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, April 02, 2020

It Seems The ADHA Is Going To Try Again To Develop Interest In #myHealthRecord Apps.

This appeared last week:

More My Health Record apps to help Australians manage their health

26 March, 2020: The Australian Digital Health Agency (the Agency) has today enabled more mobile apps to connect to the My Health Record so that consumers have more choices about the ways they get real time access to their health information.
Australia’s need for a connected healthcare system is now greater than ever. One that’s accessible, progressive and – importantly – secure.
The My Health Record allows consumers and their healthcare providers to access information about their medicines, pathology test results, imaging reports, hospital visits, and summaries of their health status. Consumers can currently access their My Health Record through four mobile apps available through app stores, or through MyGov.
Over 22.7 million Australians now have a My Health Record and these records contain over 1.8 billion documents which are increasing every day. The Agency paused new apps from connecting to the My Health Record during its expansion of the My Health Record to opt-out. At the time, there was significant interest from innovators to offer apps that connected to the My Health Record.

Steven Issa, the Agency’s Chief Digital Officer, said “The security and safety of people’s health information is our priority. We have undertaken a comprehensive review of how apps – and the organisations that offer them – should use the latest security and privacy measures to achieve our confidence that this precious information will be protected. We have now implemented all changes arising from that review.
Australians put their trust in us to use the highest standards to operate the My Health Record, and we are at a point where we are confident that sufficient controls are in place for any new connecting mobile apps.
The ‘Mobile Gateway’ allows a consumer to authenticate to the My Health Record and view the information in their My Health Record, along with other services the app provides.
Mobile apps can provide consumers with new ways to understand and use the information in their My Health Record, and ultimately, to make better informed decisions about staying well or managing their health conditions.”
In reopening the Mobile Gateway, the Agency has added a range of new requirements to connecting apps. This includes clauses in the legal agreement signed by app operators to more explicitly prohibit them from making a copy of system data and using data for any other secondary purpose. This is backed up by civil penalties of up to $315,000, or up to $1.575 million for a body corporate, for an unauthorised collection, use or disclosure of My Health Record information, per offence. Criminal penalties may also apply under the My Health Records Act 2012.
Under the Act, it is also a requirement that any servers and infrastructure used to connect to the system be located within Australia.
The Agency has also put additional obligations on app providers relating to their commercial model, quality processes, company ownership and management, and requirements for independent audit.
The Agency will continue to log and analyse access to the My Health Record system, to ensure those operating apps are remaining compliant with their obligations under the Act and legal agreement with the Agency.
“We appreciate the patience of innovators while we completed our security and privacy review, then implemented additional requirements to even more stringently safeguard Australians’ health information. We’re looking forward to seeing fantastic new apps for consumers to get the full benefits from having a My Health Record. The need to manage our health and receive health services remotely is highlighting the incredibly important role technology can play in meeting the challenge posed by this global pandemic. We are fortunate in Australia that governments and the private sector have invested in health technology and we are now able to use it to get the best outcomes for the country,” Mr Issa said. Register here to receive updates on future collaboration opportunities, to connect to the Mobile Gateway visit the ADHA Developer Centre.
Here is the link:
At present according to this page there are 3 providers of apps to access the myHealthRecord.
See:
This assumes each of these has signed up to the new rules and strictions that have been applied. (It is not clear this page has been updated as it is not dated as it should be.)
These are HealthEngine, Telstra Health and Chamonix.
Tyde used to be in the mix but they relied on the ADHA for their business model and went broke when things changed.
You can read about the debacle here:

Start-up investors slam roll out of 'My Health Record'



Carrie LaFrenz Senior Reporter
Updated
Leading start-up investors have criticised the federal government's "disastrous" rollout of the My Health Record system aimed at digitising medical records, saying the policy instability is crushing innovation.
Australian health IT start-up Tyde is the creator of the first consumer-focused app – a single point to access and manage records and appointments that can join the entire family's health records together – for the federal government's My Health Record that is being rolled out by the Australian Digital Health Agency.
All Australians will have a My Health Record created automatically unless they opt out by November 15, which has sparked fears over privacy and safety of health information.

