-----
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 any 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, and found interesting.
-----
Qld entrepreneurs get $12m boost for health tech firm Evolt 360
CITY BEAT Glen Norris
12:00AM October 15, 2022
Gold Coast-based tech firm Evolt 360, the developer of a proprietary body composition scanning technology, has completed a $12m capital raise to meet growing orders.
The capital raising, led by Bell Potter Securities, was backed by Regal Funds Management, Washington H Soul Pattinson and family office Smarter Capital.
The funds will be used to boost manufacturing of the Evolt 360 scanner, which measures the breakdown of total weight, lean muscle mass, body fat including both subcutaneous and visceral fat, skeletal mass and fluids.
City Beat hears the scanner is gaining acceptance from the world’s leading gym and fitness brands and is currently installed in 35 countries. The firm was founded in 2015 by fitness expert Ed Zouroudis and wellness guru Kelly Weideman. Former Virgin Group and Wesfarmers executive David Baxby leads its advisory board.
“It’s fantastic that we’ve been backed by a number of Australia’s best known institutional investors - it’s a huge testament to the scale of the opportunity we address and we are very grateful for their support,” Zouroudis said.
-----
https://www.innovationaus.com/wa-police-to-retain-covid-border-entry-data-for-25-years/
WA Police to retain COVID border entry data for 25 years
Justin
Hendry
Editor
14 October 2022
The Western Australian police will retain personal information collected by the state’s COVID-19 border management system for at least 25 years, before archiving it indefinitely, the state government has revealed.
Amid questions over data retention in the wake of the Optus data breach, the government this week confirmed the 25-year retention period for archived data from G2G Pass, which was discontinued with the removal of interstate travel restrictions at the end of April.
“G2G data will be retained for 25 years before being transferred to the State Records Office, in accordance with records retention policies,” Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson said during parliament this week.
G2G Pass was introduced in April 2020 to manage interstate or overseas arrivals to WA during first wave of the pandemic, and required travellers to submit an application each time they entered the state.
The system, which was discontinued on April 30, is distinctive to the G2G Now home quarantine smartphone app that used facial recognition technology and location data to confirm a person’s whereabouts.
-----
AIDH members recognised in Brilliant Women in Digital Health Awards
Oct 14, 2022 | AIDH news, Community Chats, Events, Health Awards, Membership, Nominations, Women in Digital Health
Congratulations to the 25 women announced last night as this years 2022 Brilliant Women in Digital Health Awards recipients. A special shout out to our Fellows and Members who were recognised last night:
-----
https://digitalhealth.org.au/blog/expert-advisors-to-look-at-healthcare-business-models/
Expert advisors to look at healthcare business models
Oct 13, 2022 | Australian Health News, Digital Health, Expert Advisory Group, Innovation
The Australasian Institute of Digital Health has appointed health and technology sector leaders to an expert advisory group charged with driving the national conversation on new business models of healthcare.
Institute CEO Dr Louise Schaper says members of the group have decades of experience working across healthcare in Australia and internationally as clinicians, digital health executives, architects and planners, policymakers, change agents and innovators.
“Our first expert advisory group will lead the conversation for change, for a sustainable health system that is accessible, consumer centric, and designed to engage consumers and patients” Dr Schaper said. “The expert advisors will explore new ideas and models around healthcare delivery and funding.”
“If we are to transform Australian health and social care through digital health, we need to bring new ways of thinking to the table.”
Dr Schaper said Expert Advisory Groups were a mechanism for engaging expert Fellows, Members and invited stakeholders in the Institute’s leadership and advocacy strategy Shifting the Dial. Two more advisory groups will be announced in coming days, she said.
-----
https://wildhealth.net.au/following-my-nose-a-nurses-journey-into-entrepreneurship/
13 October 2022
Following my nose – a nurse’s journey into entrepreneurship
When I started nursing in 2010, I knew I’d made the right career choice. I was passionate about healthcare, and I enjoyed the challenges and fast-paced environment and loved helping people in their time of need.
However, after a few years of nursing, I started to feel doubt creeping in. Suddenly I wasn’t so sure that working in healthcare was for me.
Shift work was slowly killing me. I was no longer confident in my skills, I found myself having difficulty sleeping, I wasn’t enjoying my time with my family and friends, and I felt like I’d lost my passion for people and my work. I didn’t realise it at the time, but I was beginning to experience burnout.
Fast forward another two years, and I was no longer living on the edge of burnout; I was a permanent resident. After many sleepless nights I decided the best decision was to pack up my bags and leave the job I’d once loved.
