I Am Sure This Conversation Rather Slipped Through To The Keeper!

I spotted this last week:

Senate Estimates

Community Affairs Legislation Committee
10/11/2022
Estimates
HEALTH AND AGED CARE PORTFOLIO
Australian Digital Health Agency

{15:56]

CHAIR: Senator Pocock, you have the call.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: Thanks for your time today, yesterday and, potentially, the day before. I've just got a few questions for the Australian Digital Health Agency.

Prof. Murphy : Chair, it's 5 am in Dublin and we would like Professor Skerritt to be able to go to bed. Are there any more TGA questions?

CHAIR: I will confirm that in the tea break. I understand that we've got about one minute before we get to the break. I'm doing my best to release you, Professor Skerritt, and I will get some advice to you as quickly as possible.

Dr Skerritt : Thank you.

Prof. Murphy : Thank you.

CHAIR: Senator Pocock.

Prof. Murphy : In relation to the Digital Health Agency, we'll get the experts to the table.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: To start with, I'm interested in whether you know how much the My Health Record system has cost to date.

Ms Cattermole : There are probably several elements to the question, because the My Health Record system is sort of part of a national digital health infrastructure that we've been running for a decade now. I can sort of provide you, if you'd like, with the broad elements of what that looks like roughly. It's hard to sort of disaggregate exactly all the pieces, but I can walk you through—

Senator DAVID POCOCK: If you want to take it on notice and just send through the info, that would be great.

Ms Cattermole : I can happily do that. I can give you the sort of broad brush but, given the time, I'm happy to take it on notice. The My Health Record has a number of elements around it, including authentication processes and clinical terminologies, that together make up the system. I can do that now or I can do it on notice, given the time.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: On notice is fine.

Ms Cattermole : Thanks, Senator.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: It is my understanding that, when it was set up, one of the things that was talked about was how it would be useful in an emergency situation.

Ms Cattermole : Yes.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: Do you have stats on what percentage of ED doctors are actually looking at records on the My Health Record?

Ms Cattermole : I do, indeed, and thank you. That's exactly right: that is, indeed, one of the things we've seen and we're seeing it more and more as, sadly, we've been facing a number of emergencies in recent years; we're starting to see that use and uptick. I can take you through some specifics and then provide you with more detail, as you wish.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: That would be great; thank you.

Ms Cattermole : If you take, for example, the Lismore floods or things like the moment the Queensland border opened, the uptick in the use and viewing of the record—for example, by pharmacists who needed to support people who may not have had their medications information—went up exponentially at those moments to sort of 400 per cent and 500 per cent. So it upticked at the moment that it was needed and then moved back to more normal levels once that emergency was not there. More broadly, over the last two and a half years, given the circumstances that we've had with the pandemic, we've seen exponential growth in the viewing use of the record not only by consumers but also by clinicians right across the health system, and that's quite sustained. We've seen consumers, for example, up by sort of 200 per cent and GPs up by 140 per cent. I can give you more detail, but we've certainly seen that emergency environment has created a significant shift.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: Do you have the percentage of visits to the emergency department where the doctor is looking that up?

Ms Cattermole : I've got public hospitals and so, yes, that's a pretty good proxy. Certainly, about 95 per cent of public hospitals are registered for the record. I'm sure that I can quickly find you exactly what the percentage is in use. Year on year, in terms of viewing of the record, public hospitals are up 160 per cent.

Sena tor DAVID POCOCK: Starting from?

Ms Cattermole : I'd have to take on notice, I think, where they were before. I've got some raw numbers for you, but the raw numbers can be a bit hard, because they're just humongous. For example, there was a viewing of 1,700,000 documents over the last 12 months. They're hard to get hold of.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: I'd love to know the proportion of just how many—

Ms Cattermole : What does look better is the percentage increase, and that's because you can see it.

Mr McCabe : We've seen 22.2 million views in the last 12 months, which was up from 8.6 million views in the previous years in the public hospital context.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: I appreciate the numbers, but I guess that I'm interested in this: for every 100 visits to emergency, how many of those patients have their—

Ms Cattermole : I'd have to take that on notice.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: That would be great; thank you. The other thing I'm interested in is diagnostic imaging providers.

Ms Cattermole : Yes.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: Having a look on the website, I can see that only two providers in the ACT are registered on the My Health Record. Do you know how many are registered nationally and are being integrated into the system?

Ms Cattermole : I've certainly got some increases here. I'll just see if I can give you diagnostic imaging providers.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: Chair, how am I going for time?

CHAIR: Senator Pocock, you have a few minutes in your call, but we'd be grateful if you were as efficient as you could be.

Mr Creech : In relation to the exact number of diagnostic imaging providers that are uploading, I'll take that on notice. The thing that we need to keep in mind, though, is that proportionally a significant number of diagnostic imaging providers are registered and connected with the My Health Record. They don't always upload, though, and that is one of the issues that we are and have been working through over a number of years. We're working hard at the moment to drive that use specifically with the providers themselves. It's the same as with pathology. Uploads are lower than we'd like; they are growing and have grown significantly over the last few years, especially during the COVID period, but not as significantly as with pathology. With pathology, it has really boomed in the last couple of years. But DI has a little bit of work to go, and we're looking to get as many of those into the system as possible. Especially in the ACT, there are two providers that don't upload as much as we'd like.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: I'd love, just on notice, any sort of information that you can give us to try to—

Ms Cattermole : Yes. I've got them here but together, so I'll disaggregate them for you.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: Thank you. Finally, because I know that we're running very short—

CHAIR: No, please, Senator Pocock.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: I'm just wondering what progress is being made in getting rid of fax machines in healthcare; is there an end in sight?

