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, December 05, 2019

This Is The Funniest Story I Have Seen On The Opt-Out Rollout Of The #myHealthRecord.

It seems the ADHA staff, presumably recognizing what a poor idea they were implementing, needed extra sick leave to cope!

Sick days soared amid My Health Record flap

·         Adrian Rollins
The troubled introduction of the opt-out deadline for the $1.5 billion My Health Record may have taken a heavy toll on those tasked with its implementation.

ADHA staff recorded a spike in sick leave during the financial year of the My Health Record rollout.

Sick leave among ADHA workers reached an average of 14.2 days in 2018-19, the highest incidence among any Commonwealth agency, pushing the agency's overall rate of unscheduled absences out to an average of 17 days - well in excess of the average of 11.4 days across all agencies, and far above its absence rate of 11.5 the year before.

The full article is here:

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6512595/sick-days-soared-amid-my-health-record-flap/


It’s hard to believe but there you go, or maybe there are other reasons. I am sure others could think of a few. It is a worry that what the bosses at the ADHA desired, stressed the staff so much, and is pretty sad!

Having the worst level of sick leave among all Commonwealth Agencies is not a badge of honour and suggests some fundamental malaise to me.

To also add to the very non-funny goings on at the ADHA has anyone else noticed that their Summary response to the Audit - i.e the spun version is made public while a fuller detailed response to the Audit is not provided. These guys really are transparency central - NOT! (Audit Report p58)

David.

Wednesday, December 04, 2019

Do You Think We Actually Know If The #myHealthRecord Has Already Been Used For Nefarious Purposes?

This popped up last week:

'Serious misjudgment': policeman fined for giving friend intelligence

By Georgina Mitchell
November 25, 2019 — 6.16pm
A NSW highway patrol officer has been convicted and fined $3080 after he met a long-term friend at a cafe this year and gave him restricted information from the police computer system, in an interaction witnessed by an undercover operative.
Phillip Edward Parker, 53, told his friend of 30 years that Strike Force Raptor – a police taskforce targeting bikies and criminal activity – had written two intelligence reports about him in police database COPS.
Parker told his friend the dates the reports were put into the system and said they concerned his friend's presence at an incident, as well as information about a stolen tow truck from 2008.

The details were divulged after a police officer pulled the friend over on April 8, 2019 and said to him: "Have you been in trouble before ... a couple of intels are coming up on you".
"I said 'excuse me?'" the friend told Parker, in a call intercepted by police. "He goes 'yeah'. I said 'f---ing hell, I don't know what intels are coming up on me. Mate, I've done nothing."
Parker asked for the registration number of his friend's tow truck. Later that day, the friend asked if he'd had time to look into it.
"Nah I haven't had time yet," Parker responded.
"I can't believe he said that," the man said. "I just played the tape back. He clearly said it. That blew me away, f---. Unless he was bluffing, but you can't say shit like that. Like it's f---ing upset me."
The next morning, Parker met the friend at a cafe at Penshurst in Sydney's south, bringing with him his police "Mobipol" data terminal.
According to agreed facts, "an undercover operative in the cafe" overheard Parker relay information from the police system to the man. The man then said he would speak to his solicitor and make an application to access the intelligence reports.
"The offender then put the Mobipol device away before the two left the cafe," the facts said.
More here:
What this shows that with a co-operative ‘friend’ it is possible, using legitimate access, to look up all sorts of private information, and this has to include the #myHR. Sure there may be an audit trail of the access, but how many have their account set up to alert them when unexpected access happens, or have blocked some / all access to all but a few users? Is the ADHA regularly reviewing each and every audit trail? I suspect not! The risk of getting caught seems pretty low.
From the Auditor General’s Report we have this: (p37)
“3.39 As at 30 June 2019, a Record Access Code had been set for 27,215 records – 0.1 per cent of all records – and a Limited Document Access Code had been set for 3,862 documents in the system.”
So basically no-one has secured their record – and details were not provided on the numbers who has set SMS alerts on access – but presumably it is again not many.
What we thus learn is that any properly authorised user can pretty much look at any record they know the details of and are pretty unlikely to trip any security alert about unauthorised access.
I am not sure the public would describe this as a secure and well regulated system where the users are sufficiently well informed about possible access to be properly in control of what happens to their data.
Has such access already happened and no one has noticed?
Who knows?
David.

Tuesday, December 03, 2019

Commentators and Journalists Weigh In On Digital Health And Related Privacy, Safety And Security Matters. Lots Of Interesting Perspectives - December 03, 2019.

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This weekly blog is to explore the larger issues around Digital Health, data security, data privacy, AI and related matters.
I will also try to highlight ADHA Propaganda when I come upon it.
Just so we keep count, the latest Notes from the ADHA Board are dated 6 December, 2018! Secrecy unconstrained! This is really the behavior of a federal public agency gone rogue – and it just goes on! When you read this is will be near 12 months of radio silence.
Note: Appearance here is not to suggest I see any credibility or value in what follows. I will leave it to the reader to decide what is worthwhile and what is not! The point is to let people know what is being said / published that I have come upon.
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Australian Defence Force aims to integrate robotic war strategies

The Australian Defence Force is devising a strategy to develop hi-tech soldiers and weaponised ­robots under a new program to “modernise levels of protection and lethality” for frontline troops.
As China and other nations aggressively expand modern warfare technology, defence chiefs have adopted an “accelerated” plan, focusing on Human Machine Teaming to combine robotic systems and soldier ­capacity to “achieve tactical ­advantage”.
The defence strategy, outlined in AusTender documents lodged by the Defence Department, aims to integrate soldiers, robotics, artificial intelligence, sensors and data to boost frontline combat strike power.
Major General Mick Ryan, who has championed new technologies, has predicted that by the middle of the 21st century, military forces will contain tens of thousands of robots and that decisions of human commanders will be informed and shaped by artificial intelligence.
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My Health Record Guide Developed to help emergency care staff

Nathan Eddy | 28 Nov 2019 ADHA Propaganda
The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has partnered with the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine to provide more support for frontline emergency care staff through the use of patients' My Health Record.
The suite of clinical tools and resources includes include a guide for emergency department clinicians with practical information on accessing up-to-date My Health Record data for people requiring emergency care.
The guide explains the ins and outs of My Health Record to ED clinicians and where it can fit into their current practice, and describes the types of clinical documents that may be included in a patient's My Health Record and the origin of that information.
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Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) Report on the Implementation of the My Health Record System – Frequently asked questions

What were the main findings of the report?

