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, August 02, 2021

Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 02 August, 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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The truth comes out that the COVID-Safe app – as implemented was pretty much a waste of space and computer cycles!

A fair bit of COVID and product news!

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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/govt-concedes-covidsafe-app-rarely-used-in-overdue-report-568030

Govt concedes COVIDSafe app 'rarely used' in overdue report

By Justin Hendry on Jul 30, 2021 7:00AM

Puts it down to low transmission rates and strong manual tracing.

The federal government has finally released its first official report into the COVIDSafe app, conceding the app is "rarely" used but attributing that to low community transmission rates and strong manual contact tracing.

The overdue report comes a week after the Department of Health was forced to release a draft evaluation on the app's operation and effectiveness following a freedom of information request.

It covers two six-month reporting periods instead of the single six-month period outlined in legislation governing COVIDSafe, which also requires that the department provide the report to parliament within 15 sitting days.

The report, published this week, reveals that 779 users who tested positive to Covid-19 consented to having data from the app uploaded to the national COVIDSafe data store between 26 April 2020 and 15 May 2021.

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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/grace-period-ending-active-ingredient-prescribing-regime

Grace period ending for active ingredient prescribing regime

From Sunday, scripts that fail to include the list of active ingredients cannot be dispensed by the pharmacist unless the doctor can be contacted to correct it

29th July 2021

By Kemal Atlay

PBS prescriptions without the generic names listed will not be dispensed from this Sunday unless pharmacists can contact the doctor to have the script corrected.

Under regulations that came into effect in February, scripts can still mention a brand name but the active ingredients of most PBS-listed medicines must be included.

The Federal Government claims the changes will save it $336 million over five years by increasing uptake of generics and reducing prescribing errors.

A six-month grace period was introduced to allow pharmacists to dispense a brand-name-only script even if they were unable to contact the original prescriber to have the generic ingredient details added.

However, it ends on 1 August.

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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/racgp-calls-leniency-over-gp-telehealth-breaches

RACGP calls for leniency over GP telehealth breaches

Dr Karen Price says the government's 'overreaching' crackdown is targeting those acting in good faith

28th July 2021

By Siobhan Calafiore

The RACGP says Medicare needs to change the way it's auditing GPs it suspects of breaching telehealth's 'existing-relationship' rule, claiming doctors are being targeted for technicalities.

Three months ago, the federal Department of Health sent letters to 430 GPs asking them to explain their MBS claims for telehealth.

The college responded by pushing for leniency, pointing to the widespread confusion about the rule, which says patients must have attended the practice face to face at least once in the previous 12 months.

However, the college says a number of GPs have now been sent follow-up letters demanding repayments, although this has not been confirmed by the department.

According to media reports, they include one GP who was told by the department to repay claims for telehealth items after she treated a suicidal adolescent over a period of a few weeks.

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https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/professional/racgp-criticise-doh-telehealth-compliance-approach

RACGP criticises DoH telehealth compliance approach

President Dr Karen Price has written an open letter to Federal Health Secretary Professor Brendan Murphy, saying GPs feel ‘let down’.

Matt Woodley


28 Jul 2021

 

The letter states that the college is ‘disappointed’ that the Federal Department of Health (DoH) did not heed advice regarding compliance letters sent to hundreds of GPs who were caught out by rules concerning MBS claiming for telehealth consultations.
 
The DoH had initially identified thousands of GPs potentially in breach of the rules, but reduced the scope of its compliance activity following RACGP advocacy that highlighted the difficulty of navigating complex compliance requirements while caring for patients during a pandemic.
 
However, according to the letter, increasingly frustrated GPs have not only still received compliance letters but demands for payment from the DoH.
 
‘After a challenging year of COVID outbreaks, GPs feel let down that their best efforts to provide care to all Australians, in a complex and changing pandemic, have not been taken into consideration by the department,’ RACGP President Dr Karen Price wrote.