Ms Cattermole : An excellent question.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: I note that a few coronial inquiries have actually pointed out that fax machines were a contributing factor.

Prof. Murphy : It is a really big challenge. Doctors are one of the last bastions of the fax machine and mainly because secure electronic imaging was the issue, and I think that's what we've all been working on.

Mr McCabe : I think it's probably worth saying that, in the health system, there are probably areas that are getting better. For example, primary care or general practice is probably reducing dramatically the use of fax machines. But we've got to do a lot more work in areas like specialists, who don't tend to use as many digital platforms as we'd like them to. So, it's an area of focus in specific areas.

Senator RUSTON: Senator Pocock, I've heard on very good authority that they've got to get rid of fax machines but at the same time they've got to write legibly.

Senator DAVID POCOCK: Thank you. Perhaps you could provide on notice the percentage of GPs or other providers who are still using fax machines?

Prof. Murphy : I think we can certainly provide something on the proportion of GPs who are now fully—

Senator DAVID POCOCK: And potentially, given the coronial findings, whether there is a strategy to find a secure, acceptable and workable way to do it all?

Prof. Murphy : Yes.

----- End Extract.

Here is the link:

https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22committees%2Festimate%2F26273%2F0012%22

It seems Senator Pocock has more interests than Industrial Relations. Good to see a few questions on just how useful the #myHR is actually being for all that money!

It was fun seeing Ms Cattermole being the usual public servant and either not answering the question or putting the question on notice so we don’t all get to see the answer. Same sort of  rubbish that we have seen from Tim Kelsey etc before him.

I think his myHR questions are well asked but on the issue of the use of faxes I think close analysis would show the incidents were not the fault of the fax machines but the way the humans used them (not checking receipt etc.)

I hope he keeps pushing on the #myHR costs and benefits!

Those who read all know how better outcomes and information flows could be achieved via other technologies than the #myHR!

David.

 

Commentators and Journalists Weigh In On Digital Health And Related Privacy, Safety, Social Media And Security Matters. Lots Of Interesting Perspectives - November 29, 2022.

-----

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.

-----

https://www.croakey.org/twitter-meltdown-is-a-threat-to-health-in-many-ways-so-what-to-do/

Twitter meltdown is a threat to health in many ways. So what to do?

Melissa Sweet

Thursday, November 24, 2022

Introduction by Croakey: The upheaval at Twitter has profound, wide-ranging implications for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s health and wellbeing and for public health, emergency responses, public discourse, policy development and rural health, according to health leaders.

They told an online meeting hosted by Croakey this week that the concerns surrounding Twitter merit serious consideration and systematic responses by governments and policymakers, and also advocacy efforts by civil society and the health sector.

Participants shared diverse ways that Twitter has been used to promote public health, build communities and provide a platform for showcasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander excellence in public health.

---

Melissa Sweet writes:

Elon Musk’s disruptive takeover of Twitter has sent shockwaves across the health and community sectors, where the platform has been a powerful tool for community-building, advocacy, engagement, research dissemination and connection.

About 40 people attended a snap online meeting convened by Croakey this week, which was chaired by Professor Megan Williams, who is Wiradjuri through her father’s family, Chair of Croakey Health Media and an academic at UTS Sydney.

-----

https://digitalhealth.org.au/blog/women-in-digital-health-applications-open-for-2023/

Women in Digital Health applications open for 2023

Nov 21, 2022 | AIDH news, Community Chats, Community of Practice, Digital Health, Women in Digital Health, Workforce

Applications are open until 20 January 2023 for the Institute’s Women in Digital Health (WiDH),  leadership and professional development program.

Now in its second year, WiDH was developed to advance the digital health careers of women through immersive coaching and personalised mentoring experiences.

The 25 women accepted into the program will work with inspirational leaders, coaches and mentors from across the digital health community and join leadership retreats from February to August 2023. The targeted learning program includes six one-hour individual coaching sessions, in addition to numerous peer networking and learning opportunities.

Candidates are invited to register for an online information session from 10am – 11am AEDT Wednesday 30 November 2022.

-----

https://www.smh.com.au/technology/hacker-attacks-are-unlikely-to-slow-down-from-here-20221123-p5c0p0.html

Hacker attacks are unlikely to slow down from here

By Tim Biggs

November 25, 2022 — 8.45am

The rate of damaging privacy breaches is unlikely to slow down over the next year, experts say, with exponential growth in personal information collection highlighting the need for greater awareness at businesses of the need to protect this data.

Jonathan Rubinsztein, chief executive of ASX-listed investigative analytics company Nuix, said the geopolitical climate combined with other recent developments such as the rise in remote working was powering a boom in data breaches in Australia and elsewhere.

“There’s no question that global political instability is a key driver, many of the attacks are suspected to be from state-sponsored actors,” he said.

