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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Again a fun mix of good news and bad news with things going along well, and not so well !
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Computer blunder forces Queensland hospitals back to paper records
By Toby Crockford
August 15, 2019 — 9.44pm
Several south-east Queensland hospitals could not access electronic medical records for male patients for hours on Thursday because of a system update blunder.
Staff had to use paper records for the patients until the issue was resolved by 9.15am, when a backlog of data had to be entered into the Integrated Electronic Medical Record (ieMR) system.
A routine overnight system update, which merged outstanding information onto patients' electronic records, was started late and overlapped with morning elective patient arrivals.
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Sydney hospitals turn to data analytics to combat opioid crisis
By Matt Johnston on Aug 13, 2019 6:44AM
Improving lower back pain treatment.
Around 50,000 patients turn up to New South Wales emergency departments every year suffering from lower back pain, 70 percent of whom are given addictive opioids to treat the pain despite well-known harms.
Now, the Sydney Local Health District (SLHD), in an effort to provide better long term care to patients with back pain, has launched a new app to wean healthcare professionals off the easy pain killer option through locally-relevant data to inform their course of treatment.
The STARS (SLHD Targeted Activity and Reporting System) Back Pain App provides emrgency department clinicians with key information relevant to the management of lower back pain, while also efficiently providing a mechanism to identify and explore any clinical variation.
Through audit and continuous feedback, the app is also helping to reduce the number of patients who receive unnecessary tests and imaging services (think MRI and CT scans) which is estimated to include 30 percent of all patients who present with lower back pain.
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Qld Health's new SAP ERP wobbles in week one
Minister cites error code 'PEBCAK' - Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard.
Queensland Health has suffered teething problems with its brand new $135 million SAP ERP system, just days after the long-overdue replacement system went live.
The Courier Mail reported on Friday that the system crashed shortly after being launched last Thursday, forcing hospital staff to resort to manually order supplies on credit cards and hoard stocks.
The new system is the result of the department’s second attempt to replace its 20-year-old SAP ERP suite known as known as the finance and materials management information system (FAMMIS).
An earlier effort to replace the system, which has been out of support for a decade, was aborted in 2014-15, and was replaced with the financial system renewal project (FSR) in December 2016.
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Chinese firm's takeover plan raises concern in Canberra over access to ADF medical records
By Chris Uhlmann
August 12, 2019 — 6.15pm
A Chinese company's plans to take over healthcare giant Healius is raising concerns in Canberra because the deal could compromise Australian Defence Force medical records, including those of elite special forces.
The Morrison government has vowed that any move to acquire the $2 billion pathology and radiology company would trigger a Foreign Investment Review Board inquiry, where the national interest would come “first and foremost”.
The ADF's prized Garrison Health Services contract was last year won by British-based international healthcare group Bupa after previously being held by Medibank Private. As part of the new deal Healius was engaged as a sub-contractor to provide imaging services for the entire Australian Defence Force.
The change meant Healius was handed years of historical data on military personnel including names, dates of birth, addresses, referral notes, pathology results, images and radiology reports.
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Congratulations to the 2019 HISA Awards winners
The following awards were announced at the annual Gala Dinner during HIC 2019 in Melbourne.
The Jon Hilton award For Excellence in Primary Care Informatics recognises a person or organisation who best personifies the priorities for which Jon was such an advocate, including innovation in primary, community care and chronic disease management.
This was awarded to Melbourne GP Dr Nathan Pinskier for excellence in innovation across the continuum of care.
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RACGP eHealth advocate wins digital health award
Dr Nathan Pinskier’s decades of work in digital health were recognised this week.
14 Aug 2019
‘I see myself as a facilitator. I’m not a coder, and I don’t develop software. I work with people and networks to try and support change. For me, it’s all about quality improvement.’
That is Dr Nathan Pinskier, a long-time digital health advocate and former Chair of the RACGP Expert Committee Practice Technology and Management (REC–PTM). His work in digital health was this week recognised with an award bestowed on him by the Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA).
Dr Pinskier won the Jon Hilton Award for excellence in primary care informatics, given to people who innovate in primary care, community care and chronic disease management.
‘I’m honoured and humbled,’ he told newsGP.
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That is Dr Nathan Pinskier, a long-time digital health advocate and former Chair of the RACGP Expert Committee Practice Technology and Management (REC–PTM). His work in digital health was this week recognised with an award bestowed on him by the Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA).
Dr Pinskier won the Jon Hilton Award for excellence in primary care informatics, given to people who innovate in primary care, community care and chronic disease management.