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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/govt-auditing-23-gps-over-telehealth-breaches

Govt auditing 23 GPs over telehealth breaches

It comes after the health department sent ‘please explain’ letters to 434 GPs back in April

30th July 2021

By Siobhan Calafiore

Some 23 GPs are being audited after each claimed more than 300 “potentially incorrect” MBS telehealth consults, the federal Department of Health says. 

The move comes after officials sent ‘please explain’ letters to 430 doctors back in April asking them to review their billing.

They were suspected of breaching telehealth’s existing-relationship rule, where a patient must have attended the practice in person in the past 12 months. 

But the RACGP has been campaigning for leniency because of the widespread confusion over the rule. 

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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/the-radiotherapy-machine-that-rotates-you/49741

26 July 2021

The radiotherapy machine that rotates you!

Cancer Clinical Radiology Technology

By Ben Falkenmire

Radiotherapy machines do not come in travel-light sizes, I realise, on seeing the prototype Nano-X machine, the brainchild of the University of Sydney’s ACRF Image X Institute.

But size can be misleading. What’s different about this machine is its radiation beam. It remains fixed while the patient spins, the opposite of what a LINAC machine does. The Nano-X’s beam travels from its bulbous shower-head-looking top directly to the floor, a redesign motivated by affordability.

“We think it will reduce costs of owning a machine by two-thirds,” says Dr Mark Gardner, research associate at the ACRF.

It has huge potential. One in two cancer patients worldwide need radiotherapy but less than a third get access because of the prohibitive expense of a LINAC. The Nano-X could be the answer cancer communities in the developing world have been waiting for. 

You do not need as big a room to house it, and you do not need to shield the room against radiation bouncing around from a rotating beam. The institute has also designed operating software that lowers the staff-to-patient ratio required.

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https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2021/google-developing-digital-covid-card.html

Google developing digital COVID card

Would you trust the tech giant with your health info?

By Rosalyn Page on Jul 27 2021 10:31 AM

As the world opens up and people once again move around freely, COVID passes are looking increasingly likely to enable cross-border travel and a return to other freedoms.

Soon Android users could choose to store COVID-19 vaccination and test results on their phones in the form of a COVID card after Google updated its Passes API to allow healthcare organisations, government agencies and public health authorities to create a digital version of vaccination or test information.

“Once a user stores the digital version of the COVID card to their device, they will be able to access it via a shortcut on their device home screen, even when they are offline or in areas that have weak internet service,” Google said in making the announcement.

Kicking off in the United States, the digital COVID-19 card rollout will then move to other countries and Android devices will need to be running Android 5 or later, giving it a potentially wide user base that should include Australia.

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https://www.hospitalhealth.com.au/content/technology/article/why-healthcare-security-needs-urgent-care-327258895

Why healthcare security needs urgent care

CyberArk Software Inc.

By Thomas Fikentscher, Regional Director ANZ, CyberArk
Wednesday, 28 July, 2021


Increased ransomware incidents in health care require stringent protection of critical systems and data.

Australia’s healthcare sector has been the target of increased cybersecurity incidents since COVID-19 forced digital care into the spotlight. Sensitive data collected by healthcare providers, as well as their increased reliance on cloud-based services and telehealth, make the industry a prime target.

The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) announced earlier this year that reported cybersecurity incidents relating to the Australian healthcare sector increased by an eye-watering 85% in 2020. In fact, outside of government and individuals, the health sector reported the highest number of cybercrime incidents to the ACSC in 2020.

This should act as a wake-up call for all healthcare organisations to review their cybersecurity hygiene levels before they fall victim to the kind of ransomware attack that has already paralysed Eastern Health, Regis Healthcare and UnitingCare over the last 12 months.

The increase in ransomware attacks on the healthcare sector is being driven by two key factors — it’s a high-value target, and healthcare access points as potential target areas have expanded.