“That, together with the post-COVID working-from-home arrangements and a proliferation of data, means the prize gets bigger and the ability to protect perimeters is getting more complicated.”

Rubinsztein said the Nuix analytics platform was used by both Medibank and Optus in the wake of their data breaches, but that companies should be integrating reviews of their data assets regularly rather than having to sort it out after an attack.

-----

https://itwire.com/business-it-news/security/hack-friday-nearly-7-million-aussies-have-fallen-victim-to-online-shopping-scams.html

Thursday, 24 November 2022 11:30

Hack Friday: Nearly 7 million Aussies have fallen victim to online shopping scams

By Staff Writer

Nearly 7 million Aussies have fallen victim to online shopping scams, it was revealed today as almost 11 million Australian shoppers prepare to embark on the biggest bargain hunts of the year.

Research commissioned by cybersecurity company NordVPN reveals that 26% of Australians have been scammed while shopping online — equivalent to seven million people.

“With Black Friday less than a week away, cyber scammers have their sights on the four in five Australians who might take part in the event — 40.8% of Austrlia’s shoppers say they’ll head online for Cyber Monday, Black Friday or the Christmas sales, with a further 34.3% still to decide,”NordVPN notes.

“The task of online criminals is being made easier by the millions of Australian consumers prepared to offer up a treasure trove of personal information in exchange for an extra markdown or freebie — and those who have already been scammed are at the front of the queue.

“Of the three in ten people who have previously experienced a scam, many admit they’d still be prepared to hand over a catalogue of bizarrely irrelevant information to get a big discount or freebie.

“One in ten (10.8%) would hand over their credit card details, 4.6% would give their tax file number and 8.1% would reveal where they worked. A further 8.1% would even reveal their children’s names for the chance to bag an extra bargain.

-----

https://itwire.com/business-it-news/security/nordvpn-research-finds-websites-have-48-trackers-on-average,-social-media-sites-have-160.html

Wednesday, 23 November 2022 23:14

NordVPN research finds websites have 48 trackers on average, social media sites have 160

By David M Williams

NordVPN research finds websites follow their visitors with 48 trackers per site on average, with social media websites at 160 trackers on average.

In fact, the number of trackers by social media websites is so high - for collecting and monetising user data - that it completely skews the data; the next highest category, health websites, comes in at 46 trackers on average. In third place are digital media sites with an average of 28 trackers per site.

Coming in last place is Government websites with an average of a single tracker per site, and in second-last place are porn websites with an average of four trackers.

The bulk of trackers are third parties - that is, they are not from the user (obviously), but are not created or owned by the website operator itself. Instead, 30% of these third-party trackers belong to Google, 11% to Facebook and maybe surprisingly, 7% to Adobe. This data is collected and used in marketing.

-----

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/senate-committee-stamps-privacy-breach-penalties-588170

Senate committee stamps privacy breach penalties

By Richard Chirgwin on Nov 23, 2022 10:46AM

Recommends better definition of key terms.

A senate committee has recommended passage of law changes that would substantially increase the penalties for large or repeated privacy breaches, with only minor revisions to the draft legislation.

The committee’s report [pdf] asks that the government define the bill’s terms “serious" and "repeated" privact interference; and that the Attorney General’s department add one provision in the bill to its ongoing review of the Privacy Act.

The committee’s report means that the most contentious provisions in the bill, the penalties it imposes, are likely to pass into law.

These penalties could be up to $50 million, or three times the value of the benefit obtained by a privacy breach, or 30 percent of the company’s turnover during the breach period.

The proposed fines were strongly resisted by banks and other organisations, particularly the latter two provisions.

-----

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=be70ce1c-684a-4f9c-9e78-b7c110cad143

Momentum has shifted and privacy reform is on the way

Governance Institute of Australia - Charles Dane

Australia November 17 2022

Ask anyone on the street and it’s certain they will either be aware of the recent spate of high-profile cyber-attacks or be a victim of one. I wrote about the attacks in the last News Update.

There’s no denying, we live in a rapidly evolving data landscape, and our current privacy regulations are not keeping pace. In the Australian Privacy Commissioner’s 2020 survey, 83% of Australians said they’d like the government to do more to protect the privacy of their data.

It’s now November 2022, and no regulations have changed.

We need a Privacy Act that is fit for purpose for the digital age. It’s almost unthinkable that the current privacy regulations were designed in 1988.

Collectors of our data need to be aware of the serious risks posed by storing unnecessary but highly sensitive data. What is needed are new regulations that minimise the amount and types of data extracted for commercial purposes as well as a new regulator to vigorously enforce these regulations.

-----

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/ftx-collapse-sends-pain-through-local-crypto-and-startup-sectors/news-story/f9da6b07dca8b3754e543ce688ac48e1

FTX collapse sends pain through local crypto and start-up sectors

David Swan

3:30PM November 20, 2022

The collapse of global cryptocurrency platform FTX is beginning to impact local projects and start-ups, which are reporting steep revenue drops in the last week.

The local tech industry was already one of the worst hit by lay-offs this year, and those inside the sector are pessimistic about prospects in the wake of the failure of FTX, the collapse of which has provided an unprecedented view into how poorly it was managed.

At least one local crypto exchange with exposure to FTX, Digital Surge, was forced to suspend withdrawals last week, while almost 30,000 local FTX users remain locked out of their accounts.

