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A Cloud Healthcare Datathon, a FHIR session and one-on-one time on APIs and deep learning will highlight the specialty pavilion at this year's global conference.

The health system's Physician Services Group worked with IT leadership to help aggregate EHR prescribing data and make it available to its providers.

An executive at the networking giant discusses how health tech needs to evolve to keep pace with changing consumer expectations.

Penn Medicine’s John Donohue explains why hyperconverged infrastructure should be part of your strategic plan.  

The IHiS Board of Directors appointed an independent human resource panel to examine the roles, responsibilities and actions of the IHiS staff involved, and assess the appropriate HR actions to be taken.

The agency’s Annual Report 2017–18 identified that “42 data breaches (in 28 notifications) were reported to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)… concerning potential data security or integrity breaches”, but with “no purposeful or malicious attacks compromising the integrity or security of the My Health Record system”. Of the 42 instances, one breach resulted from unauthorised access to a My Health Record as a result of an incorrect parental authorised representative being assigned to a child. Two breaches resulted from suspected fraud against the Medicare program, where the incorrect records appeared in the My Health Record of the affected individual and were viewed without authority by the individual undertaking the suspected fraudulent activity. The ADHA report also identified that 17 breaches were a result of data integrity activity initiated by the Department of Human Services to “identify intertwined Medicare records (that is, where a single Medicare record has been used interchangeably between two or more individuals)”. The remaining 22 breaches were from suspected fraud against the Medicare program involving unauthorised Medicare claims being submitted, and the incorrect records appearing in the My Health Record of the affected customers. An ADHA spokesperson confirmed that in all instances, the Department of Human Services took action to correct the affected My Health Records. “Errors of this type occur due to either alleged fraudulent Medicare claims or manual human processing errors, as was the case for the breaches reported during the 2017-2018 financial year. There has been no reported unauthorised viewing of any individual’s health information from a notifiable data breach,” the spokesperson said. “In each case, the affected individuals have been contacted and the OAIC has examined the circumstances of the breach and no unauthorised breach has been determined.” The ADHA spokesperson added that there are more than 6.3 million people with a My Health Record, but in the six years of its operations, there have been “no reported unauthorised views of a person’s health information”. “When a person’s health information is stored in different places – hospitals, doctors’ offices, filing cabinets, computers – they don’t know who is accessing it or when. In a My Health Record, every access is listed in a person’s record access history. A person can be notified by text message about who is accessing their record or restrict access to all or parts of their record,” the spokesperson said. On 26 November 2018, the Federal Parliament passed legislation to strengthen privacy protections in My Health Records Act 2012 without debate or division.   The new legislation means that Australians can opt in or opt out of My Health Record at any time in their lives. Records will be created for every Australian who wants one after 31 January and after then, they have a choice to delete their record permanently at any time. “At the time of writing, almost one quarter of all Australians have registered for a My Health Record. That figure is expected to change dramatically with the transition to an opt out system early in the 2018–19 financial year,” ADHA CEO Tim Kelsey said in the report. “Once this resource becomes almost ubiquitous across the Australian health system, clinical workflows and consumer behaviours will gradually and irrevocably change to take advantage of its many benefits. “For many people the benefits of digital health will be realised gradually, as health and medical data gradually accumulates to form a comprehensive medical history,” Kelsey said. This article first appeared on Healthcare IT News Australia.

Last week, Deqing county hospital in Guangdong Province launched free consultations featuring artificial-intelligence (AI) cameras to detect ocular fundus diseases, which are major causes of blindness, according to a report by Xinhua News. About 300 residents from Zhaoqing City in Dequing County attended the free consultation sessions. The hospital became the first to use the device, co-developed by China's search engine Baidu and Sun Yat-sen University, to serve the general public. The instrument is capable of diagnosing three types of fundus disorders -- diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and macular degeneration. It scans the eyes and generates a report in 10 seconds, all done without the need for an ophthalmologist to be present. Baidu’s AI-powered camera was first unveiled in China in November 2018, according to a MobiHealth News article. Fundus diseases are a major cause of blindness in the developing world, where the short supply of eye doctors and instruments has stymied timely diagnosis and treatment. China, with a population of 1.39 billion, has only thousands of ophthalmologists capable of analysing fundus photos screening. “As a doctor working at the grassroots level, I believe AI can greatly help in all aspects of screening. For instance, there is so much imaging data during medical checkups and it takes up a lot of time and energy for doctors to physically look at this data, which is simply not efficient. In ophthalmology, the use of AI to verify test results from fluorescein angiography and OCT examinations can help doctors expedite their analysis, which saves time and improves their efficiency,” said Dr Honghu Xia, Director of Ophthalmology at Deqing county hospital. Xu Yanwu, a Baidu engineer developing the instrument, said the AI cameras were specifically designed to address the lack of medical instruments and ophthalmologists at grassroots health facilities. "It is easy to use and can be operated by a non-professional. Its 94-percent sensitivity and specificity at analysing photos can match a senior doctor at a tertiary hospital," Xu said. As of 10 January 2019, Baidu already has four of said AI cameras operating in four hospitals in Deqing County to assist ophthalmologists in fundus screening. It is estimated that by end of March, Guangdong Province will have 14 hospitals using the AI camera instrument.

