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."

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Some Really Need To Work Harder Before Advising The Public! What A Great Joke!

I noticed this page last week:

My Health Record

My Health Record is an online resource through MyGov that stores your health information to be used by healthcare professionals. As of January 2019, all Australians known to Medicare automatically had a My Health Record created for them, unless they opted out. Currently 9 in 10 Australians have a My Health Record and 10% of the population have opted out.
What are the benefits of My Health Record?
  • It can store information about your medicines, allergies, immunisations and treatments that may help health professionals care for you
  • In an emergency, your record can be accessed even if it is secured with a pin so that health care professionals can check medicines, allergies, treatments and medical conditions
  • It can assist you with remembering complex medical histories, long lists of medications and tests you have undertaken, particularly if you visit multiple health care professionals.
    If you have been discharged from hospital, your record can hold your discharge summary to help your regular doctors know what happened while you were in hospital, including changes to medications, treatments and tests
  • You can control what is on your record, and you can also control who has access (except for in emergency situations when access permissions can be overridden). Watch How to access your My Health Record to learn how to manage your record and who can
    access it.
  • You can also store your Advanced Care Plan, wishes about organ donation and emergency contacts
  • More detail is found on the government resource Health Direct
What are the concerns?
  • No online database is completely secure from hackers and data breaches
  • Your de-identified information may be used for research and pharmaceutical companies may be able to apply for de-identified data, see Big pharma can apply to access data.
  • There is some concern over de-identified information and the risks of it being re-identified. You can opt out of having your information used for secondary purposes such as research, see Choose how your data is used for research
  • Risks to your privacy
    • Police and government agencies can only access your record with a court order
    • Health insurers and employers cannot lawfully access your record, however some people are concerned about what might happen in the event of a data
      breach
    • Some people worry that certain medical conditions may lead to discrimination, see What we and others think of My Health Record from the Australian Privacy Foundation.
    • Parents can access records of their children aged under 14 year old, see Manage your record from age 14
What control do I have over My Health Record?
  • You can cancel your record at any time
  • You can put access passwords on your record, set up notifications when your record is accessed and view the access history.
    • A password can be overridden if the record is needed for an emergency or for law-enforcement
  • You can delete and add information to your record
  • You can ask your doctor not to upload certain information and documents to your record
  • See My Health Record: Your questions answered on cybersecurity, police and privacy from the ABC.
Should I cancel My Health Record?
At the APA we believe this is a personal decision that depends on your personal circumstances. We hope to provide you with information and resources to help you understand the benefits and risks. If you feel that the risks of My Health Record outweigh the benefits you can Cancel Your Record. If you are unsure, speak with your family and trusted healthcare professionals.

Further Information:
Office of The Australian Information Commissioner regulates your My Health Record information, and investigates data mishandling and complaints. Visit this page to make a complaint to the OAIC if you feel your My Health Record information has been mishandled or The Australian Privacy Principles have been breached.
Articles explaining the risks and benefits:
My Health Record: the benefits and risks explained from Financial Review
My Health Record system explained from Canstar
My Health Record: to opt in or out? The case for both sides from The Advertiser
Here is the link:
Then I noticed the graphic at the top of the page!




The graphic with this refers to https://myhealthrecord.nhp.gov.in/  (The very tiny Indian myHR!)
Oh dear, oh dear! What a giggle!

David.

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

I Reckon This Approach Is A Highhanded Outrage - What Do You Think?

This appeared a little while ago.

My Health Record

What is My Health Record?

My Health Record is an online summary of your key health information. When you have a My Health Record, your health information can be viewed securely online, from anywhere at any time and it includes information such as:
  • Allergies
  • Medical conditions
  • Treatments
  • Medicines
  • Test and scan results (such as blood tests and x-rays).
Perth Children’s Hospital contributes to Australia’s My Health Record system and is currently uploading information from five clinical applications: 
  • Patient Administration System (webPAS)
  • Notifications and Clinical Summaries (NaCS)
  • iSoft Clinical Manager (iCM)
  • eReferral
  • Allergy and Dietary Advice (ADA). 
These applications upload:
  • discharge summaries
  • shared health summaries
  • specialist letters
  • event summaries 
  • prescription and dispensary records  
  • pathology results
  • diagnostic imaging reports
  • referral information for consumers.  
For a list of benefits of having a My Health Record, please refer to the My Health Record website
If you have a My Health Record these documents will be automatically uploaded, if you do not want this to occur you need to inform us at every attendance. Please ask us for a Change of Consent to Upload Documents to My Health Record form.

For parents

Parents or guardians (who are linked to their child via the Medicare system) are automatically added as an authorised representative to view or delete their child’s record. When the child turns 14, this access will be automatically removed. Read more here

For under 14 years

If you are the parent or guardian of a child or dependent under 14, you can opt your child out of a My Health Record if you don’t want them to have one. More information is available here.

