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."

Monday, March 01, 2021

Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 01 March, 2021.

 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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There seems to be a bit happening but nothing I would really describe as obvious progress, more sadly, tiny stuttering steps.

Anyone who has really good news please share via comment or e-mail!

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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/new-active-ingredient-prescribing-rules-causing-medication-delays-pharmacists

New active ingredient prescribing rules causing medication delays: pharmacists

Some doctors are not using the updated versions of their prescribing software says the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia

23rd February 2021

By Heather Saxena

Some patients are facing delays receiving medicines because the move to active ingredient prescribing has led to an increase in invalid scripts, pharmacists say.

Under the rules that came into effect on 1 February, the active ingredients of a prescribed PBS drug must be printed first on the script.

Doctors can still specify brands, but the changes are designed to increase uptake of generic drugs and reduce medication errors.

The Federal Government has said all major medical software providers have updated their programs to comply.

But the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia says its members are reporting that hundreds of invalid scripts are being generated by doctors using older versions of the prescribing software.

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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/1-10-antenatal-consults-last-year-conducted-telehealth

1 in 10 antenatal consults last year conducted by telehealth

Face-to-face visits fell in the pandemic, but overall services only dropped 2%: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

23rd February 2021

By AAP

Pregnant women have embraced telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic, with almost one in 10 antenatal appointments in Australia via telehealth in the pandemic's first six months. 

Though the pandemic caused a slight dip in the number of antenatal health services reported in 2020, the use of telehealth nearly made up the difference.

There were around 120,000 fewer face-to-face antenatal consults nationwide between January and September 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. 

But there were around 91,000 telehealth appointments between March and September — one in 10 of total appointments. 

The number of face-to-face services was around 10% lower than the same period the year before. All up, the pandemic caused a reduction of only about 2% of antenatal appointments.

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https://www.healthcareit.com.au/article/electronic-medical-records-will-be-linked-my-health-record-south-australia

Electronic Medical Records will be linked to My Health Record in South Australia

Roy Chiang | 24 Feb 2021

The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) has publicly stated on 17 February that it has completed its final stages of integration between South Australia Health’s Sunrise Electrical Medical Records (EMR) and patient administration system (PAS) to the country’s My Health Record (MHR). This will grant healthcare providers the access and ability to upload information directly onto the MHR platform.

An embedded tab within the Sunrise EMR provides clinicians with access to MHR which creates a unified view of a patient’s interactions across the health care system. This contains shared health summaries from general practitioners, pathology and imaging reports as well as prescription information from a patient’s visit both within South Australia and interstate.

Why it matters
By providing a more holistic view of the patient’s past medical records as well as information on any medical care that was previously administered, clinicians will be able to provide more personalised medical care which would potentially translate into better patient outcomes. As a result of this integration, hospital staffs are also more willing to use MHR due to the easy availability of information.

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https://wildhealth.net.au/privacy-of-public-health-datasets-under-scrutiny/

23 February 2021

Privacy of public health datasets under scrutiny

Big Data Technology

Posted by Clare Watson

A new data privacy tool, designed to ensure publicly released anonymised datasets remain secure and private, has cybersecurity experts asking questions about its veiled design.

An early version of the Personal Information Factor (PIF) tool, developed by the NSW government and the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre in collaboration with CSIRO’s Data61, has already been put to use in the pandemic, analysing privacy risks of sharing deidentified datasets tracking COVID-19 cases across the state.

With the pandemic still in full swing, more personal data is flying around than ever before. Deidentifying data involves removing any personal identifiers and using other software safeguards to prevent reidentification.

In the context of the pandemic, making such information available to policy makers, health experts and researchers has been critical to informing COVID-19 outbreak response.

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https://itwire.com/government-tech-policy/aged-care-royal-commission-must-recommend-technology-advancement,-says-epicor-executive.html

Friday, 26 February 2021 10:38

Aged Care Royal Commission must recommend technology advancement, says Epicor executive

By David M Williams

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety will complete its report today. It is crucial this report includes technological advancements, especially around caregiving, says Epicor Regional Vice President ANZ, Greg O’Loan.

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety was established to report on the quality of aged care services and whether those services are meeting the needs of the older Australian community. This includes care for older people living at home, people living with dementia, and people living in residential aged care including younger people with disabilities.