There is no doubt that healthcare data is an attractive target for attackers as it holds highly sensitive personal identifiable information and routinely carries valuable intellectual property on technology and research. This, combined with the critical nature of most healthcare operations, means attackers understand that, in the business of life and death, healthcare organisations simply cannot afford to negotiate for days or weeks while their systems are held hostage by ransomware attacks. For example, in the US, it’s estimated that ransoms totalling $15.6 million were demanded of healthcare organisations last year, over $2 million of which was paid, although in reality the total is likely much higher than what has been publicly reported.

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https://www.hospitalhealth.com.au/content/technology/article/technology-the-missing-link-to-change-the-future-of-cancer-care-330187517

Technology: the missing link to change the future of cancer care

By Bill Petch, All.Can Australia Co-Chair
Thursday, 22 July, 2021


Receiving a cancer diagnosis can be one of the most stressful and unbalancing moments in a person’s life. The delivery of the news itself is enough to cause confusion and panic, but the diagnosis is merely the first step in what can be likened to Alice’s experience of falling down the rabbit hole.

Imagine receiving a diagnosis and then trying to untangle the knot of information and questions that come next. Do I need surgery? What are my treatment options? What specialists should I speak to? Where do I go for treatment? How do I manage work? Are there clinical trials I’m eligible for? The list of questions goes on.

Technological advances in other areas of our lives have created expectations around the immediacy of information, how we acquire it and what sources we trust. We are used to knowledge being a click away; however, health care is a complex system.

By any standard, we have a first-class healthcare system, but often our aspirations fall short, such as in the provision of equitable access. The complexity of the system means there are still areas of unmet need — be that in survival outcomes across cancers; outcomes for regional, remote and Indigenous communities; access to new therapies; new diagnostics; or the rising cost of care.

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https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/575160/Book-My-Vaccine-go-live-a-resounding-success---Bloomfield.htm

Book My Vaccine go-live a ‘resounding success’ - Bloomfield

Wednesday, 28 July 2021  

NEWS

More than 100,000 appointments were made on the first day of the new national tool for booking Covid-19 vaccinations going live to the public.

The go-live of
Book My Vaccine on July 28 has been described as a “resounding success” by director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield. 
  
Around 165,000 people aged 60-64 were sent invitations yesterday by letter, email or text message asking them to reserve their two appointments online or by calling the Covid Vaccination Healthline. 

There were more than 105,000 new bookings made in one day, bringing the total number of future bookings in the system to nearly 950,000. 

Book My Vaccine was
already live at the country’s 20 DHBs, which transferred their existing bookings into the new national system.
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https://www.arnnet.com.au/article/690149/xcellerate-wins-dynamics-365-integration-deals-telstra-health-g8-education/

Xcellerate wins Dynamics 365 integration deals with Telstra Health and G8 Education

Will involve the partner's Kofax ReadSoft platform.

Sydney-based managed service provider Xcellerate IT has won two contracts to integrate accounts payable solutions with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Telstra Health and G8 Education. 

The business process management specialist will deploy accounts payable automation technology that can be easily integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (F&O). 

For Telstra Health, Xcellerate IT will implement Kofax ReadSoft Online, a dedicated cloud-based accounts payable automation solution. 

Meanwhile, for G8 Education, Xcellerate IT will implement Kofax TotalAgility, a fully integrated, enterprise-wide platform that can be expanded outside of the accounts payable department to automate other business processes. 

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https://www.itwire.com/health/impaqt-invests-in-cardihab-to-help-prevent-cardiovascular-diseases.html

Friday, 23 July 2021 13:06

ImpaQt invests in Cardihab to help prevent cardiovascular diseases

By Kenn Anthony Mendoza

ImpaQt’s investment in digital health company Cardihab will help provide solutions to prevent cardiovascular diseases in Australia.

ImpaQt has invested Cardihab to help expand solutions for the prevention and treatment of Australia’s biggest killer: cardiovascular disease.

Patients use the Cardihab apps to complete their cardiac rehabilitation program from home virtually while under clinical supervision by qualified healthcare professionals.

ImpaQt group managing director Lisa Siganto says the opportunity to invest early in Cardihab was overwhelmingly compelling.