Joan Westenberg, who runs Web3 content and publishing agency Studio Self, said she has already lost 80 per cent of revenue as a direct result of the FTX collapse. She said that as the scope and scale of the FTX fallout was revealed, she proactively reached out to the Web3 founders and tech platform she works with and gave them the option to end their marketing and communications contracts without penalty.

-----

https://medicalrepublic.com.au/ai-and-graph-technology-to-improve-patient-care/81680

21 November 2022

AI and graph technology to improve patient care

By Peter Philipp

The ability to navigate large volumes of unstructured data is a step toward better outcomes, efficiencies, and opportunities in medical research.

---

The increasing digitisation of healthcare and medical research, from telemedicine to electronic health records, is creating exciting opportunities to use data to drive new efficiencies.

Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), digital twin and graph data science are generating insights that enable better prevention, more accurate diagnoses, more effective patient treatments and solve complicated healthcare and life sciences problems.

The massive volume of data that is generated and used in today’s digital economy requires technology that can effectively solve modern data challenges. Graph technology, which works differently from traditional databases, can compare multiple datasets and contexts since the data is stored as nodes and links, which helps structure and identify the relationships between entities.

Improving the patient’s journey

The healthcare sector is inundated with large volumes of unstructured data which can be overwhelming for many healthcare providers and difficult to analyse and make sense of.

In one case, a large US health insurance company wanted to use patient data to improve health and outcomes. With 3.5 million members, it had amassed a huge amount of data, including claims, explanations of diagnoses and procedure codes, and it saw opportunities to generate insights from this. By looking at people who managed chronic conditions well, and how they did this, they could share these insights with other members.

-----

https://www.afr.com/technology/why-ftx-is-adding-up-to-a-crypto-crunch-point-20221117-p5bz4v

Why FTX is adding up to a crypto crunch point

Already suffering from a “tech bro” image problem, FTX has shown the industry in a worse light than even the sceptics imagined.

Jessica Sier Journalist

Nov 18, 2022 – 4.27pm

A 39-year-old man we will call Blake phoned this week in desperation. He wanted to know if there was any more information about the administration of FTX Australia.

Calling from the Gold Coast, he was close to tears. An electrician by day, Blake enjoyed numbers (and money) and had been teaching himself to trade derivatives on the FTX platform over the past 18 months.

But last weekend, he logged into FTX to discover his account was frozen. He couldn’t move his funds, worth about $45,000, anywhere. He figured it was a glitch and waited for FTX to start working again. It didn’t, and next time he logged in his balance read $0.

“My insides went icy,” Blake said. “I was clicking and clicking and nothing was happening. I knew I had $45,000 sitting there but I couldn’t do anything with it. Trust me, I’ve made enough bad trades over the last year to know when it’s me that has f---ed up. This was not me f---ing up.”

-----

https://www.afr.com/technology/how-to-avoid-joining-optus-and-medibank-on-the-cybersecurity-walk-of-shame-20221106-p5bw0q

How to avoid joining Optus and Medibank on the cybersecurity walk of shame

John Davidson Columnist

Nov 17, 2022 – 3.40pm

Another day, another revelation that Australian companies are chronically underinvesting in cybersecurity.

Today, it’s Medibank revealing that the damage wrought by its recent cyberattack is worse than it had previously stated, which in turn was far worse than Medibank’s prior update, which in turn was dramatically worse than Medibank’s first revelation on October 13 that it had suffered a cyberattack but that there was “no evidence that any sensitive data, including customer data, has been accessed”.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Does Medibank even have any data left that it’s yet to realise was exposed in the data breach?

Indeed, who knows what the next seven minutes will bring? That’s how often the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) receives a report of another cybercrime attack nowadays, now that (as the ACSC says) Russian crime gangs appear to be working with the Russian state to help fund the war in Ukraine.

What we do know is that the chronic underinvestment in cybersecurity has become an acute threat to Australian businesses and institutions.

-----

David.

 

Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 28 November, 2022.

Here are a few I have come across the last week or so. Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.

General Comment

-----

NSW eHealth deciding to throw every thing out and go with Epic is the big news. Will be fun to watch if I live that long!

A few other bits not to be missed as well so read on!

-----

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nsw-health-taps-epic-for-statewide-single-digital-patient-record-588153

NSW Health taps Epic for statewide, single digital patient record

By Jeremy Nadel on Nov 23, 2022 6:48AM

To unify core clinical and laboratory information systems.

NSW Health has selected US healthcare software provider Epic to unify its core clinical and laboratory information management systems under a state-wide, single digital patient record (SDPR).

NSW Health currently uses nine electronic medical record systems (EMR), six patient administration systems (PAS) and five pathology laboratory information systems (LIMS).

Currently, Cerner and Orion Health provide NSW Health’s EMR instances, Cerner and DXC provide its PAS instances, and Citadel (Auslab) and Integrated Software Solutions (OmniLab) provide its LIMS.

NSW Health Pathology chief executive Tracey McCosker said the modular, cloud-based environment would give healthcare teams across NSW real-time access to comprehensive medical records

“Patients and our busy staff will benefit from clinical insights gained from the capture of important new data that enables ongoing innovation across the state," McCosker said.

