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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.
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 fiasco that is the #myHealthRecord gets a going over by the Guardian this week among all sorts of stories on the progress of secure messaging and the fragile nature of our high tech infrastructure.
We also have a breaking story coming on police access to PBS / MBS data.
See here:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/27/australian-government-secretly-releasing-sensitive-medical-records-to-police
We also have a breaking story coming on police access to PBS / MBS data.
See here:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/27/australian-government-secretly-releasing-sensitive-medical-records-to-police
It is also a bit of a worry that the lost the ACT Emergency Web-Site just as a fire was approaching!
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My Health Record: almost $2bn spent but half the 23m records created are empty
The Australian government has spent $1.97bn since the system was introduced as the e-health record in 2009
Thu 23 Jan 2020 03.30 AEDT
A decade since it was first announced, the federal government has spent close to $2bn on its troubled My Health Record system, and half of the 23m records created lie empty almost a year after the government made the system opt-out.
The former Labor government first proposed the e-health record system in 2009 as a means for patients, doctors and specialists to share patient history, X-rays, prescriptions and other medical information with ease.
The system was first launched in 2012 with little fanfare and very little uptake. In 2016, it was reported that after four years, only around 4 million people had created a record, and even fewer had actually had any information put in it.
The Coalition government then attempted to salvage the system by rebranding it to My Health Record and moving to make it opt-out in 2018, but the opt-out time period was extended to the start of 2019 amid concerns over security and law enforcement access to the records.
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https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/news-and-events/news/media-release-secure-messaging-standards-to-be-mandatory
Media release - Secure messaging standards to be mandatory
20 January 2020: State, Territory and Commonwealth Governments have released a joint statement in support of new standards for secure messaging, stating that the standards will be mandatory in future procurement for applicable systems.
The joint statement was shared with industry at a workshop in December 2019 which was attended by over 50 representatives from clinical and secure messaging software suppliers, governments and clinical representatives.
The Australian Digital Health Agency has been working with industry and governments over a number of years to achieve interoperable secure messaging across different systems – necessary to accelerate use of electronic messaging over fax machines and paper transmission.
The workshop launched the approach to national scaling for a consistent, standards-based approach to secure messaging across Australia, to enable healthcare providers to communicate effectively as part of the National Digital Health Strategy 2018-22.
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ADHA's work to get off fax progressing with standards agreed on
The agency responsible for oversight of My Health Record is looking to move the industry onto more modern ways of communicating.
The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) has been working on new standards for secure messaging, coming to an agreement with industry and government on what this should look like.
"The Australian Digital Health Agency has been working with industry and governments over a number of years to achieve interoperable secure messaging across different systems -- necessary to accelerate use of electronic messaging over fax machines and paper transmission," the agency responsible for My Health Record wrote.
The standards [PDF] will be mandatory for the future procurement of applicable systems, with the ADHA saying the success of the Secure Messaging Program will play an imperative role in achieving the Australian National Digital Health Strategy's key priorities for 2022.
The 2019-22 strategy has seven key priorities: To have health information available whenever and wherever it is needed; allow for health information to be exchanged securely; for that health information to be comprised of high-quality data with a commonly understood meaning; better availability and access to prescriptions and medicines information; digitally-enabled models of care; a workforce that uses digital health technologies to deliver health and care; and a "thriving digital health industry delivering world class innovation".
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Security problem not so intractable
State, Territory and Commonwealth governments are supporting new standards for secure messaging, saying that the standards will be mandatory in future procurement for applicable systems
The joint statement was shared late last year at a workshop attended by representatives from clinical and secure messaging software suppliers, governments and clinical representatives.
The Australian Digital Health Agency says it has been working with industry and governments over several years to achieve interoperable secure messaging across different systems, which it says is necessary to accelerate the use of electronic messaging rather than fax machines and paper transmission.
The workshop launched the approach to national scaling for a consistent, standards-based approach to secure messaging across Australia, to enable healthcare providers to communicate effectively as part of the National Digital Health Strategy 2018-22.
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https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/asia-pacific/secure-messaging-standards-be-mandatory-australia
Secure messaging standards to be mandatory in Australia
ADHA has been working with industry and governments over a number of years to achieve interoperable secure messaging across different systems.
January 20, 2020 03:12 AM
State, Territory and Commonwealth Governments in Australia released a joint statement in support of new standards for secure messaging, stating that the standards will be mandatory in future procurement for applicable systems.
The joint statement was shared with industry at a workshop in December 2019 which was jointly organized by the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) and Medical Software Industry Association. The workshop was attended by over 50 representatives from clinical and secure messaging software suppliers, governments and clinical representatives.
The workshop launched the approach to national scaling for a consistent, standards-based approach to secure messaging across Australia, to enable healthcare providers to communicate effectively as part of the National Digital Health Strategy 2018-22.
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Remote Central Australian communities empty as Telstra outages shut down essential services
24 January, 2020
Widespread Telstra outages in several Aboriginal communities in a remote area of Central Australia are shutting down stores, putting lives at risk and preventing people from accessing their money, according to community members.
Key points:
- Up to 2,000 people were affected by a Telstra outage that lasted more than 48 hours
- Community members were forced to leave town because they could not buy food
- Telstra says the problem was due to a mains power outage as well as faulty hardware that had to be replaced
The region north-west of Alice Springs is home to 2,000 people and in the past week has experienced outages lasting more than 48 hours.
