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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.afr.com/world/europe/eu-targets-big-tech-with-groundbreaking-rules-20220423-p5afmi
EU targets big tech with groundbreaking rules
Kevlin Chan Raf Casert
Apr 23, 2022 – 6.41pm
Brussels | The European Union reached a landmark deal to take aim at hate speech, disinformation and other harmful online content.
The law will force big tech companies to police themselves harder, make it easier for users to flag problems and empower regulators to punish noncompliance with billions in fines.
EU officials finally clinched the agreement in principle in the early hours of Saturday. The Digital Services Act will overhaul the digital rulebook for 27 countries and cement Europe’s reputation as the global leader in reining in the power of social media companies and other digital platforms, such as Facebook, Google and Amazon.
“With the DSA, the time of big online platforms behaving like they are ‘too big to care’ is coming to an end,” said EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton.
EU Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager added that “with today’s agreement we ensure that platforms are held accountable for the risks their services can pose to society and citizens.”
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Transforming care delivery with digital care pathways | Sponsor update by The Clinician
Apr 21, 2022 | Member news
This is a sponsored post by The Clinician
Digital care pathways (DCPs) make use of digital technologies to inform, monitor and support patients through their healthcare journeys. In doing so, they present healthcare providers with ways to more deeply understand each patient’s health and deliver more streamlined, proactive, and patient-centric care. They also save time and money.
The Clinician has been supporting healthcare institutions across Australasia to realise these benefits by digitalising their care pathways. Providing a flexible, interoperable and secure digital health platform, The Clinician coordinates each patient’s entire care journey while outside the hospital walls, including the collection and analysis of critical health data (PROMs, PREMs, objective device or wearable data) as well as the delivery of patient communication and multimedia educational content.
If you are interested to learn more about digital care pathways or see The Clinician’s platform in action, find them on the Conference app or visit their booth at the AIDH Summit Series event in Brisbane.
You can also download The Clinician’s eBook about digital care pathways via the link below.
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https://digitalhealth.org.au/blog/csiro-aehrc-is-australias-largest-digital-health-research-program/
CSIRO: AEHRC is Australia’s largest digital health research program
Apr 20, 2022 | Member news
This is a sponsored post by AEHRC
engage mean digital information is set to play an increasingly important role in transforming the quality and sustainability of health and care.
Used effectively, digital health can help save lives, improve health and wellbeing and support a sustainable and equitable health system.
With our rich history of research translation for benefit of Australians, we offer a full health and biomedical informatics research program, with capabilities in data analysis and interoperability, precision medicine and virtual care.
Operating within CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, we are trusted advisors and key collaborative partners to both industry and state and federal departments of health. In our efforts to tackle Australia’s biggest health problems, including accessibility, quality and efficiency, we are home to products and services such as:
- Ontoserver
- MoTHER
- Smarter Safer Homes
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Report reveals gender disparity in Australia’s digital health sector
Apr 19, 2022 | Advocacy, Australian Health News, Community Chats, Member news, Publications
More than 90 per cent of women respondents believe there is still progress to be made to reach gender equity in the digital health sector, according to a new report released by Telstra Health, the Australasian Institute of Digital Health (AIDH), the Digital Health CRC (DHCRC) and CSIRO’s Australian e-Health Research Centre.
The Understanding Gender Diversity in Australia’s Digital Health Sector special report provides qualitative and quantitative research findings on the current state of gender diversity, career progression and equity in the sector based on the findings from a first of its kind survey.
The survey which informed the report was completed anonymously by close to 300 people who work in the digital health sector. While more than 90 per cent of women respondents said they believe there is still progress to be made in reaching gender equity, one in five men respondents disagreed.
The report also shows that fewer women respondents than men respondents intend to continue to work in digital health (77 per cent and 90.8 per cent respectively) yet over nine in 10 respondents advised they would still recommend a career in digital health to others (93.4 per cent).
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/how-to-choose-the-right-healthcare-technology/67164
22 April 2022
How to choose the right healthcare technology
Practice Management SPONSORED Technology Webinars
Sponsored
Identify your practice issues that technology can help resolve.
Healthcare technology innovations have accelerated in recent years, and so has the rate at which medical practices are adopting digital solutions to improve efficiencies and patient care.
The pandemic, of course, has forced more practices to move from in-person healthcare delivery to digital patient management and telehealth services. In fact, 68% of medical practices report they expect their technology budgets to increase in the next 12 months, according to a recent CommBank GP Insights Report.
Healthcare technology benefits patients, plus clinical and non-clinical staff
A poll we conducted found practice owners and managers thought that using more technology in their business has these main benefits:
- saving time on administrative tasks 87%
- saving time on patient management 67%
- reducing risk to the practice 60%
- meeting patient expectations 67%
Patients increasingly want more convenient access to health information and care, so they can be more actively involved in maintaining their own health. So it’s up to medical practices to embrace the technology that delivers these services, whether that’s features such as online appointment booking, SMS alerts, electronic prescriptions, or phone and video consults.