-----

https://wildhealth.net.au/epic-battle-for-nsw-health-unseats-a-giant/

24 November 2022

Epic battle for NSW Health unseats a giant

By Wendy John

Epic has won the bid to transform NSW Health’s digital health ecosystem by usurping long-term incumbent Cerner.

The IT transformation is expected to take six years and aims to achieve NSW Health’s goals including single patient identifiers, patient information portals and embedding virtual care as a part of routine care. In all, 350 expert stakeholders weighed in on the tender and favoured Epic over Cerner.

Michelle O’Brien is a digital health thought leader and former business executive for Medical Director and MediRecords. She said the decision to move away from Cerner was unexpected given the extent that Cerner is embedded in NSW Health.

“What is surprising though is the thought that you would put two global competitors into NSW Health together and expect them to be able to work together. I think that’s what shocked everyone in the market,” Ms O’Brien said.

Ms O’Brien added that although the market may be surprised, some users of NSW Health digital health systems were probably not as shocked by the decision.

-----

https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/anz/epic-chosen-deliver-nsw-healths-single-digital-patient-record-system

Epic chosen to deliver NSW Health's Single Digital Patient Record system

The EMR system will first go live at Hunter New England LHD.

By Adam Ang

November 23, 2022 04:24 AM

NSW Health has picked Epic to deliver its Single Digital Patient Record project, which seeks to unify all EMR and pathology information systems across the state. 

Subject to the successful completion of contractual negotiations, Epic's supply contract will replace nine existing EMR platforms, six PAS, five pathology LIMS and several other clinical support systems, which have been provided by Cerner, Orion Health, DXC, Citadel, and Integrated Software Solutions.

The SDPR will provide comprehensive, real-time electronic access to medical records across NSW Health, covering 15 Local Health Districts (LHDs), two specialty health networks and all NSW Health pathology laboratories.

According to eHealth NSW chief executive and CIO Dr Zoran Bolevich, they engaged more than 350 expert stakeholders, including clinicians, scientists and technical experts, to evaluate Epic's supply proposal. 

-----

https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/anz/nsw-health-seeks-best-change-management-practices-virtual-care-integration

NSW Health seeks best change management practices for virtual care integration

It is part of its Smarter Hospitals project which seeks to optimise virtual care technologies in NSW health facilities.

By Adam Ang

November 23, 2022 07:33 AM

Health Infrastructure, an agency under NSW Health that delivers infrastructure solutions and services, is set to review global best change management practices to deliver digitally enabled health facilities in the state.

This research, in partnership with the Australian Institute of Health Innovation at Macquarie University and partner health services, has recently received backing from the National Health and Medical Research Council with a A$1.27 million (about $840,000) grant. 

WHY IT MATTERS

According to Health Infrastructure chief executive Rebecca Wark, every health facility requires "some level of change management" to help hospital staff adapt to new facilities or new models of care. 

Wark hopes that their research on best change management practices will guide the implementation of virtual care technologies in their health facilities, from initial clinical needs planning, health facility planning, design and construction, through to asset repurposing.

-----

https://www.innovationaus.com/nsw-to-consider-patient-access-to-new-digital-health-record/

NSW to consider patient access to new digital health record

---

Justin Hendry
Editor

24 November 2022

A future version the statewide digital health record to be rolled out in New South Wales over the coming years could give patients access to their clinical record, much like the national My Health Record system.

NSW Health this week announced its partnership with US-based electronic medical record (EMR) vendor Epic to deliver the state’s Single Digital Health Record (SDHR), ending a three-year search for a provider.

Epic has spent the last two years delivering the Australian Capital Territory’s Digital Health Record (DHR), having won a $128.3 million contract in July 2020. The DHR went live across Canberra last week.

New South Wales’ SDHR will replace nine existing EMR platforms provided by Cerner and Orion Health, six patient administration systems from Cerner and DXC and five pathology laboratory information management system.

It will be used across all 15 Local Health Districts, two Specialty Health Networks and NSW Health Pathology laboratories, giving clinicians access to real-time NSW Health medical records regardless of where a person is admitted.

-----

https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/anz/act-switch-covid-19-contact-tracing-app

ACT to switch off COVID-19 contact tracing app

The app will no longer be in use starting in December.

By Adam Ang

November 23, 2022 08:32 PM

The ACT government is decommissioning the Check in CBR mobile app that was used for contact tracing during the pandemic.

In a statement, ACT Minister for Health Rachel Stephen-Smith said the app will be shut down from 1 December. 

"[A]s the ACT continues to move towards managing COVID-19 in a manner that is more consistent with other infectious diseases, the app is no longer required and will be switched off," she said.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

Check in CBR was launched in September 2020 to support the contact tracing of suspected COVID-19 cases in the ACT. It logs a user's location after scanning a QR code in public establishments. Later versions of the app allow it to hold a person's vaccination certificate and provide a link to report a positive COVID-19 test. 

-----

https://www.hospitalhealth.com.au/content/technology/news/pain-assessment-app-ready-for-hospital-sector-597565501

Pain assessment app ready for hospital sector

Monday, 21 November, 2022

---

PainChek, developer of a smartphone-based pain assessment and monitoring application, has partnered with InterSystems IRIS for Health to integrate its application with electronic medical record (EMR) systems.