For 14-17 year olds

If you are 14 years or over, it is your choice whether you have a My Health Record or not. You can also give a parent or guardian or other trusted person access to your record, adding them as a nominated representative. If you choose to delete your record, you can do so online or via the My Health Record help line on 1800 723 471. You will need to be able to verify your identity with your Medicare card as well as a current drivers licence/learners drivers licence, Immicard or Passport.
More information can be found here.

Contact us

For more information on My Health Record, please visit myhealthrecord.gov.au.
If you have any questions or concerns about how your child’s My Health Record is being managed by Perth Children’s Hospital, please contact the Child and Family Engagement Service.  
Here is the link:
I feel The PCH is being a bit high handed just sending data to the myHR without allowing individuals (or their parents)  to say stop it until I give you permission again.
Just because you have been opted-in should not mean you have to remember on each visit to tell them to stop it and not upload willy nilly.
There can be a lot of sensitive things happening to children they may wish not to be widely shared and putting the onus on them to remember to say no each time is unfair and violates the idea of patient consent I feel. I believe this approach needs a re-think.
What do others think?
David.

If You Were Wondering Where "Services Australia" Came From, And Is, Here Is Your Answer!

Thanks to Justin Warren:

So it is a simple re-name it would seem and the myGov Portal would seem to be included! That means they are the access portal for the #myHR.

A bit of a con I reckon!

David.

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Commentators and Journalists Weigh In On Digital Health And Related Privacy, Safety And Security Matters. Lots Of Interesting Perspectives - Week 45.

Note: I have excluded (or marked out) any commentary taking significant  funding from the Agency or the Department of Health on all this to avoid what amounts to paid propaganda. (e.g. CHF, RACGP, AMA, National Rural Health Alliance etc. where they were simply putting the ADHA line – viz. that the myHR is a wonderfully useful clinical development that will save huge numbers of lives at no risk to anyone – which is plainly untrue) (This signifies probable ADHA Propaganda)
-----
Note: I have also broadened this section to try to cover all the privacy and security compromising and impacting announcements in the week – along with the myHR. It never seems to stop! Sadly social media platforms get a large run this week and most weeks. Sadly there is also the need to recognize pollie based risks to privacy!
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Human Services finally reveals details of bungled child support IT project

The Department of Human Services blew AU$135 million on a bad and functionally incomplete system. Now we know just how bad it is.
By Stilgherrian | May 24, 2019 -- 03:35 GMT (13:35 AEST) | Topic: Enterprise Software
"The current implementation does not achieve the core outcomes of the original business case," wrote Deloitte in their independent assessment of the Department of Human Services child support system redesign project.
That is to say, it doesn't do its job.
Actual users of the system were less diplomatic.
"It is slow, unreliable and subject to regular errors," said one. Others complained that the lag in processing webforms was adding unnecessary time to every call, leading to "increased customer aggression".
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  • 24 May 2019 10:15

AIIA Victorian iAwards showcase outstanding Australian innovation

The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), the nation’s peak industry body for the technology sector, last night announced the Victorian iAwards winners for 2019. AIIA’s iAwards, now in its 26th year, is Australia’s leading awards and recognition program that brings homegrown digital innovations to the world stage.
The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), the nation’s peak industry body for the technology sector, last night announced the Victorian iAwards winners for 2019. AIIA’s iAwards, now in its 26th year, is Australia’s leading awards and recognition program that brings homegrown digital innovations to the world stage.
At the gala event held last night at The RACV Club Ballroom in Melbourne, awards were presented in categories comprising Business Service Markets, Public Sector & Government, Students, Research & Development, Infrastructure & Platforms, Startup and Big Data.
AIIA CEO Ron Gauci said the innovation showcased by the 2019 finalists builds on the incredible success of last year’s iAwards, creating further momentum for the Australian technology sector.
Note – Many Digital Health related projects awarded. – see link:
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ANZCA Newsletter – 24-5-2019

Is your practice My Health Record ready?

Following the January 31, 2019 conclusion of the opt-out period, more than 90 per cent of Australians now have a My Health Record. The Australian Digital Health Agency has a range of resources explaining how to register, set-up and access My Health Record available for healthcare practitioners available online. Anaesthetists can request a digital health education sessions emailing the Australian Digital Health Agency, or contacting the college. You can also request assistance for practice managers to set up My Health Record for your organisation.
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My Health Record

What is My Health Record?

My Health Record is an online summary of your key health information. When you have a My Health Record, your health information can be viewed securely online, from anywhere at any time and it includes information such as:
  • Allergies
  • Medical conditions
  • Treatments
  • Medicines
  • Test and scan results (such as blood tests and x-rays).
Perth Children’s Hospital contributes to Australia’s My Health Record system and is currently uploading information from five clinical applications: 
  • Patient Administration System (webPAS)
  • Notifications and Clinical Summaries (NaCS)
  • iSoft Clinical Manager (iCM)
  • eReferral
  • Allergy and Dietary Advice (ADA). 
……
If you have a My Health Record these documents will be automatically uploaded, if you do not want this to occur you need to inform us at every attendance. Please ask us for a Change of Consent to Upload Documents to My Health Record form.
-----

Irish regulator opens first privacy probe into Google

By Padraic Halpin on May 23, 2019 7:07AM

Data Protection Commissioner sniffs personal data in ads.

