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
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Another pretty scrappy week with lots of commercial activity and a recognition that the ADHA has no real clue as to just how hard to meet will be their interoperability objectives. Watch this space!
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Alerts warn of patient risk, software glitches in electronic medical record
March 17, 2019 — 10.58pm
Child patients exposed to a safety risk after a key warning alert proved defective; sections of patient records spontaneously duplicating; medications incorrectly named and a statewide internet shutdown are just some of the issues that affected Queensland Health’s integrated electronic medical record in 2018.
Documents, obtained by Brisbane Times under Right to Information, reveal that more than 40 safety alerts about the integrated electronic medical record (ieMR) were sent to Queensland hospitals between January 2018 and January 2019.
A Queensland Health spokesperson said patient safety and care was always the department's number one priority and the ieMR "has not compromised this".
A team established by eHealth Queensland to coordinate and manage safety risks in the ieMR issued the alerts to inform hospitals that have installed the software of the actions they should take to address the issues.
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Computer says no: GPs losing more autonomy
A proposal to make GPs use an app for guidance on whether imaging is required or not is preposterous, writes Dr Paul Muthiah
Dr Paul Muthiah
18th March 2019
Little by little, general practice is having its autonomy chipped away. This time it is not another healthcare professional wanting to encroach on our scope of practice, but rather, our tools are being wrenched away.
When people ask me what the benefits of being a GP in Australia are compared with the UK where I worked before, the first thing that springs to mind is having readily available access to imaging.
In the UK, there’s a postcode lottery when it comes to imaging. For example, in London where I worked, I was unable to request any form of head imaging.
The result would be having to consider a neurology referral for concerning headaches and ED for any urgent ones. Equally, a request for an urgent ultrasound abdomen could take several months.
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Apple Watch detects irregular heart beat in large US study
Demonstrates potential future role for wearable consumer technology in healthcare.
The Apple Watch was able to detect irregular heart pulse rates that could signal the need for further monitoring for a serious heart rhythm problem, according to data from a large study funded by Apple Inc, demonstrating a potential future role for wearable consumer technology in healthcare.
Researchers hope the technology can assist in early detection of atrial fibrillation, the most common form of irregular heart beat. Patients with untreated AF are five times more likely to have a stroke.
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GPs agitate for real-time prescription tracking in NSW
Ahead of state election.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has warned New South Wales will be left behind the likes of Tasmania and Victoria if it fails to implement real-time prescription monitoring soon.
RACGP NSW chair professor Charlotte Hespe has called on parliamentarians ahead of this week’s state election to review the “successful” programs in other states and commit to providing a safer environment for patients.
Her warning that lives could be lost without such a system echoes findings from earlier this month in a NSW coronial inquest into the opiate-related deaths of six people that found a prescription tracking system like the one in Tasmania “could be an important part of a safer prescribing system”.
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Miniature robots could one day journey inside the human body
March 18, 2019 — 2.45am
Every time University of Pennsylvania engineer Marc Miskin speaks about his research on miniature robots, someone asks the question: How does it compare to the submarine in Fantastic Voyage?
That's the fanciful 1966 sci-fi movie in which a tiny vessel makes an emergency journey inside the brain of an injured scientist. The incredible answer: The real-life bots, which Miskin developed with former colleagues at Cornell University, are about the same size.
Roughly one-quarter the size of a pixel on a standard computer screen, they are little squares of silicon with legs made from platinum and titanium, able to swim around inside your body and track vital signs.
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Can pharmacists and My Health Record reduce adverse events post-discharge?
Community pharmacists will help test a new approach
19th March 2019
The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) has launched a community pharmacy-based pilot project to test whether My Health Record can help reduce adverse drug events after patients are discharged from hospital.
Through the DC MedsRec trial, which begins on 29 April, patients on four or more medications will be referred to a participating pharmacy after being discharged from Box Hill Hospital in Victoria.
The idea is that the pharmacist will use the discharge summary in the patient’s My Health Record to guide a medications discussion with the patient.
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SA Health upgrades its EMR system following review
Hafizah Osman | 21 Mar 2019
The review identified that SA Health’s billing module was “not fit-for-purpose”; and the EPAS has a “flawed governance model” that didn’t empower clinicians to be key decision-makers or allow the system to be tracked, measured or managed, amongst other findings.
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Aussie diabetics stung on price for critical insulin pumps
The world’s largest medical device company, Medtronic, is charging Australians $9000 for a lifesaving insulin pump, almost double the price it charges British patients.
Data compiled by private health insurance industry body Private Healthcare Australia has concluded that $24.4 million could have been saved over seven years if the local cost of the device matched the British price.