Combining the companies’ platforms will facilitate PainChek’s hospital global market entry as it aims to transform pain management in the hospital sector.

PainChek’s software-as-a-service (SaaS), artificial intelligence (AI) platform uses smart devices with cameras to accurately evaluate patients’ pain levels — saving time and money for healthcare providers since different clinicians may record different verbal assessments. Many patients cannot or do not reliably describe their pain levels, are pre- or non-verbal, or are not lucid at the time.

PainChek’s application is contracted for use in more than 1300 aged care facilities in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Singapore.

-----

https://wildhealth.net.au/pain-assessment-app-enters-hospitals/

24 November 2022

Pain assessment app enters hospitals

By Talia Meyerowitz-Katz

In its first move into hospitals, Australian smartphone app PainChek has partnered with technology provider InterSystems to integrate the tool with electronic medical records (EMRs).

PainChek is the world’s first smartphone-based pain assessment and monitoring app.

It uses AI and facial recognition to detect pain in patients who cannot accurately self-report, such as patients who are non-verbal, not lucid, or experiencing cognitive decline.

It works by using the smart phone camera to look at the patient’s face, and then uses AI to identify muscle movements indicative of pain.

The app then provides a framework to record pain related behaviours. It generates a pain score and records the result, supporting ongoing monitoring of the effectiveness of pain management interventions and consistency in pain reporting.

-----

https://www.hospitalhealth.com.au/content/technology/news/nationwide-huntington-s-disease-registry-to-improve-research-625766448

Nationwide Huntington's disease registry to improve research

Monday, 21 November, 2022

---

Australia’s first nationwide registry to map people living with the rare, neurogenerative Huntington’s disease (HD) has reached its first 100 participants, a significant step towards paving the way for better care and services across the country.

The Map-HD Registry is an initiative of the Huntington’s Disease Network of Australia (HDNA), led by Professor Julie Stout at Monash University’s Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health.

Adults and children in Australia affected by HD are invited to sign up, enabling the registry to map participants’ locations, obstacles in accessing HD clinical care, community services and experiences with Commonwealth-supported disability insurance entitlements.

It’s estimated that around 2160[1] Australians have a diagnosis. There is currently no cure for the condition and too many people are not receiving the care and services they need.

-----

https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/anz/surgery-admission-now-takes-12-minutes-regional-health-network

Surgery admission now takes 12 minutes in this regional health network

It has also brought back 40 hours per week of staff time back to nursing care.

By Adam Ang

November 25, 2022 06:24 AM

The Barossa Hills Fleurieu Local Health Network has moved on from a paper-based admission process for surgery patients to using digital pathways to enhance communication, patient risk assessments, and surgery preparation.

The regional health network provides public acute, residential aged care, community health and mental health services through 11 hospitals and health facilities across Barossa, Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island in South Australia.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT 

BHFLHN has recently implemented Personify Care's digital pathways, which have been customised for each site of the network. All its locations have varied and adjusted pathways based on their needs.  

A digital pathway streamlines and individualises communication of timely and relevant information with patients, including appointment times and reminders, patient education, COVID-19 screening and testing instruction, surgery date and time confirmation, advanced discharge plan, and feedback forms.

-----

https://itwire.com/it-industry-news/enterprise-cloud/splunk-helps-sa-health-enhance-patient-outcomes.html

Tuesday, 22 November 2022 22:14

Splunk helps SA Health enhance patient outcomes

By David M Williams

Splunk has awarded SA Health with the Splunk Asia Pacific innovation award for best practices, recognising the organisation's platform design, implementation, collaboration, and leadership in the health sector.

The award was not given lightly; SA Health, along with Splunk, Hannan and Partners, and Chamonix IT Consulting, has designed and built one of the largest and most advanced Splunk deployments in Australia.

The result is a blend of Splunk Cloud, Splunk Enterprise Security, and Splunk IT Service Intelligence giving vast service visibility, increased operational efficiencies, and a technology skills uplift for approximately 100 staff.

SA Health is the first Splunk customer to receive this award, which focuses on organisations that innovate and leverage the Splunk platform to its fullest.

“SA Health has delivered outstanding deployment of the Splunk platform, impacting the health sector so positively in a moment when it was more critical than ever. We couldn’t be more proud to recognise them for the exceptional platform implementation and collaboration,” said Splunk area vice president of Australia and New Zealand Ernie Hug. “Splunk has demonstrated continuing investment into South Australia, not only growing our team locally but also further expanding with new resources. This is an important result of this commitment to the state.”

-----

https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/623803/Spectacular-result-for-clinician-led-quality-improvement-project.htm

 

‘Spectacular result’ for clinician-led quality improvement project

Monday, 21 November 2022  

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

The introduction of clinician-designed, electronic forms into nurses’ existing electronic workflow at Christchurch Hospital increased documentation of IV-line insertion from 32 to 85 percent.

Leah Wilkins, Te Whatu Ora Waitaha Canterbury clinical nurse specialist, infection prevention and control service, says international evidence shows documentation of peripheral intravenous catheters (PIVC) insertion and management is generally poor globally, and especially in Australia and New Zealand.

A quality improvement project saw the introduction of PIVC documentation into Christchurch Hospital’s shared electronic notes system Cortex.

Wilkins, who will be presenting on the project at Digital Health Week in Rotorua this December, says its success shows improved electronic documentation can be achieved despite high workloads and resource constraints.