Google's main regulator in the European Union, Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner, opened its first investigation into the US internet giant on Wednesday over how it handles personal data for the purpose of advertising.
The probe was the result of a number of submissions against the company, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) said, including from privacy-focused web browser Brave, which complained last year that Google and other digital advertising firms were playing fast and loose with people's data.
Brave argued that when a person visits a website, intimate personal data that describes them and what they are doing online is broadcast to tens or hundreds of companies without their knowledge in order to auction and place targeted adverts.
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Enabling the Clinical Use of My Health Record in Pharmacy

With 9 out 10 Australians now having a My Health Record (MHR), this important session for community pharmacies will provide an update on privacy and security obligations for pharmacy as well as introduce a new pharmacy clinical document for the MHR.
Open to all pharmacy staff, this workshop will expand upon participants' knowledge of MHR and will explore its features, functionalities, benefits and uses as they relate to pharmacy practice. Participants will be asked to participate in an extensive case study group discussion and will have the opportunity to discuss the MHR system.

Workshop Details:

Date: Thursday, 27 June 2019
Time: 6 pm to 8 pm. Networking and finger food available from 6 pm with the presentation to start at 6.30 pm.
Location: Carina Leagues Club, 1390 Creek Rd, Carina QLD 4152
Parking is available on site
Cost: FREE
Who can attend: All pharmacy staff including owners, pharmacists and pharmacy assistants.
Registrations close: Thursday, 20 June 2019
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Queensland’s Facial Recognition Regime a Complete Failure

Australia May 20 2019
The Queensland Police Service (QPS) has failed in its bid to suppress an evaluation report which found that the use of facial recognition software during the 2018 Commonwealth Games was completely ineffective.
The Gold Coast Games was subjected to the most expansive and intrusive public surveillance operation to be used by Australian police.
The evaluation report reveals that no “high-priority targets” could be identified by the software, leading to the use of the technology for general surveillance – completely at odds with assurances by police regarding the basis for the investment and its level of effectiveness.
The revelations has renewed criticism of the dangers of mass surveillance, including its inaccuracy, ineffectiveness and its potential to lead to wrongful arrest.
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Hospital discharge woes: In summary, GPs aren't magicians or mind-readers

Emily Dunn is a Clinical Features Writer for Australian Doctor Group.
22nd May 2019
This is a time when patients are most at risk of iatrogenic illness: discharged from hospital, with changes to medications or microbiology results still pending, they remain in medical limbo until the follow-up consultation with their regular GP.
Too often, however, the hospital discharge summary, detailing drug changes or pathology, fails to arrive. And even when it does, it may be late or contain critical inaccuracies, resulting in patient harm.
According to a systematic review, only one-third of discharge summaries are available at the first post-hospital visit.
Among those that do arrive, up to two-thirds will not include diagnostic results and up to 40% will not even include discharge drugs.1
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My Health Record

My Health Record is an online resource through MyGov that stores your health information to be used by healthcare professionals. As of January 2019, all Australians known to Medicare automatically had a My Health Record created for them, unless they opted out. Currently 9 in 10 Australians have a My Health Record and 10% of the population have opted out.
What are the benefits of My Health Record?
  • It can store information about your medicines, allergies, immunisations and treatments that may help health professionals care for you
  • In an emergency, your record can be accessed even if it is secured with a pin so that health care professionals can check medicines, allergies, treatments and medical conditions
  • It can assist you with remembering complex medical histories, long lists of medications and tests you have undertaken, particularly if you visit multiple health care professionals.
    If you have been discharged from hospital, your record can hold your discharge summary to help your regular doctors know what happened while you were in hospital, including changes to medications, treatments and tests
Note: The graphic with this refers to https://myhealthrecord.nhp.gov.in/  (The Indian myHR!)
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Tech war draws digital iron curtain

  • By Simon Duke
  • The Times
  • 12:00AM May 24, 2019
Three decades ago a British computer scientist produced a research paper that would change the world. Titled Information Management: A Proposal, it outlined an interconnected system that would allow physicists to share data from their experiments.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s ideas initially met with a lukewarm response. A year later, though, he began writing the code that would underpin the worldwide web.
His vision for an open platform enabling people to collaborate across borders brought myriad economic, social and cultural benefits, but Berners-Lee’s invention has started to look a little careworn. Once a diverse collection of websites and blogs, the internet is now dominated by a handful of powerful enterprises such as Facebook, Google and China’s Tencent, which act as gatekeepers for billions of people around the planet.
Repressive nation-states, too, have tried to exert control over the internet by censoring content. What were once common fields for all to share are being enclosed by a small band of private and state actors.
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The tech cold war has begun with Trump's Huawei move

