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This weekly blog is to explore the news around 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 were
dated 6 December, 2018 and we have seen none since! It’s pretty sad!
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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https://www.afr.com/world/europe/eu-targets-big-tech-with-groundbreaking-rules-20220423-p5afmi
EU targets big tech with groundbreaking rules
Kevlin Chan Raf Casert
Apr 23, 2022
– 6.41pm
Brussels
| The European Union reached a landmark deal to take aim at hate speech,
disinformation and other harmful online content.
The
law will force big tech companies to police themselves harder, make it easier
for users to flag problems and empower regulators to punish noncompliance with
billions in fines.
EU
officials finally clinched the agreement in principle in the early hours of
Saturday. The Digital Services Act will overhaul the digital rulebook for 27
countries and cement Europe’s reputation as the global leader in reining in the
power of social media companies and other digital platforms, such as Facebook,
Google and Amazon.
“With
the DSA, the time of big online platforms behaving like they are ‘too big to
care’ is coming to an end,” said EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry
Breton.
EU
Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager added that “with today’s agreement
we ensure that platforms are held accountable for the risks their services can
pose to society and citizens.”
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https://digitalhealth.org.au/blog/transforming-care-delivery-with-digital-care-pathways-sponsor-update-by-the-clinician/
Transforming care delivery with digital care pathways |
Sponsor update by The Clinician
Apr 21, 2022
| Member news
This
is a sponsored post by The Clinician
Digital
care pathways (DCPs) make use of digital technologies to inform, monitor and
support patients through their healthcare journeys. In doing so, they present
healthcare providers with ways to more deeply understand each patient’s health
and deliver more streamlined, proactive, and patient-centric care. They also
save time and money.
The
Clinician has been supporting healthcare institutions across
Australasia to realise these benefits by digitalising their care pathways.
Providing a flexible, interoperable and secure digital health platform, The
Clinician coordinates each patient’s entire care journey while outside the
hospital walls, including the collection and analysis of critical health data
(PROMs, PREMs, objective device or wearable data) as well as the delivery of
patient communication and multimedia educational content.
If
you are interested to learn more about digital care pathways or see The
Clinician’s platform in action, find them on the Conference app or visit their
booth at the AIDH Summit Series event in Brisbane.
You
can also download The Clinician’s eBook about digital care pathways via the
link below.
LEARN MORE
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https://digitalhealth.org.au/blog/csiro-aehrc-is-australias-largest-digital-health-research-program/
CSIRO: AEHRC is Australia’s largest digital health
research program
Apr 20, 2022
| Member news
This is a
sponsored post by AEHRC
engage mean
digital information is set to play an increasingly important role in
transforming the quality and sustainability of health and care.
Used
effectively, digital health can help save lives, improve health and wellbeing
and support a sustainable and equitable health system.
With our rich
history of research translation for benefit of Australians, we offer a full
health and biomedical informatics research program, with capabilities in data
analysis and interoperability, precision medicine and virtual care.
Operating
within CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, we are trusted advisors and
key collaborative partners to both industry and state and federal departments
of health. In our efforts to tackle Australia’s biggest health problems,
including accessibility, quality and efficiency, we are home to products and
services such as:
- Ontoserver
- MoTHER
- Smarter Safer Homes
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https://digitalhealth.org.au/blog/report-reveals-gender-disparity-in-australias-digital-health-sector/
Report reveals gender disparity in Australia’s digital
health sector
Apr 19, 2022
| Advocacy, Australian
Health News, Community
Chats, Member
news, Publications
More than 90
per cent of women respondents believe there is still progress to be made to
reach gender equity in the digital health sector, according to a new report
released by Telstra Health, the Australasian Institute of Digital Health
(AIDH), the Digital Health CRC (DHCRC) and CSIRO’s Australian e-Health Research
Centre.
The Understanding
Gender Diversity in Australia’s Digital Health Sector special report
provides qualitative and quantitative research findings on the current state of
gender diversity, career progression and equity in the sector based on the
findings from a first of its kind survey.