Tyde is now mulling its future after proposed legislative changes to the My Health Record Act, which was highlighted by the Morrison government last week following a Senate inquiry.

In April, Tyde co-founder Romain Bonjean was upbeat about the two-year-old company's future, but things have turned quickly as the government backflipped on allowing Tyde and other third party developers access to personal data with the consent of the individual. The government has also reneged on allowing heath insurers access to personal data with consent, which Mr Bonjean says, is a "disaster" since private health insurers are driving innovation in care coordination.
Mr Bonjean, who holds a 30 per cent stake in Tyde, said the company's future is at stake following the poor handling by the government. A shareholder meeting is due to take place this week to determine whether Tyde will be wound up.

More here:
The two obvious points are for those who are thinking of investing in an app:
First, don’t rely on Government to play straight and fair.
Second, make sure you have a diversified business model where the Government is only a manageable component.
While all the rules etc. around access seem clear enough can some-one advise us how it is possible to display information in an app without it being able to be captured / recorded – if you really want to and are clever enough?
It will be interesting to see what the demand looks like and if any money can be made by providing access, given that access via myGov is free and you can print information out to take it away!
Of course there is still yet to be an evaluation of just what positive difference having a #myHealthRecord has on your care!
David.

Wednesday, April 01, 2020

Digital Health In Australia Will Feel A Significant Impact From The COVID-19 Emergency.

I have been a little slow in noticing the intensity of the impact of the present emergency on both the Digital Health Start-Up Community And In The Event / Conference organising groups.
The penny should have really have dropped when the huge annual conference in the US (HIMSS) was cancelled.
Here is the announcement:

Coronavirus forces cancellation of HIMSS20

After monitoring the situation for weeks, CEO Hal Wolf says the 2020 HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition will not proceed as hoped, given the health risks posed to attendees.
March 05, 2020 01:17 PM


For the first time in 58 years, the HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition – which was scheduled to take place March 9-13 in Orlando, Florida – has been canceled.
HIMSS has been keeping a close eye on the fast-changing worldwide coronavirus situation for weeks, and said the decision to cancel comes in light of recent reports from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It was decided that the potential to spread the virus – especially given HIMSS' audience of healthcare professionals – was too great.
"We recognize all the hard work that so many have put into preparing for their presentations and panels that accompany every HIMSS conference," said Hal Wolf, president and CEO of HIMSS, in a statement.
"Based on evaluation of evolving circumstances and coordination with an external advisory panel of medical professionals to support evidence-based decision making, it is clear that it would be an unacceptable risk to bring so many thousands of people together in Orlando next week."
Here is the link:
In Australia we have seen significant deferrals in the last week or so.

The Australasian Institute of Digital Health is deferring its conference programme until later in the year as a response to COVID-19

Australia’s largest digital health and health informatics scientific conference HIC 2020 will be the pinnacle of a combined digital health series in Brisbane from 17 to 21 October 2020.
The Nursing Informatics international congress (NI2020), which was to be held in conjunction with HIC in July, will be postponed and held alongside the international medical informatics congress MedInfo 2021, to be held in Sydney 21-25 August 2021.
The Australian Telehealth Conference (ATC2020), due to be held in Melbourne from 29-30 April, will also move to the combined digital health event series in Brisbane in October. Speakers, delegates and sponsors are being contacted to advise them of the new arrangements.
The series will also feature Health Data Analytics 2020, 17-18 October, rounding out the events with a technical health data program.
Institute CEO Dr Louise Schaper said: “Digital health has never been more needed, and digital health workforce skills more in demand, than right now during the COVID-19 health crisis. Everyone in the health sector is intensively focused on managing in this challenging environment and getting on with the job.
Our members, with their extensive digital health knowledge, are among those at the forefront of telehealth policy, governance and delivery and they are needed in the community right now,” Dr Schaper said.
We are receiving many enquiries about Fellowship of the Institute, and we are seeing strong growth in the national certification program CHIA which is one of our key programs for building digital health workforce capacity,” she said. “We are ramping up our efforts to release other workforce-based programs that can be delivered virtually in order to assist the health sector build digital health capability”.
We will continue to monitor and follow government advice, including the need for social distancing. Given the pressures on the health sector at present, we have made the decision not to hold in-person events for the time being. Our smaller professional development events hosted by our state committees will be delivered virtually where possible.
Here is the link:
Additionally we have seen a process of the Digital Health entities going virtual.