‘I’m honoured and humbled,’ he told newsGP.
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eHealth NSW nears completion of electronic medical records system
Aimee Chanthadavong
16 August, 2019
eHealth NSW has announced that by the second half of next year, all New South Wales public hospitals will have access to electronic medical records (EMR), as part of the agency's wider effort to make the state's health system more citizen-centric.
During his keynote address at an Australian Information Industry Association event on Thursday, eHealth NSW CIO and CEO Zoran Bolevich outlined the EMR system is already live at 177 public hospitals across the state.
"It is important for us to start looking at how we can link disparate electronic medical records databases so we can have a more continuous flow of patient information, and that's what we're trying to do with this piece of work," Bolevich said.
"We're trying to create a more consistent patient and clinician experience, especially for junior doctors and nurses who travel around the state and work in different types of hospitals … so there is a consistent look and feel everywhere."
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Fed's digital ID system coming to myGov "this year". Financial year.
DTA to begin myGovID portal integration.
The Digital Transformation Agency is set to begin work to replace myGov's existing authentication system with the government’s new digital identity system myGovID.
Head of digital identity Jonathon Thorpe told SailPoint’s Navigate conference in Sydney this morning that the two systems would be integrated before the end of this financial year.
[*This story has been updated to reflect new information provided.]
Funding for the long-expected integration was handed to the DTA in this year’s federal budget to simplify how citizens prove their identity and access services more conveniently.
It comes just weeks after the myGovID quietly appeared on Apple's App Store, allowing to the public to try out the digital equivalent of the 100 point ID check for the first time.
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Sensitive personal data of hundreds of visa applicants accidentally leaked in email mishap
ABC Health & Wellbeing
15 August, 2019
The personal health information of 317 people applying for Australian visas was accidentally emailed to a member of the general public, an ABC investigation has revealed.
Key points:
- 317 names, dates of birth, passport numbers and medical test notes were sent to an unknown Gmail address
- The subcontractor was removing data from secure Immigration Department systems, against government policy
- Subcontractors are increasingly relied upon to handle sensitive public data
The security bungle occurred when a spreadsheet was sent by mistake to an unknown individual's email address, because of a typo.
The privacy breach, which happened in 2015, occurred under the watch of Australia's largest health insurance company, Bupa, and one of its subcontractors, Sonic HealthPlus (SHP).
Bupa is contracted by the Department of Home Affairs to assess the health of people applying for visas and permanent residency in Australia.
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Personal data of Australian visa applicants reportedly leaked following email typo
ABC has reported that 317 individuals applying for an Australian visa had their health information shared in error.
An investigation by the ABC has revealed that the personal health information of over 300 people applying for Australian visas was accidentally emailed to an incorrect address as a result of a "typo".
The report details that the email containing information on 317 individuals was incorrectly sent to a member of the general public in 2015.
Bupa is contracted by the Department of Home Affairs to assess the health of people applying for visas and permanent residency in Australia.
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Botched myki data release breached privacy laws
Semi-redacted data from 15 million cards published online.
Victoria’s public transport authority has been found to have breached privacy laws after releasing a dataset containing 15 million partially redacted public transport passenger details online.
The Office of the Victorian Information Commission (OVIC) today released its investigation [pdf] into the release of the dataset pertaining to Melbourne’s contactless smartcard ticketing system Myki.
The investigation found the release had breached the state’s Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 by exposing myki user’s histories and called for stronger privacy protections for open data releases.
The dataset, which contained 1.8 billion records of touch-on and touch-off activity from 15 million myki cards over a three year period between June 2015 and June 2018, was released by Public Transport Victoria in July 2018.
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https://www.afr.com/technology/myki-data-release-found-to-have-breached-privacy-laws-20190815-p52hbo
Myki data release could attract $500,000 fine
Aug 15, 2019 — 12.58pm
Public Transport Victoria could be fined almost $500,000 after publishing a dataset that left the identities of thousands of commuters and their travel patterns discoverable.
The potential fine is the result of a months-long investigation into the breach, which was conducted by the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner.
And OVIC has now slapped the government body with a Compliance Notice, its most potent tool under Victorian privacy laws.
The notice requires Public Transport Victoria to undertake four specified actions by 2021 or pay a $495,660 fine.
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PIP QI fact sheet clears up uncertainty
Released by the Department of Health, the fact sheet seeks to address concerns raised by the RACGP and the wider profession.
The new fact sheet has resolved a number of concerns raised by the RACGP and its members about PIP QI.