ADHA Propaganda
The ANAO undertook this investigation to determine the effectiveness of the implementation of the My Health Record system under the opt-out model.
In doing so, they considered whether the risks of the system are being appropriately assessed, managed and monitored and the arrangements that are in place to monitor and evaluate My Health Record as more and more Australians begin to use and rely on the system.
The ANAO’s Implementation of the My Health Record System found that the:
  • Implementation of My Health Record has been largely effective.
  • Implementation, planning and execution of My Health Record was appropriate and was supported by appropriate governance arrangements.
  • Communication activities were appropriate to inform healthcare recipients and providers about the system.
  • My Health Record is an example of a program with many shared risks, not only between different Commonwealth agencies, but between different governments, the healthcare sector, clinical software vendors and the community at large. Good risk management is not just about managing risks for Commonwealth agencies – but also include the groups of people to whom they are delivering services.
  • The Agency has robust controls in place to manage cyber security risks to the core infrastructure of the My Health Record system, however needs to work closer with healthcare providers and software providers to ensure cybersecurity risks are appropriately managed at every stage of the healthcare system.
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Care about your privacy? Use these web services instead.

By Krishan Sharma
November 29, 2019 — 3.26pm
Google and Facebook so dominate online life that for many people it's easy to forget that their business models revolve around collecting as much personal data as possible, and using it to sell targeted ads. They are advertising companies first and foremost. We are the product they sell, and the business is very lucrative.
Out of the $US75 billion in revenue Google raked in over the first half of 2019, a staggering 84 per cent came from advertising. It made up 98 per cent of Facebook's total revenue in 2018.
More personal data means more targeted ads and ultimately more revenue. However, with some high profile revelations about how tech giants use and abuse our data, people are seeking alternatives.
With this in mind, here are some secure alternatives to popular Google and Facebook services that are just as convenient and free to use, without having to give up any of your personal data.
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OAIC Releases Health Sector Privacy Guidelines

The newly released ‘Guide to Health Privacy’ from the Office of the Australia Information Commissioner (OAIC) provides welcome clarity on a number of health data related obligations set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act), including the concept of consent, how and when health data is collected, stored and used, and of course who has access to it.
Earlier this year we reported on statistics coming out of the Notifiable Data Breach Scheme, one year on from its enactment. A key finding of the report highlighted particular vulnerabilities in the Health Services sector, ranking number one for notifiable data breaches by industry. On top of this, the health sector also ranks consistently in the top 3 sources of privacy complaints by individuals. With health data among an individual’s most sensitive personal information, the OAIC release of the Guide to Health Privacy could not be more timely.
Key takeaways
The Guide, written primarily for health professionals and practice staff, aims to provide practical and actionable advice on health information handling for those in the industry, providing industry specific examples on a number of important topics. It helpfully provides a number of examples specifics to medical practices which practitioners may find enlightening.
Of particular impact will be the recommended key steps to “embedding privacy in your health practice”, which include, amongst other things, developing and implementing a privacy management plan, developing clear lines of accountability for privacy management, and of course, developing a data breach response plan.
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Patient Data: Access, Privacy & Ownership

Perspectives from the patient and provider were shared about the complexities of access and use of patient data at a panel discussion at the HIMSS Australia Digital Health Summit.
November 28, 2019 02:39 AM
While patient data offers a trove of information that can be used for further research or population health studies from a government or policy perspective, a key concern still remains – do patients themselves know or approve of how of their health information is used? 
At the HIMSS Australia Digital Health Summit on 21 November, a patient advocate from Australia and officials from the public health sector from Singapore and Australia sat down for an extended discussion on the complexities of the ownership, access and secondary use of patient data.
Who owns the data?
The reality is that providers, patients and HIT vendors all have some justifiable proprietorship over patient information/data to a certain extent but that reality can be quite complex. A/Prof Low Cheng Ooi, Chief Medical Informatics Officer (CMIO) of Ministry of Health (MOH), Singapore, explained that it is accurate that all the data belongs to the patient - things like vital signs, imaging and laboratory results all belong to the patient.
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Sex, lies, video and elections in the fake news era

Australians need to be equipped with the tools and skills to be discerning consumers in today’s digital media environment.
Social media and artificial intelligence will derail our democratic elections in the 2020s if left unabated.
New technologies are becoming available that amplify the misinformation and confusion that social media already unleashes.
We’ve seen fake news and state-sponsored sites designed to spread misinformation. Now we are dealing with fake videos that show politicians and celebrities mouthing words they never said.
Malevolent countries soon will be able to saturate the web and ­social media with false stories written by machines. This technology is in the wings. The number of countries involved in the organised production of fake news is spreading beyond Russia and China to states such as Iran.
Back home, there’s the increasing capability of all sides of politics to finetune online misinformation campaigns that target just a few hundred voters — campaigns with lies that can damage political ­opponents who may never hear about it and therefore can’t rebut.
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The Australian PCEHR or My Health Record: The Journey Around a Large-Scale Nationwide Digital Health Solution

·         Nilmini Wickramasinghe
·         John Zelcer
Part of the Healthcare Delivery in the Information Age book series (Healthcare Delivery Inform. Age)

Abstract

This case study attempts to document key events and milestones in the development of Australia’s nationwide digital health solution the My Health Record (formerly known as the PCEHR). This is done by presenting an overview of the Australian healthcare system and in particular highlighting unique features about this system into which the My Health Record was implemented. This journey has only just begun, and in the next decades, it is expected that the My Health Record will change and evolve further; hence, the case study concludes with questions for the reader to consider rather than provide final statements. Ultimately, the success of such a solution can only be judged in the fullness of time; however, we note that this was a massive undertaking that has had far-reaching implications for healthcare delivery throughout Australia and impacts all stakeholders including patients, providers, payers, the regulator and healthcare organizations.
Discussion Point : Is the My Health Record really that relevant? (DM)
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Medicare bill ‘puts every Australian at risk’