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https://wildhealth.net.au/how-the-general-practice-of-the-future-will-look/
21 April 2022
How the general practice of the future will look
Big Data Patient Management Systems Technology
By Holly Payne
Auditing clinic records, analysing data and sending out targeted messages to patients are all daily activities for Dr Kean-Seng Lim and his colleagues at the Mt Druitt Medical Centre in western Sydney.
The practice uses patient-centred medical home principles, a model of care which involves working in multidisciplinary primary care teams using patient data – the kind of data that is already routinely collected – to support preventative care work.
Monthly data meetings are held to determine areas of undertreatment. The focus of one meeting might be collating the practice data on every patient who has had a heart attack, and then looking at the proportion of those patients currently on statins.
“We would expect that 90% of all of our patients who had a heart attack would be on a statin, and if we discover that our metrics are dropping and only 85% are on a statin then that triggers a practice audit, where we talk about data driven improvement,” Dr Lim told Wild Health.
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https://wildhealth.net.au/my-health-records-dumb-numbers-and-meaningful-use/
22 April 2022
My Health Record’s ‘dumb numbers’ versus ‘meaningful use’
The Department of Health finally wants to see some evidence of the usefulness of the MHR.
If you trawl the health portfolio budget statement from March, on page 183 you will see a table that suggests the government is starting to lose patience, and perhaps even faith, in the whole idea of My Health Record (MHR).
The table says that as a part of measuring the performance of the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) into 2023, it is going to require that the agency “Establish an approach and trial baseline for measuring meaningful use via a ‘meaningful use index’ for My Health Record”.
What the government wants is for the ADHA to start properly measuring just how useful this $2.6 billion project is today, and moving forward.
Finally, someone wants some proof that the MHR is doing, or even starting to do, what we’ve all been promised it would do.
It should be shocking to us all that we’ve spent this much money and time and we haven’t actually been measuring usefulness for the entire life of the MHR project.
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Your health record
Your information
Health records of all patients treated in our health system are retained for their benefit. You can access your own health records at any time.
All health records we create at any of our facilities are confidential documents and remain the property of Canberra Health Services. We will not release copies of your health records to a third party without your written request and consent.
We take all steps necessary to ensure the privacy of your health information is secured. However, it’s important to note that if your GP or dentist’s clinic creates and has possession or control of your medical record, they are considered the record keeper. To access medical records held by a medical practitioner you will need to contact them directly.
You can also transfer a health record when your health service provider closes, merges with another or relocates.
Accessing your health record
You can make a request for record access at any time. Health records are governed by the Health Records (Privacy & Access) Act 1997 and fees apply.
Please use our Patient request to access health records (PDF, 237.87 KB) to apply to access your health records.
We also have an Health Records Access Information sheet (PDF, 613.81 KB) about accessing your health records and the current Health record access fees (PDF, 161.39 KB).
My Health Record provides you with more access and control of your health information.
My Health Record can be accessed when you are out and about, providing summary health information from wherever you are. Over time, the amount of information available will increase as more healthcare professionals contribute to My Health Records.
The ACT Health Directorate’s Freedom of Information Unit also coordinates the Freedom of Information services for Canberra Health Services.
Freedom of Information
The ACT Freedom of Information Act 2016 (the FOI Act) gives individuals the legal right to:
- access government information unless access to the information would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest;
- ask for personal information to be changed if it is incomplete, out-of-date, incorrect or misleading; and
- appeal a decision about access to a document, or a decision in relation to a request to amend or annotate a personal record.
We have more information about Freedom of Information, including how to make an application.
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How Akamai keeps the internet flowing for Telstra, Optus, SBS
Technology Reporter
7:00AM April 21, 2022
When your footy team’s match streams smoothly and your bank website is responsive to your needs, you can probably thank Akamai. The American content delivery giant may not be a household name, but it’s crucial to everyday online interactions without bottlenecks.
“When you get put in a queue to be able to schedule a vaccine, or to buy a ticket, that’s done on our servers in thousands of places,” Akamai CEO and co-founder Tom Leighton told The Australian.
“What Akamai has been doing for 20 years is what’s called edge computing, and that’s highly distributed computing. But for a user, what’s important is it’s being done right next to them in their city and their network.”
Akamai is used by governments, media, video streaming services, commerce, hospitality and travel companies to relay and amplify their websites and video services so that they operate smoothly, no matter the demand, and no matter where users are.
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Online program for stroke survivors improves wellbeing: study
Thursday, 21 April, 2022
Access to an online program that provides easily accessible, interactive, tailored healthy lifestyle and behaviour change techniques improves the wellbeing of adult stroke survivors, according to a new study.
