[LINK] digitalhealth.gov.au at AIIA (18 Sept)

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

On 10/09/2018 10:18 AM, Christian Heinrich wrote:
> https://www.aiia.com.au/events/upcoming-events/australian-capital-territory-events/act/canberra-managers-forum

He's brave. It's a long way from the normal environment he inhabits -
i.e. Primary Health Networks, who toe the party line because they get
funding from the government.

The two biggest questions being asked about My Health Record are:

Could Opt-out My Health Record kill people?
https://privacy.org.au/could-opt-out-my-health-record-kill-people/

and

Will Insurance companies get access to the data?

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/insurers-back-my-health-but-rollout-poor/news-story/18c95d410f2b5adb6ce1d31e257ad688
My Health data revolution ‘can save lives’
Sarah-Jane Tasker
September 10, 2018

The heads of Australia’s private health industry have argued that the
federal government has lost the narrative on the rollout of My Health
Record as they backed the initiative and called for greater use of data
to fuel preventive care.

Mark Fitzgibbon, head of health insurer NIB, also rejected suggestions
insurers could be accessing data from the digital health record system.

“Forget the idea insurers can use somebody’s individual health profile
to disadvantage them — in our world of community rating, enshrined in
the legislation and our culture, we charge people the same price
irrespective of age and health status,” he said.

The rollout of the e-health initiative lost momentum as privacy concerns
dominated headlines, forcing Health Minister Greg Hunt to commit to
change the laws protecting consumers and their data. A Senate inquiry is
also set to examine the security measures around the e-health records,
which Australians have until October 15 to opt out of.

Medibank chief executive Craig Drummond was confident the government
would work through the issues, adding that the insurer supported the
digital record.

“I am also personally a strong supporter of the initiative but
appreciate there needs to be guardrails and I respect the views of those
who have concerns around cyber risks because they are alive in any
business,” he said.

Defence Health chief executive Gerard Fogarty said the implementation of
My Health Record was poor, arguing the government lost control of the
message.

Mr Fogarty said his members had been “screaming” for a digital health
record for years, given most of them had to move, and change GPs, every
two years.

But he said it was a different conversation with members about the
insurer accessing the data, which he said went to an issue of trust.

“The industry has a long way to build that trust with its membership
before they are going to give access to that health record to a private
health insurer,” Mr Fogarty said.

“But I think the future is private health insurers having a far more
active engagement with their members around not just what happens in
tertiary care settings but what is also happening in primary care settings.”

Gordon Ballantyne, head of private hospital group Healthscope, argued
that the pitch for the initiative should have been to look at practical
examples of why it was important as opposed to the macro examples of why
it should be slowed.

He said he supported the My Health Record but added that was
notwithstanding the privacy issues. “If you look at the presentations in
emergency departments, 25 per cent of subsequent fatalities were a
result of having no access to a clinical medical record,” he said.

“There are real practical benefits to medical records being provided and
having transparency and interoperability across different healthcare
settings.”

Ramsay Health Care chief executive Craig McNally the benefits were
theoretically significant in terms of reducing duplication and reducing
error.

“The benefits are clear but whether they can be delivered is the real
question and there are lots of issues around that,” he said.
NIB chief Mark Fitzgibbon.NIB chief Mark Fitzgibbon.

NIB’s Mr Fitzgibbon said it was important to broaden the message about
the e-health records to explain to consumers that having the health data
in a safe and secure place and analysing it to write population health
algorithms could improve society.

“The rise of data science is enabling what we couldn’t dream of five
years ago,” he said.

“There is the ability to write algorithms from millions of health
records that enable a consumer to predict, based on their health
profile, what health risks they have and what they should be doing to
manage or avoid that risk.”

Mr Fitzgibbon said the debate about the use of My Health Records put the
focus on the wider conversation about the use of data and technology to
improve health outcomes.

He said the insurer was going through a procurement process to obtain
technology that would allow NIB to generate insights into individuals,
such as biology, psychology and genealogy.

“We need this information to start to localise algorithms at a
population level, so we can write equations that help us to better guide
your health decisions and better guide your treatment decisions,” he said.

“This technology exists and is growing. We don’t want to reinvent the
wheel and we are talking to large global companies to procure their IP
in IT under different partnership arrangements to bring this technology
to Australia.”

Comments:

John
How? Doctors treat what the see at the time. This is big brother, 1984,
and the rest of the elitist one world rulers and peasants ideology yet
again!

Bruce
Anyone who voluntarily gives government any information about themselves
has no knowledge of world history: in the 1930s, the Dutch government,
being excellent administrators, helpfully compiled demographic data on
their whole population, including documenting who and where all the jews
were. A decade later, the Nazis marched in, then used those records to
kill 80% of them. More Dutch jews died in the holocaust than German. Let
that sink in before you tick any box on a government form.

Jason
George Orwell 1984

Louise
The insurers want managed care. Digital health records bring this a step
closer, ergo insurers want digital records. Here is still time to opt out.

Andrew
Of course the health insurance industry supports this - they want to
save money by not covering, restricting cover or charging more for it
for certain people. Yeah, they’ll say it’s to save lives now, but later
on when policies increase for certain people or they are denied cover,
they’ll say “we have to address shareholder concerns”.

I pulled my kids and I out once I read that Google was selling search
data on health to insurers in the US. I also stopped using Google and
began using Duck Duck Go.

John
One week after the insurers get what they want, you'll have a new choice
to make, Do I seek medical treatment  (and cop a hefty increase in
premium) or do I just muddle through (thereby increasing the insurance
company's profits)? Remember that they don't really see themselves as
insurers (providing a service) but as fund managers (chasing a golden
rainbow of company directorships)!!

Peter
No surprises that the insurance industry would be an advocate of
removing patient / Doctor confidentiality. No surprises at all.


-- 

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
email: brd at iimetro.com.au
web:   www.drbrd.com
web:   www.problemsfirst.com