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27 July, 2021

HICAPS practitioners now accept health insurance cards on iPhone and Apple Watch with Apple Wallet

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NAB today announced it now offers HICAPS practitioners the ability to accept digital health insurance membership cards in Apple Wallet.

The move allows customers to make a health insurance claim by simply holding their iPhone or Apple Watch near any HICAPS terminal in Australia - creating a true digital wallet experience. Customers can also pay for gap payments simply and securely using Apple Pay.

NAB Executive for Business Everyday Banking, Tania Motton said: “We’re excited to offer health practitioners the ability to accept digital health insurance membership cards through iPhone and Apple Watch at all HICAPS terminals across Australia.

“Digital technology is rapidly changing the way merchants receive payments – with more customers choosing contactless over cash. This is an exciting enhancement that will further support those who prefer a more digital experience.

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https://www.itwire.com/mobility/nib-puts-membership-cards-in-apple-wallet.html

Tuesday, 27 July 2021 10:57

nib puts membership cards in Apple Wallet

By Stephen Withers

Health insurer nib health funds has made its member cards available in Apple Wallet.

Adding their nib member card to Apple Wallet means members to make a claim by simply holding their iPhone or Apple Watch near any Hicaps terminal.

Any gap payment can be made via Apple Pay if desired.

Members can add their member card to Apple Wallet on iPhone and Apple Watch via the nib App by logging in and selecting My nib card.

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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/australian-health-insurance-cards-can-now-be-added-to-apple-wallet-567905

Australian health insurance cards can now be added to Apple Wallet

By Kate Weber on Jul 27, 2021 12:36PM

Used to file claims via HICAPS terminals.

Customers of several major Australian health insurers can add a digital membership card to an Apple Wallet from today and use it to contactlessly file a claim.

NAB, which owns the health industry claims and payments service or HICAPS, said in a statement that customers could now "make a health insurance claim by simply holding their iPhone or Apple Watch near any HICAPS terminal in Australia - creating a true digital wallet experience.

"Customers can also pay for gap payments simply and securely using Apple Pay," the bank said.

HICAPS terminals are commonly used in general practices and at other healthcare services providers.

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https://www.healthcareit.com.au/article/health-insurance-cards-connect-apple-wallet-australia

Health insurance cards connect to Apple Wallet in Australia

Adam Ang | 30 Jul 2021

Health fund members of Australian insurance firms Medibank, Bupa, nib, and GU Health can now add their health insurance membership cards to the Apple Wallet and make contactless claims at any HICAPS terminals in Australia.

This comes as the National Australia Bank, which operates the Health Industry Claims and Payments Service, has enabled healthcare practitioners who are using its system to accept digital health insurance cards stored in the mobile wallet.

In a statement, NAB said customers can now make a health insurance claim "by simply holding their iPhone or Apple Watch near any HICAPS terminal in Australia – creating a true digital wallet experience". Real-time notifications about their claim will be sent through their insurer's app.

It has also allowed customers to settle gap payments using Apple Pay.

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https://www.itwire.com/health/withings-unveils-a-health-watch-that-can-monitor-heart-rate-and-track-parameters.html

Tuesday, 27 July 2021 10:56

Withings unveils health watch that can monitor heart rate and track parameters

By Kenn Anthony Mendoza

French health and medical IoT company Withings has announced the upcoming launch of ScanWatch Rose Gold, a new watch that scans and detects heart and health conditions to improve one’s health and fitness, and can also send a notification to its wearer when it detects an irregular heartbeat.

The ScanWatch Rose Gold, is a health watch that monitors heart rate in a bid to reduce cardiovascular disease and combines technology and design to detect atrial fibrillation (AFib), overnight breathing disturbances, and measures oxygen saturation.

By recording the heart rate periodically, ScanWatch sends a notification when an irregular heartbeat is detected and then will advise the user to record an electrocardiogram (ECG) to detect potential atrial fibrillation.

Withings ScanWatch product manager Maxime Dumont says the watch is the world’s “most advance health wearable.”

