Quote Of The Year

Timeless Quotes - Sadly The Late Paul Shetler - "Its not Your Health Record it's a Government Record Of Your Health Information"

or

H. L. Mencken - "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

Sunday, October 29, 2023

AusHealthIT Poll Number 720 – Results – 29 October, 2023.

Here are the results of the poll.

Has The Move To A Commonwealth Funded Health Insurance System (Medicare), As Developed By Bill Hayden, Been A Good Thing, In Hindsight, For Australia?

Yes                                                                           21 (84%)

No                                                                             3 (12%)

I Have no Idea                                                          1 (4%)

Total No. Of Votes: 25

A clear outcome with most feeling that Medicare has been a good thing overall.

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

A poor number of votes. But also a very clear outcome! 

1 of 25 who answered the poll admitted to not being sure about the answer to the question!

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

David.

The Federal Health Minister Unplugged! - Link Included!!

 At the end of ABC Insiders this morning (29/10/23) (On iView soon) our Federal Health Minister does a high-voltage "Elvis:" impersonation.

Has to be seen to be believed!

Here is the link:

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/health-minister-mark-butler-pulls-dad-dancing-moves-on-the-karaoke-stage/news-story/57205644136058d80690629075661808

David.


Thursday, October 26, 2023

It Looks Like The Aged-Care Health IT Sector Is Due For Some Major Rationalisation.

This appeared last week:

Use of clinical software differs greatly among providers

Natasha EganOctober 19, 2023

A research project led by the aged care sector’s technology peak body has identified high rates of data duplication, the need for standardised terminology and almost 300 unique clinical software vendors in residential aged care.

The report Residential Aged Care Use of Clinical Care Systems produced by the Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council in collaboration with the Australian Digital Health Agency was released on Thursday. It identifies the need for aged care providers to develop comprehensive data-related policies and procedures as they move to implement the royal commission’s recommendation for the universal adoption of digital clinical care technology and the My Health Record.

“First of all, the exciting thing about the report is it’s the first time we’ve had a chance to actually look at what software is in place and how it’s used end to end,” ACIITC chair Dr George Margelis told Australian Ageing Agenda on the sidelines of the Aged Care Transformation stream at Victorian Healthcare Week in Melbourne on Thursday.

“The standout finding is the heterogeneity – the differences between providers in what they’re using and how they’re using it – the lack of standardisation, not just around data but around processes, and also the fragmentation.”

The fragmentation reflects the way the industry has grown so that medication management, prescribing, inventory, payroll and so on are all separate, he said. “Nothing’s integrated and that’s because they’ve had to add systems on the fly. There’s never been a strategic roadmap saying, ‘here’s where we are going to go forward’.”

Dr Margelis is hopeful the findings will provide an opportunity to identify all the functions needed and integrate the common data across those functions with common terminologies. “The different ways things are described in the industry is frightening. And that’s just that massive fragmentation.”

The issue of integration was raised among the aged care transformation discussions on Wednesday by Tanunda Lutheran Homes chief executive officer Lee Martin. He said his organisation used more than 30 systems that did not talk to each other.  

“I don’t think we’ll ever integrate to one. But we should be able to integrate to a couple of platforms that we can use to solve the problems,” Dr Margelis told AAA.

Key report findings

  • a notable amount of duplication of core clinical information in multiple clinical systems, highlighting the importance of data integration
  • the absence of consistent terminology across the sector presented challenges in data collection and analysis
  • 287 unique clinical software vendors identified in residential aged care
  • widespread Wi-Fi connectivity
  • visiting clinicians have higher access to input, extract, and review data on-site than remotely
  • clinical software integration with visiting clinicians’ software and community pharmacy software varies widely
  • most organisations reported limited integration with My Health Record, and most did not record data in residents’ My Health system
  • organisations have varying technology investment strategies, with some lacking a specific focus on clinical software
  • barriers to clinical software adoption include the cost of products, training, upgrading, employee culture, time, resources, and digital literacy
  • a significant percentage of clinical software systems have been in deployment for five to 10 years, indicating a need for updates and improvements.

Opportunities for providers, vendors

In addition to the challenges, the report outlines opportunities for both aged care providers and software vendors.

“The key message for providers is that there are opportunities for efficiency,” Dr Margelis told AAA. “Because of their fragmentation, there’s a lot of inefficiency, double entry of data, disparate data and same data being captured in different formats in different systems.

