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This week on Pulse: Hot Topics, Louise and George ask  Can AI cure cancer before smoking kills you? Should we worry if NVIDIA's CEO thinks basic maths no longer matters? Louise and George introduce a new segment exploring the extraordinary things tech leaders say - and the consequences of believing the hype. In this week's Hot Topics, they examine Australia's TGA review of AI scribes and the UK's ambitious plans to regulate healthcare AI throughout its lifecycle. They explore fascinating research allowing people with epilepsy to converse with their own brain-monitoring data, and revisit the controversy surrounding Palantir and the NHS Federated Data Platform. Plus, a FemTech roundup covering Google Health and Flo, new approaches to breast cancer detection, and a rather unconventional device being marketed for menopause symptoms. Resources TGA finds 8 of 12 scribes likely medical devices Pulse+IT Govt backs recommendations of NHS doctors-led AI Commission Link Human–artificial intelligence collaboration for comanaging epilepsy in real time. Nature Medicine Feminai pilots at home breast exam kit with Midi Health Femtech Insider Mammograms can miss cancer in dense tissue Inc MenoPulse Boots UK Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions [email protected] Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

Is artificial intelligence an existential threat to humanity? Or is the greater danger what humans choose to do with it? In this special episode of Pulse, Louise and George are joined by Professor Enrico Coiera, Dr Guy Tsafnat, and Lucy Orr-Ewing of the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI) for a provocative discussion about AI safety, superintelligence and the future of healthcare. From rogue AI and malicious actors to systemic failures and the growing power of technology giants, the panel explores what could go wrong - and whether we're building the safeguards needed to prevent it. They debate whether regulation can keep pace with AI, whether human-in-the-loop oversight is becoming theatre, and what healthcare leaders should be doing now to ensure AI delivers benefits without compromising patient safety. The central question: Will AI be our greatest threat, or will human decisions be our undoing? Resources: Don’t Walk. Run. AI in Healthcare – The 3rd National Policy Roadmap (Australian Alliance for AI in Healthcare) CHAI AI Governance Playbooks From principles to practice: an actionable framework for AI governance in healthcare organisations, BMJ The Alignment Problem by Brian Christian Follow our guests on LinkedIn: Enrico, Lucy, Guy Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions [email protected] Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

This week on Pulse: Hot Topics, Louise and George ask who gets to deliver healthcare, as AI agents, a dating app, Apple and online platforms all push into territory that once belonged to clinicians and health services. Agentic AI moves into healthcare — Heidi's new agents can now complete referrals, recalls and follow-ups across EHRs, inboxes and patient portals, joining Epic, Oracle and ARPA-H in a shift from AI that advises to AI that acts. George draws on James Reason's Swiss cheese model and Goodhart's Law to ask who is accountable when agents get it wrong. Is Grindr becoming a front door to healthcare? — Grindr's US$250 million purchase of PrEP telehealth provider Freddie will bring HIV prevention, testing, prescriptions and medication delivery inside the app, a sign that healthcare is moving to where communities already gather. Apple pushes further into healthcare — Apple's redesigned Health app adds a Health Age score, at-home movement assessments and, in the US, lab tests you can buy straight from the app. That raises questions about validation, equity, and who has the conversation when your watch says you're older than you are. Telehealth grows up — France has given teleconsultation platforms until 1 October to stop charging patients to skip the queue. Meanwhile Australia is preparing its first national safety and quality standards for virtual care, along with rules requiring online prescribers to share medicines information to My Health Record by default. Plus, Louise reviews Eliza at Melbourne Theatre Company, the story of Joseph Weizenbaum and the world's first chatbot, and pays tribute to her PhD supervisor, the late Professor Graham Pervan. Resources Heidi launches AI agents for clinical admin, Pulse+IT Link Oracle outlines healthcare AI roadmap, Pulse+IT Link Online prescribing Share by Default consultation Link Recommendations: Join the ACSQHC Webinars for the public consultation on the Draft National Safety and Quality Standards for Virtual Care (19, 21 and 23 October) Go see Melbourne Theatre Company Eliza, showing until 31 October Watch Silenced documentary Aging Research and Drug Discovery Annual Meeting YouTube Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions [email protected] Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