The data revealed the $US124 billion ($175bn) multinational charged about $9025 on Australia’s prostheses list for three of its insulin pumps used by type 1 diabetics. The same models were priced from $5200 to $5400 in Britain.
Australia’s prostheses list sets the price health insurers must pay for medical devices, and despite reforms to address price concerns, private health insurers have called for further price cuts.
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myGovID digital identity gets big funding boost
Additional $67m to “accelerate” development.
The 2019 federal budget will pour a further $67.2 million into the development of the government's myGovID digital identity system in preparation for full launch later this year.
The new funding, announced on Tuesday, will allow the Digital Transformation Agency to “accelerate” development of the flagship system, including ongoing testing and an expanded pilot program.
It brings funding for the program to close to $190 million, following the $92.4 million windfall in last year’s budget for similar acceleration activities.
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Digital health: a human imperative
VIC
May 29
Join Australian Digital Health Agency Chief Executive Tim Kelsey, for the latest update on the implementation of Australia’s National Digital Health Strategy and the vision for digital health.
Speakers
Tim Kelsey, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Digital Health Agency
Event overview
What are the big opportunities to integrate digital health services and improve patient health outcomes?
We discuss the Agency’s latest work on My Health Record, secure messaging between disparate clinical information systems, and wider health system interoperability.
APS Independent Review pushes for wholesale tech consolidation
Finds disparate legacy systems hobble public sector performance.
The Australian Public Service requires a substantial consolidation of core common IT systems across the federal sphere to untangle decades of siloed legacy that have led to the government increasingly being hobbled in its efforts to deliver outcomes expected by the community.
That’s the blunt 'take-away' on the swag of “priorities” [pdf] outlined today by the Independent Panel tasked with figuring out how to make the Australian Public Service fit-for-purpose over coming decades.
By no means a light read, the tome vividly highlights the public sector’s constant struggle to make technology work for it rather than the APS’ performance being fettered by ageing monolithic systems that take decades to reform.
The "priorities" are first cut of potential recommendations that are now out for feedback and provides a crucial window into how the Independent Review of the Australian Public Service will fall.
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La Trobe Uni appoints first chair of digital health
To oversee strategy and course development.
La Trobe University has named professor James Boyd, an expert in data linkage and governance in health, as its inaugural chair of Digital Health to guide course development and research in the field.
The university said it created the position to provide academic leadership in the teaching of digital health while also leading “innovative and high-impact research on this important topic.”
Boyd, who joins the La Trobe from Curtin University, will start in the new role on April 29th.
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HealthEngine creates new advisory group to better patient experience
Hafizah Osman | 20 Mar 2019
In keeping with its commitment to the ongoing improvement of patient experience and in attempting to rebuild trust following last year’s scandal, HealthEngine has created a new advisory group.
HealthEngine Founder, CEO and Medical Director Dr Marcus Tan told HITNA that in ensuring the interests of practices and patients remain top priority, the newly formed advisory group will consult on both macro and micro levels of the HealthEngine business and the industry it operates in.
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Black Dog Institute, LifeSpan literally saving lives through data analytics
The non-profit mental health research facility, Black Dog Institute, is applying data analytics to identify strategies that will reduce suicide within the community under its LifeSpan program of work.
LifeSpan is a large program looking at nine different strategies, screening people in general practice, and a range of different interventions across community and health care settings. In order to help evaluate how effective a strategy may be, the program has five sites in NSW looking to implement the set of strategies in an incremental way to see if what they are doing in these regions is making a difference in suicide rates and hospitalisation.
To achieve its goals, the LifeSpan program needed a good, usable set of data on suicide and hospitalisation. This was obtained through a large range of data custodians, via numerous ethics committees, and the Black Dog Institute researchers gained assistance from global analytics provider, SAS, to help organise the data and work with it, as part of SAS’ Data 4 Good offering.
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Black Dog Institute’s clinical services to take mental health records online
Hafizah Osman | 18 Mar 2019
Mental health records at the Black Dog Institute’s clinical services arm will soon go digital.
The Australian institute for research and services in mental health will deploy Global Health’s MasterCare EMR solution across clinical services, using the clinical and practice management software to transition processes.
MasterCare EMR General Manager Kye Cherian said the solution was chosen for being a team-based, client-centric record that supports multiple programs and services.
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Alcidion selected as strategic solution partner for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust
Alcidion Group Limited has been selected as the strategic solution partner for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust in the UK, under which Alcidion will implement its Patientrack technology solution.
Alcidion’s five-year contract with Brighton and Sussex is valued at £574,000 (~$1.03 million).