More here:

https://www.australianageingagenda.com.au/technology/use-of-clinical-software-differs-greatly-among-providers/

This looks like a useful report that shows just what is needed to remedy the present chaos in the sector.

Worth a browse!

David.

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Does It Make Sense To Make Patients Wait For Their Results?

Since way back when patient access to results has been delayed so the clinician can review the results and discuss anything that may be worrying with the patient to avoid panic, scares or worse!

End seven-day ‘lock’ on patients seeing tests results in My Health Record: Mark Butler

Viewing results without a doctor's explanation is low risk, says the health department's consultation.

Antony Scholefield

19 October 2023

Health officials will weigh up whether pathology and imaging results in My Health Record should still be “locked” from patient access in the first week after they are uploaded.  

The seven-day delay was introduced back in 2014 so that patients were less likely to look at results on their own before a doctor had explained them, according to the federal Department of Health and Aged Care.

There are a few exceptions — such as tests for respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19, and results for HbA1c and INR tests.  

However, Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler said earlier this year that the delay were “a barrier to good clinical practice, cause untold frustration for Australians”.

He called for them to be scrapped in all but exceptional circumstances.

The health department opened a consultation on potential changes last month, where it argued that immediate access to imaging and pathology reports would “empower consumers to better manage their own health and protect others in the community”.

More here:

https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/end-seven-day-lock-on-patients-seeing-tests-in-my-health-record-butler/

The concern has always been a patient seeing a result reading “cancer” or some such and not being able to find out quickly and easily what it means for them!

Frankly I think this is a real concern and that some care and moderation is needed with a few results.

With the exception of “life-threatening” reports I see no issue with instant access as long as the exception management works well and that people are not terrified by something that they do not understand!

What do others think?

David.

 

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

I Have To Say I See Preserving A Lead In AI Technology As A Strategic Imperative

 This appeared a few days ago:

America takes dead aim at China’s plan for global AI domination

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

October 19, 2023 — 5.11am

The US is escalating its semiconductor war against China. Xi Jinping’s plan for global mastery of artificial intelligence and supercomputing is about to collide with the hard reality of American power.

Cutting-edge AI requires ultra-fast chips and enormous “compute” power to train large language models as they draw on ever larger pools of data. Any company that lacks access to these chips will see costs spiral upwards, leaving it unable to compete at the technology frontier.

Nvidia, the US market leader in AI chips, says the rule of thumb is that the computing power required doubles every six to 12 months. China has spent some $US100 billion ($157 billion) in three successive “Manhattan Projects” trying to develop a world-class chip industry, but is not yet close to parity. It lacks access to the lithography needed to master miniaturisation below 7nm (nanometres).

The Biden administration has been pulling its punches on semiconductor controls, but this is about to change. The departments of state, defence, commerce, and energy have agreed on a tougher regime for advanced chips and supercomputing technology.

It will split the world into two camps: either you are in the advanced US sphere, or you are in the Chinese sphere with areas of strength in “mid-critical” semiconductors but a step behind where it really matters.

The White House imposed restrictions on chip exports to China a year ago. It limited the rate of data transfer to 600 gigabytes per second (GB/s) and to computation power of 4800 trillion operations per second (TOPS). Nvidia has continued to supply China but with modified chips that halve the rate of data transfer. This makes no difference for chips in laptops or 4G mobile. It is critical for AI or weapons technology.

It will split the world into two camps: either you are in the advanced US sphere, or you are in the Chinese sphere with areas of strength in “mid-critical” semiconductors but a step behind where it really matters.

Washington will now tighten the noose. It will happen just as Nvidia rolls out a new chip next year that will be three times faster. “The technological gap between cutting-edge chips and what China is permitted to buy is set to widen,” said a report by Capital Economics.

China’s semiconductor champion SMIC has cracked homegrown chips at scale down to 7nm for Huawei’s new smartphone. This is impressive, but it is still not enough to play in the top league of global AI. Catching up will become even harder henceforth. “They are close to reaching the limits of what is achievable with deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) machines,” said the report.

China needs the next generation of “extreme” ultraviolet lithography (EUV) just to match the 4nm AI chips manufactured for Nvidia by TSMC in Taiwan, let alone for even better chips. The only company in the world that makes these rare $US200 million machines is the Dutch firm ASML, itself reliant on critical components from California. The ASML devices are covered by the US embargo.