The survey
which informed the report was completed anonymously by close to 300 people who
work in the digital health sector. While more than 90 per cent of women
respondents said they believe there is still progress to be made in reaching
gender equity, one in five men respondents disagreed.
The report
also shows that fewer women respondents than men respondents intend to continue
to work in digital health (77 per cent and 90.8 per cent respectively) yet over
nine in 10 respondents advised they would still recommend a career in digital
health to others (93.4 per cent).
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https://medicalrepublic.com.au/how-to-choose-the-right-healthcare-technology/67164
22 April 2022
How to choose the right healthcare technology
Practice Management SPONSORED
Technology Webinars
Sponsored
Identify your
practice issues that technology can help resolve.
Healthcare
technology innovations have accelerated in recent years, and so has the rate at
which medical practices are adopting digital solutions to improve efficiencies
and patient care.
The
pandemic, of course, has forced more practices to move from in-person
healthcare delivery to digital patient management and telehealth services. In
fact, 68% of medical practices report they expect their technology budgets to
increase in the next 12 months, according to a recent CommBank GP Insights Report.
Healthcare
technology benefits patients, plus clinical and non-clinical staff
A
poll we conducted found practice owners and managers thought that using more
technology in their business has these main benefits:
- saving time on administrative tasks
87%
- saving time on patient management
67%
- reducing risk to the practice 60%
- meeting patient expectations 67%
Patients
increasingly want more convenient access to health information and care, so
they can be more actively involved in maintaining their own health. So it’s up
to medical practices to embrace the technology that delivers these services,
whether that’s features such as online appointment booking, SMS alerts,
electronic prescriptions, or phone and video consults.
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https://wildhealth.net.au/how-the-general-practice-of-the-future-will-look/
21 April 2022
How the general practice of the future will look
Big Data Patient Management Systems Technology
By Holly Payne
Auditing
clinic records, analysing data and sending out targeted messages to patients are
all daily activities for Dr Kean-Seng Lim and his colleagues at the Mt Druitt
Medical Centre in western Sydney.
The
practice uses patient-centred medical home principles, a model of care which
involves working in multidisciplinary primary care teams using patient data –
the kind of data that is already routinely collected – to support preventative
care work.
Monthly
data meetings are held to determine areas of undertreatment. The focus of one
meeting might be collating the practice data on every patient who has had a
heart attack, and then looking at the proportion of those patients currently on
statins.
“We
would expect that 90% of all of our patients who had a heart attack would be on
a statin, and if we discover that our metrics are dropping and only 85% are on
a statin then that triggers a practice audit, where we talk about data driven
improvement,” Dr Lim told Wild Health.
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https://wildhealth.net.au/my-health-records-dumb-numbers-and-meaningful-use/
22 April 2022
My Health Record’s ‘dumb numbers’ versus ‘meaningful
use’
ADHA Government
MHR
By Jeremy Knibbs
The
Department of Health finally wants to see some evidence of the usefulness of
the MHR.
If
you trawl the health portfolio budget statement from March, on page 183 you
will see a table that suggests the government is starting to lose patience, and
perhaps even faith, in the whole idea of My Health Record (MHR).
The
table says that as a part of measuring the performance of the Australian
Digital Health Agency (ADHA) into 2023, it is going to require that the agency
“Establish an approach and trial baseline for measuring meaningful use via a
‘meaningful use index’ for My Health Record”.
What
the government wants is for the ADHA to start properly measuring just how
useful this $2.6 billion project is today, and moving forward.
Finally,
someone wants some proof that the MHR is doing, or even starting to do, what
we’ve all been promised it would do.
It
should be shocking to us all that we’ve spent this much money and time and we
haven’t actually been measuring usefulness for the entire life of the MHR
project.
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https://www.canberrahealthservices.act.gov.au/before,-during-and-after-your-care/staying-at-canberra-hospital/after-your-stay/your-health-record
Your health record
Your information
Health
records of all patients treated in our health system are retained for their
benefit. You can access your own health records at any time.
All
health records we create at any of our facilities are confidential documents
and remain the property of Canberra Health Services. We will not release copies
of your health records to a third party without your written request and
consent.