ANDHEALTH NEWS

A Note From Our CEO

The past few weeks have seen the world turned on its head, and organisations and people challenged in innumerable ways. As a flexible working organisation with existing video and remote working technology in place, ANDHealth has been extremely fortunate in being able to adapt to our “new normal” with relative practical ease, but we are conscious that current measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 will have vast and unprecedented implications.

In the coming weeks we will continue to redesign our upcoming programs for virtual delivery, widening their reach to all who are seeking to deliver innovative digital health and digital medicine technologies to global markets. The first of these will be our scheduled BRIGHT Ideate workshop, now being run over two half-day sessions, with the support of our program partners LaunchVic and Planet Innovation, and our original host partner University of Melbourne. This program is currently open to registrations to applicants Victoria-wide.

We will also be looking to extend new offerings to Australian innovators seeking support as they find ways to survive and thrive in this challenging market. We recognise that the current situation offers both enormous opportunities and enormous risks for our stakeholders, and the ANDHealth team is working hard to find ways to support the broader industry across both policy and program activities.

We would also like to acknowledge the efforts of the Australian government, various state governments, and companies seeking to deliver necessary technologies to our frontline healthcare workforce to address the current scenario. For example, Planet Innovation is working with the Victorian Government to determine the potential of an acute respiratory infection triage tool (see below for the story). In subsequent newsletters, we will be highlighting other instances where  Australian digital health companies are showing initiative, and providing vital information about opportunities where your company can play a role in tackling the COVID-9 crisis, and beyond.

The profound impact at both a personal and professional level, for everyone, of the current pandemic and subsequent response measures, requires everyone to be resilient, innovative and, above all, kind. The far-reaching employment implications of the current shutdown will impact millions of Australians, many of them severely, with their hopes and dreams put on hold at the very least. For those that retain their jobs, remote working can be isolating and motivation can be elusive. For those that are struggling, please use your network, including us, for support.

As always, I would like to personally thank our members and partners for their ongoing support at this time.

Be safe everyone, and #stayathome where you can.

Bronwyn Le Grice
Founder | CEO | Managing Director
ANDHealth
Here is the link:
You can also read about similar activities from the Digital Health CRC from this link:
The following gives a general view on how tough things are becoming:

Start-ups fight to survive COVID-19



Australia's technology start-ups are already feeling the crunch of the COVID-19 economic downturn, with cancelled funding rounds, staff layoffs and founders going without pay, despite stimulus measures designed to help smaller companies.
Founders and investors have told The Australian Financial Review that many companies in the previously booming sector have been forced to press pause on rapid expansion plans in favour of a battle to survive.
Ento co-founder Aulay Macaulay said the workforce management software company had been due to sign on the dotted line for a $4 million capital raise on March 13, but the private equity firm that was set to back them pulled out at the last minute.

"It was a bit of a double whammy for me. I went from the whole executive team working on the due diligence for three months to repurposing the company announcement to one on how we were going to manage the COVID-19 situation," he said.
I was googling how to re-cork the champagne."

More here:
All in all it seems to me there is going to be a lot of pain in the next few months. One has to wonder just how many of these entities will sustain their cash-flow and employees in coming weeks.