The Trust has four hospitals and employs approximately 8,200 staff. It also delivers specialist and tertiary services for patients from across the south east of England and is also the Major Trauma Centre for the region.
The Trust has a long-term approach to transforming hospital service for the better called the “Patient First Improvement System”, which aims to empower front line staff by equipping them with new tools, methods and a structured process that leads to measurable improvements for patients and staff.
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Alcidion signs first integrated Miya, Patientrack and Smartpage installation outside Australia
Alcidion Group Ltd has won a major contract with Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust in the UK, under which Alcidion will deploy the first Miya Precision, Patientrack and Smartpage installation outside of Australia.
Alcidion’s five-year contract with Dartford and Gravesham is valued at £1.16 million (~$2.1 million).
The Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust is a forward-looking NHS Trust with a highly ambitious clinically led ICT strategic plan to achieve the NHS’s Five Year Forward View to be Paperless at the Point of Care by 2020. They plan to achieve full digital maturity through the application of seamlessly integrated technology solutions and enabling industry partnerships, to become a digital exemplar at the forefront of the use of agile information and technology. The Trust has an annual budget of about £121 million and employs 1,900 staff. It has 800 beds across three hospitals and a specialist nurse-led Unit. The Trust serves a population of half a million people.
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ASX / Media Release 15 March 2019 Copyright 2019 1st Group Ltd ACN 138 897 533Level 2, 2-12 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills NSW1
1st Group signs strategic pilot with Medibank
MyHealth1st to power Medibank’s Members’ Choice Advantage online booking service
Highlights:
•1st Group has signed an agreement with Medibank, one of Australia’s largest private health insurers, to pilot MyHealth1st, 1st Group’s online appointment booking platform, with Medibank’s Members’ Choice Advantage dental network
•In a competitive process MyHealth1st was selected for its superior capabilities and strict privacy and security compliance, which have always underpinned the company’s business model
•Through MyHealth1st, 2.8 million of Medibank’s customers can book online appointments initially with selected dental practices
•Medibank will actively market the online booking functionality powered by MyHealth1st to its Members’ Choice Advantage dental network
•The pilot is expected to go live in March 2019.
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InterSystems IRIS for Health Empowers MediWay Technology to Accelerate the Digital Transformation of Healthcare in China
Scalable and Interoperable iMedical Cloud Healthcare Information System Supports Regional Collaboration, Information Sharing and Increased Use of Big Data
SYDNEY, Australia, March 20, 2019 – InterSystems, a global leader in information technology platforms for health, business and government applications, today announced that MediWay Technology, one of the largest healthcare software companies in China, has built and deployed its new iMedical Cloud healthcare IT ecosystem platform using InterSystems IRIS for Health™.
IRIS for Health, the only unified data platform engineered specifically for healthcare, empowers MediWay to support all stakeholders in the Chinese healthcare system – including government, healthcare organisations, and consumers – in an environment where medical reform policies are driving increased collaboration, information sharing and use of big data.
MediWay’s iMedical healthcare information system (HIS) is used by around 500 healthcare organisations, including more than 300 tertiary hospitals and 30 top-100 hospitals in China. To accelerate the digital transformation of healthcare, however, MediWay and its partner Tencent Cloud require higher levels of accessibility, scalability and interoperability.
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Facebook stored hundreds of millions of passwords in plain text
Social media giant Facebook has admitted that it has been storing user passwords in plain text, with the company saying the numbers ran into hundreds of millions.
In a blog post, the company's vice-president of Engineering, Security and Privacy, Pedro Canahuati, said it was estimated that hundreds of millions of Facebook Lite users would have to be notified about the snafu, as also tens of millions of other Facebook users and tens of thousands of Instagram users.
Facebook Lite is a version of the social media site used in areas where the connectivity is not so good.
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Singapore blood donor details leaked online
The personal details of more than 800,000 blood donors have leaked online in Singapore, with a vendor, Secur Solutions Group, having left an unsecured database on the Web.
A statement from the country's Health Services Authority said a donor's name, national registry identity card details, gender, number of blood donations, dates of the last three blood donations, blood type, height and weight were among the personal information that could have leaked.
The details of 808,201 donors were present in the database which was discovered by a cyber security expert who was not identified.
The HSA said he/she had notified the Personal Data Protection Commission and told the authorities that the contents would not be disclosed.
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Only politicians get exemption from encryption law
The Federal Government's encryption law spreads its net far and wide in society, but exempts one class of person — politicians — from its tentacles, according to an analysis of the law by lawyer and consultant Matthew Shearing.