-----
https://wildhealth.net.au/roe-v-wade-hits-womens-digital-health-worldwide/
13 October 2022
Roe v Wade hits women’s digital health worldwide
Digital health apps for women have seen rapid growth in recent years, but predictions that FemTech would become a billion-plus dollar market by 2024 came to a screeching, Republican-led halt mid-this year, with “Delete #periodTrackingApps” trending on social media.
On May 3, when a leaked draft US Supreme court opinion showed abortion rights were under fire, over 100,000 people retweeted advice from California-based cyber-law expert Elizabeth McLaughlin: “If you are using an online period tracker or tracking your cycles through your phone, get off it and delete your data. Now.”
The leak presaged the 24 June US Supreme Court “Dobbs” decision to overturn the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling enshrining constitutional protection of women’s reproductive choices.
The decision by the Supreme Court (whose current conservative majority is a Trump government legacy) left US states in charge of legislative control of abortion and reproductive rights. The US Center for Reproductive Rights estimates that half of US states would ban abortion following the veto on a constitutional right to abortion.
-----
https://wildhealth.net.au/its-a-shit-show/
13 October 2022
‘It’s a shit show’
Emily Casey was a bright young medical student with a passion for healthcare when she was hit with the devastating reality that the system was “screwed”.
But rather than plunging on with her studies in the hope that someone somewhere would do something about the “shit show”, she decided to take control and be part of the solution – starting with the crippled health tech sector.
It meant upending her life and her studies and giving up her dream of being a doctor, at least for now. But she is fired up and ready to make change happen, through her new initiative What the Health?!
“When I got further into the program [medical school], I saw the reality of healthcare and how, even as a clinician, you’re really constrained by the system and the policies, as well as the funding and where that goes,” said What the Health?! founder Ms Casey.
-----
A-G says privacy reforms may be fast-tracked after Optus breach
By Richard Chirgwin on Oct 13, 2022 11:34AM
Suggests review of fines, information sharing and data collection.
The federal government is considering breaking some urgent reforms out of the Privacy Act review in the wake of the Optus data breach, attorney general Mark Dreyfus said yesterday.
Speaking to the National Press Club in Canberra, Dreyfus foreshadowed possible increases in fines in the Act, formalising information-sharing processes, and changes to data storage and retention requirements.
Dreyfus said while the previous government initiated a review, it was never progressed and as a result, “we have a very outdated piece of legislation in the Privacy Act”.
He committed to having the review completed this year, but said the Optus data breach highlighted the need for some reforms to happen sooner.
-----
Voters back tougher privacy rules, penalties to protect personal data
By David Crowe
October 12, 2022 — 5.00am
Australians want stronger privacy rules to stop companies storing personal data after they use it to sign up customers, with 77 per cent of voters supporting the change after the exposure of millions of accounts in the Optus data breach.
A clear majority of Australians also back tougher fines for companies that leave their systems vulnerable to data theft, with 59 per cent in favour of penalties worth many millions of dollars.
Sixty-eight per cent of voters believe Optus was most at fault for the breach and only 11 per cent held the government responsible.
The exclusive Resolve Political Monitor findings highlight the community support for a stricter regime to safeguard information from driver licences, passports, birth certificates and other documents often used to open accounts and stored for years by banks, retailers, phone companies, energy providers, government agencies and others.
With the federal government signalling new rules following a political fight over the blame for the Optus data theft, 68 per cent of voters believe Optus was most at fault for the breach and only 11 per cent held the government responsible, with 21 per cent unsure.
-----
Why Australia’s privacy laws failed to stop the Optus hack
Australia’s privacy laws are under review. But what are the current rules, and what changes to them could have stemmed the damage of the Optus hack?
Hannah Wootton Reporter
Oct 11, 2022 – 5.00am
The Optus cyberattack that led to the potential theft of 9.8 million customers’ personal information has put data security and people’s right to privacy in the spotlight.
It has led to questions by the public and experts over just why Optus had so much personal information on file – the stolen data includes passport, Medicare and driver’s licence numbers, with some victims reporting they had not been customers of the telco for a decade – and why privacy laws didn’t stop this.
Australia’s privacy laws were already under review before the attack; the current Privacy Act was written in 1988, so well before sharing your personal information digitally was commonplace.
The Coalition government announced a review of the act, and whether it is fit for purpose in the digital economy, in 2020, and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus took up the cause when Labor won government in May.
The Optus hack has strengthened Labor’s commitment to seeing through the reforms quickly. After originally pledging the changes would come into force in Labor’s first term, Dreyfus now says he wants the reforms passed in the remaining four parliamentary sitting weeks this year.
