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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! It’s 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.dayhospitalsaustralia.net.au/my-health-record-sessions-for-hospital-staff/
My Health Record Sessions for Hospital Staff
- 17th February 2022 ADHA Propaganda
The Australian Digital Health Agency are conducting regular My Health Record Sessions for Hospital Staff. These 30 minute sessions will commence Thursday 17 February 2022 reoccurring fortnightly until Thursday 28 April 2022.
Content will include an overview on:
- pathology and diagnostic report viewing
- medicines information
- discharge summaries
- primary care shared health and event summaries
- advance care planning documents
These sessions will be held on the Agency’s Learning Management System to provide hospital staff access to relevant resources, as well as a recording of the session.
To participate in or view these sessions, register here: https://training.digitalhealth.gov.au/enrol/index.php?id=45
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‘Like a one-armed juggler’: OAIC funding constraints in the spotlight again
Denham
Sadler
National Affairs Editor
16 February 2022
The funding and resourcing limitations of Australia’s privacy office has been thrown in the spotlight again, as the wait for the appointment of a standalone FOI Commissioner continues.
The federal government provided nearly $1 million per year for the appointment of a new Freedom of Information Commissioner within the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) in last year’s budget.
Despite a job listing being posted in June last year, the government is still yet to appoint someone to this position, eight months later.
In this time, there has been a near-40 per cent increase in FOI review requests to the OAIC.
At a Senate Estimates hearing on Tuesday evening, Attorney-General Michaelia Cash said she expects an FOI Commissioner to be officially appointed within weeks.
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Australian encryption laws used to force provider to help in homicide case
NSW Police becomes the first interception agency to use a Technical Assistance Notice.
Written by Chris Duckett,
on February 16, 2022 | Topic: Security
When it comes to Australia's encryption laws, two out of the three arms can now be publicly said to have been used, following the release of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 -- Annual Report 2020-21 this week.
In previous years, agencies had only used voluntary Technical Assistance Requests (TAR) to get service providers to help them, but the latest report shows NSW Police in the past year also turned to the first of the compulsory notices available.
That request, used in a homicide investigation, is the first use of a compulsory Technical Assistance Notice (TAN) to force a provider to use a capability they already possess. Assistance notices issued by state-level law enforcement are reviewed by the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
This leaves the compulsory Technical Capability Notice (TCN) as the only form of notice yet to be publicly disclosed as used. The TCN forces providers to build a new capability for agencies and requires sign-off from the federal Attorney-General and Minister for Communications. The report said no TCNs were sought across the reporting period.
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https://marketplace.service.gov.au/2/digital-marketplace/opportunities/19273
Australian Digital Health Agency
Service Designer Capability
Opportunity ID 19273
Deadline for asking questions Thursday 24 February 2022 at 6pm (in Canberra)
Application closing date Monday 28 February 2022 at 6pm (in Canberra)
Published Friday 18 February 2022
Panel category User research and Design
Overview
The Australian Digital Health Agency's, Experience & Service Design team seeks to engage with experienced sellers who can provide Service Designer capability to work with members of the Agency’s ESD team to deliver a priority project which requires additional expertise and delivery support. This will involve embedding into and working closely with a highly collaborative Service Design and Research team to deliver a digital health strategic project. The required skill sets, experience, and capabilities to be provided are as follows. Customer centred design activities including customer research, problem solving, stakeholder workshop facilitation and artefact creation, such as journey mapping and service blueprinting. A design thinking approach will be used to surface opportunities and ideate customer experiences, which will support the execution of digital health programs. Experience working in government and health related projects highly regarded. Suppliers are to provide daily rates (inclusive of GST) for nominated personnel. Over a period of 80 days Suppliers are to provide services daily rates (inclusive of GST) for nominated personnel.
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https://marketplace.service.gov.au/2/digital-marketplace/opportunities/19234
Australian Digital Health Agency
Project Coordinator x 3 (DH4011/DH4209/DH4210)
Opportunity ID 19234
Deadline for asking questions Thursday 24 February 2022 at 6pm (in Canberra)
Application closing date Monday 28 February 2022 at 6pm (in Canberra)
Published Friday 18 February 2022
Category Digital sourcing and ICT procurement
Overview
The Agency is seeking 3 x Project Coordinators. The Project Coordinator is accountable, under limited direction, to perform complex work that supports, coordinates and enables project activities across identified work areas within the Agency. The Project Coordinator exercises both initiative and judgment in the application of project and operations management practices and procedures in order to provide relevant technical, professional, and/or policy advice in relation to complex problems. Project, program and/or operations work may be internally focused or externally focused, as such the Project Coordinator applies strong stakeholder engagement skills and be responsible for working with key internal and external stakeholders to understand, negotiate and resolve complex, difficult or sensitive issues arising within a project/program. The Project Coordinator may require, and/or be able to develop, additional section-specific knowledge to be able to successful deliver outcomes; as such the ability to apply knowledge or quickly develop an understanding of business is key for these roles. Please refer to the Position description document for more details.