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https://www.healthcareit.com.au/article/telstra-health-tapped-virtual-health-monitoring-international-travellers-tasmania

Telstra Health tapped for virtual health monitoring of international travellers in Tasmania

Adam Ang | 30 Jul 2021

Telstra Health's virtual health solutions have been deployed in hotel quarantine sites in Tasmania to remotely monitor the conditions of international travellers under mandatory quarantine.

During their 14-day stay, guests are asked to conduct daily checks of their temperature, pulse and oxygen saturation, as well as blood pressure, weight, and glucose levels if required.

Their data are then uploaded via Bluetooth to the Telstra Health MyCareManager application which stores them in a hosted monitoring platform. To avoid complications with technical support requirements, the Tasmanian government hands out pre-paired mobile devices to the quarantined travellers.

Through the MyCareManager dashboards, clinicians are able to review observation trends, variations, alerts and guests' overall usage of the digital health devices. A care team is immediately prompted if an individual shows signs of needing immediate medical attention.

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South West Alliance of Rural Health and Barwon Health Embrace Digital Innovation with InterSystems IRIS for Health

Regional health organisations to create real-time analytics repository supporting AI & machine learning, business intelligence, clinical intelligence and the ‘Hospital of Things’

SYDNEY, Australia, July 26, 2021 – InterSystems, a creative data technology provider dedicated to helping customers solve the most critical scalability, interoperability and speed problems, today announced that South West Alliance of Rural Health (SWARH) and Barwon Health in South West Victoria in Australia will realise their digital innovation strategy with InterSystems IRIS for Health™, the premier data platform specifically engineered to extract value from healthcare data.

SWARH provides information technology services supporting public hospitals and associated health services in a region extending from west of Melbourne to the South Australian border. Barwon Health’s facilities include University Hospital Geelong and community health centres in and around Geelong and the south coast.

Currently, SWARH and Barwon Health support different IT environments. These include a range of clinical and patient administration systems, specialist healthcare applications, and data analytics solutions. While these systems are connected – primarily via Health Level Seven (HL7®) messaging standards – there is no single data repository supporting real-time data analysis.

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https://www.itwire.com/health/south-west-alliance-of-rural-health-and-barwon-deploy-intersystems-to-manage-their-healthcare-data.html

Monday, 26 July 2021 13:09

South West Alliance of Rural Health and Barwon deploy InterSystems to manage their healthcare data

By Kenn Anthony Mendoza

The South West Alliance of Rural Health (SWARH) and Barwon Health employ InterSystems’ data platform, Iris for Health, to improve clinical outcomes and patient experience. 

The South West Alliance of Rural Health and Barwon Health in Southwest Victoria, Australia are leveraging the InterSystems Iris for Health, a data platform engineered to extract value from healthcare data, InterSystems announces.

SWARH provides information technology services to support public hospitals and associated health services in a region extending from west of Melbourne to the south Australian border.

Barwon Health’s facilities are the University Hospital Geelong and community health centres in and around Geelong and the south coast.

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https://www.healthcareit.com.au/article/public-health-agencies-victorias-south-west-roll-out-intersystemss-ai-data-platform

Public health agencies in Victoria's South West to roll out InterSystems's AI data platform

Adam Ang | 26 Jul 2021

Hospitals in Victoria's South West, including public health agencies under the South West Alliance of Rural Health and Barwon Health in Geelong, are set to roll out a data platform capable of real-time analysis using AI, machine learning, as well as business and clinical intelligence.

WHAT IT DOES

The health organisations will be deploying the IRIS for Health platform by global tech provider InterSystems. The data platform, according to InterSystems's website, is specifically engineered to extract value from healthcare data.

It is a standards-based platform that is able to read and write Health Level 7's Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (HL7 FHIR) for developing healthcare applications.

It is also capable of ingesting, processing and storing transaction data "at high rates" while simultaneously processing high volume analytic workloads involving historical and real-time data.