This week on Pulse: Hot Topics, Louise and George break down: OpenAI's Agent Breaches a Medicare Portal – An OpenAI agent that "didn't accept no for an answer" pulled non-public files from a legacy Medicare statistics portal, turning a benign research task into a wake-up call for healthcare's ageing legacy systems. AI Scribes Meet the Law – A Washington State court ruled a patient had no right to the ambient AI recording of her own consult, while an Australian legal analysis warns scribes may concentrate liability on the doctor who signs the note. The Medicare Pipeline Nobody Designed – An Auditor-General's report shows software increasingly marketed to optimise Medicare billing with AI, while the Health Department switched off its own AI fraud-detection model because staff couldn't keep up with what it flagged. The US Prepares to Pay AI Doctors – A New York Times investigation finds US health officials fast-tracking AI that diagnoses, prescribes and treats, including reported discussions about paying AI doctors 60 to 80 per cent of what human doctors earn. And a huge thank you to our Pulse Poddies: we've passed 25,000 downloads! Resources: Pulse+IT: PM alleges 'unauthorised access' of Medicare portal LinkThe Conversation: Australia's legacy systems were already a cyber risk. AI agents are raising the stakes LinkAMA: Patients don't have right to ambient AI recordings, court says LinkKirkpatrick, Porter & Freckelton, "Current and Emerging Medico-Legal Issues Related to AI Scribes in Healthcare Across Australia", (2026) 32 Journal of Law and Medicine 823Coiera & Fraile-Navarro, AI Scribes: Are We Measuring What Matters?, JMIR Medical Informatics LinkSeuren, Williams & Cresswell, BMJ Digital Health & AI LinkANAO, Artificial Intelligence and Medicare Benefits Integrity LinkThe New York Times: U.S. Health Officials Move Quickly to Deploy Medical A.I. Despite Concerns LinkARPA-H ADVOCATE program Link Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions [email protected] Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

Healthcare faces a global workforce crisis - but what if we’re asking the wrong question about AI? Professor Daniel Baumgart joins Louise and George to argue that AI’s greatest opportunity may not be replacing clinicians, but helping us keep them. They explore where AI is genuinely reducing workload, who should benefit from the ‘productivity dividend’, and why layering AI onto dysfunctional workflows may simply accelerate the problem. Daniel also warns of an emerging risk: clinicians becoming deskilled as they increasingly rely on AI, creating a divide between those who understand and can challenge these systems and those who simply depend on them.  Plus: what tomorrow’s clinicians need to learn, why clinical judgement must remain human, and the two questions every health service should answer before buying an AI tool.  Read Daniel’s paper in The Lancet: Global advances in health artificial intelligence: a workforce imperative Link Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions [email protected] Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

“Human in the loop” has become one of healthcare AI’s favourite safety assurances. But what happens when AI is making decisions at a speed and scale no human can realistically oversee? Dr Andrew Rochford joins Louise and George to discuss Above-the-Loop Governance, his proposed approach to continuously measuring AI decision-making against independent professional benchmarks. They explore how AI could earn, and lose, the authority to make consequential decisions, what happens when AI performs differently or even better than humans, and where accountability ultimately sits when an AI makes the call.  Andrew also discusses Trakkked.ai, his attempt to put the framework into practice. Learn more about Trakked.ai Read Andrew’s paper on Above the Loop Governance Link Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions [email protected] Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