Some think it may not be to bad: See here:

https://www.afr.com/technology/start-ups-have-the-agility-to-survive-then-thrive-in-virus-chaos-20200322-p54cqc
Let us all know what you are seeing by way of impact in these area.
David.

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Commentators and Journalists Weigh In On Digital Health And Related Privacy, Safety And Security Matters. Lots Of Interesting Perspectives - March 31, 2020.

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This weekly blog is to explore the larger issues around Digital Health, data security, data privacy, AI / ML. technology, social media 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 behaviour of a federal public agency gone rogue – and it just goes on! When you read this it will be over 16 months of radio silence, and worse, while the CEO, COO and the Chief of Staff have gone, still no change.  I wonder will things improve at some point, given the acting CEO seems not to care, as well.  I think it is fair to assume no change will come in the foreseeable future.
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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GPs call for relaxation of prescribing regulations

A change to legislation would give GPs an interim solution amid the coronavirus crisis, with most consultations likely to become telehealth-based.
26 Mar 2020
‘It is unnecessary, it defeats the principles of social distancing. Our priority now is to stop the spread of the coronavirus and reduce unnecessary exposure and demand on healthcare services.’

Dr Nathan Pinskier, GP and member of the RACGP Expert Committee – Practice Technology and Management (REC–PTM), is referring to the current legislation that requires a paper prescription with a GP’s wet-ink signature as authorisation for pharmacists to dispense medication to patients and claim through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

Despite a number of GPs working remotely, and the majority expected to transition a significant percentage of consultations to a telehealth format as of next week, as the law stands, patients or carers would still be required to visit a clinic in person to pick up the prescription.

Alternatively, for patients who are in self-isolation or quarantine, doctors would need to eventually send the prescription via post and pharmacists would have to chase them up – time that GPs argue would be better spent responding to needs of patients during the current crisis.
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News

Planned telehealth expansion welcome, but must look beyond doctors alone

23 March 2020
Four leading health organisations have urged the Government to expand telehealth to nurses to reduce COVID-19 infection risks and support care of chronically ill people at home.
Today’s ‘stage 3’ announcement by Health Minister Greg Hunt allows vulnerable general practitioners and health professionals currently authorised to use telehealth item numbers to use telehealth for all consultations with all their patients.
Given South Korea has shown how effective telehealth can be in responding to COVID-19, this is most welcome’, Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association Chief Executive Alison Verhoeven said.
We also welcome the government’s intention to move to “Stage 4”, involving four doctors organisations in co-designing “best practice expansion of telehealth items for all patients, with or without COVID-19, to see any general practitioner, medical specialist, mental health or allied health professional during the COVID-19 health emergency’.
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Coronavirus: Sacrificing privacy with tracking device ‘is worth it’

Legal and privacy advocates say they’re open to South Korean-style tracking of coronavirus ­patients, which has helped the country successfully “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 infections.
South Korean ambassador to Australia Baeksoon Lee said his country’s citizens had willingly sacrificed personal privacy to fight the virus, accepting real-time GPS tracking of positive cases by the government and the public.
Mobile phone location data is used by the country’s health authorities to undertake extensive contact tracing of COVID-19 cases, and has been made available for smartphone apps that sound a warning in the vicinity of an infected person or a high-risk location.
Mr Lee said the tracking system had been a key plank in the ­nation’s coronavirus fight, along with extensive coronavirus testing and South Koreans’ strong sense of social responsibility.
“We shared that information with the public so the public could know where that
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Coronavirus (COVID-19): Understanding your privacy obligations to your staff

18 March 2020
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) appreciates the unprecedented challenges Australian Government agencies and private sector employers are facing to address the spread of COVID-19. This guidance is intended to help entities regulated by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) to understand their privacy obligations in the context of the pandemic.
The Privacy Act will not stop critical information sharing. Agencies and private sector employers (including private health service providers)[1] have important obligations to maintain a safe workplace for staff and visitors and handle personal information appropriately, and already have practices in place to handle employee health information. For private sector employers, the employee records exemption will apply in many instances to permit the handling of employee health information.[2]
In order to manage the pandemic while respecting privacy, agencies and private sector employers should aim to limit the collection, use and disclosure of personal information to what is necessary to prevent and manage COVID-19, and take reasonable steps to keep personal information secure.
Regulated entities should also consider whether any changes to working arrangements will impact on the handling of personal information, assess any potential privacy risks and put in place appropriate mitigation strategies as part of Business Continuity Planning.