-----

https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/624337/Digital-first-GP-service-expands-into-South-Island.htm

Digital first GP service expands into South Island

Thursday, 24 November 2022  

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Kiwi digital health company Tend Health has become a 50 percent shareholder in the South Island-based general practice company, Better Health Limited.

Tend is a digital-first general practice provider that allows patients to book appointments online (including in evenings and weekends), see a doctor using telehealth and access their clinical notes and prescriptions, via an app.

The partnership between Tend and Better Health Limited will cover 14 medical centres with more than 90,000 patients across Christchurch, North Canterbury and the lower South Island.

Tend integration will occur as a managed process at select South Island clinics over time. The company already operates three medical centres across Auckland.
-----

https://developer.digitalhealth.gov.au/events/adha-msia-joint-information-sharing-and-qa-28-november-2022

ADHA & MSIA Joint Information Sharing and Q&A - 28 November 2022

Monday, 28 November 2022 - 1:00pm to 2:00pm

Online Webinar

To register, click on the button below: 

Register to attend

About this event

A joint Q&A session where MSIA members will receive agency updates, and have the chance to ask general questions about any projects or programs of work.

Who runs the event?

Medical Software Industry Association (MSIA) & Australian Digital Health Agency

-----

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/your-health-in-your-hands-tickets-464743800217

Feb. 22

Your health in your hands

Featured in

Learn about My Health Record, telehealth, eScripts and other digital health topics.

By Castlemaine Library

When and where

Date and time

Wed., 22 February 2023, 10:00 am – 11:00 am AEDT

Location

Castlemaine Library 212 Barker Street Castlemaine, VIC 3450

-----

https://developer.digitalhealth.gov.au/resources/news/conformance-services-end-year-availability

Conformance Services end of year availability

The Agency would like to advise all vendors of the availability of its conformance services, including conformance assessments and support, throughout the end of year holiday period and Agency office closure.

Healthcare Identifiers (HI) Service bookings

HI Service conformance assessment bookings for 2022 have now concluded. Bookings are now being taken for conformance assessments in 2023, with availability from 16 January 2023. Preparatory documentation, such as Implementation Conformance Statements, may continue to be submitted through this period as required.

Electronic Prescribing (EP) and eNRMC assessments

EP and eNRMC conformance assessments will continue to be processed until the Agency's end of year office closure on 23 December 2022 and will resume on 16 January 2023. Throughout December and January, EP and eNRMC conformance assessments may be subject to processing delays of up to 10 business days due to the end of year office closure. Vendors are requested to consider appropriate additional lead time in product delivery planning, to account for any delays.

We thank you for your understanding and look forward to continuing to support your conformance activities in the new year. Please contact us at help@digitalhealth.gov.au should you require any further assistance.

-----

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/nasa-s-orion-capsule-reaches-the-moon-passes-over-apollo-11-landing-site-20221122-p5c057.html

NASA’s Orion capsule reaches the moon, passes over Apollo 11 landing site

By Marcia Dunn

November 22, 2022 — 1.23am

Cape Canaveral: NASA’s Orion capsule reached the moon on Monday, passing within 128 kilometres of the lunar surface on its historic space flight.

The close approach occurred as the crew capsule and its three test dummies were on the far side of the moon. Because of the half-hour communication blackout, flight controllers in Houston did not know if the critical engine firing went well until the capsule emerged from behind the moon, more than 375,000 kilometres from Earth.

It’s the first time a capsule has visited the moon since NASA’s Apollo program 50 years ago, and represented a huge milestone in the $US4.1 billion test flight that began last Wednesday. Orion’s flight path took it over the landing sites of Apollo 11, 12 and 14 — humanity’s first three lunar touchdowns.

The moon loomed ever larger in the video beamed back to Earth as the capsule closed the final few thousand kilometres since blasting off on November 16 from Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre.

“This is one of those days that you’ve been thinking about and talking about for a long, long time,” flight director Zeb Scoville said.

-----

Enjoy!

David.

There Are One Or Two Questions That Rather Need To Be Clarified With The NSW Move To Epic.

Unless you were out of touch the last few days the following is not news.

Epic chosen to deliver NSW Health's Single Digital Patient Record system

The EMR system will first go live at Hunter New England LHD.

By Adam Ang

November 23, 2022 04:24 AM

NSW Health has picked Epic to deliver its Single Digital Patient Record project, which seeks to unify all EMR and pathology information systems across the state. 

Subject to the successful completion of contractual negotiations, Epic's supply contract will replace nine existing EMR platforms, six PAS, five pathology LIMS and several other clinical support systems, which have been provided by Cerner, Orion Health, DXC, Citadel, and Integrated Software Solutions.

The SDPR will provide comprehensive, real-time electronic access to medical records across NSW Health, covering 15 Local Health Districts (LHDs), two specialty health networks and all NSW Health pathology laboratories.

According to eHealth NSW chief executive and CIO Dr Zoran Bolevich, they engaged more than 350 expert stakeholders, including clinicians, scientists and technical experts, to evaluate Epic's supply proposal. 

"Their expertise, along with meaningful engagement with healthcare consumers, will continue to guide us as we roll out SDPR across the state," he added.