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Conformant clinical software products
Initiatives and programs
- Secure messaging
- Interoperability and data quality
- Provider Connect Australia
- Healthcare Information Provider Service (HIPS)
Register of conformity
The register of conformity lists software products and the versions that have been assessed for conformance with national digital health requirements. This includes the ability to view a My Health Record, upload a shared health summary, upload prescriptions, provide assisted registration, and more.
Software developers must declare the conformance of their products to be included in the Register.
My Health Record conformance register (PDF, 490.45 KB)
Last updated: 18 February 2022
Terms of use
The Agency publishes the Australian Register of Conformity as a service for third party vendors, health service providers, hospital or State and Territory health departments to declare the conformance of their systems to digital health specifications and standards. All organisations that wish to appear on the Australian Register of Conformity must certify that the information they provide is accurate, complete and up-to-date and are responsible for modifying or de-registering their entries if the software no longer meets relevant conformance requirements. The Agency takes no responsibility for the false or misleading representations of third parties entered on the Australian Register of Conformity.
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https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2022/02/smartwatch-medical-technology-features/
How Does the Medical Technology in Smartwatches Hold Up in the Real World?
Lauren Rouse
Published February 17, 2022 at 12:01 pm -
Smartwatches are a constant companion for many, but nowadays they do a lot more than just tell the time. Consumer tech companies like Apple, Samsung, Fitbit and Garmin have all worked hard to gain a competitive edge in the smartwatch arena and in recent years that has involved pushing into the medical space.
Now the question we ask when a new smartwatch is released isn’t ‘what does it look like?’ or ‘how well does it tell the time?’, it’s ‘what new features does it have?’.
Smartwatches can now do things like track your sleep, measure your body composition and take an electrocardiogram (ECG) reading. However, devices with these features have to go through lengthy approval processes before they can be activated for use.
This happened most memorably with the Apple Watch’s ECG features, which saw Aussies receive the nifty new feature years after our friends in the U.S..
Shortly after Apple had its ECG monitoring approved by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), a wave of similar approvals followed for both Samsung and Fitbit’s new devices.
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/proda-ii-the-great-big-practice-reset/63310
18 February 2022
PRODA II: the great big practice reset
Last week’s PRODA story started zinging on doctors’ social media not long after being published, and has been zinging pretty much ever since.
It floated the idea that having to register or re-register your practice or individual contractor business for PRODA was not quite as simple as the government moving its infrastructure to the cloud so everyone could get paid faster (as the government mostly describes it).
It hit a nerve of some description, although it’s hard to determine what nerve precisely as, so far, the idea and the topic are still a little obscure. You have to join the dots on what is going on, then you have to believe that the dots have both been joined correctly and that there exists someone who has planned all the dots.
As I work for an organisation mostly comprised of journalists (I’m not a journo’s little toe, to be clear), I’m not permitted to be a member of most of these doctor social media groups so I’m not able to listen in live on a lot of doctor social media. But I manage to live vicariously through some doctor friends who are members, and the odd other non-doctor professional whom they let on the sites for one reason or another.
Responses to the idea that there’s a lot more to PRODA coming down the line than just a more efficient way to get your Medicare claim done seem to fall into four categories:
- PRODA? I’ve had a PRODA account forever, there’s nothing to see there
- I’ve joined the dots the wrong way and don’t understand how all this works
- The government would never do that, would they, we’re doctors and we’ve worked this way forever?
- Shiiiiiitttttt!!
PRODA has been around forever. But the government is requiring that everyone re-register for PRODA to enable its new web services (cloud) functionality regime.
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Australia to launch new COVID-19 case reporting tool for aged care
This comes amid the rise in COVID-19 deaths in residential aged care facilities.
By Adam Ang
February 17, 2022 04:17 AM
Australia's Department of Health is setting up a new reporting tool in which aged care service providers can report their COVID-19 cases.
The COVID-19 Support Portal on the My Aged Care provider website will allow aged care services to submit de-identified data about COVID-19 outbreaks or exposures at their facilities.
WHY IT MATTERS
Case reporting through the new online site will begin on 28 February. Before then, providers will still have to submit their counts to the government by email.
"The information collected via the new COVID-19 Support Portal is the same as the existing information required to be reported by providers to the Department of Health. We are simply making it more streamlined and effective," the department said in a recent update. The portal, it added, will help "expedite the provision of support to providers when an outbreak occurs".