Key points

  • Personal information should be used or disclosed on a ‘need-to-know’ basis
  • Only the minimum amount of personal information reasonably necessary to prevent or manage COVID-19 should be collected, used or disclosed
  • Consider taking steps now to notify staff of how their personal information will be handled in responding to any potential or confirmed case of COVID-19 in the workplace
  • Ensure reasonable steps are in place to keep personal information secure, including where employees are working remotely.
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Report by Atlas VPN finds more than 300,000 suspicious coronavirus-themed websites as phishing goes rampant

Researchers have discovered more than 300,000 suspicious coronavirus-themed websites as part of an alarming 350 per cent increase in phishing websites.
The report, based on data gathered by Atlas VPN, has found that cybercriminals have been using innocent looking malware-infected COVID-19 maps to attempt to gain access to people’s data.
“Now hackers are taking it even further by building scam websites and tricking people into purchasing fake cures, supplements, and vaccines,” it says.
Cybercriminals use phishing to gather personal information using deceptive e-mails or, in this case, websites, and highlights the danger of internet browsing during the pandemic.
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Cyber crime threat advice updated over coronavirus scams

March 27, 2020 — 9.34am
Australia's cyber security body will updated its threat advice in a bid to stop hackers using the outbreak of COVID-19 to send fake emails and texts to infect computers and networks with malware and steal user information.
The upturn in "phishing" emails and SMS messages with coronavirus-related titles comes as the Morrison government will overhaul its long-awaited cyber security strategy to take into account the threats of COVID-19.
There is also growing concern from cyber experts about work-from-home arrangements giving cyber criminals the opportunity to access the computer networks of government departments and large companies.
The coronavirus emails and text messages are offering advice and information on detection which are embedded with malicious links or documents, which when clicked or opened unleash remote access trojans giving hackers control of a computer, phone or network.
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'Digital divide': 2.5 million Australians isolated with no internet connection

March 27, 2020 — 10.05am
A coalition of major community organisations has called for urgent efforts to help the 2.5 million Australians not connected to the internet as the country turns to online education, remote work and telehealth during the COVID-19 crisis.
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, Australian Council of Social Service, Choice, Anglicare, Smith Family and almost 30 other groups have written to Communications Minister Paul Fletcher warning people without internet connections and technology face an "alarming escalation of the digital divide".
Telehealth and other internet-based services are in demand during the COVID-19 crisis.
Praising the economic support packages announced by the government so far, the groups said more was needed for the many low income and remote households "who will remain isolated and struggle in these circumstances due to barriers in accessing communications services and equipment".
The pre-existing problem is heightened during the pandemic, the groups warned, hindering access to government services, children trying to undertake online education and people needing access to telehealth services.
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Thursday, 26 March 2020 13:49

ACS responds to COVID-19 with home working tips for small business

The Australian Computer Society has released a top 10 list of tips for small businesses wanting to work from home during the COVID-19 crisis.
The ACS says its fact sheet containing tips for businesses that do not have a history of working from home provides SMBs with the basic steps required to maximise working from home arrangements over a three-month timeline.
ACS President Dr Ian Oppermann said “Following the meeting of the National Cabinet yesterday, the advice has been unequivocal – businesses are strongly encouraged to work from home where you can do that.”
“Public health must be our primary objective in combating COVID-19. The secondary objective after must be keeping the economy strong and consequently to save jobs. Any loss of skills, capacity or capability from the Australian economy will lead to a slowdown coming out of the current economic volatility, and that will impact living standards.
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Navigating cybersecurity in a work from home environment