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https://www.alcidion.com/asx-announcements/q4-fy21-quarterly-activities-report-record-annual-revenue-and-positive-operating-cash-flow/

Alcidion

Q4 FY2021 Quarterly Activities Report Record Annual Revenue and Positive Operating Cash Flow

 

Highlights:

  • Unaudited FY21 revenue of $25.6M – $25.9M, a 38% – 39% increase on the prior corresponding period (pcp)
  • Positive net operating cash flow of $1.6M for Q4, resulting in a full year FY21 positive operating cashflow of $1.1M
  • New and renewed contracts with a TCV of $7.3M in Q4, up 52% on Q3 and 97% on pcp
  • Opening balance of contracted revenue to be recognised in the new financial year (FY22) of $15.1M, 18% higher than at the same time last year
  • Acquired ExtraMed in April 2021, a leading UK provider of patient flow software, expanding Alcidion’s UK market presence whilst providing additional cross-sell opportunities
  • Selected as preferred provider (as part of a Consortium) for a major project to provide a consolidated healthcare record and support clinical decision making (via Miya Precision) across the Australian Defence Force with potential Total Contact Value (TCV) for Alcidion of approximately $21M over 5.5 years subject to contract finalisation in Q2 FY22
  • Cash balance at 30 June 2021 of $25.0M (PY: $15.9M)

Alcidion Group Limited (‘Alcidion’ or the ‘Company’) today released its Appendix 4C for the quarter ended 30 June 2021 (Q4 FY21) and this business update.

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https://www.healthcareit.com.au/article/allscriptss-sunrise-emr-implemented-across-gippsland-emergency-departments

Allscripts's Sunrise EMR implemented across Gippsland emergency departments

Adam Ang | 27 Jul 2021

Emergency department facilities of public health services under the Gippsland Health Alliance in Victoria have started using an EMR platform from health IT firm Allscripts.

WHAT IT DOES

According to Allscripts's website, the Sunrise EMR system is a single-platform acute and ambulatory solution that delivers the most current information to clinicians at point-of-care delivery. It has simple workflows to provide access to recently viewed charts and patient lists with just a click. Leveraging Microsoft Azure's cloud-based features, the Sunrise system helps organisations automate clinical documentation workflow, as well as their tissue and implant processes.

WHY IT MATTERS

The rollout of the Allscripts Sunrise system across the regional EDs is part of the third phase of the health organisation's EMR Community Health activation.

GHA Chief Information Officer Jon Millar said in a statement that Sunrise's Emergency Care module gives emergency clinicians an "information edge in the dynamic environment of an emergency department".

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https://www.afr.com/companies/telecommunications/nbn-co-grants-telcos-lockdown-relief-20210729-p58e27

NBN Co grants telcos lockdown relief

Lucas Baird Reporter

Updated Jul 29, 2021 – 3.55pm, first published at 3.53pm

NBN Co has caved in to industry pressure and will hand retail internet providers like Telstra, Optus and TPG Telecom collectively $5.2 million of credit to offset excess capacity fees as locked down users flock online during the latest wave of COVID-19 lockdowns.

The total may increase over the coming months if NBN Co determines network usage is still over expected levels, with the NSW government likely to keep Greater Sydney in lockdown for longer after it found 239 new cases in the community on Thursday, but it could be a one-off measure.

Sydney’s stay-at-home orders will expire on August 31 at the earliest, at which point it is understood NBN Co will review the relief again.

“The credit payment ... is designed to reduce retailers’ additional wholesale data coverage costs brought on by the incremental increase in usage during the peak evening entertainment hours and to help to ensure they do not fall short of their customers’ data demands,” NBN Co executive Ken Wallis said.

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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nbn-co-to-offer-a-month-of-bandwidth-relief-to-internet-providers-568017

NBN Co to offer a month of bandwidth relief to internet providers

By Ry Crozier on Jul 29, 2021 12:26PM

At a total cost of $5.2 million.

NBN Co will offer internet providers some "relief" on extra bandwidth costs they may be incurring due to lockdowns, but won’t resurrect a bandwidth bonus scheme that ran for much of last year.