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/abc-iview-registration-is-back-and-so-are-privacy-concerns-576242
ABC iView registration is back, and so are privacy concerns
By Richard Chirgwin on Feb 18, 2022 11:15AM
Facebook, Google queue up for hashed user e-mail addresses.
The ABC has decided to press ahead with its unpopular iView registration requirement.
The public broadcaster had originally intended to require registrations from July 2021, but last year shelved the idea in response to concerns about privacy and legality.
Now, the requirement is back, with iVew slated to require an ABC account from 15 March.
The rationale is the same as it was last year: users will get personalised services like recommendations, watchlists and “continue viewing”.
And what the ABC wants also remains the same - it gets to track users, analyse their data, and exchange data with Facebook and Google.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/opinion/who-needs-telehealth-im-doing-consults-through-my-practice-window
Who needs telehealth - I'm doing consults through my practice window
Dr Rachootin is a GP in Adelaide, SA.
18th February 2022
Necessity is the mother of invention. And hasn’t COVID-19 been a mother in so many ways?
I’ve always been intrigued by different models of doing business. As a young adult I was most impressed by the Red Light District of Amsterdam.
I’m a little bit late for that run now, however, the lasting impressions that were made on that trip may have influenced my current practice.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
My surgery has gone through several iterations in attempts to be as risk-free as possible since the pandemic began.
Initially, I started consulting outside, in a lovely garden setting.
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European pollies to study our eSafety
6:48PM February 17, 2022
Members of the European parliament are flying to Australia next week for five days of high-level talks with government and the eSafety Commissioner to learn lessons from Australia’s world-leading approach to combating child exploitation online.
The visit comes at a critical moment, with the European Commission set to release new legislation to combat child sexual abuse and exploitation, which will shape the future of online regulation across the continent and the world.
Australia was the first country to create the role of eSafety Commissioner, filled by Julie Inman Grant who used to work for tech giants including Twitter.
“Australia has been leading the world in online safety regulation for the past six years and we now have a successful and replicable model that the rest of the world is closely looking at,” Ms Grant said. “This visit by representatives of the European parliament shows how important this work has been.”
Other countries are also considering creating eSafety commissioners and officers, including Ireland and Britain.
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Continued access to My Health Record and electronic prescribing
ADHA Propaganda
To maintain access to digital health tools such as electronic prescribing and My Health Record, organisations need to ensure that their National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificate is renewed if it is expiring on or before 13 March 2022.
The Australian Digital Health Agency has developed a number of resources to support organisations during the renewal process:
- A short NASH PKI renewal animation to help the Organisation Maintenance Officer for your organisation understand the steps involved.
- Webinars - Register here
- A step-by-step guide to renew a NASH PKI certificate.
- Frequently asked questions.
Visit digitalhealth.gov.au/nash
for more information and resources.
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Google takes aim at Apple privacy
11:00PM February 16, 2022
Google has taken a swipe at Apple over its privacy practices while it attempts to improve its own. It wants to develop better privacy constraints for Android that will offer increased user privacy while still giving advertisers user data.
One of them is to let users zero out their advertising IDs, which apps use to identify users behaviours on their phones.
In a blog post today, Google announced a multi-year project to build an Android ‘privacy box’ where it will introduce new privacy solutions. It named Snap, Rovio and Duolingo as collaborating with it on the project.
However, it won’t be matching rival Apple which requires users to give explicit permission to apps before they can track general phone usage.
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https://www.economist.com/films/2022/02/15/the-future-of-medical-ai
The future of medical AI
Can artificial intelligence cure health care’s ills?
Feb 15th 2022
Health Care face huge problems, with growing numbers of patients and too few doctors to treat them. Artificial intelligence can help cure some of these ills, offering advances ranging from more efficient diagnoses to safer treatments. This film examines how AI can transform health care, and explores the difficulty of protecting the privacy of patients.
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https://marketplace.service.gov.au/2/digital-marketplace/opportunities/19105
Australian Digital Health Agency
DH4177 - 1 x Operations Team Support
Opportunity ID 19105
Deadline for asking questions Monday 21 February 2022 at 6pm (in Canberra)
Application closing date Wednesday 23 February 2022 at 6pm (in Canberra)
Published Tuesday 15 February 2022
Category Change and Transformation
Overview
Responsibilities • Rapidly work to understand the agency's goals, unique challenges, and current organisation • Develop ITSM capabilities with identified key stakeholders to build a modernisation team to lead the agency in maturing the ICT organisation • Support the modernisation team through continually improving the ITSM practices, defining value steams, and implementing contemporary ICT concepts and methods. • Assist in the implementation a Service Integration and Management (SIAM) model to ensure service partners are best able to collaborate with each other, and the agency • Communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels of the agency, service partners, and vendors • Negotiate, and work with internal and external stakeholders to ensure outcomes are of benefit to the agency its service providers, and service consumers. Experience • Experience in applying Agile Methodologies such as DevOps, Agile Project Management is desirable • Broad experience in IT Operations, Service Management, and Service Delivery is highly desirable. • Experience in ITSM Service Design is desirable. Qualifications • ITIL 4 Foundations • ITIL 4 Specialist: 'Create, Deliver, Support' and/or 'High Velocity IT' is desirable NOTE: The proposed candidate must be an Australian Citizen with evidence sighted by yourself and the Australian citizenship certificate or birth certificate number provided with the CV. Referee checks will be required for the preferred candidate.