One of the fast-growing sectors that have been identified in Thailand is healthcare and it is expected to be a key driver of the country’s economy. Deloitte estimates that the health care spending in Thailand would have reached $18.7bn last year, growing by 8% between 2014 and 2018. The consultancy added that total spending was $12.8bn in 2013. The medical equipment market is growing quickly as well, having risen in value from BT25.92bn ($780.2m) in 2010 to BT38bn ($1.1bn) in 2015. Nearly 80% of this medical equipment is imported. The government’s share of sector spending is the second highest in the region, at 77%, yet private sector spending is on the rise. In 2008, the Thai government spent BT8.2bn ($246.8m) on health care while the private sector spent BT2.6bn ($78.3m). By 2015, the government was spending BT12.5bn ($376.3m) for health care, while the private sector spent BT4bn ($120.4m). Private hospitals have benefited from government efforts to provide universal health care. Local hospitals report having experienced sharp increases in patient numbers, and this has led patients with the financial means to seek treatment at privately run establishments. Private sector growth According to the data from the Health Service Support Department at the Ministry of Public Health in 2015, there were 343 private hospitals operating in Thailand, up from 321 in 2011. Around 40% of these were in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area. The private hospital sector has been undergoing structural change and the effects of this are becoming increasingly clear. Large hospitals which are able to expand rapidly are doing so through mergers and acquisitions and by expanding their commercial networks both in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area and in important regional centers, especially those in border regions. Thailand’s Medical tourism industry is largely driven by private hospitals. Some of the well-known private hospital groups in the country include: (i) Bangkok Dusit Medical Services, the largest private hospital group in Thailand which consists of six major hospital groups – Bangkok Hospital, Samitivej Hospital, BNH Hospital, Phyathai Hospital, Paolo Hospital and The Royal Hospital and (ii) Bumrungrad International Hospital, one of the largest private hospitals in Southeast Asia and the first hospital in Asia to receive Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation in 2002. The above-mentioned private hospitals are also continually looking to expand their international reach through Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with foreign online health platforms or companies. For instance, Bangkok Dusit Medical Services signed an MoU with China’s Ping An Good Doctor in November 2018 and Bumrungrad International Hospital signed an MoU with Malaysia’s BookDoc in June 2018. New players such as huge conglomerate companies in Thailand are also increasingly interested in investing in healthcare. These investments are huge and tend to be concentrated in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region. Examples of investors include Pruksa Holdings (Vimutti Hospital, scheduled for opening in 2020), RSU Group (RSU International Hospital, also scheduled for opening in 2020), CP Group, and TCC Group. Convergence of public initiatives and private sector developments Through a number of incentives, the Thai government wants to capitalise on the market development of medical tourism. Thailand is shifting public policy towards creating an environment wherein medical tourists can access the country’s services with ease. Part of the government’s strategic plan to become a global medical hub involves the loosening of visa restrictions and the creation of smart visas. Extending visas from 30 days to 90 days for citizens of China along with those of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) will increase treatment options and draw customers with the promise of quality facilities. The private healthcare sector will be expected to grow and become more competitive due to the entry of non-traditional players such as huge conglomerate companies. Additionally, some public hospitals have also noticed the potential opportunities and have developed services (e.g. specialist treatments or providing services outside regular working hours) that match the standards of the private hospitals. Piyamaharajkarun Hospital, part of the Siriraj Hospital network and the Somdech Phra Debaratana Medical Centre at Ramathibodi Hospital are examples of public hospitals which have followed this path. Challenges and conclusion Thailand provides universal health coverage to its citizens, which is great but comes with several challenges. Some of these big challenges include fiscal sustainability in the long term, maintaining healthcare service quality and the shortage of healthcare professionals to meet the demands of universal health coverage. There is also the existing urban-rural divide in terms of the provision and quality of healthcare. The clever and practical use of technologies could address some of these issues, but this also requires significant buy-in and commitment from the policy makers and public sector.