We
take all steps necessary to ensure the privacy of your health information is
secured. However, it’s important to note that if your GP or dentist’s clinic
creates and has possession or control of your medical record, they are
considered the record keeper. To access medical records held by a medical
practitioner you will need to contact them directly.
You
can also transfer a health record when your health service provider closes,
merges with another or relocates.
Accessing your health record
You
can make a request for record access at any time. Health records are governed
by the Health
Records (Privacy & Access) Act 1997 and fees
apply.
Please
use our Patient
request to access health records (PDF, 237.87 KB) to apply to access
your health records.
We
also have an Health Records Access
Information sheet (PDF, 613.81 KB) about accessing your health
records and the current Health record access
fees (PDF, 161.39 KB).
My
Health Record provides you with more access and control of your
health information.
My
Health Record can be accessed when you are out and about, providing summary
health information from wherever you are. Over time, the amount of information
available will increase as more healthcare professionals contribute to My
Health Records.
The
ACT Health Directorate’s Freedom of Information Unit also coordinates the
Freedom of Information services for Canberra Health Services.
Freedom of Information
The
ACT Freedom
of Information Act 2016 (the FOI Act) gives individuals the
legal right to:
- access government information unless
access to the information would, on balance, be contrary to the public
interest;
- ask for personal information to be
changed if it is incomplete, out-of-date, incorrect or misleading; and
- appeal a decision about access to a
document, or a decision in relation to a request to amend or annotate a
personal record.
We
have more
information about Freedom of Information, including how to make an
application.
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https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/how-akamai-keeps-the-internet-flowing/news-story/811c303be72d2aaaf8283f106102df3b
How Akamai keeps the internet flowing for Telstra,
Optus, SBS
Chris Griffith
Technology
Reporter
7:00AM April
21, 2022
When your
footy team’s match streams smoothly and your bank website is responsive to your
needs, you can probably thank Akamai. The American content delivery giant may
not be a household name, but it’s crucial to everyday online interactions
without bottlenecks.
“When you get
put in a queue to be able to schedule a vaccine, or to buy a ticket, that’s
done on our servers in thousands of places,” Akamai CEO and co-founder Tom
Leighton told The Australian.
“What Akamai
has been doing for 20 years is what’s called edge computing, and that’s highly
distributed computing. But for a user, what’s important is it’s being done
right next to them in their city and their network.”
Akamai is used by
governments, media, video streaming services, commerce, hospitality and travel
companies to relay and amplify their websites and video services so that they
operate smoothly, no matter the demand, and no matter where users are.
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https://www.hospitalhealth.com.au/content/aged-allied-health/news/online-program-for-stroke-survivors-improves-wellbeing-study-379231396
Online program for stroke survivors improves wellbeing:
study
Thursday, 21 April, 2022
Access
to an online program that provides easily accessible, interactive, tailored
healthy lifestyle and behaviour change techniques improves the wellbeing of
adult stroke survivors, according to a new study.
Led
by Dr Ashleigh Guillaumier from the University of Newcastle and senior author
Professor Billie Bonevski from Flinders University, the study undertook a
randomised control trial to evaluate the online program Prevent 2nd Stroke
(P2S), which encourages users to set goals and monitor progress across various
health risk areas.
399
adult stroke survivors with an average age of 66 were asked to complete a
telephone survey, following which they were randomly assigned to receive either
a list of generic health information websites or 12 weeks of access to the P2S
online program. The group with P2S access also received additional text
messages encouraging use of the program.
Nearly
all participants then completed a six-month follow-up survey, with the
researchers finding those who received P2S access had a higher health-related
quality of life (HRQOL) score than those who received the generic health
information.
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https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/careers/project-officer-strategic-agency-programs
Project Officer, Strategic Agency Programs
APS6
($101,757 - $114,800)
Digital
Programs and Engagement Division > Programme Management
Brisbane,
Canberra, Sydney
Closing - 4
May 2022
Division overview
Digital
programs and engagement – responsible for external
relationships, implementation and change and adoption, as well as being the
place of excellence for driving program delivery, reporting and outcomes.
Primary purpose of position
The
APS6 Project Officer will undertake work that is complex in nature, assisting
with the successful delivery of key projects in line with Agency priorities.