It will take years for China to replicate its own EUV capability, years that China does not have. By then the contours of the AI revolution will be established, framing the world’s digital and economic ecosystem far into the 21st century.

It is possible that China could leapfrog today’s existing silicon wafers by jumping to advanced compound semiconductors based on graphene or silicon carbide that are ten times faster, or by using photonics that can move data at the speed of light – both areas where Britain is a world leader.

These have the potential to slash energy use and overtake the current “fabs” being built at $US20 billion a shot in Europe. Chinese cyber-espionage is working overtime trying to hack the technology, but that is easier said than done.

Capital Economics says the AI revolution could lift productivity rates by 1.5 percentage points a year in the long run, but only for the winners. The US will top the AI rankings over the next two decades because of its overwhelming lead in investment, backed by vibrant capital markets and elite universities. It will be followed by Singapore, the UK, Switzerland, Sweden, South Korea, and Canada, in that order.

“This would mean a gradual – but striking – end to the period of low productivity growth which has dogged developed economies for most of this century,” said Neil Shearing, the group’s chief economist. It could lift annual tax revenues by 2 per cent of GDP – ceteris paribus – and make it much easier to outgrow sovereign debt burdens.

Rather than seeing the rise of the Global South as the West declines, we may see the West pull ahead again. Asian tigers that cleave to the US will prosper. Those that cleave to China will reap fewer gains.

Stanford University’s AI Index shows that the UK has captured as much private investment in AI as the whole of the eurozone combined. London has burgeoned into a global AI cluster with Google DeepMind and Stability AI, among others, but what it lacks is serious computing power. Electricity costs are too high to meet the voracious needs of data centres.

Capital Economics thinks Europe will drop the ball on AI, just as it dropped the ball on the IT and digital revolution. “History may be repeating itself,” it said. The Nordics will do well, but the large eurozone states will be held back by labour rigidities, lack of venture capital and poor cloud infrastructure.

The emerging economies and most of the BRICS-11 will be left behind. The picture is more or less the opposite of conventional wisdom. Rather than seeing the rise of the Global South as the West declines, we may see the West pull ahead again. Asian tigers that cleave to the US will prosper. Those that cleave to China will reap fewer gains.

China will be in the middle of the pack at 19th place, leading in image recognition and self-driving electric cars. It will struggle in other areas, hobbled by top-down control and censorship, and by Xi’s habit of chopping down any tech tycoon who threatens Communist Party control.

Taiwan window of opportunity

If this is where the AI world is heading, Xi may be tempted to forestall it. His window of opportunity for retaking Taiwan will narrow as China’s workforce shrinks, old age dependency goes parabolic, and the growth speed limit falls to 2.5 per cent.

A seaborne assault on the island would be dangerous, but we do not know how deeply the Taiwanese military is penetrated by Chinese sympathisers, or whether the opposition Kuomintang has the stomach for a fight.

Xi may never have another chance like today when the US military is stretched on the twin fronts of Ukraine and the Middle East. Taiwan would deliver TSMC and 90 per cent of the world’s production of advanced chips, as well as the booty of EUV lithography machines – if the Hsinchu Science Park survived the assault.

An awkward thought in these tense times.

The Telegraph, UK

Here is the link:

https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/america-takes-dead-aim-at-chinas-plan-for-global-ai-domination-20231018-p5ed3v.html

I strongly suspect the rivalry discussed here is really much more important and consequential that the hot war we are seeing between Israel and Hamas – horrible and lethal though it is!

I find the story of the different technologies and their scattering around the world fascinating and quite instructive, seeing this contest as really future shaping!

The most obvious area where the chips matter in is imaging where I am sure many Nvidia chips are found!

Well worth a read!

David.

I Have To Say I Did Not Know eConsults Were A Thing Until Now!

This popped up a few days ago.

EConsults? Show me the time and money

By Laura Woodrow

27 October 2023

Broad structural change is necessary if this model is ever to take off in Australia.

EConsults could increase access to specialist care and improve GP-physician relationships, if implemented well – but structural change is needed to allay concerns over remuneration and time allocation, say Australian specialists.

With a 13% rise in referrals from GPs to non-GP specialist over a decade (2006-07 to 2015-16) and 28% of patients waiting more than four weeks for non-GP specialist care, there is a growing need for easy access to timely specialist advice.