This week on Pulse: Hot Topics, how much of healthcare are we ready to hand over to AI? Louise and George look at OpenAI's new connection to Epic and what it could mean for the future of the electronic health record; new Australian data showing AI is rapidly becoming a front door to healthcare; and a provocative paper challenging whether keeping a “human in the loop” really makes AI safer. They also explore a very different model of human-AI collaboration, with AI assisting neurosurgeons during brain tumour surgery, and the FDA's authorisation of the first wearable to continuously monitor both glucose and ketones. Plus: why trust and health-data literacy aren't keeping pace with AI adoption, and the FDA's vision for the home as a healthcare hub. Resources: OpenAI — Healthcare organizations can now connect EHR and additional industry data to ChatGPT Link PwC Australia — Voice of the Consumer 2026: Fit and Informed Link Australian Digital Health Agency — My Health Record use surges as Agency improves access for clinicians Link Mitchell, Ghosh & Passi — AI Agents Push Humans Out of the Loop, arXiv Link The Guardian — London neurosurgeons' AI-assisted brain tumour operation Link FDA — Authorizes First Wearable Device That Continuously Monitors Both Ketone Levels and Blood Sugar Link FDA — Home as a Health Care Hub initiative Link Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions [email protected] Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

This week on Pulse: Amplify, Louise and George sit down with Greg Moran from Ageing Australia to discuss digital maturity, workforce, vendor capability, interoperability, consumer access to data and AI readiness. While Australia’s new Digital Maturity Uplift Toolkit was designed for residential aged care, there are lessons here for any health or care organisation navigating digital transformation. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn Download the Digital Maturity Uplift Toolkit here Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions [email protected] Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

This week on Pulse: Hot Topics, could autonomous AI deliver better care than doctors - even doctors using AI? Louise and George examine the provocative new JAMA argument that human oversight may sometimes make medical AI less accurate, before confronting a very real counterpoint: an AI scribe that invented psychedelic mushroom use in an Australian patient’s medical record. They also discuss Australia’s move to connect wearable devices to national digital health infrastructure; new AMA(US) guidance on making wearable data clinically useful; and an international survey exposing major failures in care coordination. Finally, Google’s video-enabled AMIE can now interview, observe and guide simulated patients through elements of a virtual examination. If AI can see, hear and assess the patient, does virtual care still require a human clinician, or a radically different model of clinical governance? Research Opportunities: AI policy vs frontline reality survey (deadline 2 September) Link Resources: JAMA Perspective, "Will Autonomous AI Exceed AI-Aided Physicians as the Best Medical Care?" Link ABC News, "Error by AI scribe during medical appointment leaves patient devastated" Link US AMA, "Here's how to make the most of patients' wearable data" Link Commonwealth Fund, "How Care Coordination Varies Internationally" Link Google Research, "Towards Expert-level Medical AI for Real-time Video Consultations" Link VisitPulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions [email protected] Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

This week on Pulse: Amplify, Louise and George speak with EMR pioneer Dr NT Cheung. Dr NT Cheung joined the Hong Kong Hospital Authority when clinical computing was virtually non-existent, and went on to help build one of the world’s largest integrated, longitudinal electronic patient record systems. NT reflects on Hong Kong’s remarkable 30-year digital health journey, why building its technology in-house proved so valuable, and what other health systems can learn from its clinician-led, incremental approach. They explore the extraordinary opportunity created by three decades of consistently collected patient data, cross-border record sharing with mainland China, and technology’s role in supporting an ageing society. NT also offers a timely warning for the AI era: healthcare is too complex to be transformed by technology alone. AI may be extraordinarily powerful, but it remains a tool, and the goal must be to make every interaction between patients, clinicians and the health system a little smoother and better. Connect with NT on LinkedIn Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions [email protected] Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

This week on Pulse: Hot Topics, Louise and George explore the rapidly shifting boundaries of science, AI and human health. They unpack the extraordinary research using AI to design entirely new, functioning viruses, and the biosecurity questions that follow. Then, turning the discussion to South Australia’s newly announced Royal Commission into AI and whether governance can possibly keep pace with technological change. Then they look at the emerging era of the “continuous human”: Germany’s €40 million push to crack continuous hormone monitoring, and Google’s enormous SensorFM foundation model, trained on more than a trillion minutes of wearable data, which could point towards a future of personalised, continuous health intelligence. Plus, George recommends Paper Guide for scientific research, and we highlight two international opportunities for clinicians to contribute to research on AI in healthcare. Research Opportunities: Clinicians – be part of the research into clinician use of AI, open globally Link AI policy vs frontline reality survey (deadline 2 September) Link Resources: SPRIND Continuous Hormone Monitoring Challenge Link Ida Tin Coined Femtech. Now She's Funding Continuous Hormone Monitoring, Forbes Link SensorFM: Towards a general intelligence and interface for wearable health data, Google Research Link Recommendations: Paper Guide Link Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions [email protected] Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