By Tim Culpan
May 21, 2019 — 9.17am
This is the moment Huawei has been waiting for.
Chipmakers including Qualcomm, Xilinx and Broadcom have told employees they won't supply to the Chinese electronics giant until further notice, Bloomberg News reported late Sunday in the US Those companies will need clarification from the Trump administration on whether they can ship to Huawei, so for now it seems they're erring on the side of caution.
A similar process took place when ZTE was banned from buying US products after reneging on a deal to settle charges of breaking trade sanctions. Staff were told to halt shipments until they could work out what was allowed and what was forbidden. The US ended up imposing an embargo (later removed) that crippled the smaller Chinese communications company.
The prospect that the US government would cut off the supply of components to Huawei was precisely what management had been anticipating for close to a year, Bloomberg News reported Friday. Huawei has at least three months of supplies stockpiled. That's not a lot, but it speaks to the seriousness with which the Shenzhen-based company took the threat.
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Re-election: what the stakeholders said


The PSA is keen to work on fair pay for pharmacists, while the Guild says the election win helps provide certainty

Following the re-election of the Morrison Coalition Government over the weekend, health stakeholder groups have spoken out to welcome the Government back, and outline their hopes for the next few years.
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia: The PSA issued an early statement welcoming the re-election, and followed up with another statement in which it said it looks forward to progressing fair remuneration for pharmacists in recognition of their professional contribution in supporting people’s health – a key action from its Pharmacists in 2023 report.
“Pharmacists are underpaid noting their key role in healthcare. This needs to be addressed as we head into negotiations for the next Community Pharmacy Agreement,” Dr Freeman said.
PSA received a commitment from the Coalition to declare medicine safety a National Health Priority Area as requested by the PSA through its Federal Budget Submission and in response to PSA’s Medicine Safety: Take Care report.
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Greg Hunt tipped to return as health minister

The Coalition's win on Saturday means Mr Hunt will likely get final say on the reforms hitting general practice
20th May 2019
Greg Hunt is expected to return as the Minister for Health, following the victory by the Liberal and National parties in the federal election.
Mr Hunt overcame a challenge from former Liberal MP Julia Banks to retain his Victorian seat of Flinders as part of the Coalition’s win on Saturday.
It means he will take back the health portfolio, based on Prime Minister Scott Morrison's public comments before the vote in which he promised to keep most of his ministry — including Mr Hunt — in their previous roles.
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IBM calls for ethical approach to artificial intelligence

  • 12:00AM May 20, 2019
The technology industry needs to get its act together on the ethical development of artificial intelligence to repair its damaged reputation, according to IBM Australia boss David La Rose, who has warned the lack of transparency risks a regulatory backlash.
Speaking to The Australian ahead of IBM’s Think Summit this week, Mr La Rose said technology companies had to take the lead when it came to explaining the algorithms that underpinned AI platforms and how they are used.
“The industry has an image problem when it comes to ethics around AI and we have a responsibility here to help our clients with what ethical AI engagement looks like,” he said.
 “It’s incumbent upon us to provide the literacy around AI.”
While the likes of Microsoft, Google and IBM have AI ethics initiatives in place, self-regulation has so far failed to quell concerns of critics, who say that big tech can’t be trusted to police itself.
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May 20 2019 - 4:00AM

Federal Election 2019: What now for Catherine King and Ballarat?

  • Jolyon Attwooll
Catherine King broke new ground with her re-election on Saturday - but was forced to re-adjust to the prospect of three more years in opposition. Picture: Lachlan Bence.
It was a rollercoaster night for Labor Party members in Trades Hall. First the euphoria as voters in the Ballarat electorate gave a ringing endorsement of Catherine King with a swing of close to four per cent, almost double the state average. Then the despair as the federal result took shape.
Millions of dollars of election pledges made by the Labor Party - including $5 million for Her Majesty's Theatre, $10 million for an extension to Ballarat Airport - were not matched by the coalition. And as the government defied the pollsters, it became clear they will hold the purse-strings for another electoral term.
So, what now for the shadow health minister and the projects she hoped a Shorten government would fund? First, she said she was "absolutely delighted" to be re-elected. "I want to thank the Ballarat people so much for putting their faith in me once again," she told The Courier yesterday.
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Monday, 20 May 2019 05:04

Big-tech tax avoidance a thorny issue for new Morrison govt

One of the big problems in tech that the incoming minister for the digital economy will have to fix is the matter of getting big tech multinationals to pay their fair share of tax.
With Michael Keenan having retired at the election, exactly who will fill his shoes is unknown. But whoever it is, that individual will have to confront big tech – and two companies from among that lot have more or less just given the government the finger.
According to The Australian, Facebook recently filed documents with ASIC showing that it had paid about $12 million in tax for 2018 - after earning more than $600 million in ad sales. But it showed $454.9 million in costs to an overseas subsidiary, leading to a net revenue of $125.5 million.
The company showed $23.3 million as profit and paid $11.8 million in tax.
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Comments welcome!
David.