Epicor has significant experience with the concerns and needs of Aged Care, especially in Australia where Epicor SLS - Senior Living Solutions - forms one of the core pillars of the product, along with the traditional modules of general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and so on.

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https://digitalhealth.org.au/blog/institute-advocates-for-digital-vaccine-passport/

Institute advocates for digital vaccine passport

February 23. 2021

With all eyes on the government’s rollout of the first COVID-19 vaccines this week, it was timely for the Institute to advocate for movement on the international digital vaccine passport.

We have published a position statement and issued a media release on the need for Australia to be on the front foot in managing returning travellers’ records. The Institute has many Fellows and members who are expert in health data and who are currently making a huge contribution to national and international efforts during the pandemic.

Once international borders re-open, there will be a need to digitally manage records of those vaccinated either in Australia or overseas. For this, the Institute supports work on the international Yellow Card, the medical passport issued by the World Health Organization.

AIDH Fellow and global health informatics leader Grahame Grieve has been assisting WHO by providing advice on the proposed data model. He says many countries have a great need for a valid, secure digital record of vaccination which is recognised by other countries, given the travel patterns of people around the world and the challenges they’re facing in managing outbreaks.

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https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/medical-deliveries-by-drone-ready-for-take-off-in-australia-20210219-p573z8.html

Medical deliveries by drone ready for take-off in Australia

By Cara Waters

February 22, 2021 — 12.00am

Medical deliveries by drone are ready for take-off in Australia, with startup Swoop Aero expecting to start bringing medicines to regional patients in May.

Swoop Aero has signed a deal with chemist chain TerryWhite Chemmart, and the first deliveries will be out of a pharmacy in Goondiwindi in the south of Queensland. Drones will be used to deliver medicines to customers within a 130 kilometres range of the town, sparing them trips of up to three hours to visit the pharmacy.

The drones contain a secure chilled container, where pharmacists put in the medicines. They will be flown by a pilot based in Melbourne to deliver the medicines to customers who use a QR code to open the drone on arrival.

The pilot can fly up to five drones at a time. Swoop Aero has been working with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority for over a year to finalise approvals for the flights.

Lucy Walker, pharmacist and owner of the TerryWhite Chemmart pharmacy in Goondiwindi, said there was definitely a need for the service in the region.

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https://www.itwire.com/government-tech-policy/two-million-australians-have-created-digital-ids-through-my-gov.html

Wednesday, 24 February 2021 14:06

Two million Australians have created digital IDs through my.Gov

By Sam Varghese

More than two million Australians have created digital identities through the government my.Gov portal in order to access digital services, a statement from two ministers says.

Government Services Minister Stuart Robert and Superannuation, Financial Services and Digital Economy Minister Jane Hume said the myGovID facility was managed by the Australian Taxation Office.

They said to protect a user's identity and stop fraud, the app used encryption and proven cryptographic technologies. myGovID also uses security features on a smartphone — like a fingerprint, password or facial verification — to provide secure access.

Researchers have, however, criticised the program and said it needs to be redone from scratch. Dr Vanessa Teague of Thinking Cybersecurity and independent researcher Ben Frengley said in a submission to the DTA that neither the trusted digital identity framework's high-level design, nor its implementation by the ATO (myGovID) met their intended security goals.

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https://www.itwire.com/security/gbg%E2%80%99s-greenid-expands-to-offer-complete-end-to-end-digital-identity-verification.html

Thursday, 25 February 2021 08:56

GBG’s 'greenID' expands to offer complete end-to-end digital identity verification

By Alex Zaharov-Reutt

 

With the claim of "cutting edge biometric and document verification", the Australian founded identify verification solution, greenID, has been seriously upgraded. 

GBG. The company says it is a "global technology specialist in fraud and compliance management, identity verification and location data intelligence", and it has "announced the expansion of greenID, the Australian founded solution and industry leader in identity verification, to an end to end digital identity verification platform."

We're told the new greenID Digital Identity Verification Platform is "complete with biometric and document verification, data matching, and data intelligence to improve and accelerate the eKYC process."

Acquired by GBG in 2018, the company explains "greenID has been helping organisations in Australia and New Zealand address regulatory and compliance requirements, anti-money laundering (AML) / Counter-Financing of Terrorism (CTF), PEPs and sanction since 2005."

