptions

Digital Bytes with Catherine Bronger - Active Script Lists

Published 7 June 2021

Special thanks to Chemistworks Group General Manager, Catherine Bronger and all healthcare professionals for your commitment to digital health. Because Australia's healthcare system is more connected, you can now choose to get an electronic prescription. Read about the benefits here: https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/electronic-prescriptions

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https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2021/06/apple-accessibility-wwdc-2021/

All The Accessibility Wins From Apple’s WWDC 2021

Lavender Baj

June 8, 2021 at 12:08 pm -

Apple delivered its 2021 WWDC keynote speech on Tuesday, giving us a world of exciting new things to look forward to, especially when it comes to accessibility.

Technology, particularly of the iVariety, has become so ingrained in our way of life that it’s imperative that it can adequately cater to those of us with impairments or disabilities. But unfortunately, for a long time it hasn’t been the case.

Thankfully, with each new software update, Apple seems to be further developing its features to be accessible to everyone.

So without further ado, let’s take a look at all of the accessibility wins that were announced at Apple’s WWDC 2021 event.

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https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=3d9fac20-22ed-494e-8c50-47ca069b27ac

The Consumer Data Right is accelerating - what do you need to know?

Bird & Bird LLP - Natalie Yeung, Hamish Fraser, Sophie Dawson and Thomas Jones

Australia June 3 2021

The introduction of the Consumer Data Right (CDR) regime under the Competition and Consumer (Consumer Data Right) Rules 2020 (Cth) (CDR Rules) changed the data regulation landscape in Australia.

The Australian Government will spend AU$111.3 million of the Digital Economy Budget 2021-2022 on the CDR over the next 2 years. The budget will be used to continue the implementation of the CDR in the banking sector and to accelerate the rollout of the CDR to other parts of the economy including the energy sector and the telecommunications sector, which have been named as the next priority CDR sectors. Entities in the energy and the telecommunications sectors should now be planning for the implementation of the CDR in their sector in the relatively near term, as part of their technology and compliance planning.

For the banking sector, the CDR has been operational since July 2020. For all major Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs), the roll out of the CDR is in its final phase, Phase 3, meaning that the CDR is available to customers of major ADIs. The CDR will continue to be rolled out for all non-major ADIs throughout 2021.

In the energy sector, the budget will be used to develop the designation instrument and relevant standards for the CDR regime, with the aim to have the CDR regime operational in 2022. For the telecommunications sector, the budget will allow the government to undertake a strategic assessment of the sector to deliver a roadmap for the roll out of the CDR.

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https://www.afr.com/policy/health-and-education/electronic-prescription-is-changing-the-script-for-healthcare-20210604-p57y0g

Electronic prescription is changing the script for healthcare

Krishan Sharma Technology journalist

Jun 7, 2021 – 10.14am

The health sector has a long history of resisting reform but the COVID-19 pandemic catalysed swift wholesale change to the way healthcare is delivered through the use of technology, putting the $143 billion digital health sector well and truly on the map.

The accelerated adoption of telehealth, electronic prescriptions and virtual care guided healthcare throughout the crisis, reinforcing the power of digital platforms and widespread recognition of the need to embrace digital health, in all its forms, to create a resilient, pandemic-proof healthcare system.

Until 2020, Australians overwhelmingly preferred face-to-face settings with healthcare providers, with only 0.1 per cent being virtual care attendances. However, over the past 12 months, more than 51 million telehealth services were delivered to 13 million patients.

During COVID-19, a survey found that 62 per cent of respondents said their telehealth experience was as good as or better than traditional in-person medical appointments.

Similarly, it was only a year ago that Australia’s first paperless electronic prescription in primary care was successfully prescribed and dispensed.

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https://www.hospitalhealth.com.au/content/technology/article/smart-quarantine-the-next-step-for-australia-667783065

Smart quarantine: the next step for Australia

By Jeff Connolly, Chairman and CEO of Siemens Australia & Pacific
Monday, 07 June, 2021

Why intelligent and healthy quarantine infrastructure is now critical for Australia’s future.

Australia is in an enviable position when it comes to COVID-19 (COVID) in terms of our global standing — both in terms of health and in terms of economy. However, it has come at a cost. Typically, community spread comes down to quarantine issues from returning citizens or travellers. Our ability to track and trace varies from state to state.

Methods to manage COVID outbreaks often include harsh measures such as lockdowns. Even a single case can generate restrictions such as a state-wide lockdown and interstate travel bans. Although effective from a COVID spread point of view, this isn’t popular because we all value our freedom and mental health. And the economic impact is significant to say the least. Put simply, lockdowns can’t be a long-term solution for Australia managing COVID.

AiGroup has calculated that a seven-day stoppage such as this [currently occurring in Melbourne] is likely to cost billions of dollars. Multiply this by all the lockdowns and it’s just not a sensible long-term solution — especially when there are strong alternatives.

What's the long-term solution?

If the source of COVID is Australians returning from overseas — with the virus somehow escaping our quarantine system — then the answer is to make sure our quarantine system is airtight. Health procedures must be followed, but even more importantly, purpose-built hi-tech quarantine facilities must be established, which incorporate technologies that prevent or kill the spread of the virus and allow us to safely welcome returning Australians.

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https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/214/10/artificial-intelligence-and-medical-imaging-applications-challenges-and

Artificial intelligence and medical imaging: applications, challenges and solutions

Meng Law, Jarrel Seah and George Shih

Med J Aust 2021; 214 (10): . || doi: 10.5694/mja2.51077
Published online: 7 June 2021

AI‐based tools can help with image acquisition, reconstruction and quality; interpretation, diagnosis and decision support; and manual tasks

Artificial intelligence (AI) is having a disruptive impact in many areas, including health care. In medicine, machine learning (ML) techniques have existed for decades but were mostly not adopted. New deep learning techniques, along with copious medical imaging and digital health data, now provide standardised, reproducible, dependable and accurate diagnostic reports. These can only improve patient care and safety, enhancing the practice of clinical medicine. However, a number of challenges have arisen, hindering progress and more widespread application. In this article, we describe current AI/ML tools in medical imaging, discuss the major challenges facing the field, and offer some potential solutions.

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Comments more than welcome!

David.