The APS6 Project Officer is required to work under limited direction, in a
dynamic and collaborative environment, to set high standards, meet challenges
with determination and resolve and liaise with a range of key stakeholders
including business units across the Agency.
The
APS6 Project Officer will provide expert advice that may assist in strategic
planning, program and project management and policy development. The APS6
Project Officer will be responsible for assisting with the management of the risks
and resources to deliver specific programs/projects including setting of
priorities and managing workflows. From 2022, amongst other projects you will
be expected to work on the delivery of the Pregnancy and Children’s Digital
Health Record (PCDHR) program. This program aims to successfully integrate
information from the NSW pilot of the PCDHR with My Health Record, as well as
expand the pilot for the PCDHR to make it available nationally.
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‘Never say never’: As subscriptions hit a wall,
streaming giants are eyeing ads
By John Koblin and Tiffany Hsu
April 20, 2022 — 8.36am
The
two titans of the video streaming wars — Netflix and Disney+ — have long
resisted commercials, showing a reluctance to have premium series like
“Stranger Things” or “The Mandalorian” run alongside ads hawking dish soap,
soft drinks and medications.
“No
advertising coming onto Netflix — period,” Reed Hastings, one of Netflix’s
co-chief executives, said several years ago, a point of view he repeated for
some time.
“We
don’t believe that the consumer experience would be a particularly good one if
we had advertising on Disney+,” Christine McCarthy, Disney’s chief financial
officer, said in late 2020.
But
now, the streamers are starting to come around on Madison Avenue.
With
the pandemic-induced surge of subscriptions showing signs of waning, major
media and tech streaming companies are beginning to get bullish on advertising.
To reach more people — including those made cost-sensitive by high inflation
and subscription overload — streamers are offering a deal: exposure to ads in
exchange for lower prices.
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https://itwire.com/science-news/health/bethesda-health-care-first-provider-in-australia-to-implement-microsoft-cloud-for-healthcare-technology-in-new-mental-health-clinic.html
Wednesday, 20 April 2022 08:12
Bethesda Health Care first provider in Australia to
implement Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare technology in new mental health clinic
By Staff Writer
Mental
health service Bethesda Health Care has announced its new mental health clinic
in the Perth suburb of Cockburn, Western Australia, will be the first medical
facility in Australia to install Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare as its Patient
Administration System (PAS), with Velrada – Microsoft’s growth partner of the
year – as its implementation partner.
Microsoft
Cloud for Healthcare harnesses the power of the Microsoft cloud by bringing
together capabilities from Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power
Platform and Microsoft 365 to transform the healthcare journey through a more
secure and connected patient experience.
Microsoft
says Bethesda can leverage the features and functionality of these platforms to
explore new care models through innovation and digitisation, where the consumer
is in control of their care and, with consent, provide clinical staff a full
history of the care and support given and proposed.
According
to Bethesda Chief Executive Officer Dr Neale Fong, adopting Microsoft Cloud for
Healthcare comes at a critical time for West Australians, with demand for
mental health support rising across the state.
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https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/hospitals-exposed-to-robot-glitch/news-story/582101418ed345a856da54c934f48210
Hospitals exposed to robot glitch
David Swan
10:46PM April
19, 2022
At least two
Australian hospitals were using robots with security flaws that could have
allowed hackers to spy on patients, tamper with medication or shut down
hospital systems.
Cyber
security researchers say the vulnerabilities, discovered overseas last week,
affected Aethon TUG smart autonomous robots understood to be deployed in some
Australian hospitals including the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Epworth in
Richmond. The US’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
warned last week that the bugs could allow hackers to take full control of
robot functions or expose sensitive information.
The robots
handle tasks including distributing medication, cleaning and transporting
hospital supplies and use sensors, cameras and radio waves to avoid bumping
into people and objects.
The
technology that powers the robots and allows them to move throughout the
hospital is also what made the vulnerabilities so dangerous, according to Asher
Brass, an executive at cyber security start-up Cynerio and lead researcher on
what has been dubbed JekyllBot: 5 vulnerabilities.
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David.