Monday, May 27, 2019

Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 27th May, 2019.

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 interesting week. Waiting to see if Mr Hunt comes back and what he might do in the Digital Health Domain. We should know by the time you read this.
Lots of other stories this week. Enjoy!
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Coroner questions chief pharmacist’s real-time monitoring optimism

He says former soldier would not have sourced drugs if a system was in place
22nd May 2019
A coroner has expressed frustration at ongoing delays in the provision of real-time monitoring and suggested that a young former soldier might not have died if WA had such a system.
During an inquest into the oxycodone toxicity death of the 24-year-old Afghanistan veteran, Coroner Barry King also scoffed at a suggestion by the state’s chief pharmacist that the state would soon have a system.
The inquest heard that the former soldier was given a “significant supply” of oxycodone after injuring his hip and ankle in Afghanistan.
After returning to Australia, he was diagnosed with PTSD and, after further treatment for his injuries, quickly developed an addiction to opioids and benzodiazepines.
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Updated anxiety guidelines recommend online CBT first line

It is an effective, low-cost option, says psychiatry college
21st May 2019
Online CBT ticks many boxes as a first-line treatment for anxiety in adults, says a psychiatrist who has helped develop new clinical guidelines.
Associate Professor Lisa Lampe says digital therapies are an attractive option where access to psychologists is difficult or because of the wait-lists and costs involved.
New clinical practice guidelines from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) recommend CBT as first-line treatment and reaffirm SSRIs or SNRIs as first-line pharmacological therapies.
Professor Lampe, a member of the RANZCP Anxiety Disorders Working Group and associate professor at the University of Newcastle, says digital CBT provides easy access to patients.
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20 May 2019

Using apps to help prevent suicide

Posted by Francine Crimmins
prevention planning app, developed by Australian experts, reduces the risk of suicide in mentally ill patients and should be considered as part of a mental health treatment plan.
The free app, BeyondNow, has been designed for patients to help them monitor and manage their illness, and work through a suicide prevention plan in times of crisis. Among other features, the app helps patients who develop suicidal ideation by reminding them of reasons to keep living through their own written testimony and personal photographs.
Associate Professor Grant Blashki, GP and Lead Clinical Adviser of Beyondblue was discussing the app at the recent GPCE conference in Sydney and suggests GPs consider it as part of a patient’s therapy. 
While originally launched in 2016 and already downloaded by more than 60,000 individuals, the effectiveness of the app could be enhanced if incorporated as part of a patient’s management plan – a form of digital contract, that if appropriate could be emailed between the patient, the doctor and family members.
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The Aussie startup trying to give robots a sense of touch

By Emma Koehn
May 20, 2019 — 12.00am
When it comes to picking up objects humans beat robots hands down, though that could soon change.
"People can do amazing things with their hands: picking up objects of different sizes, shapes and weights,"says co-founder of robotics sensor startup Contactile, Heba Khamis.
"Robots can’t do that. They need to be pre-programmed for what they’re picking up. If you put an apple in [a robot's] way the next time, it doesn't know what to do with that."
Researchers are turning their minds to helping robots develop more human characteristics, whether that's senses or skills to help them more easily blend in with the surrounding environment.
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Australia to get an AI-powered map of drug-resistant germs

By Matt Johnston on May 21, 2019 7:12AM

Profiling communities to tailor health solutions.

A national push to understand how antimicrobial resistance (AMR) impacts humans and livestock using artificial intelligence is underway across 14 organisations.
The AMR ‘knowledge engine’, supported by the Medical Research Future Fund and 14 research organisations, will use integrated temporal and spatial maps to predict future outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant drugs and inform interventions.
Globally, the problem of AMR is predicted to cause 10 million deaths a year by 2050 while adding US$100 trillion in additional costs to health systems.
However, the problem isn’t one just confined to health and hospital settings, the project’s chief investigator Steven Djordjevic said.
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Virtual visits likely to shape the future medical workforce, report says

Nathan Eddy | 21 May 2019
Digital technology has the potential to bring doctors and patients together online through teleconsultations and shared electronic health records, according to a Melbourne Institute of Health report.
The report examined the trends likely to influence the future of the medical practitioner workforce, which included the challenges and opportunities ongoing digitalization of the healthcare industry would present.
The study also noted Australia currently has Medicare items funding specialist video consultations for patients outside of major cities, where distance may prohibit face-to-face consultations or where the patient and specialist are at least 15 kilometers apart.
In addition, online consultations are already available from some private providers in Australia, but GP–patient online consultations do not attract Medicare rebates.
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DIY pancreas not so loopy after all, study shows