A new Medicare anti-fraud bill would put the privacy of every Australian at risk and create a 'honey pot' for hackers, experts are warning.
The federal government has proposed laws to crack down on Medicare fraud that would see departments sharing information with Medicare.
The legislation introduces a new data matching scheme for the Department of Health to access and share health information for Medicare compliance purposes. Sensitive Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) data would be freely available to the department, while other agencies could have some access to it in order to "assist them in performing their functions."
The bill was read a second and third time on Wednesday and will now go to the senate.
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Science & Medical | 27/11/2019 3:24:51 PM
The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia  ADHA Propaganda

My Health Record a key to medicine safety

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia believes the My Health Record system can significantly contribute to improved medicine safety in Australia and welcomes the Commonwealth’s commitment to continually improving this important digital health program.
This week the Digital Health Agency agreed to all five recommendations made by the Australian National Audit Office in its report Implementation of the My Health Record System.
“Overall, the report found implementation has been largely effective. Its recommendations focus on privacy and security of health information and the Digital Health Agency has undertaken to work with stakeholders to raise standards in health information management,” Pharmaceutical Society of Australia National President, Associate Professor Chris Freeman said.
“Uptake and participation are vital to the success of My Health Record. Therefore, ensuring both providers and patients are confident information is safe is essential.”
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MHR effective, says report

AJP Staff27/11/2019  ADHA Propaganda

The My Health Record system can significantly contribute to improved medicine safety in Australia, says the PSA

It said it welcomes the Commonwealth’s commitment to continually improving the digital health program.
This week the Digital Health Agency agreed to all five recommendations made by the Australian National Audit Office in its report Implementation of the My Health Record System.
“Overall, the report found implementation has been largely effective. Its recommendations focus on privacy and security of health information and the Digital Health Agency has undertaken to work with stakeholders to raise standards in health information management,” Pharmaceutical Society of Australia National President, Associate Professor Chris Freeman said.
“Uptake and participation are vital to the success of My Health Record. Therefore, ensuring both providers and patients are confident information is safe is essential.”
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27 November 2019

MHR audit clearance is a giant red herring

Posted by Jeremy Knibbs
If you’re seeing headlines about the National Office of Audit’s (NOA) review of the My Health Record (MHR) and are comforted a little by commentary that this controversial project is somehow effective and on track to save the healthcare system billions of dollars, don’t be. Not yet, anyway.
The NOA spent more than $600,000 measuring the effectiveness of the “implementation” of the MHR by the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA), not the actual effectiveness of the electronic record. It’s like giving NASA a tick of approval for how they built a rocket to get to the moon, but failing to check whether it had any chance of actually getting there.
The MHR is an extremely expensive, complex, fund-sucking, attention-distracting venture, and by not providing any meaningful reporting on how much traction it is actually getting in the healthcare community, and how effective it is so far and is likely to be into the future, we are wasting our time and money. What is the government thinking here?
The most misleading thing the NOA report does (perhaps not deliberately) is to claim that because it assesses the “implementation” as effective, therefore the MHR is on track to save our healthcare system $14.6 billion by 2027. That is ignoring entirely whether the MHR is actually taking hold in the manner it has been promised to.
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Australian values can shape the internet of the future

JOEL KAPLAN
The internet has reached a point of maturity. We have lived with it for long enough to understand the great, liberalising benefits it brings – the ability to communicate, share knowledge, support causes, build communities and grow successful businesses in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago.
But we are also aware of the harm that can be done online too. From individual privacy, to the integrity of elections and the sharing of harmful content, the internet has brought new challenges. With this knowledge, it is incumbent upon internet companies like Facebook to recognise the responsibilities we have for the impact we can have on society. And we do.
Facebook has changed a great deal in recent years. We’ve tripled the number of people working to take down bad content so you don’t have to see it. We’ve removed millions of fake accounts and made political ads more transparent so you know if someone is trying to influence your vote. We now automatically detect 99 per cent of the terrorist content we take down before anyone sees it. And we’ve updated our privacy settings and built better tools so you can control your information.
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What jobs are affected by AI?

Better-paid, better-educated workers face the most exposure

20 Nov 2019
Description
Artificial intelligence (AI) has generated increasing interest in “future of work” discussions in recent years as the technology has achieved superhuman performance in a range of valuable tasks, ranging from manufacturing to radiology to legal contracts. With that said, though, it has been difficult to get a specific read on AI’s implications on the labor market.
In part because the technologies have not yet been widely adopted, previous analyses have had to rely either on case studies or subjective assessments by experts to determine which occupations might be susceptible to a takeover by AI algorithms. What’s more, most research has concentrated on an undifferentiated array of “automation” technologies including robotics, software, and AI all at once. The result has been a lot of discussion—but not a lot of clarity—about AI, with prognostications that range from the utopian to the apocalyptic.
Given that, the analysis presented here demonstrates a new way to identify the kinds of tasks and occupations likely to be affected by AI’s machine learning capabilities, rather than automation’s robotics and software impacts on the economy. By employing a novel technique developed by Stanford University Ph.D. candidate, Michael Webb, this report establishes job exposure levels by analyzing the overlap between AI-related patents and job descriptions. In this way, the following paper homes in on the impacts of AI specifically and does it by studying empirical statistical associations as opposed to expert forecasting.
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26 Nov 2019

EFA and Future Wise Urge Seriousness From Government On Health Data Security

Posted by Lyndsey Jackson
Digital rights groups Electronic Frontiers Australia and Future Wise today expressed their disappointment in the management of privacy and security of the My Health Record system, as highlighted by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO)’s report released on Monday 25 November 2019. They called on the Australian government to engage seriously with the complex issues of data privacy and security.
The ANAO report, Implementation of the My Health Record System, validates the concerns that civil society shared during the My Health Record opt-out saga. The government had to be forced, by widespread outcry, to tighten the security of the system, yet the ANAO’s report shows that the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) has been unable to take the security of Australians’ health data seriously.
In 2018, the private health service provider sector reported the most notifiable data breaches of any industry sector and yet ANAO found that ADHA’s management of shared cyber security risks “was not appropriate”. It is astounding that this should be the case after over seven years of production use of the My Health Record system. It raises serious questions about ADHA’s commitment to cyber security of the My Health Record system.
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Wednesday, 27 November 2019 11:09