COVID-19 represents an unprecedented challenge to business. Most of corporate Australia is now operating remotely in line with 'work from home procedures' and a business continuity plan. However, with remote working comes inherent cybersecurity risks and potential data breaches. Below we outline some steps you can take today to safely navigate your company through this time.
Cyber risks are increasing
Cybersecurity incidents affect approximately 1 in 3 Australians and cost businesses $29 billion per year.1
With the advent of COVID-19, cybercriminals have been capitalising on public fear surrounding the pandemic in a number of phishing scams. The scams have been using trusted brands such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Australian Government Department of Health, and the U.S. Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) to send 'phishing lures' in emails and online messaging platforms.
In light of these increased risks, timely consideration needs to be given to the strategies a company has in place to mitigate cybersecurity threats.
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Cyber security volunteers protect Australian healthcare in COVID-19 crisis

Inspired by a UK effort, the Australian cyber security professionals will help healthcare organisations and small charities in Australia and New Zealand.

CSO | 26 March 2020 6:00 AEDT
Cyber security professionals in Australia are coming together and volunteering their services to protect health facilities and small charities from cyber attack during the COVID-19 crisis.
The group, Cyber Volunteers-19 Australia, has been formed in response to a call to action from the founders of the UK’s CV19 group, created for the same purpose by prominent cyber security professional Lisa Forte, a partner at Red Goat Cyber Security.
The founder of the Australian group is Louisa Vogelenzang, associate managing director for data breach and identity theft a global cyber risk firm Kroll. She told Computerworld Australia, “I saw Lisa’s LinkedIn post and so did Dan Goldberg [principal partner at cyber security advisory firm Cybza]. We shared it and said, ‘Let's get something started in Australia’. Then we connected to each other and we brought onboard another couple of people: Gareth Willis [director of Cognitive Security] based out of Hobart, and Jacqui Loustau, founder of the Australian Women in Security Network.”
A closed group had been set up on LinkedIn where cyber security professionals can express interest in joining the group, and there’s a public page to keep people updated on the group’s progress and activities.
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Security tips for working from home

The rapid spread of COVID-19 has resulted in an unprecedented global crisis. Many companies are encouraging, or enforcing, employees to work from home, so as to reduce the impact of the spread of COVID-19. A number of these decisions are being made quickly, with a focus on the health and well-being for all staff members, clients, and the public at large.
This quick response to a rapidly changing situation may leave organisations at risk of security vulnerabilities. Security obligations are not suspended during these times of crisis!
This article sets out some security tips for working from home.
Only take home the essentials
Taking home hard copies of confidential or other sensitive information should be avoided. If it is necessary (and permitted by your security requirements!) to take this information home, ensure it is protected by appropriate safeguards (e.g. in a locked drawer, with yourself as the only keyholder).
This principle should apply to all important documents – ensure any irreplaceable documents (like originals) are kept away from pets, artistic toddlers, and muddy shoes.
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Mind that Zoom in the work-from-home boom

Mar 24, 2020 – 6.27pm
Cyber security and privacy experts say remote workers should exercise caution when using video-conferencing platform Zoom, and recommend that sensitive business and legal conversations be kept off the platform due to Zoom's data and privacy policies.
On March 19, Google search interest in Australia for the term "Zoom" hit peak popularity, as organisations across the country sent more staff to work from home where possible to encourage social distancing practices to help contain the spread of COVID-19.
And while The New York Times declared just last week that "We Live In Zoom Now", Australian National University Cyber Institute research fellow James Mortensen told The Australian Financial Review that Zoom was not his first choice when it came to secure, private video-conferencing software.
"Given the huge rise in the use of Zoom, and the sort of data Zoom collects, basically, uninhibited speech and video, because our legal framework around privacy is so poor, we're about to create a new animal," Mr Mortensen said.
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The trouble with Zoom