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https://www.hospitalhealth.com.au/content/technology/news/new-ai-technology-foretells-covid-19-outbreaks-384616493

New AI technology foretells COVID-19 outbreaks

By Amy Sarcevic
Tuesday, 23 February, 2021

Researchers at New York University have come up with a novel way to help foretell COVID-19 surges before they materialise — an approach that could cost-effectively restrain viral spread until vaccination programs are complete.

Analysing online searches of mobile and isolated activities, their preliminary AI tool can predict where and when an outbreak might take place. Equipped with this information, authorities could stage urgent responses — like that recently seen in Victoria — nipping the virus in the bud before it replicates to uncontainable levels, and reducing the impact on local businesses.

Professor Megan Coffee and Professor Anasse Bari from New York University say the technology is based on “alternative data” — a concept previously used in finance to generate data-driven investments, such as predicting business earnings from satellite images of parked cars.

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https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/digital-disruption-looms-for-australian-industry-analysts-warn-20210225-p575s8

Digital disruption looms for Australian industry, analysts warn

Finbar O'Mallon Reporter

Feb 26, 2021 – 12.01am

Some of the local industries Australia relied on during the coronavirus pandemic, such as healthcare and manufacturing, are under threat from overseas digital competition, analysts warn.

A report commissioned by search giant Google found Australia ranked second-last out of 37 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development when it came to investment, uptake and output in digital technologies.

The digital performance index compiled by AlphaBeta, part of Accenture, ranks countries and industries based on the use of technologies such as cloud computing, automation, robotics and internet of things technology.

AlphaBeta director Andrew Charlton said local industries risked a digital disruption, similar to Uber for taxis or the internet for the media industry.

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https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-greg-hunt-mp/media/100-million-for-major-advances-in-medical-research-technology

$100 million for major advances in medical research technology

The Australian Government is investing $100 million into the development of new technologies to improve diagnosis and treatment of stroke, epilepsy and lung disease, including COVID-19.

Date published: 26 February 2021

Media type: Media release

Audience: General public

The Morrison Government is investing $100 million into the development of new technologies to improve diagnosis and treatment of stroke, epilepsy and lung disease, including COVID-19.

The funding will be split across three research projects led by senior researchers at the University of Melbourne, the Australian Lung Health Initiative, and Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health.

The five year funding is being provided under Stage Two of the Frontier Health and Medical Research Initiative, an unprecedented program which allows researcher collaborations to explore the most bold and exciting ideas that could have a dramatic, global impact on health care.

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https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/553361/Hospitals-using-ICNET-for-Covid-infection-surveillance.htm

Hospitals using ICNET for Covid infection surveillance

Tuesday, 23 February 2021  

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Ten hospitals across the country are using the ICNET clinical surveillance platform, including new functionality for Covid-19.

Canterbury District Health Board deployed ICNET, developed by Baxter Healthcare, in 2012. Over the past two years it has worked with ACC and Baxter to roll it out to another nine DHB Infection Prevention Teams.

The software provides real time surveillance designed to prevent, detect and advise on infections such as Covid-19. 

Susan Wood, director quality and patient safety for Canterbury and West Coast DHBs, says the initial requirement was for software that would track and prevent ‘everyday’ hospital-acquired infections such as Norovirus.

“We have always been mindful since H1N1 flu hit in 2009, that we would need to be able to capture real-time information in another pandemic,” Wood says.

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https://about.healthdirect.gov.au/our-news

Bettina McMahon joins Healthdirect Australia as Chief Executive Officer

Published: 26 February 2021

Healthdirect Australia is pleased to announce the appointment of Bettina McMahon to the role of Chief Executive Officer.

Ms McMahon brings to the role significant experience in digital transformation in the health sector and an extensive track record in delivering major reforms in complex regulatory and stakeholder environments.

Prior to joining Healthdirect Australia, Ms McMahon was the Interim Chief Executive Officer at the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA), where she had also held roles as the Chief Operating Officer and Executive General Manager for Industry and Government.

Before that, Ms McMahon played a key role in the successful transition of the National e-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) into ADHA, with a tenure across the two organisations spanning 11 years.

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https://www.smh.com.au/national/queensland/qut-team-use-star-wars-film-technology-to-predict-healthcare-of-the-future-20210226-p576ae.html

QUT team use Star Wars film technology to predict healthcare of the future