Rights groups alarmed over lax security for Australians' health data

Two digital rights groups — Electronic Frontiers Australia and Future Wise — have urged the government to take the privacy and security of the My Health Record system seriously after an Australian National Audit Office report indicated that this was not happening.
A statement from the two groups said the ANAO report showed the Australian Digital Health Agency was not overly concerned about the security of health data.
The two organisations pointed out that the number of data breaches in 2018 showed the health industry was the worst offender.
"t is astounding that this should be the case after over seven years of production use of the My Health Record system. It raises serious questions about ADHA’s commitment to cyber security of the My Health Record system," they said.
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Audit of My Health Record reveals cyber failings, privacy risks

The government agency implementing My Health Record failed to appropriately manage cybersecurity risks or complete any of its four planned privacy assessments, according to a performance review by the Australian National Audit Office, which also found emergency access to patient records was routinely misused. 
While the implementation has been “largely effective” overall, the national auditor found the $1.5 billion e-health scheme which now includes 90 per cent of Australians needs better management of shared cybersecurity risks and better controls over the “emergency access” to patients’ records which was being used as intended in less than one in 10 cases.
The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA), responsible for My Health record, has agreed to complete an end-to-end privacy risk assessment in response to the auditor’s findings but declined to explain why the existing privacy assessments had not been completed.
Privacy advocates say they are concerned with the auditor’s findings as well as the lack of response to the review by the government and medical groups which “seems to be hoping that it will go away if they just ignore it”.
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#nationalcybersecuritymonth | Third party minimum cyber compliance for My Health Record skipped: Audit Office

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has pointed out a number of security issues concerning the Australian Digital Health Agency’s (ADHA) My Health Record implementation, among a report that widely gave ADHA the tick as “largely effective”.
In its report released on Monday, ANAO pointed out that in a 2016 end-to-end security review, ADHA decided against accrediting those that provide services to healthcare providers.
“ADHA rejected this recommendation on the basis that it ‘presents several challenges’ including the additional burden to vendors and potential for reputational damage,” ANAO said.
A year later, an assessment by the Information Security Registered Assessors Programme (IRAP) said compliance with the Australian government’s Information Security Manual (ISM) should be the minimum acceptable standard for using My Health Record. This assessment applied to software used by healthcare providers, including mobile apps.
However, ADHA did not do this, despite it being required by the Australian Government Protective Security Policy Framework, and instead allowed vendors to sign a declaration form.
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Tech giants have become the new 'too big to fail'

By James Titcomb
November 26, 2019 — 10.18am
For years, the big internet companies have employed a simple argument to brush off fears that their growing influence and position in our daily lives amount to monopoly. Because their services are online and provided for free, they say, their dominant market shares cannot be compared to those enjoyed by railroad or oil giants of decades past. Unlike tycoons such as John Rockefeller or Andrew Carnegie, the new barons - Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Larry Page - are successful not because there are no alternatives, but merely because consumers choose them over the many alternatives.
Google's defence of its near-total control over the market for search engines has long been that "competition is just a click away". Nine in 10 searches may take place on its search engine, but there is nothing stopping consumers from using Bing, Yahoo or a number of smaller competitors.
There are no shortages of social alternatives to Facebook, or online marketplaces to rival Amazon. There is nothing stopping internet users leaving; they stay because they like it.
It is a simple argument, and one that has worked for a long time, especially in America, where competition regulators generally focus on whether monopoly positions result in consumer harm (in Europe, where watchdogs look at other factors such as how vibrant and competitive a market is, tech firms have been less successful in evading scrutiny). But even in the US, it is a line of reasoning that is starting to lose its potency.
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Implementation of the My Health Record system

25 Nov 2019
My Health Record is an online electronic summary of a person’s health information. The Australian Government invested $1.15 billion in the development of the system and other digital health infrastructure between 2012 and 2016. In the 2017–18 Budget, the government allocated a further $374.2 million to continue operating the system and expand its use by making it an opt-out model. Nine out of every ten Australians now has a My Health Record.
The Department of Health established the My Health Record system in 2012, and administers the My Health Records Act 2012 on behalf of the Minister for Health. In July 2016, the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) was prescribed as the System Operator for My Health Record.
My Health Record potentially impacts all Australians as it collates electronic summaries of individuals’ health information so it can be accessed by different healthcare professionals involved in a person’s care (as well as by the individual themselves). The system is intended to generate personal benefits for individuals and economic benefits for the health system, but achieving this requires a balance between increasing access to information and managing privacy and cyber security risks. The system has also generated parliamentary and public interest in relation to privacy and cyber security risks.
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Comments more than welcome!
David.

Monday, December 02, 2019

Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 2nd December, 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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The big news item of last week was the release of the ANAO Audit of the #myHealthRecord implementation where the ADHA claimed perfection largely and most commentators who had a clue suggested there were at least a few areas that needed a serious look. You pay your money and take you chance!
Qld and a few other items also featured in an otherwise calm week as the silly season approaches!
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How two British shark victims posed a challenge for Queensland patient confidentiality

By Lucy Stone
November 24, 2019 — 9.33pm
Confidentiality "flags" were placed on the private medical records of two British shark attack victims treated at Mackay Hospital, warning curious staff they should only access the records for valid medical reasons.
The incident was one of several case studies presented to the Crime and Corruption Commission’s public hearings for Operation Impala, investigating the misuse of private data in public organisations.
Mackay Hospital and Health Service’s executive director of people, Rod Francisco, gave evidence to the hearings last week, detailing his concerns about the broad level of access to patient medical data in the integrated electronic medical record (ieMR).
The ieMR enables clinicians to view a patient's medical record from any of the 14 Queensland public hospitals in which the software has been installed.
Questioned by counsel assisting the CCC Julie Fotheringham, Mr Francisco said the broad access of data was a risk that Mackay HHS had not fully understood in the lead-up to the software’s rollout there about two years ago.
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'Flawed' privacy in Queensland Health's electronic medical record, expert says

By Lucy Stone
February 1, 2019 — 11.08am
A "very strange model" allows all Queensland Health clinicians to edit the medical data of all patients in public hospitals that have the integrated electronic medical record installed, a leading health law expert says.
Queensland University of Technology innovation law professor Matthew Rimmer said it appeared the $600 million electronic medical record project had a “whole host of issues”.
QUT law professor Matthew Rimmer: “There’s a real failure there to understand what adverse impacts could take place.”
Dr Rimmer, who specialises in intellectual property and public health, questioned why clinicians working in any of the state's digital hospitals could view any patient's record and edit all aspects, including medication prescriptions.
“That seems a terrible approach, surely one would want to engage in data minimisation,” he said.
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Qld Health risks patient admin system failure after halting overhaul

By Justin Hendry on Nov 28, 2019 6:55AM

Auditor says favoritism allegations delayed new system by several years.