Video conferences are now king. But a popular technology could be putting corporate privacy at risk with little power to prevent it.
Mar 24, 2020 – 4.47pm
As businesses grind to a halt, markets fall and bottom lines plummet as a result of COVID-19 containment measures, there remain a few winners: pharmaceutical companies, medical suppliers and toilet paper mills all come to mind.
Another big winner is Zoom, the online meeting technology used by many of Australia’s big businesses, government departments and universities. As working remotely from home or in smaller groups becomes the norm in these virus-hit times, Zoom has quickly seemed indispensable. But serious and unresolved issues around its security, privacy and data use may mean that the cost of using the platform could be higher than most realise.
In the past year, Zoom has suffered from several critical security vulnerabilities, ranging from allowing hackers into private calls uninvited, to allowing Mac users to be forced into calls without their knowledge. While such vulnerabilities were patched, Zoom’s approach to these concerns has been rather blase. In the latter case especially, Zoom essentially refused to change fundamentally flawed security practices.
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Recent My Health Record system upgrade - enhances to setting security controls, advance care planning and medicines view

23 March 2020   ADHA Propaganda
The latest My Health Record system upgrade on 13-14 March aims to improve usability for consumers and healthcare providers. It enables easier setup of security controls, treatment needs made known, and help avoiding issues relating to medicines. 
We have seen the important role My Health Record has played in large scale crises such as Queensland floods and the recent bushfires, where pharmacists and hospital staff have relied on information in the My Health Record to provide care and foresee the important role it will play for future crises.
Read the Australian Digital Health Agency's media release here.
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Privacy in the Time of COVID-19: Australia

Australia March 20 2020
Nothing can stop us from talking about privacy, including a pandemic! Today, the Australian Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) issued guidance on the collection, use and disclosure of personal information during the COVID-19 pandemic (Guidance).
It mainly serves as a reminder to organisations that even in these pressing times, they must comply with the Australian privacy regime. However, it also highlights what organisations can collect and do with personal information for the purposes of preventing and managing the spread of COVID-19.
Our key takeaways highlight what organisations can collect and what they then can do with the information. These include:
Primary purpose of collection – organisations can collect personal information, including sensitive health information, from their employees or visitors and then use or disclose it if the use or disclosure is related to the primary purpose of collection. In these circumstances, organisations collecting health information for the purpose of preventing or managing the risk and/or reality of COVID-19 can use and disclose that information to ensure that necessary precautions are adopted in relation to that individual and any other individuals.
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24 March 2020

E-scripts for isolated patients will happen sooner not later, says MSIA and government

Posted by Jeremy Knibbs
A fully operational token based e-script system could be up in less than eight weeks, albeit, likely only for about 60% of GPs, according to the CEO of the Medical Software  Industry Association (MSIA) of Australia, Emma Hossack.
This flies in the face of recent speculation that the eight-week time frame being pushed by the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) with the major patient management system  and dispensing vendors was neither logistically nor financially feasible given other issues during the current COVID-19 crisis.
However, Ms Hossack told The Medical Republic this morning that some vendors were a lot more advanced than others, and the timeframe that was being dismissed by many a week ago as a pipedream,  is a lot closer for some vendors than many people think.
The e-script project is a paperless and secure cloud and mobile solution for patients, doctors and pharmacists, driven by a token system which exchanges between the PMS and dispensing vendors and the existing Rx exchanges, eRx and Medisecure.  If it was running then patients in isolation would  not need to leave home to get scripts.
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Can 3D printing algorithms save lives from coronavirus?