23rd May 2019
Last year we published the story of Townsville GP Dr Kenny Clark, who created his own ‘pancreas’.
Dr Clark is a ‘looper’ — somebody with type 1 diabetes who wouldn’t wait for the TGA to approve a device for automating insulin delivery based on real-time continuous glucose monitoring (CGM).
Loopers opt for a DIY approach, hacking into insulin pumps and linking them to CGM devices via smartphones.
But even where official looping devices have been approved as medical devices, the evidence base for their efficacy is small.
This month, a French study of 63 patients became the largest randomised crossover trial on the subject. It was also the first study of a device approved by the EU regulator.
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Wearable brain devices sold with questionable claims

Neurotechnology device market compared to herbs and supplements sector by University of British Columbia researchers
George Nott (Computerworld) 24 May, 2019 14:42
Wearable ‘neurotechnology’ devices have in recent years hit the mainstream market; pitched to consumers as a way to improve memory and attention, boost brain fitness and control games and objects with the power of the mind.
The US$249 Muse headband brainwave reader, for example, features EEG sensors to measure the activity of a user’s brain and an app to help them “find calm and stay focused” with help from “the guiding sounds of the weather”.
Australia-founded firm Emotiv Insight’s ‘brainwear’ device is fitted with similar sensors and comes with an app that will “improve your mental performance and well-being” the company’s marketing materials claim. “A new drug-free, easy-to-use, and perfectly safe solution to stress,” claims MyBrain Technologies of its MeloMind device.
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Google AI can spot lung cancer like an expert

The technology is a work in progress but it could take diagnostics into a whole new realm.
Denise Grady
May 24, 2019 — 11.30pm
When it comes to diagnosing serious health issues, computers are beginning to outpace human experts. A new study by Google and several medical centres has found the machines are as good as, or better than, doctors at detecting tiny lung cancers on CT scans.
The technology is a work in progress and is not ready for widespread use, but the report, which was published on Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, offers a glimpse of how artificial intelligence will be used in medicine.
One of the most promising areas is recognising patterns and interpreting images – the same skills humans use to read microscope slides, X-rays, MRIs and other medical scans.
By feeding huge amounts of data from medical imaging into systems called artificial neural networks, researchers can train computers to recognise patterns linked to a specific condition, like pneumonia, cancer or a wrist fracture that would be hard for a person to see. The system follows an algorithm, or set of instructions, and learns as it goes. The more data it receives, the better it becomes at interpretation.
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National Health Information Platform replaces Electronic Health Record

Tuesday, 21 May 2019  
eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
 The Ministry of Health is going to Cabinet this June to get approval to develop a detailed business case for a national Health Information Platform.
 The Ministry has moved away from the idea of building a single Electronic Health Record, towards developing a national HIP that will enable data about a single patient to be shared, says deputy director data and digital Shayne Hunter.
Hunter was a keynote speaker at the Emerging Tech in Health conference in Christchurch on 21 May.
“We are moving beyond the agenda of ‘we will drive for a single EHR in a physical sense’,” he told attendees.
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Gen Z Aussies want better digital health services, Accenture study finds

Nathan Eddy | 21 May 2019
Young people are driving the digital healthcare market with demands for mobile and virtual services, according to an Accenture survey of 1,036 consumers (ages 18+) in Australia.
Digital options are gaining popularity, with more than a fifth (21 percent) of all respondents have used some form of virtual care -- up from just 12 percent in 2018.
Furthermore, the survey found nearly a quarter of respondents (23 percent) had already arranged on-demand health services through mobile apps or online tools.
Demand for online access to electronic medical records (EMRs) and the use of remote or telemonitoring devices to monitor and record health indicators are both on the rise, with the younger generation significantly more likely than baby boomers (ages 55 to 73) to be dissatisfied with in-person care.
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FHIR versus the EHR

Posted on by wolandscat
One of the many things the FHIR silver bullet hype claims FHIR will solve is the EHR, along with Clinical Decision Support (CDS), Care Pathways, and who knows, paving driveways and launching spacecraft. I have made various arguments against silver bullet psychology, which I will not repeat here, but do want to look (again) at the FHIR v EHR question (a previous post on FHIR v openEHR looked at some aspects, and a second at further technical details).
As usual, my motivation is to help professionals and particularly publically funded organisations in the e-health sector understand the details (where the devil lives…) so that they may determine which standards are useful for which problems, and conversely, which are not. The bottom line is: a specification being a published de jure standard is no guarantee of quality or fitness for purpose, and indeed the committee-based nature of standards production is often a severe hindrance to quality. The best approach when considering using published standards for complex multi-year endeavours is: assume nothing, investigate everything.
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20 May 2019
ASX ANNOUNCEMENT

Alcidion signs contract with NSW Health to build and integrate components of a Child Digital Health Record (CDHR)


Adelaide, South Australia – Alcidion Group Ltd (ASX:ALC) today announces it has been
engaged to build and integrate two key components for a proposed national Child Digital Health Record (CDHR) which is to be trialled in two NSW Health Districts. The CDHR initiative will provide a digital record of children’s health and development information, currently captured in hard copy ‘baby books’. Total value of the contract is ~$700k, which will be recognised in FY2020 over the length of the project.