Queensland Health’s decision to pause the replacement of its legacy patient administration system earlier this year due to nepotism allegations has increased the chance of potential system failure, according to the state’s auditor.
An annual audit of the department’s finances released on Tuesday found the almost 30-year-old hospital-based corporate information system (HBCIS) was now at greater risk after the “planned go-live was pushed out several years”.
Queensland Health has been trying to replace the mission critical system, which is currently used in all of the state’s public hospitals to keep track of patients and their treatment, for at least the last six years.
“This [delay] increases the risk of the current system not being appropriately supported and failing,” the auditor said [pdf], adding that the department was in process of “procuring resources to mitigate this risk”.
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'TripAdvisor for hospitals' legislated in Queensland Parliament

By Lydia Lynch
November 28, 2019 — 11.15pm
Queenslanders will now be able to choose hospitals based on surgical wait times and patient outcomes.
Under legislation passed by State Parliament on Thursday, patients and their families will be able to compare information about both public and private health facilities, published online.
Facilities including hospitals, day surgeries and aged care homes will be required to upload information such as staffing levels, average time spent in hospital and infection management and hygiene practices.
Private aged-care facilities will be able to opt out of providing information for the website, but they will be named and shamed if they do
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Agencies fail My Health privacy audit

By Finbar O'Mallon
November 25, 2019 — 3.07pm
Most of the emergency access requests made by third parties to Australians' digital health records were unjustified, the national auditor has found.
The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) said government agencies overseeing Australians' digital health records didn't properly manage or consider the cyber security and privacy risks.
The auditor made a number of recommendations to improve privacy and cyber security in its report released on Monday.
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Third party minimum cyber compliance for My Health Record skipped: Audit Office

Instead of testing against the Australian government's Information Security Manual, vendors sign a form saying they are compliant.
By Chris Duckett | November 25, 2019 -- 05:07 GMT (16:07 AEDT) | Topic: Security
The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has pointed out a number of security issues concerning the Australian Digital Health Agency's (ADHA) My Health Record implementation, among a report that widely gave ADHA the tick as "largely effective".
In its report released on Monday, ANAO pointed out that in a 2016 end-to-end security review, ADHA decided against accrediting those that provide services to healthcare providers.
"ADHA rejected this recommendation on the basis that it 'presents several challenges' including the additional burden to vendors and potential for reputational damage," ANAO said.
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My Health Record failed to manage cybersecurity and privacy risks, audit finds

Government agency in charge of $1.5bn system did not provide appropriate protections, national audit office says
Implementation of the $1.5bn My Health Record system failed to appropriately manage cybersecurity risks, a review by the national audit office has found.
The review found implementation was “largely effective”, but revealed the government agency could not guarantee that all “emergency access” requests to view an individual’s record were legitimate, and that four privacy reviews funded since it became an “opt-out” system were never finished.
The Australian National Audit Office review said the cybersecurity and privacy risks were not properly managed or considered by the Australian Digital Health Agency, which oversees the national electronic heath records.
The database, which relies on doctors and medical practices to upload clinical information about patients, seeks to ensure continuity of care for patients with all medical information centralised. It was opt-in from 2012, but converted to opt-out this year.
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My Health Record exposed to shared cyber security risks

By Justin Hendry on Nov 26, 2019 12:10AM

Otherwise positive audit concerned by lacklustre third-party controls.

Australia’s national auditor has given the country's My Health Record system a mostly clean bill of health, despite persistent issues with the management of shared cyber security risks.
In an audit [pdf] into the implementation of the electronic health record released on Monday, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) said the planning and delivery of the system had been “largely effective”.
This includes preparations for the switch to an opt-out model, which took place this year after an extended opt-out period saw in excess of 2.5 million Australians elected not to have a record.
“The My Health Record expansion to an opt-out model was implemented in accordance with an approved business case and implementation plan,” the audit states.
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My Health Record ‘largely effective’ despite security risks, audit finds

Tuesday November 26, 2019
The federal government’s controversial My Health Record has been given the tick of approval by the national auditor-general, despite it being exposed to shared cybersecurity risks.
The online medical database sparked national privacy and security concerns from tech experts to family violence groups to teenage health advocates in the lead up to the “opt-out” deadline in January this year. 
In its latest report, the Australian National Audit Office has described the widespread criticism as simply, “parliamentary and public interest in relation to privacy and cybersecurity risks”.
But apparently there was nothing to fear. The implementation of the My Health Record system was “largely effective”, auditor-general Grant Hehir concluded. 
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My Health Record on track to save $15 billion, audit finds

But a security concern could lead to a crackdown on GP clinics
26th November 2019
My Health Record is on track to save $14.6 billion in healthcare waste by 2027, the Australian National Office of Audit claims.
The office’s 10-month review of whether the maligned system has been value for money has concluded the rollout of My Health Record has been “largely effective”.
It is meeting goals for participation and awareness, including having more than 80% of GP clinics registered by 2019, said the audit report, which was published on Monday.
The audit — which itself cost taxpayers $613,000 — said the Federal Government was expected to have spent $3.3 billion on My Health Record by 2028.
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My Health Record gets clean bill of health

National auditor finds implementation was ‘largely effective’.