The company had been under pressure to act after the top five retail service providers, representing 96 percent of users, wrote to the government seeking intervention.

The RSPs - TPG Telecom, Telstra, Optus, Aussie Broadband and Vocus - said they had seen a “material increase in peak NBN usage” since lockdowns in some states resumed, and were therefore incurring extra costs.

They were unsuccessful in seeking assistance from NBN Co directly and escalated the issue to the communications minister.

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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/australias-top-nbn-rsps-say-lockdowns-expose-them-to-excess-bandwidth-charges-again-567891

Australia's top NBN RSPs say lockdowns expose them to excess bandwidth charges again

By Ry Crozier on Jul 27, 2021 12:15AM

Lobbying govt for another temporary bandwidth bonus.

Australia’s five biggest internet providers are lobbying NBN Co and the federal government to waive excess bandwidth charges they say are being incurred while parts of Australia re-enter lockdown.

The providers - understood to be Aussie Broadband, TPG Telecom, Telstra, Optus and Vocus - escalated their request to Communications Minister Paul Fletcher after being rebuffed by NBN Co.

The existence of a letter sent by the retail service providers, which collectively account for over 96 percent of all NBN fixed-line users, was first reported by CommsDay.

The letter text, which was also sighted by iTnews, called on the government to reintroduce a connectivity virtual circuit (CVC) bonus scheme that ran for much of last year.

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https://www.afr.com/companies/telecommunications/nbn-co-moves-closer-to-isp-lockdown-relief-20210726-p58cvy

NBN Co moves closer to ISP lockdown relief

Lucas Baird Reporter

Jul 26, 2021 – 4.14pm

NBN Co is closing in on relief for retail internet providers including Telstra, Optus and TPG Telecom after they appealed directly to the Morrison government to force the state-owned entity to reinstate pandemic capacity discounts to avoid network congestion and sluggish speeds for locked-down consumers.

With residents of Sydney and Melbourne under strict orders from their respective state governments to stay at home, retailers claim to have witnessed a 30 per cent spike in internet usage, which has strained their networks and heaped wholesale cost pressures on their businesses as they shell out more cash to lift their capacity on the national broadband network.

But NBN Co has so far resisted calls to reinstate a free 40 per cent capacity boost for retailers it had in place for most of 2020, and instead said usage was up by only 8 per cent on Sunday, July 18, on a week-on-week basis.

Five telcos – Telstra, Optus, TPG, Vocus and Aussie Broadband – wrote to Communications Minister Paul Fletcher over the weekend in a bid to break this deadlock.

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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nbn-co-brings-in-kpmg-to-audit-subcontractor-pay-567838

NBN Co brings in KPMG to audit subcontractor pay

By Ry Crozier on Jul 26, 2021 6:35AM

Ignores question about whether the review will be made public.

NBN Co has commissioned KPMG to conduct a promised audit of pay received by field services subcontractors and technicians following protests earlier this year.

The company said in late May that it had called in an “independent auditor” to assess claims made by subcontractors that their pay had been cut after NBN Co changed the way it outsourced field services to its major delivery partners.

NBN Co said at the time that it could not confirm the quantum of cuts being seen by its extended field workforce, but promised a review as well as “interim” payments to technicians while that review process was underway.

Chief operating officer Kathrine Dyer said at the time the review would take “a number of weeks” to complete.

The company has now confirmed further details of the process.

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Enjoy!

David.

Sunday, August 01, 2021

I Suspect We Are All Pretty Sick Of Being Treated Like Mushrooms On Federal Digital Health.

A good example appeared last week when we finally saw some information on the utility of the COVIDSafe app well over 12 months after it was released.

We saw coverage here:

Govt releases overdue COVIDSafe app report

Joseph Brookes
Senior Reporter

Fewer than 800 people who tested positive for coronavirus in Australia had the COVIDsafe app and shared its data for contact tracing, according to a long-overdue government report into the effectiveness of its mobile app.

