Australasian health week in review: August 29

Pulse+IT's weekly round-up of Australian and New Zealand health, IT and eHealth news:
The NBN satellite Malcolm Turnbull never wanted prepares for liftoff
Sydney Morning Herald ~ Hannah Francis ~ 28/08/2015
In 32 days and counting, Australia is set to blast a satellite weighing as much as an elephant one-tenth of the way to the moon.
Primary embraces 'medical home' model
Australian Doctor ~ Paul Smith ~ 28/08/2015
Corporate giant Primary Health Care says it is embracing the “medical home” concept and is now pitching the idea to federal politicians.
NICTA no more as CSIRO takes over
iTNews ~ Allie Coyne ~ 28/08/2015
Australia's peak science and research bodies NICTA and the CSIRO will officially merge when the former becomes part of CSIRO's digital productivity group, under a new business to be known as Data61.
Prescription drug dilemma
Pharmacy News ~ Meg Pigram ~ 28/08/2015
The abuse and misuse of prescription medication has been labelled a “national emergency” by the AMA, with professional groups calling for a concerted nation-wide campaign to confront the issue.
What human emotions do we really want of artificial intelligence
The Conversation ~ David Lovell ~ 27/08/2015
Forget the Turing and Lovelace tests on artificial intelligence: I want to see a robot pass the Frampton Test.
The baby and the bathwater: let’s keep the NDIS but slow down its roll-out
The Conversation ~ David Gilchrist ~ 27/08/2015
Former Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson has expressed doubts about the financial viability of the National Disability Scheme (NDIS), which is being trialled in various locations around Australia.
Dip a cautious toe in the patient portal waters says early adopter GP
NZ Doctor ~ Keira Stephenson ~ 27/08/2015
Harry Pert was recently called on to give a patient portal presentation at a Lakes DHB meeting, due to his status as an “early adopter”.
The NBN blowout and the blame game
The Australian ~ Mark Gregory ~ 26/08/2015
The $15 billion cost blowout and further rollout delays highlighted this week by NBN Co are an exercise in allowing the Coalition to get the bad news out of the way and hope for better news before the 2016 federal election.
Balancing the health budget: chronic disease investment pays big dividends
The Conversation ~ Maureen Rimmer ~ 26/08/2015
Australians may be living longer but lifestyle-related chronic diseases are now the leading cause of illness, death and disability. Nearly 40% of Australians aged 45 and over have two or more chronic diseases
NBN ups its cost blowout by $15b since last estimate in December 2013
Australian Financial Review ~ Tony Boyd ~ 24/08/2015
The harsh and costly reality of building the world's first government-owned national broadband network hit with a $15 billion thud on Monday.
NBN Co dumps FTTP plan for another half a million premises
Delimiter ~ Renai LeMay ~ 24/08/2015
The National Broadband Network Company this afternoon revealed up to 550,000 less Australian premises would receive the full Fibre to the Premises rollout than had been previously been planned under the Coalition’s Multi-Technology Mix.
Turnbull defends NBN cost blowout
iTNews ~ Andrew Sadauskas ~ 24/08/2015
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said a government-owned startup was the wrong model for the NBN after its latest corporate plan showed the network will exhaust government equity funding by 2017.
NBN 2.0 costs more than expected
Computerworld ~ Rohan Pearce ~ 24/08/2015
The 'multi-technology mix' network could cost as much as $56 billion, though the new corporate plan's base case is $49 billion.
Cost blowout to push NBN past $41bn budget
iTNews ~ Andrew Sadauskas and Allie Coyne ~ 24/08/2015
NBN's construction costs will blow out past the $41 billion price tag previously forecast for the infrastructure project, the company revealed today.
Posted in Australian eHealth