By Casey Tonkin on Nov 27 2019 02:49 PM
Controversial digital health scheme My Health Record has been given a relatively clean bill of health by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO).
This week, the ANAO released its findings into the implementation of the My Health Record system.
For the most part, the ANAO concluded that the system was built in a “largely effective” manner with appropriate planning, execution, and communication throughout the implementation.
The national auditor said My Health Record’s cybersecurity posture – a major cause for concern during its rollout – was good, but expressed disappointment with how shared cyber risk is currently handled.
“Risks relating to privacy and the IT system core infrastructure were largely well managed, and were informed by several privacy risk assessments and the implementation of key cyber security measures,” the ANAO report said.
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My Health Record expansion "largely effective": ANAO

By Dylan Bushell-Embling
Thursday, 28 November, 2019
The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has given the government a qualified nod for the expanded implementation of the My Health Record system, despite identifying several security risk management shortcomings.
A recently released performance audit into the implementation of the system by the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) and Department of Health has found that the expanded implementation incorporating the opt-out system was “largely effective”.
Implementation planning for and delivery of My Health Record under the opt-out model was likewise found to be appropriate and effective in achieving its objectives, the audit found.
But risk management for the expansion program was found to be only “partially appropriate”. While privacy and IT system core infrastructure related risks were largely well managed, management of shared cybersecurity risks was not appropriate and still needs improvement.
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Audit reveals potential security risks in My Health Record

It also found monitoring and evaluation arrangements for the system are ‘largely appropriate’.
28 Nov 2019
The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) concluded that the implementation of the My Health Record system has been ‘largely effective’, despite determining risk management for the expansion program to be only ‘partially appropriate’.

It also found monitoring and evaluation arrangements for My Health Record are ‘largely appropriate’, and the planning for and delivery of the opt-out model was ‘effective in promoting achievement of its purposes’.

Dr Rob Hosking, Chair of the RACGP Expert Committee – Practice Technology and Management (REC–PTM), told newsGP the report shows infrastructure is secure, with concerns raised related to peripheral connections to My Health Record – including hospitals, pharmacies and all other health practitioners who are connected.

‘For the most part, this is currently GPs. It also includes patient connection via computer or mobile apps,’ Dr Hosking said.
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My Health Record: Australian healthcare scheme grades poorly on cybersecurity

Emma Woollacott 28 November 2019 at 14:13 UTC
Audit finds centralized database puts patient privacy at risk
A review of Australia’s controversial My Health Record scheme has concluded that it does, as experts have warned, present security risks to the public.
My Health Record is an electronic healthcare system designed to provide Australians with seamless healthcare across different medical services.
Earlier this year, it was changed from an opt-in to an opt-out scheme, despite concerns about privacy and security.
In its review of the system, published on Monday (November 25), the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) concluded that the A$1.5 billion ($1 billion) project is “largely effective”, although poor management of shared cybersecurity risks, including inadequate controls over access to patients’ records, remains a pressing issue.
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On the safety of EHRs

Posted on November 29, 2019 by Grahame Grieve
The subject of EHR safety is back in the news – probably driven by the AMIA meeting last week:
“I remember internal conversations where we talked about ‘What is the equivalent of a plane crash that is going to get the attention of people?’” said Reider, who now practices family medicine in upstate New York. “‘Is it going to be a congressperson’s relative is harmed by health IT that causes the attention to shift?’ I would offer that still hasn’t happened yet, but someday it will. And gosh, wouldn’t it be a horrible thing that we have to wait for that to happen?”
What the article doesn’t discuss – which is actually a remarkable omission – is that the issue at heart is not technology, and not even the software under question.
That’s actually evident in the two solid instances of harm offered in the article:
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Dreaded chore or fresh start? This GP faces the fallout of a new e-health records system

Dr Duvefelt, aka 'A Country Doctor', is a family doctor in the US.
27th November 2019
At the end of the year my patients and I will start over.
That is what changing e-medical records (EMR) does to us.
I have mixed feelings about data migration, if it even happens.
I will move into a new virtual environment and my patients will take on slightly different appearances, maybe even alter their medical histories.
Some will perhaps be asking me to edit diagnoses that have haunted them since we went from paper to computer records almost a decade ago.
With our first EMR, we scanned in a few things from patients’ paper records – sometimes only a few pages from years or decades of first handwritten and later typed notes.
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Monash Uni widens blockchain research scope with new centre

The new centre will see the university's IT faculty work with other faculties and international partners in the Asia-Pacific region.
By Aimee Chanthadavong | November 25, 2019 -- 13:01 GMT (00:01 AEDT) | Topic: Innovation
Monash University has launched a research centre dedicated to blockchain that will see different faculties within the university and its international partners in the Asia-Pacific region develop and demonstrate the usability of blockchain technology.
The Monash Blockchain Technology Centre (MBTC) will be headed up by Monash University associate professor Joseph Liu as director, who explained to ZDNet that the creation of the MBTC comes off the back of a blockchain research lab that already exists within the university's faculty of IT.
"We have a blockchain research lab that was established two years ago. But the research lab is just an internal research lab within the IT faculty, and we found that blockchain is not just restricted to IT," he said.
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PHO reveals story of cyberattack

Wednesday, 27 November 2019  
Hayley McLarin
It takes a long time to recover services after a cyberattack – but it takes even longer to recover trust, says the chief executive of primary healthcare organisation TÅ« Ora Compass Health.
Martin Hefford spoke to a packed session at Digital Health Week NZ in Hamilton on 21 November, three months after the agency was targeted in a cyberattack.
He told attendees the organisation was already scoping its digital vulnerability and investigating buying cyber insurance when the breach occurred in August.
TÅ« Ora immediately informed the Ministry and an investigation has since revealed evidence of four attacks by cyber criminals dating back to 2016.
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'Serious misjudgment': policeman fined for giving friend intelligence

By Georgina Mitchell
November 25, 2019 — 6.16pm
A NSW highway patrol officer has been convicted and fined $3080 after he met a long-term friend at a cafe this year and gave him restricted information from the police computer system, in an interaction witnessed by an undercover operative.
Phillip Edward Parker, 53, told his friend of 30 years that Strike Force Raptor – a police taskforce targeting bikies and criminal activity – had written two intelligence reports about him in police database COPS.
Parker told his friend the dates the reports were put into the system and said they concerned his friend's presence at an incident, as well as information about a stolen tow truck from 2008.
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Canberra concedes parts of robo-debt are unlawful