COVIDSafe uses a smartphone’s Bluetooth technology to log close contacts or ‘digital handshakes’ between users, and then sends these to a national database and to state health authorities if a user tests positive for the COVID-19 virus.

According to a new Department of Health report, 779 people who tested positive for COVID-19 had the app and consented to do this, revealing 1.65 million “digital handshakes” with other COVIDSafe users and 2,827 potential close contacts being identified from 37,668 encounters.

There have been 7.6 million app registrations, according to the report, which covers the period between 26 April 2020 to 15 May 2021. The report does not say how many active users there are of the app.

The report confirms only 17 of the contacts were not already identified by manual contact tracing and that all of these contacts were in New South Wales in 2020. It mentions the NSW figure and notes the app also helped identify an exposure site which had another 544 potential contacts. But the new report does not mention any other contacts found through the app that were not also found through manual tracing.

More details here:

https://www.innovationaus.com/govt-releases-overdue-covidsafe-app-report/

and further coverage here:

Govt concedes COVIDSafe app 'rarely used' in overdue report

By on

Puts it down to low transmission rates and strong manual tracing.

The federal government has finally released its first official report into the COVIDSafe app, conceding the app is "rarely" used but attributing that to low community transmission rates and strong manual contact tracing.

The overdue report comes a week after the Department of Health was forced to release a draft evaluation on the app's operation and effectiveness following a freedom of information request.

It covers two six-month reporting periods instead of the single six-month period outlined in legislation governing COVIDSafe, which also requires that the department provide the report to parliament within 15 sitting days.

The report, published this week, reveals that 779 users who tested positive to Covid-19 consented to having data from the app uploaded to the national COVIDSafe data store between 26 April 2020 and 15 May 2021.

During that 12 month period, there were 7,418,328 app registrations, with only 242,272 of these occurring in the second reporting period between 15 November 2020 and 15 May 2021.

Approximately 23,000 positive cases were recorded across Australia between 26 April 2020 and 15 May 2021, according to official government figures.

All but 44 of the 779 uploads (users) took place between 26 April 2020 and 16 November 2020, with the remainder between 16 November 2020 and 15 May 2021.

The vast majority of uploads were from users located in Victoria (649), with 625 of these also occurring in the first six months. All remaining uploads (125) were from NSW users.

Much more here:

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/govt-concedes-covidsafe-app-rarely-used-in-overdue-report-568030

Basically it seems for millions of dollars and ongoing spending we found only 17 cases over 18 or so months that manual contact tracing had not found prior!

Even worse the app and its functionality seems to now require a major overhaul to cope with the pesky Delta Variant of COVID19.

A flop that the Government delayed telling us about for as long as they could, and now needs a big fix!

Of course to improve the Government’s reputation for transparency we have the omnishambles of the #myHealthRecord.

They hold billions of pieces of data but little is known about how much is still useful – they have been piling data elements up for over 8 years now remember and data is hardly like wine as it ages! We also do not know how much of the data relates to people who have died. Does anyone know of records from the dead are deleted?

You can read the glitzy presentation on the wonders of the #myHealthRecord - by the ADHA - here:

https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/my-health-record/statistics

But what is missing is the evidence that there are real clinical or economic benefits coming from this $2.0 Billion system. You can be sure if the evidence existed it would be on the ADHA home page!

So far I see no deviation from the ‘mushroom treatment’!

David.

 

AusHealthIT Poll Number 590 – Results – 1st August, 2021.

Here are the results of the poll.

Do You Rate The ADHA E-Prescribing Initiative An Overall Success In Adoption And Usage?

Yes 0% (0)

It Still Has A Way To Go 73% (51)

No 27% (19)

I Have No Idea 0% (0)

Total votes: 70

Pretty clear cut outcome – with no one thinking the job is done yet!

Any insights on the poll are welcome, as a comment, as usual!

A good number of votes with a pretty clear outcome! 

It must also have been a very easy question as 0/70 (0%) readers were not sure how to respond.

Again, many, many thanks to all those who voted! 

David.