Alcidion will deliver two components as part of the project; an operational Child Data Hub (CDH) and a NSW Health Jurisdictional Translator that will take information from operational systems and provide it to the CDH. The solution will be architected using the latest Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standards and will be hosted in a Microsoft Azure cloud environment. 
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PKS Holdings: Prognosis good for healthcare IT offering

  • By Simon Herrmann
  • 12:00AM May 21, 2019
PKS Holdings Limited
ASX code: PKS
Shares on offer: 97.5 million
Listing price: 20c
Market cap: $22.8m
Listing date: June 6
IT solution sales to the global healthcare market are estimated to be worth about $US134 billion a year, delivering electronic healthcare records, communications systems and many other IT solutions to hospitals and laboratories.
A small subset of the global healthcare IT market is the so-called Clinical Decision Support, or CDS, solutions market, which is worth about $US1bn. PKS Holdings, currently preparing for its initial public offering on the ASX, operates in this market.
PKS is an Australian healthcare technology company providing a subscription-based CDS system to healthcare organisation. The “RippleDown” software is designed to automate the human decision-making process within hospitals or laboratories based on rules set within the organisation by domain experts, thus improving operational efficiencies and reducing costs.
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Monash at frontier of health innovation

An innovative public health program against mosquito-borne diseases and groundbreaking technology that interfaces computers to the brain, for bionic vision, are two major research projects that will progress into critical new stages of commercial development, following the announcement of federal funding today.
Federal Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, today pledged almost $2 million to two Monash University led projects under the new Frontier Health and Medical Research Program. The program will invest $240 million over four years to support innovative ideas and discoveries with great potential for transformative impact on health care.
The funding announced today will support 10 research projects for one year with $1 million each to advance their technologies, ready to put forward a detailed plan for potential stage two investment. Stage two will support the best two applicants with up to $100 million each over five years.
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Epworth Healthcare to collaborate with Swinburne Uni on digital health

By Matt Johnston on May 24, 2019 12:56PM

Quid pro quo.

Victoria’s largest not-for-profit private healthcare group, Epworth, has this week signed on to a three-year partnership with Swinburne University of Technology to leverage each institution’s expertise in digital health.
The relationship largely centres on health informatics management, with a particular emphasis on digital health research that will benefit the Epworth’s practise and Swinburne’s academics.
Although numerous health students from the university have completed practical placements at the healthcare provider, this is will be the first formal research collaboration between the two.
The basis if the research will be analysing health data to evaluate tech solutions that will improve the value of patient-focused healthcare and clinical outcomes.
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AIIA urges govt to pass encryption law amendments in first 100 days

The head of the Australian Information Industry Association, Ron Gauci, has sought an assurance from the re-elected Coalition Government that amendments to the encryption law, which was passed in December, will be adopted within its first 100 days of operation.
Congratulating Prime Minister Scott Morrison on the election result, Gauci said: “We are looking for a commitment that changes to the ​ Assistance and Access Act, ​ proposed by Labor in February, be passed through parliament in the first 100 days of the new government.
“It is time to execute these amendments so that industry and users of encrypted services have certainty over these new laws. The AIIA has made significant ​ contributions and recommendations​ with respect to these amendments - but has yet to see the recommendations considered or adopted leaving industry unclear on the operational requirements.”
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NBN fixed wireless users get ACCC advice on slow speeds

By Ry Crozier on May 23, 2019 3:55PM

Put up with them, exit - or delay signing up in the first place.

NBN Co is being given fresh motivation to fix congestion in its fixed wireless network as new rules and guidance take effect on how such services are sold, remediated and remedied.
The changes make fixed wireless services subject to Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) NBN marketing rules for the first time.
What this means for retail service providers (RSPs) was already laid out last year.
Effectively, they must market fixed wireless services much as they do FTTN/B services, signing users up to the slowest until their connection speed can be measured, or signing them up to a higher speed plan on the proviso it may need to be downgraded in future.
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NBN Co upgrades 'vast majority' of packet-dropping backhaul links

By Ry Crozier on May 23, 2019 10:00PM

Connected to some of its fixed wireless towers.