Federal government concedes robo-debt averaging, 10% penalty fee, and tax return seizing were unlawful.
By Chris Duckett | November 27, 2019 -- 05:30 GMT (16:30 AEDT) | Topic: Innovation
Major elements of the automated debt recovery process known as robo-debt are unlawful, the federal government has conceded in a test case brought by Victoria Legal Aid and Deanna Amato in Federal Court.
On Monday, the government sent a letter to the Court stating its averaging process, 10% penalty fee, and seizing of tax returns were unlawful, Victoria Legal Aid said.
Issuing orders [PDF] by consent on Wednesday before a full hearing, the Federal Court ordered the government to pay costs and to pay Amato back AU$92 in interest, after Canberra previously returned the AU$1,710 it had seized from her entire tax return.
"My robo-debt should never have occurred in the first place. I feel pleased to have won my case but it's bittersweet to know so many people have paid money under this system," Amato said.
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After robo-debt smackdown, Robert claims Canberra's digital transformation pushes on

The Minister for Government Services said the Australian government is making progress in achieving its 2025 digital transformation goal.
By Aimee Chanthadavong | November 29, 2019 -- 02:01 GMT (13:01 AEDT) | Topic: Digital Transformation
Minister for Government Services Stuart Robert has announced the federal government has started to undertake work to build a single, whole-of-government technology architecture as part of its digital transformation strategy to make all its services digital by 2025.
In his address at an Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) event in Canberra on Friday afternoon, Robert detailed how the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) has created a taskforce with the largest "technology shops" in government -- Defence, Home Affairs, ATO, and Government Services -- to explore what the technology architecture could potentially look like.
"It will start by identifying critical technology capabilities that support broad business outcomes and progressively develop a more nuanced view of strategic capabilities across government," he explained.
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Data61, UNSW create tool that uses AI to predict disease outbreaks from Twitter

Australian researchers have created a tool that monitors Tweets to predict outbreaks of diseases. Researchers from Data61, the data research arm of Australia’s national science organisation CSIRO, say the tool uses artificial intelligence to analyse Twitter posts to establish a pattern of a disease outbreak.
The agency has been working on the project with the University of NSW Sydney’s Kirby Institute
Data61 says it tested the tool on a breakout of a thunderstorm asthma epidemic that hit Melbourne exactly three years ago.
Thunderstorm asthma is the triggering of an asthma attack by environmental conditions directly caused by a local thunderstorm.
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Transition to e-prescribing vital for national health

By Amy Sarcevic
Wednesday, 27 November, 2019
The healthcare sector should phase out paper prescriptions sooner rather than later, but be prepared for patient reactions in the transition to e-prescribing, said the Chair of the SHPA’s Electronic Medications Management Leadership Committee, James Grant.
Grant’s comments come after the federal government’s $15.3 million pledge to build e-prescribing technology into doctors’ existing clinical software and the recent passing of Commonwealth legislation, setting states and territories up to enable e-scripts as a legal alternative to their paper counterparts.
“At present e-scripts aren’t mandatory, but as long as the sector remains beholden to archaic practices, it will be constrained and won’t realise its full economic or health benefit potential,” he told Hospital + Healthcare.
“At an individual level, the benefits of e-prescribing may seem trivial. But at an organisational or national level, they are staggering. We are talking multimillion-dollar savings, significantly improved clinical workflows and better patient outcomes.
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How a near-death predictor will improve aged care

Antony is a medical reporter with a special interest in technology and pharmacy.
26th November 2019
Aged care has been the topic of the year, with the royal commission’s public hearings culminating in the interim report, Neglect, published last month.
It comes as Telstra Health says it will revamp its aged care clinical software to include a computer-based clinical decision support tool to predict when residents are near death.
The tool will compare the patient’s history and other health data to historical cases and alert doctors and nurses if the patient is likely to die soon.
It’s not a new approach; it’s used in ICUs, either in the form of pen-and-paper mortality risk scores or more cutting-edge machine learning technology.
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How a face scan in the GP waiting room may just save your life

Australian researchers have developed new camera technology that can detect heart rhythm defects by scanning patients’ faces in a GP waiting room.
The heart rhythm abnormality known as atrial fibrillation, which triggers catastrophic strokes, is a common condition that often remains undiagnosed.
Doctors usually detect atrial fibrillation in patients by performing an electrocardiogram.
The new technology uses a ­single camera to record facial features on groups of people at once, said Heart Research Institute cardiologist Ben Freedman, who researched and developed the technology in conjunction with Hong Kong-based academics.
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Garvan Institute debuts VR genomics experience

By Staff Writers on Nov 28, 2019 1:30PM

Capturing processes textbooks miss.

One of the biggest barriers in communicating the work done at Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research is that cells and their components don’t really look like the 2D figures in textbooks.
The institute has turned to virtual reality (VR) to better engage stakeholders, helping them visualise the constant 3D movement of cellular activity, with elements of gamification added to increase users’ understanding of how cells function.
The VR experience was developed in-house by biomedical animator Dr Kate Patterson and Mark Arrebola, who also works at the 3D Visualisation and Aesthetic Laboratory at UNSW Sydney.
Dubbed 'Cell Explorer', the game first shrinks the user down to the size of a cell before taking them inside to observe and interact with the molecules and structures that keep the cell functioning.
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HICAPS and HealthShare announce new partnership          blank

25 November, 2019
HICAPS, Australia’s leading claims and payments solution for healthcare providers, has partnered with digital health company HealthShare to help private health fund members find a healthcare provider who offers HICAPS in their practice more quickly and easily.
HealthShare’s market-leading Find a Provider directory allows both consumers and GPs to research and find the right health provider for their individual needs. It is available at www.healthshare.com.au and receives more than 500,000 unique visitors a month.
NAB Health Customer Executive, Kate Galvin, said NAB continually looks for ways to improve the customer experience.
“This partnership will better connect healthcare providers with users looking for their services,” Ms Galvin said.
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Tuesday, 26 November 2019 10:57

Govt still dawdling on encryption bill amendments, says Dreyfus

Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus has slammed the Morrison Government over its tardiness in implementing amendments to the encryption law which was passed last year, saying Finance Minister Senator Mathias Cormann had agreed to do so, and has yet to keep his word nearly a year on.
Dreyfus told the House of Representatives on Monday that Labor had agreed to pass the bill if it and the amendments suggested by the government be immediately referred to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security and that the new laws conformed to the recommendations of the committee by early 2019.
The encryption law, known as the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018, was passed on 6 December 2018.
A review was instituted by the PJCIS as soon as bill was passed, with a reporting date of 3 April. It was expected to provide some solace to the technology industry.
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November 27 2019 - 4:30AM