15 Aug 2019
The twice-delayed $200 million Practice Incentive Program Quality Improvement (PIP QI), has been plagued by uncertainty surrounding data governance and eligibility requirements.
However, a new fact sheet has resolved a number of these issues, including confusion over the data sets practices are required to submit to Primary Health Networks (PHNs) and the manner in which they need to be provided.
Dr Michael Wright, Chair of the RACGP Expert Committee – Funding and Health System Reform, told newsGP the new information should answer many questions GPs and practices might have about joining the program.
‘It is great to see some clarification about what data needs to be shared for the purposes for PIP QI, and also some flexibility in how to comply with the program,’ he said.
However, a new fact sheet has resolved a number of these issues, including confusion over the data sets practices are required to submit to Primary Health Networks (PHNs) and the manner in which they need to be provided.
Dr Michael Wright, Chair of the RACGP Expert Committee – Funding and Health System Reform, told newsGP the new information should answer many questions GPs and practices might have about joining the program.
‘It is great to see some clarification about what data needs to be shared for the purposes for PIP QI, and also some flexibility in how to comply with the program,’ he said.
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Robot-ready labs
Thursday, 08 August, 2019
Robots could take on about 50% more laboratory tests and automate tasks that cause people repetitive strain injury, technology provider ABB said.
ABB is set to introduce collaborative robots to medical laboratories as it opens a new healthcare hub at the Texas Medical Center (TMC) innovation campus in Houston, Texas.
The hub is scheduled to open in October.
The company said its research team would work on the TMC campus with medical staff, scientists and engineers to develop non-surgical medical robotics systems, including logistics and next-generation automated laboratory technologies.
“The next-generation laboratory processes developed in Houston will speed manual medical laboratory processes, reducing and eliminating bottlenecks in laboratory work and enhancing safety and consistency,” ABB’s Robotics and Discrete Automation Business President Sami Atiya said.
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$1 million funding for consumer health literacy in libraries
The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), the ALIA Australian Public Library Alliance (APLA) and ALIA Health Libraries Australia (HLA) have secured close to $1 million in funding for libraries from the Australian Digital Health Agency to run train the trainer programs on digital health literacy. The training will support library staff in public and health libraries respond to queries about government digital health programs and will run from September 2019 to June 2020.
ALIA CEO Sue McKerracher said, ‘This will be a good case study of how libraries can support national government initiatives when properly funded and resourced to do so, to the benefit of their local communities’
This nationwide initiative will provide training to library staff on how users can navigate and understand Federal Government digital health initiatives, like My Health Record, including how to comprehend and alter privacy settings, manage family records and engage with health providers to ensure a comprehensive profile.
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3D face scans help spot Australia's costliest sleep disorder
Increasing access to apnoea treatment.
Australian sleep researchers have successfully trialled 3D facial scans to predict the presence of sleep apnoea, a disorder that costs the national health system $2.5 billion a year.
While treatable, up to 75 percent of individuals with sleep apnoea remain undiagnosed partly due to the cost of testing - increasing the risk of fatigue-related accidents, heart disease and depression.
Building on previous work identifying structures in the face, head and neck that can be used to diagnose the condition, Professor Peter Eastwood from the Centre for Sleep Science and his research team partnered with the University of Western Australia’s (UWA) School of Computer Science and Software Engineering to automate the detection of those features.
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Comms Minister Fletcher roasts telcos in speech
Vocus as serial dumpee, NBN as ‘evil monopoly’ and more.
Australia's Communications and Cyber Safety Minister Paul Fletcher has roasted several telcos, and the industry in general.
Delivering the light-hearted keynote at the Australian Communications Industry Awards last night, Fletcher opened his brief address by remarking that he’s enjoying his new job as minister, which he’s done since May 2019, in part because so little has changed since his days as an Optus executive.
“I'm glad to be back. It's great to be back in the communication sector,” he said, before quickly mentioning the fact that when he left the sector to go into politics, Vodafone and Hutchison Telecom were merging to avoid the fate of becoming the almost-certainly-unprofitable fourth-ranked mobile carrier in the market.
Fast-forward a decade and the resulting combined VHA entity is trying to merge with TPG for the same reason, an observation that drew plenty of chuckles from the telco types in attendance.
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NBN Co still in the red, but climbs towards profit
Revenue grows amid new wave of discontent from telcos, as NBN Co beats revised targets
In the 12 months to 30 June NBN Co enjoyed earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $608 million – if the $2 billion or so in subscriber payments to Telstra and Optus are discounted, the company said today.