Telstra has told the ABC that the problem has been resolved, but in Arlparra — one of the Aboriginal communities affected — store manager Annie Bremmer said her business had been without internet access since Wednesday.
Many members in the community have their income managed by Centrelink through the basics card, which allows people to send money directly to approved stores.
But without internet, retailers are unable to access these transfers.
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'No one would know about my cancer': Doctors shun My Health Records
By Melissa Cunningham
January 19, 2020 — 12.22pm
Michael Higgins dreaded being struck down by a serious illness, so he was happy to be on the national $1.7 billion My Health Record system.
The 67-year-old's worst fears were realised when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer that had spread from his bowel to his liver last year.
The retired teacher logged into his digital health records to try to comprehend his grim diagnosis.
He was shocked to discover his medical records had not been updated, despite the scheme being rolled out almost a year ago.
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Doctors spend 16 mins in each patient's e-health record
One third of their time is spent on chart review, reveals the US study of 155,000 medics including GPs
17th January 2020
Doctors spend an average of about 16 minutes in every patient's e-health record to review charts, document diagnoses and treatment plans and to order tests, a US study finds.
The researchers examined approximately 100 million patient encounters with about 155,000 doctors from all specialties, including GPs, from 417 community-based health systems.
They collected data on every keystroke, mouse click and second of time spent on various tasks in e-health records programs throughout 2018.
The amount of time that providers spent using e-health records to support the care delivery process was a concern for the healthcare system, not only for cost related to patient care, but also because of doctor burnout and job dissatisfaction, the researchers noted in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
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New fee website shows NSW pays up to 40 times more in out-of-pocket costs
By Nigel Gladstone and Rachel Clun
January 20, 2020 — 12.00am
Private health patients in NSW are paying up to 40 times more in out-of-pocket costs than patients in other states for the same procedure.
While the federal government's new $7.2 million fee transparency website does not name individual specialists or list their fees, it reveals shocking disparities between what patients with private health insurance pay across the country and within Sydney.
In NSW, the average gap between the fee charged by a specialist and the Medicare benefit plus private health insurance benefit for cataract surgery was $650, compared to $30 in Tasmania. For hip replacements, NSW residents paid an average of $1800 to cover the gap between doctor's fees and any rebates, while those in Western Australia paid $170.
There were stark differences in out-of-pocket costs between public health networks within NSW and Sydney as well.
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Data#3, Fujitsu, NTT named biggest govt winners of 2019
Australia's Federal Government always spends bucketloads on IT and plenty of it goes to channel companies.
Which is why CRN has again, for a second year, we’ve sifted through the contract records for IT projects in order to assess just what Canberra spent, and with whom.
Our analysis spans contract notices published on the AusTender website from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019 across four categories: information technology broadcasting and telecommunications; domestic appliances and supplies and consumer electronic products; electronic components and supplies; and engineering and research and technology-based services.
Our standard disclaimer: Given the nature of how contracts are publicised on the AusTender website, our results aren’t necessarily definitive. However, CRN is confident that these figures will provide a useful depiction of the biggest winners in Canberra for 2019. You can check out our 2018 analysis here, or the Q4 analysis here.
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23 January 2020
Amazon puts its foot in the pharmacy door
The powerful Pharmacy Guild may have met its match in internet behemoth Amazon, which looks poised to enter the Australian market just in time for the introduction of electronic prescribing.
While regulations still exist to protect the status quo, one industry expert predicts the US giant will overcome them and that community pharmacies could lose up to 20% of their PBS business.
MedAdvisor CEO Robert Read says the online retailer, which this month filed “Amazon Pharmacy” as a trademark with IP Australia, is looking for a new market to roll out its PillPack business, which it bought for more than $1 billion last year.
PillPack takes a user’s prescriptions, sorts and bundles the medications into daily packages and home-delivers them.
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DTA tries to shake off Australia's chequered digital ID past
Turns attention to marketing Govpass ahead of full launch.
With the first real test for Australia’s Govpass digital identity scheme just around the corner, the government agency in charge has turned its attention to marketing the $200 million-plus project.
The Digital Transformation Agency is appealing to the market for a comms strategy to inform the public about the program, as it prepares to ramp up the number of services accessible using Govpass.
“The next stage of digital identity will see a broader rollout of more services to more people,” a brief on the digital marketplace states.
“The program needs to expand its approach to communication significantly, to inform all Australians about what it is and isn’t – highlighting potential benefits its offers for everyone”.
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AWS outage cripples ACT Emergency Services Agency website as Canberra bushfire rages
Wobble drags on through Thursday
The ACT Government’s Emergency Services Agency (ESA) has attributed a website outage that hit in the middle of a rapidly escalating bushfire between Canberra Airport and Queanbeyan to Thursday’s AWS outage in Sydney.
Capping off an already bad day for AWS after significant availability problems hit its Sydney region, the ESA took to twitter to redirect Canberrans to Facebook and local media to obtain current information on the fire hitting the national capital that remains at a watch and act level.
The outage hit as Canberra Airport was shut to commercial traffic because of the fire, with residents around Oaks Estate warned to get out of the road of the oncoming blaze after two fires merged and engulfed a rubbish tip.
It is still unclear why the ESA website was hit by a single point of failure, however the blaze, known as the Beard fire, is burning close to the industrial suburb of Fyshwick which houses several data centres.
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