Sick days soared amid My Health Record flap

·         Adrian Rollins
The troubled introduction of the opt-out deadline for the $1.5 billion My Health Record may have taken a heavy toll on those tasked with its implementation.
There was a large spike in sick days with the roll out of opt-out apparently!
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Broadband tax now planned to kick in July 2020

By Justin Hendry on Nov 28, 2019 12:41PM
The federal government has reintroduced long-delayed legislation for a broadband tax on non-NBN operated fixed line services, which it hopes will be in place from 1 July 2020.
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher reintroduced the Telecommunications (Regional Broadband Scheme) Charge Bill 2019 “without notice” in parliament this morning after the government’s former bill automatically lapsed at the close of the last parliament in April.
The bill, which was introduced alongside another complementary bill to establish NBN Co as the new default fixed-line operator in Australia, will see residential and business users of "NBN-equivalent" fixed line services hit with a monthly fee of $7.10.
The proceeds of the tax would be used by NBN Co to fund future costs of commercially unviable portions of its network - the satellite and fixed wireless footprints - and prevent future calls on the budget or public funds.
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Tuesday, 26 November 2019 14:42

NBN Co spells out plans in wholesale pricing review paper

Lifting take-up of the National Broadband Network in under serviced consumer segments, promoting much higher speeds and improving support for Retail Service Providers in the face of increasing demand for broadband, are some of the key areas targeted by NBN Co in its newly released Wholesale Pricing Review 2019 Close-out Paper.
And creating a “regular cadence for future pricing consultations and “making it simpler and easier for RSPs to do business with NBN Co” are also included in the key areas to be targeted by NBNCo.
Announcing release of the paper on Tuesday, Chief Customer Officer Residential at NBN Co, Brad Whitcomb said, “Retailers strongly advocated for greater certainty on future wholesale prices, more included data capacity and better value for money. We’ve listened and this is exactly what we’re announcing today”.
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Tuesday, 26 November 2019 13:22

Lower prices, more data with new NBN wholesale discount plans

NBN Co, the operator of the National Broadband Network, has announced a range of new wholesale bundles offering lower prices and more data inclusions, following an extensive industry consultation process.
The announcement was welcomed by the Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, Paul Fletcher, who said “with this announcement, the effective wholesale price of data capacity across most bundles is now less than half its 2016 level.”
“It is pleasing to see NBN Co delivering greater value and more certainty for retailers, which is expected to result in better outcomes for consumers,” Minister Fletcher noted.
“NBN Co’s new wholesale products will provide more choice of cheaper, faster plans, with more data. This will deliver significant benefits for around 10.3 million Australian homes and businesses able to connect to the NBN.”
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NBN Co doles out data discounts

NBN Co is trimming its wholesale prices and giving retail telcos a chance to better manage their data capacity, in a bid to quell industry discontent over high charges imposed by the company rolling out the National Broadband Network.
The new measures, announced by NBN Co on Monday, will see the cost of the 25 megabits per second (Mbps) plan cut from $45 to $37. Meanwhile, the connectivity virtual circuit (CVC) inclusion on the 50Mbps bundle is being bumped up from 2Mbps per customer to 2.25Mbps per customers from May 2020, with the effective wholesale charge unchanged at $45. This CVC inclusion will increase again to 2.5Mbps from May 2021.
CVC is the price telcos pay to move data from the NBN to their networks. The amount of CVC a telco buys affects the internet speed, particularly at peak usage times from 7pm to 11pm.
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NBN Co to allow internet providers to pool CVC nationally

By Ry Crozier on Nov 26, 2019 12:00PM

Also approves over-dimensioning on most fixed-line services.

NBN Co will allow retail service providers to pool all their connectivity virtual circuit (CVC) bandwidth nationally from May 2020, a move that could ease pressure on rising costs.
The move forms part of NBN Co’s response to its five month long wholesale pricing review and is likely to be welcomed by retail service providers (RSPs).
Traffic exchanged between the RSP and NBN Co runs over a single CVC interconnect at each of the 121 points of interconnect (PoIs). 
CVC is pooled for all customers serviced at each PoI. RSPs manage this pool of CVC capacity dynamically and, if certain usage thresholds are reached, will generally top up the amount of CVC available in the pool. 
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NBN Co to temporarily cut 100Mbps prices starting 2020

By Ry Crozier on Nov 26, 2019 12:00PM

But not for existing users.

NBN Co is hoping to drum up interest in its forthcoming 100/20Mbps product by temporarily lowering the price of 100Mbps services in the New Year.
The company is planning to officially launch its new 100/20Mbps tier in May 2020, which will ultimately live alongside its existing 100/40Mbps product.
There is still no firm word on how retail service providers (RSPs) will treat the two 100Mbps products.
NBN Co earlier suggested that 100/20Mbps might naturally become a residential offering and 100/40Mbps a business offering, though it later said that positioning would be left up to RSPs.
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NBN to be given freer rein on greenfield sites

Nov 25, 2019 — 2.12pm
NBN Co would be freed up to use its Commonwealth-backed clout to compete for fibre broadband contracts in new residential developments, under rule changes flagged by the federal government.
The changes were flagged in a paper, released on Monday, calling for submissions on changes to its 2015 Telecommunications in New Developments (TIND) policy.
Unlike existing residential premises, where NBN Co is the monopoly fixed line broadband wholesale provider, new residential developments in greenfield sites remain open to competition.
Developers are obliged to build the pipes and ducts to carry fibre themselves, and then commission a fibre specialist to connect the premises. NBN Co and private player OptiComm are the main fibre specialists competing in this space.
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NBN Co has "difficulty competing" for new housing estate jobs

By Ry Crozier on Nov 25, 2019 10:52AM

Commercial operators' success prompts government review.

NBN Co’s ability to compete with commercial operators that build telecommunications networks in new housing estates is being tested, with the government plotting to intervene.
The Department of Communications today called a review of its Telecommunications in New Developments or TIND policy.
The department notes several reasons for the timing of the review, including to update it ahead of the completion of the NBN in mid-2020.
NBN Co’s role in building to new premises - known as greenfields - will continue into the future as one of its mandated obligations.
But housing developers do not have to select NBN Co to provide infrastructure into their estates.
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Enjoy!
David.