That compares to EBITDA, sans subscriber payments, of negative $103 million in FY18. The payments are made to Telstra and Optus as services are migrated off legacy networks, so in NBN Co’s view aren’t indicative of the company’s long-term financial performance.
After a period of relative stagnation, average revenue per user (ARPU) grew to $46, up $2 on the prior year, the company said in its full year results release. The current edition of the NBN Co corporate plan projects ARPU of $51 in FY22, with the document indicating that the increase is expected to be driven by increased end-user willingness to pay, increase takeup of fast services, growth in data consumption and increase business revenue.
The company said today that the FY19 increase had been driven partly by the success of NBN Co’s efforts to promote 50Mbps and faster plans, growing data consumption by both consumers and businesses, and 54 per cent year-on-year growth of revenue in the business segment to $388 million.
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NBN Co says it is unlikely to scrap CVC charges
Favours boost to bundles, but its idea of “significant” may differ from yours.
NBN Co is unlikely to scrap bandwidth charges levied on internet providers that connect into its network, though it is confident it could radically change its price construct if it wanted to.
Chief customer officer for residential Brad Whitcomb told iTnews on an FY19 results call that it is more likely that NBN Co will keep the connectivity virtual circuit (CVC) construct rather than ditch it as has been called for by almost all retail service providers.
NBN services consist of two components - an aggregated virtual circuit (AVC) and connectivity virtual circuit (CVC).
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NBN posts massive loss, soars past revenue target
Aug 15, 2019 — 12.01am
NBN Co has posted a full year loss of $3.9 billion, but says it is on track to hit its most important financial targets after soaring past projected revenue for the 2019 financial year by $200 million.
Over the course of the financial year NBN Co, the government owned corporation tasked with building and operating the national broadband network, raised its average revenue per user (ARPU) by $2 to $46 per month.
At that rate of annual increase, it will hit its target ARPU of $51 per month by 2022. This is a key target, because if NBN Co fails to hit that number it will struggle to make the return on investment necessary to avoid a write-down.
Chief executive Stephen Rue said the results were "incredibly strong for the company", saying he was confident the growth could be maintained.
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Thursday, 15 August 2019 05:01
NBN boosts revenue, profits, customer signups
Australia’s National Broadband Network has recorded net profits of $608 million for the full year 2019 – up from a loss of $103 million last year and after excluding subscriber payments of around $2 billion to Telstra and Optus.
The positive bottom line was achieved on the back of a 43% increase in total revenue to $2.83 billion – including business revenue of $388 million, up 54% on FY18 - with the positive result largely attributed to the addition of over a million new customers to the NBN.
And average revenue per user (ARPU) was $46 for the year, up from $44 in FY18, as the operator of the broadband network – NBN Co – reported 1.5 million additional activations over the 12-months to the end of June.
NBN Co says it has now completed construction on 85% of the NBN and confirmed that it is on schedule to complete the build by 30 June 2020, and “on track” to meet the target date for the rollout, with network construction 85% complete compared to 75% in FY18.
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NBN customers face higher prices or poorer internet connection, audit warns
By Fergus Hunter
August 13, 2019 — 11.45pm
Some National Broadband Network customers will pay more for their internet or receive a lower-quality service as a result of the "multi-technology" model being used in the rollout, the government's independent infrastructure adviser has warned.
The major Infrastructure Australia audit of the nation's future transport, energy, water and telecommunications needs highlighted poor quality broadband connections, increased costs, and an "inherent tension" between NBN Co's obligations to customers and taxpayers.
The report pointed to a fundamental challenge facing the $51 billion project as it seeks to provide quality, accessible and affordable internet connections for the market while also making a return on taxpayer investment.
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Monday, 12 August 2019 10:34
NBN Co launches Sky Muster Plus satellite ‘unmetered data’ wholesale service
NBN Co has launched its Sky Muster Plus wholesale service which allows homes and small businesses in the NBN satellite footprint to access unmetered data for essential online activities.
NBN Co, the company building Australia’s broadband access network, says three wholesale plans with different metered data allowances will be available to participating retail service providers based on a wholesale speed tier of 25/5 Mbps, and Sky Muster Plus customers will from time-to-time experience wholesale speed bursts above 25/5Mbps, subject to available network capacity.
According to NBN Co, insights from a Sky Muster Plus trial, which ran from 7 June until 8 August, revealed four out of five existing Sky Muster customers reported an improvement in their online experience during the trial, with many reporting the unmetered data was “particularly helpful when it came to managing their overall data usage”.
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Enjoy!
David.