Led by Dr Ashleigh Guillaumier from the University of Newcastle and senior author Professor Billie Bonevski from Flinders University, the study undertook a randomised control trial to evaluate the online program Prevent 2nd Stroke (P2S), which encourages users to set goals and monitor progress across various health risk areas.
399 adult stroke survivors with an average age of 66 were asked to complete a telephone survey, following which they were randomly assigned to receive either a list of generic health information websites or 12 weeks of access to the P2S online program. The group with P2S access also received additional text messages encouraging use of the program.
Nearly all participants then completed a six-month follow-up survey, with the researchers finding those who received P2S access had a higher health-related quality of life (HRQOL) score than those who received the generic health information.
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https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/careers/project-officer-strategic-agency-programs
Project Officer, Strategic Agency Programs
APS6
($101,757 - $114,800)
Digital
Programs and Engagement Division > Programme Management
Brisbane,
Canberra, Sydney
Closing - 4 May 2022
Division overview
Digital programs and engagement – responsible for external relationships, implementation and change and adoption, as well as being the place of excellence for driving program delivery, reporting and outcomes.
Primary purpose of position
The APS6 Project Officer will undertake work that is complex in nature, assisting with the successful delivery of key projects in line with Agency priorities. The APS6 Project Officer is required to work under limited direction, in a dynamic and collaborative environment, to set high standards, meet challenges with determination and resolve and liaise with a range of key stakeholders including business units across the Agency.
The APS6 Project Officer will provide expert advice that may assist in strategic planning, program and project management and policy development. The APS6 Project Officer will be responsible for assisting with the management of the risks and resources to deliver specific programs/projects including setting of priorities and managing workflows. From 2022, amongst other projects you will be expected to work on the delivery of the Pregnancy and Children’s Digital Health Record (PCDHR) program. This program aims to successfully integrate information from the NSW pilot of the PCDHR with My Health Record, as well as expand the pilot for the PCDHR to make it available nationally.
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‘Never say never’: As subscriptions hit a wall, streaming giants are eyeing ads
By John Koblin and Tiffany Hsu
April 20, 2022 — 8.36am
The two titans of the video streaming wars — Netflix and Disney+ — have long resisted commercials, showing a reluctance to have premium series like “Stranger Things” or “The Mandalorian” run alongside ads hawking dish soap, soft drinks and medications.
“No advertising coming onto Netflix — period,” Reed Hastings, one of Netflix’s co-chief executives, said several years ago, a point of view he repeated for some time.
“We don’t believe that the consumer experience would be a particularly good one if we had advertising on Disney+,” Christine McCarthy, Disney’s chief financial officer, said in late 2020.
But now, the streamers are starting to come around on Madison Avenue.
With the pandemic-induced surge of subscriptions showing signs of waning, major media and tech streaming companies are beginning to get bullish on advertising. To reach more people — including those made cost-sensitive by high inflation and subscription overload — streamers are offering a deal: exposure to ads in exchange for lower prices.
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Wednesday, 20 April 2022 08:12
Bethesda Health Care first provider in Australia to implement Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare technology in new mental health clinic
Mental health service Bethesda Health Care has announced its new mental health clinic in the Perth suburb of Cockburn, Western Australia, will be the first medical facility in Australia to install Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare as its Patient Administration System (PAS), with Velrada – Microsoft’s growth partner of the year – as its implementation partner.
Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare harnesses the power of the Microsoft cloud by bringing together capabilities from Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power Platform and Microsoft 365 to transform the healthcare journey through a more secure and connected patient experience.
Microsoft says Bethesda can leverage the features and functionality of these platforms to explore new care models through innovation and digitisation, where the consumer is in control of their care and, with consent, provide clinical staff a full history of the care and support given and proposed.
According to Bethesda Chief Executive Officer Dr Neale Fong, adopting Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare comes at a critical time for West Australians, with demand for mental health support rising across the state.
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Hospitals exposed to robot glitch
10:46PM April 19, 2022
At least two Australian hospitals were using robots with security flaws that could have allowed hackers to spy on patients, tamper with medication or shut down hospital systems.
Cyber security researchers say the vulnerabilities, discovered overseas last week, affected Aethon TUG smart autonomous robots understood to be deployed in some Australian hospitals including the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Epworth in Richmond. The US’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned last week that the bugs could allow hackers to take full control of robot functions or expose sensitive information.
The robots handle tasks including distributing medication, cleaning and transporting hospital supplies and use sensors, cameras and radio waves to avoid bumping into people and objects.
The technology that powers the robots and allows them to move throughout the hospital is also what made the vulnerabilities so dangerous, according to Asher Brass, an executive at cyber security start-up Cynerio and lead researcher on what has been dubbed JekyllBot: 5 vulnerabilities.
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David.