"This Bill (which is now law) has a number of small but powerful provisions tucked away in its 220 pages – but none might raise more eyebrows than the provision regarding members of Parliament," Shearing pointed out in his analysis which came to iTWire's notice after InnovationAus editor James Riley mentioned it.
"While the rest of the Australia (and in many cases, the world) is subject to the new legislation, the only people who are expressly excluded from everything in the Bill are the very people who rushed it through Parliament in the first place – the politicians."
And in a sarcastic aside, he added: "It’s not a big deal though – it’s common knowledge that our politicians are the most trustworthy and transparent of anyone in our society. I, for one, am glad they have blanket immunity."
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How much does a CEO enjoy a cyber breach? Quite a lot, it seems
Researchers at Warwick Business School have found that in the five years after a cyber incident, shareholders suffered, but the pay of chief executives increased.
Dr Daniele Bianchi and Dr Onur Tosun, both Assistant Professors of Finance at Warwick Business School, analysed data breaches at 41 publicly listed companies in the US between 2004 and 2016 for their paper, "Cyber attacks and stock market activity."
Focusing solely on breaches reported by the media, including stolen hardware, insider attacks, poor security and hacking, the researchers noted that they occurred at big companies, with an average turnover of US$35.4 billion.
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CEOs will take hit for cyber security incidents: study
Chief executives of companies which experience security incidents are more likely to lose their jobs than the chief information officers or the chief information security officers of the same firms, a research firm claims.
Analyst Paul Proctor of the analyst company Gartner said in a study that twice as many CEOS were being fired over cyber security incidents compared to CIOs and CISOs.
He attributed this to the fact that CEOs and and other execurives, whose core functions did not encompass IT, tended to regard cyber security as a black box and hence were unable to mount a defence after an incident.
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This email subject line could well be a business scam
March 22, 2019 — 12.43pm
A business email scam is most likely to appear via a well known email domain like Gmail and with the subject line 'Request'.
That's the finding of an email threat report from cybersecurity firm Barracuda Networks this week, which crunched the details of more than 300,000 suspected scam emails to unlock the most common moves of "phishers".
Social engineering business scams are appearing to come from the everyday programs staff already use.
It found more than 60 per cent of global 'business email compromise' scams come from just a handful of well-known email domains, with one third being a Gmail address used to give an appearance of legitimacy.
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Second data dump from property valuation firm LMW found on dark web
Property valuation firm LandMark White says a second data dump containing details of its clients has been found on a dark web site at about 12.50pm GMT on 13 March and taken offline by about 5.20pm GMT the same day.
The company suffered a data breach which it announced in February; at that time, it said it had shut down a security vulnerability on 23 January but was unaware of any data leak at the time.
LMW, one of the bigger property valuers in Australia, counts the big four banks - ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and NAB - among its clients.
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CBA assures itself of LandMark White's post-breach infosec
First lender to reinstate valuation firm.
CBA has reinstated LandMark White as an option to conduct residential property valuations, after the institution assured itself of the valuer’s information security following a data breach in January.
LandMark White said in a financial filing that it anticipates other lenders will start using its services again this week, although it could take several weeks for revenues to return to “pre-incident levels”.
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CBA helps LandMark White boost security
Property valuer expects lenders to begin using its services again
Property valuation firm LandMark White says it has made “enhancements to its IT security procedures including anonymisation of private details on completed valuations,” following a significant data breach that saw customer records being posted on a darkweb forum.
Since then the company has twice entered a trading halt as it worked to calculate the cost to its business of the breach and as major corporate clients suspended their use of its services.
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No surprises, Australia pays a great deal per Mbps
A British website has used speed data from Ookla's Speedtest and global average broadband prices from cable.co.uk and come up with what it says is the best value broadband based on cost per Mbps. On this index, Australia is ranked 66th, with the cost per Mbps being £2.26 (A$4.23).
The comparison by vouchercloud, a Groupon company, said Romania was found to be the cheapest with the cost per Mbps being £0.09 (A$0.16), followed by Ukraine, Hungary, Israel and Russia.
Asked about the methodology used to get these values, spokesperson Ben Behrens said: "Speedwise, we used data from Speedtest — a user initiated test of local connections — sample size had to be at least 3333 users for the time when the data was taken.
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NBN Co's on-time connections slip to 84 percent
Problems persist in the activation process.
NBN Co is likely to face fresh questions over new installations after revealing it meets agreed timeframes only 84 percent of the time, compared to 97 percent of the time just four months ago.
The network builder also revealed that the proportion of installations done right first time - that is, without requiring further visits by technicians - fell to 88 percent - below levels seen a year ago.
An NBN Co spokesperson told iTnews that it "expected" the right first time metric "to fluctuate from time to time."
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Enjoy!
David.