THE LARGER TREND

Epic, which remains the Best in Klas software suite in 12 years, is also delivering ACT's statewide Digital Health Record system. The ACT government in August invested another $35 million in the project, which is expected to go online this year.

Meanwhile, the NSW government last year invested over $105 million in SDPR. The system will go live first at Hunter New England LHD before its full rollout across the state.

More here:

https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/anz/epic-chosen-deliver-nsw-healths-single-digital-patient-record-system

Among others there us coverage here:

24 November 2022

Epic battle for NSW Health unseats a giant

By Wendy John

Epic has won the bid to transform NSW Health’s digital health ecosystem by usurping long-term incumbent Cerner.

The IT transformation is expected to take six years and aims to achieve NSW Health’s goals including single patient identifiers, patient information portals and embedding virtual care as a part of routine care. In all, 350 expert stakeholders weighed in on the tender and favoured Epic over Cerner.

Michelle O’Brien is a digital health thought leader and former business executive for Medical Director and MediRecords. She said the decision to move away from Cerner was unexpected given the extent that Cerner is embedded in NSW Health.

“What is surprising though is the thought that you would put two global competitors into NSW Health together and expect them to be able to work together. I think that’s what shocked everyone in the market,” Ms O’Brien said.

Ms O’Brien added that although the market may be surprised, some users of NSW Health digital health systems were probably not as shocked by the decision.

“The systems in NSW hospitals are pretty old and a mishmash of technology. Cerner has multiple instances [versions] operating across NSW hospitals. I think Epic’s technology is seen as more innovative and more in line with the ability to be flexible and scalable,” she said.

So, who is Epic?

In short, the market leader in the US. They possess nearly 33% of the hospital market, according to Beckers Hospital Review. They have an office in Melbourne and 10 other cities around the globe and call their main office Wisconsin, US their “intergalactic headquarters”.

More here:

https://wildhealth.net.au/epic-battle-for-nsw-health-unseats-a-giant/

And here:

NSW to consider patient access to new digital health record

Justin Hendry
Editor

24 November 2022

A future version the statewide digital health record to be rolled out in New South Wales over the coming years could give patients access to their clinical record, much like the national My Health Record system.

NSW Health this week announced its partnership with US-based electronic medical record (EMR) vendor Epic to deliver the state’s Single Digital Health Record (SDHR), ending a three-year search for a provider.

Epic has spent the last two years delivering the Australian Capital Territory’s Digital Health Record (DHR), having won a $128.3 million contract in July 2020. The DHR went live across Canberra last week.

New South Wales’ SDHR will replace nine existing EMR platforms provided by Cerner and Orion Health, six patient administration systems from Cerner and DXC and five pathology laboratory information management system.

It will be used across all 15 Local Health Districts, two Specialty Health Networks and NSW Health Pathology laboratories, giving clinicians access to real-time NSW Health medical records regardless of where a person is admitted.

The digital platform will be unlike the My Health Record system at the national level in that it is designed to be an operational record used by clinicians to manage patients within the NSW public health system.

But an eHealth NSW told InnovationAus.com that platform to be delivered by Epic “offers some additional functionality, such as a patient portal, which will be considered in the future to support patient interactions with the system”.

eHealth NSW first raised the prospect of allowing patients to access their NSW medical records when it initially went to market for the SDHR in mid-2019.

In a statement, eHealth NSW chief executive and NSW Health chief information officer, Dr Zoran Bolevich, said Epic was chosen after a “robust process” involving more than 350 clinicians, scientist, technical experts and other stakeholders.

More here:

https://www.innovationaus.com/nsw-to-consider-patient-access-to-new-digital-health-record/

The key question I have about all this is whether there has been any form of benefits analysis that shows that the benefits flowing to NSW from this change going to be in excess of the $1 Billion being spent and that those benefits are in excess of the benefits of the status quo which I am pretty sure have not been fully amortised!

A extra billion dollars is no chicken feed on top of what has already been spent – which seems to be working to some significant degree – as I observed personally in a recent stay at RNS a few years ago.

The disruption and retraining of the 120,000 staff in NSW Health is no trivial matter and has a real economic cost which I am sure is largely ignored – and remember these people are still recovering from a pretty terrible 3 years with COVID! I really wonder if the issues with the present systems are so severe and so urgent this switch has to happen now or is this some empire building in the part of eHealthNSW?

Simply might the NSW Health System have say a 5 year breather as COVID settles before being destabilised again? Can this huge move be really justified now?

What to people think? Insider comments welcome!

I note, in passing, that Epic does provide good patient information access facilities which may go some way to explaining the switch. Of course you could fix that issue for way less than a billion dollars!

David.

 

AusHealthIT Poll Number 659– Results – 27th November, 2022.

Here are the results of the poll.

Will Elon Musk Destroy Twitter As A Useful Medium For Reliable News / Information?

Yes                                                                                            35 (60%)

No                                                                                             17 (29%)

I Have No Idea                                                                           6 (10%)

Votes: 58

A mixed view with a large majority feeling Elon is likely to destroy Twitter as a useful resource.

Any insights on the poll are welcome, as a comment, as usual!

A great number of votes. and a clear outcome. 

6 of 58 who answered the poll admitted to not being sure about the answer to the question!

Again, many, many thanks to all those who voted! 

David.