NBN Co has performed upgrades on “the vast majority” of 238 backhaul links identified last month as experiencing unacceptable levels of packet loss.
The network builder released more details of the metric it uses to determine what is and isn’t acceptable packet loss on Thursday, and provided an update on how it is remediating problem links.
The company last month said about one in ten - or 238 - microwave and fibre transmission links connected to its fixed wireless towers suffered from unacceptable levels of packet loss.
The packet loss was a contributor to problems seen by customers on the fixed wireless network, yet it wasn’t reflected in publicly reported congestion numbers.
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Tuesday, 21 May 2019 10:38

Three-fifths of NBN users now on higher speed plans: ACCC  

Nearly 60% of the 5.2 million Australian households connected to the NBN at the end of March are on plans that offer 50Mbps or higher download speeds, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says in its quarterly Wholesale Market Indicators Report.
The ACCC said NBN residential connections rose by 8.5% in the March quarter, up from 4.8 million at the end of December 2018.
More than three million were on services of 50Mbps or above, indicating that the take-up of these plans had grown substantially following the introduction of discount offers and wholesale bundled products by NBN Co.
But there were still a million consumers on the entry-level 12Mbps speed at the end of March, though this fell by 200,000 in the previous six months.
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Game and shame: Internet providers called out again on NBN speed claims

By Ry Crozier on May 21, 2019 7:12AM

New metric targets truth in advertising, but it can also be manipulated.

Internet providers are under renewed pressure to scale back their advertised “typical” evening speed claims for NBN services following the release of a new metric that shames alleged under-performers.
The fifth instalment of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) NBN speed monitoring report [pdf], released a fortnight ago, included a new chart showing the “proportion of busy hours where advertised speed was achieved” for each major retail service provider (RSP).
TPG was shown to meet its advertised busy hour speeds 83.4 percent of the time, Telstra 76.3 percent of the time and Optus 74.6 percent of the time.
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Monday, 20 May 2019 10:09

Turnaround in customer satisfaction levels with telcos: report

Customers have become increasingly satisfied over the past 12 months with the service they receive from telecommunications providers, according to a newly published survey, despite previously reduced levels of satisfaction with telcos.
The latest quarterly national survey, found that 83%-84% of customers responding are satisfied or neutral with the overall level of service from their telecommunications provider in the last three reports, with satisfaction increasing over the past year.
John Stanton, the CEO of telecommunications industry lobby group, the Communications Alliance, which commissioned the research by Roy Morgan Research, says that “after disruptions in the marketplace contributed to reduced levels of satisfaction in our customer satisfaction data throughout 2017 and the beginning of 2018, we are pleased to see an improving trend over the past three quarterly reports”.
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Optus expands commercial 5G services

5G Home Broadband offering to be available in more suburbs
Rohan Pearce (Computerworld) 20 May, 2019 12:21
Optus says that by the end of the month customers in parts of the western Sydney suburbs of Bonnyrigg and Minchinbury, Niagara Park on the NSW Central Coast, Cook in the ACT and the Brisbane suburb of Kenmore will be able to order 5G services.
Optus in January revealed its first commercial service based on 5G. At its January launch in the ACT, Optus positioned the service — ‘Optus 5G Home Broadband’ — as an alternative to fixed-line broadband.
The telco is using equipment from both Ericsson and Nokia in its rollout of 5G. Earlier this month it detailed 50 5G sites that will be built by Ericsson over the coming months. Twenty of those sites will be in NSW and 30 will be in Victoria.
Optus Networks managing director Dennis Wong said that its first commercial 5G service in the Sydney suburb of Glendenning had achieved peak download speeds of 295 megabits per second and an average speed of 100Mbps.
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Monday, 20 May 2019 11:35

Optus to offer 5G to selected users, top speed 295Mbps

Australia's second biggest telco Singtel Optus will give select customers in five suburbs the opportunity to sample its 5G Home Broadband product by the end of the month.
In a statement, Optus said the chosen suburbs were Bonnyrigg and Minchinbury in Sydney’s west, Niagara Park on the NSW Central Coast, Cook in the ACT and Kenmore outside Brisbane, adding that it had more than 70 sites that were 5G ready.
The customers were selected following a campaign seeking expressions of interest which was launched in January.
Optus Networks managing director Dennis Wong said the first commercial Optus 5G Home Broadband service in Glendenning in Sydney’s west had already achieved peak download speeds of 295Mbps and an average download speed of 100Mbps.
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Revamped Google Glass 2 aims more powerful AR at the enterprise

Google renews its focus on enterprise augmented reality with the Glass Enterprise Edition 2; it packs a better camera and faster processor.
Google this week updated its workplace-focused Glass augmented reality (AR) headset, offering a more powerful processor and improved camera – a “significant improvement” over its predecessor, according Anshel Sag, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.
Google unveiled the consumer version of Glass in 2013 to much fanfare, but little commercial success. It was relaunched as Glass Enterprise Edition two years ago, after Google decided the headset was better suited to workers who need hands-free computing – such as in manufacturing, logistics and healthcare. Development was also moved to the X “moonshot” division within Google’s parent company, Alphabet. 
With the launch of the latest version, Glass Enterprise Edition 2, the Glass team has now returned to the core business, the company said in a blog post. 
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Enjoy!
David.