24th March 2020
Italy recently became the unwanted COVID-19 epicentre, with hundreds of deaths each day and horror stories emerging of older patients being denied intubation in favour of younger patients.
But it has been suggested that at least 10 patients were saved, thanks to 3D printing.
The technology is usually sold as a cheap way of producing custom prosthetics or splints, with machines creating plastic objects to order, based on computer-specified designs.
But last month, a hospital in northern Italy, where the corona­virus outbreak was at its most severe, ran out of valves for oxygen masks.
With 250 patients in intensive care with COVID-19 complications, and no new supplies imminent, the day was saved by local 3D printing engineers who collected a used valve from the hospital and, within three hours, wrote a computer algorithm for its replication.
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Author's Opinion
Tuesday, 24 March 2020 12:15

As more people work from home, Telstra's Penn makes silly plea

In the midst of any national crisis, it is common to find people who want to make themselves heard somehow, even if they can only do so by making the most stupid statements possible. That is clearly the case with the utterance issued by Telstra chief executive Andrew Penn who has called on Australians to be more mindful of how they use the Internet.
Let this sink in: Penn's words of wisdom were uttered more than a week after a goodly portion of the country's workers were asked to go home and work from there. Exactly how they would work without using the Internet is unknown to me; perhaps Penn has an answer to that.
This garbage was dressed up as an exclusive and printed in The Australian. And the man behind it was no less a person than the publication's technology editor, David Swan.
Penn's logic (??) was that just as people were asked to moderate their behaviour in supermarkets and not indulge in panic buying, Internet users should lessen their impact on the network.
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Telstra plea to reduce internet use

Telstra chief executive Andy Penn has called on Australians to be more mindful of how they use the internet as pressure mounts on the country's telecommunications infrastructure.
Speaking exclusively to The Australian, Mr Penn said that just as panicked shoppers had to monitor their behaviour, internet users should take steps to lessen their impact on the internet.
“This is an unprecedented situation that we’re all going through. and it’s going to require all of us to make some changes, adapt our behaviour and make a contribution to getting through this, as successfully as we possibly can,” he said.
 “What would be helpful is as users, we can actually find ways to actually help.”
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My Health Record

23 March, 2020.  ADHA Propaganda
The current MyGov outage is not affecting healthcare providers' access to My Health Record.
Now more than ever, it is important that your health information is available to healthcare providers if needed.
For more information on digital health, visit digitalhealth.gov.au
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Start-ups have the agility to survive then thrive in virus chaos

Tech entrepreneurs are seeing the COVID-19 devastation at close hand already, but know that downturns can also produce a new wave of business models and IP.
Jonathan Barouch Contributor
Mar 23, 2020 – 1.00pm
As a founder and chief executive of a tech start-up, I knowingly signed up for the highs and lows of navigating a small business through an unpredictable and ever-changing landscape. And I’ve had my share of both.
I founded my first start-up shortly before the 2000 dotcom bubble burst and charted it through that period as well as the subsequent global financial crisis in 2007, finally exiting the business in 2010.
However, over the course of my entrepreneurial career, I’ve never had to lead through a crisis that came as unexpectedly, rapidly and impactfully as COVID19.
First, let me share some context. My current company, Local Measure, provides customer experience and customer engagement solutions predominantly in the tourism, leisure and retail verticals. We operate globally and have team members in 6 countries.
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Seven big COVID-19 driven digital health innovations already up

March 23, 2020       Jeremy Knibbs

COVID-19 distress has let our GPs, software vendors, pharma companies and government to be suddenly move oceans and more innovative and pragmatic about how they deliver services

There’s nothing like a crisis to get humans thinking harder and co-operating more effectively for the greater good. Hardship breeds innovation.
So for all the awful downside of the COVID-19 crisis, one silver lining is that there has probably never been a time in recent history when the digital healthcare community has come together to solve complex issues of patient care more effectively than now.
Individual GPs, all the governments, software vendors, the colleges, service providers, GP corporates and the pharmaceutical industry are all rapidly innovating, and co-operating like never before to expedite more effective systems to manage the crisis.
Following are just some of the innovations and examples of co-operation that have emerged in the last few weeks, all of which are likely to have a long-lasting effect on the efficiency of our healthcare system.
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Comments more than welcome!
David.