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Regional telecommunications still expensive and unreliable, review finds
By Richard Chirgwin on Feb 15, 2022 11:25AM
Fires, floods and plague highlight telcos' inadequacies.
A string of natural disasters since 2018 plus the Covid-19 pandemic have exposed the inadequacies in regional telecommunications networks and services, according to a report tabled in federal parliament yesterday.
The 2021 Regional Telecommunications Review: A step change in demand was tabled by the minister for regionalisation, regional communications and regional education, Senator Bridget McKenzie.
The report noted that in addition to the pandemic, which put a premium on connectivity for remote work, the 2019-2020 east coast bushfires and 2021 eastern Australia floods both highlight telecommunications networks' failings in the face of natural disaster.
During the bushfire emergency, mobile networks often failed because power cuts lasted longer than the batteries at base stations.
And, as noted in a submission from the Macdonald Valley Association, not even Telstra exchanges can be relied on.
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Senate repels email attacks
8:22PM February 14, 2022
Suspicious emails to parliamentarians have plummeted, Senate estimates reveal, but there are still about 40 emails a day considered “a threat” slipping through.
Email spoofing, phishing attacks and cybercrimes using the aph.gov.au email address has been a topic of concern for the Department of Parliamentary Services, according to Senate president Slade Brockman.
But since the implementation of a message authentication program over the past two months, DPS observed an 82 per cent reduction in email traffic attempting to impersonate the aph.gov.au domain.
Emails classified as threats were also dramatically cut from peaks of 240 a day, but Senator Brockman confirmed 40 emails were still getting through daily to parliamentarians and staff.
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Massive QR breach from NSW Government exposes 500,000 addresses
More than 500,000 addresses were leaked in a NSW Government QR code bungle, with the Premier acknowledging it “shouldn’t have happened”.
February 15, 2022 - 6:54AM
More than 500,000 addresses – including those of defence sites, domestic violence shelters and a missile maintenance unit – in a massive NSW Government QR code bungle.
The hundreds of thousands of locations were collected by the NSW Customer Services Department through its QR code registration system, having registered as wanting to comply with Covid-Safe directions.
The dataset was then accidentally made public through a government website, 9News reports.
The NSW Government told the network it referred the matter to the Privacy Commissioner in October last year, and was told “the incident did not constitute a privacy breach”.
Premier Dominic Perrottet said he was advised of “an issue” on Monday morning and said the information had been “uploaded in error”.
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Tech giants can claim they’re everywhere and nowhere, but it’s not smart
Technology Editor
February 14, 2022 — 12.30am
Last week three judges of the Federal Court of Australia looked at Facebook and came away unimpressed.
In critical legal proceedings, the social network’s US parent company Meta had tried to claim that it was not actually carrying out business in the country - despite it being used by an estimated 70 per cent of Australians.
Facebook made the claim in an attempt to argue it couldn’t even be served with legal documents from Australia for alleged privacy breaches from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which a shadowy political consultancy harvested Facebook data on millions of users to inform its strategies in 2014 and 2015.
According to the social media giant, its US-headquartered parent only conducted data processing services for Facebook Ireland Limited, which collects data from Australian citizens.
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/paramedics-are-the-final-digital-frontier/62821
14 February 2022
Paramedics are the final digital frontier
As the Omicron variant of covid surges around Australia and the world, ambulance ramping is commonplace, and paramedics can queue for hours in hot PPE while they wait to hand over an endless stream of inebriated, injured, sick and distressed people to hospital staff.
But despite the advent of paperless hospitals and the inexorable adoption of electronic medical records, patient handovers from ambulance to ED remain an analogue process, involving at best a printout of patient vital signs, treatment and trends, and the call details from 000 – but usually perhaps just a verbal summary to an admitting nurse or doctor.
“Over the 20 years that I have been a paramedic, the information flow in this job has barely changed,” says Gary Wilson, secretary of the Australian Paramedics Association (NSW).
Wilson says that 000 call-takers record the call, sending details to the ambulance mobile data terminals (MDTs) – and the quality and quantity of that information varies widely.
“Sometimes there’s a lot of information, which can be overwhelming when you’re driving with lights and sirens responding to a scene – other times you have hardly anything to go on.”
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David.