-----
Testing and turning on software key to curbing Optus-style hacks, says former Pentagon cyber chief
9:16PM October 9, 2022
Companies are failing to regularly test their digital defences and in some cases forgetting to switch on software aimed at protecting customer data, risking major breaches like the Optus hack, says author of America’s first two national cyber security strategies.
Optus has come under intense pressure after a data breach last month exposed the personal details - including Medicare, passport and driver licence data - of nearly ten million Australians, sparking a rift with the Albanese government and fuelling public anger.
Senior government figures have accused Optus of not co-operating, with Government Services Minister Bill Shorten saying the Singapore-owned telco was not moving fast enough while Anthony Albanese has demanded the company pay for the issuing of new identity documents.
But Jonathan Reiber - a former Pentagon chief strategy officer for cyber policy who now works for online security firm AttackIQ - says the government should be working more closely with businesses to fend off hackers.
-----
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/telstra-chair-takes-aim-at-optus-security-critics-586287
Telstra chair takes aim at Optus' security critics
By Richard Chirgwin on Oct 11, 2022 9:47AM
"Easy to be critical" if you’re not under attack.
Telstra chair John Mullen and new CEO Vicki Brady have offered support to Optus in their addresses to the carrier’s annual general meeting.
Optus has faced strong and repeated criticism from federal government ministers, particularly from cyber security minister Clare O’Neil, minister for government services Bill Shorten, and prime minister Anthony Albanese.
After highlighting how volatile geopolitics “has changed the threat landscape and increased the demands on our cyber defences and strategic supply chains”, Mullen offered solidarity to Optus.
“May I just say that it is easy for third parties to be critical of companies who have suffered devastating cyber-attacks such as happened recently to Optus," Mullen said.
-----
https://digitalhealthcrc.com/
Digital Health CRC
September/October 2022
Message from
our CEO
Annette Schmiede
Welcome to this edition of the Digital Health CRC (DHCRC) e-newsletter.
It is a busy time for our Team as we prepare for the Sydney AIDH Summit, where we are pleased to be a sponsor and have curated a dedicated program stream. As we emerge from a lockdown world we are seeing face to face conferences starting up again. These provide us with an opportunity to engage with the broader healthcare sector and share the learnings and insights that are emerging from our Research and Development program.
The CRC Program is managed by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources and one of the most important objectives of the Program is to grow Australian industry and create jobs. As we enter the second half of initial seven-year funding period for the DHCRC we will be focusing even more on how we can best support this important objective.
The National Skills Commission (NSC) released its Annual Skills Priority List at the start of this month and it highlighted the acute worker shortages we are facing right across the economy. The data suggests almost one in three occupations are experiencing worker shortages, up from 19 per cent in 2021. The situation for the healthcare sector is particularly dire with registered nurses, aged and disability carers, and GP and medical officers all in the top 20 most in demand jobs according to the NSC.
We do research well in Australia but the translation and implementation of that research and the skilled workforce to support that implementation needs expanding. A research trained workforce to build Australia’s health industry using technology as a key enabler is a key goal of our Education and Capacity building Program.
Improving the digital maturity of Australia’s Healthcare sector through digital transformation provides an opportunity to build capacity of the sector and we firmly see a highly skilled workforce - with research skills such as Masters of Research and PhD graduates - as fundamental to growing the Digital Healthcare industry in Australia.
Warm regards,
Annette
Schmiede
CEO, Digital Health CRC
-----
https://medicalrepublic.com.au/can-smart-investors-help-calm-the-startup-storm/78559
10 October 2022
Can smart investors help calm the startup storm?
In the high seas of digital health startups, clued-in investors get better results than cashed-up tech giants.
Despite the rapid growth in the number of digital health startups emerging over the past decade suggesting a bright future for health apps, tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft and Google have so far failed to make much headway in the health sector.
However, groups of dedicated, health-savvy investors are emerging as knowledgeable backers in the digital health startup world, where expertise and industry relationships play a key role in ensuring a company is successful at raising funds.
And while the covid pandemic was a shot in the arm for digital health as adoption of remote solutions skyrocketed, digital solutions that promise to improve health outcomes must still navigate a multitude of stakeholders, from tight-fisted administrators to busy and risk-averse clinicians and wary end-user patients.
A recent study compared the data in the regulatory filings and clinical trials from 224 US-based digital healthcare companies with the public claims that these organisations made. That study found that just 20 per cent had acceptable levels of clinical robustness, while 44 per cent of these companies had a clinical-robustness score of zero.
-----
David.