EConsults, in which GPs securely share case information with non-GP specialists for advice and support, rather than referring, have been successfully incorporated internationally as a means of asynchronous health provision.

But while the concept of an efficient platform for GP and non-GP specialist communication may appeal, concerns remain over implementation, according to a study recently published by the Australian Journal of Primary Health

The study investigated what 14 RACP fellows, across a range of specialties, genders and ages, thought of implementing eConsults, with a 72-hour turnaround time, in Australia.

According to the study, specialists generally felt this model would improve access to specialist advice and could be of “considerable benefit” for non-urgent consultations.

“RACP fellows agreed this could improve access to timely specialist advice, place downward pressure on outpatient face-to-face clinic waiting times and reduce unnecessary patient travel.”

The fellows interviewed felt that these asynchronous consultations might provide opportunity for ongoing GP education and reduce the need for future referrals or non-GP specialist advice.

But remuneration and time allocation were a recurring concern among study participants.

“It is clear from our work that Australian physicians require reassurance that they will not be pressured to add this work to existing consultation numbers and demand without support,” the researchers said.

“They also did not see the model as workable if it intruded into out-of-work time.” 

According to the researchers, for primarily public health physicians the concerns centred around time constraints.

“Without dedicated time, participants were concerned that uptake would be low among their colleagues, and that the 72-h turnaround time would not be feasible, which in turn, would reduce the effectiveness of the model,” they said.

But for private physicians, concerns were around matching existing consulting rates to face-to-face consultation rates.

Ultimately, the RACP fellows felt broad structural change would be necessary to make the model viable across Australia.

“All participants viewed the success of a future eConsult model as contingent on the formal structures that would be required to underpin it.

“They were of the opinion that eConsults would represent a fundamental change to the primary–secondary care interface, and as such, would require a proper administrative and governance structure.”

The change would require incorporating suitable and safe technology, ensuring indemnity was addressed with providers and administrative support.

“All participants viewed a formal administrative structure as essential to the success of the eConsult model of care,” said the researchers.

“An informal or haphazard approach would result in low provider satisfactions and low uptake among both GPs and non-GP specialists.”

Speaking to The Medical Republic, dermatology specialist and associate professor at the University of Queensland Jim Muir discussed an educational and resourcing platform, Tele-Derm, that facilitates advice exchange between dermatology specialists and other doctors and is currently up and running in Australia.

Professor Muir is one of four moderators of the Tele-Derm service that is provided through ACRRM, alongside Dr Dan Kennedy, Dr Rachael Foster and Dr John Bingley.

The Tele-Derm online service offers free advice and education, contributing to CPD point, to all rural doctors, whether they are ACRRM members or not, and now has around 4000 doctors registered on the platform.

Tele-Derm combines hundreds of case studies, videos, how-tos with telemedicine platform to bolster specialist advice with educational support, allowing 80% of the cases received to be managed locally by GPs, said Professor Muir.

More here:

https://www.medicalrepublic.com.au/econsults-show-me-the-time-and-money/101370

Now I understand, what we have here is really just a new name for electronically enabled joiunt consultation!

It seems to me there are lots of circumstances where such a care model makes perfect sense and equally some where it my not be appropriate.

I reckon it is up to each clinician how they wish to proceed with remote consultation and to go from there. There are certainly a lot of consults where virtual – especially when video-enabled - consults are totally fine – and to have two doctors involved is hardly a stretch!

What do others think?

David.

 

Sunday, October 22, 2023

We Have Lost A Man Who Fundamentally Changed Healthcare in Australia.

 This appeared late yesterday:

Former Governor-General Bill Hayden dies aged 90

Former Governor-General and ALP leader Bill Hayden has died, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed.

 Steve Zemek

AusHealthIT Poll Number 719 – Results – 22 October, 2023.

Here are the results of the poll.

Will The Loss Of The Voice Referendum Lead To Less Effort / Funding In The Crucial Area Of Aboriginal Health?

Yes                                                                                8 (30%)

No                                                                               17(63%)

I Have no Idea                                                             2 (7%)

Total No. Of Votes: 27

A clear outcome with most feeling that funding levels will not change.

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

A poor number of votes. But also a very clear outcome! 

2 of 27 who answered the poll admitted to not being sure about the answer to the question!

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

David.