This week on Pulse: Amplify, healthcare's digital future won't be built by technology - it will be built by people. In this episode, Louise and George are joined by Jane Dwelly, Vice President International at CHIME and Chair of the Federation for Informatics Professionals (FedIP), to discuss why professional recognition, leadership and workforce capability are critical to healthcare’s future, especially as healthcare enters the AI era. They explore the UK's landmark move to recognise digital health professionals, what other countries can learn, how AI is reshaping workforce skills, and whether the future could include internationally recognised standards for digital health professionals. Connect with Jane on LinkedIn Resources: FedIP, Federation for Informatics Professionals Link CHIME CXO Summit, September @Cambridge Link CHIME membership Link Professional Membership for the NHS Digital, Data and Technology Workforce – NHS Link VisitPulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions [email protected] Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

This week on Pulse: Hot Topics, Louise and George explore one question that underpins the future of digital health: how do we build trust? They begin with Australia's latest healthcare cyberattack and New Zealand's response to one of theirs, asking if cybersecurity should be considered a patient safety issue rather than simply an IT problem.  The discussion then turns to the World Health Organization's first AI Readiness Assessment for Europe and what it reveals about the gap between rapid AI adoption and the governance needed to support it safely. The conversation moves to healthcare investment, examining Rock Health's latest funding report, new evidence on the economics of AI, and whether venture capital is backing the innovations that will deliver the greatest value for patients.  Louise and George also discuss how patients are already using AI, drawing on new research from Microsoft and the Commonwealth Fund that reveals where people trust AI, and where they still want human care. Finally, they explore one of the first major lawsuits involving ChatGPT and alleged medical harm, asking how accountability will evolve as consumers increasingly rely on generative AI for health advice. Recommendations: Clinicians – be part of the research into clinician use of AI, open globally Link Athens Digital Health Week, 23–25 February 2027, Royal Olympic Hotel, Athens Link Resources: Action Plan aims to strengthen Health NZ digital security, Pulse+IT (Reesh Lyon) — Link Health NZ Action Plan - Link Partnered Health cyber incident statement — Link WHO Europe statement: Govern AI in health before the gaps become irreversible — Link WHO report: AI is reshaping health systems — state of readiness across the European Union — Link Rock Health H1 2026 Funding and Market Overview — Link A systematic review of economic evidence of artificial intelligence in healthcare, Health Policy (Schmidt, Carter, McGuire, Mossialos, van Kessel) — Link 2025 Global Women's Health Investment Hit A Record, But U.S. Investors Curb Their Enthusiasm, Forbes (Geri Stengel) — Link Global analysis of country-level factors associated with chatbot usage for health, Nature Health — Link Patients' Perspectives on AI in Primary Care, Commonwealth Fund — Link ChatGPT Led to a Man's Near-Fatal Health Crisis, Lawsuit Claims, The New York Times — Link With Thanks to Datacom: Download the Executive Briefing Playbook Link Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters

This week on Pulse: Amplify, Louise and George sit down with Professor Enrico Coiera - founder of the Australian Alliance for AI in Healthcare and lead author of Don't Walk. Run., the third National Policy Roadmap for AI in Healthcare.  Enrico walks us through the Roadmap's 28 recommendations across eight priority areas, and we put it up against the Albanese government's new Office of AI and the national AI standards due to be legislated in early 2027 - asking whether a whole-of-government framework can do justice to a sector as complex as health. We also get into sovereign capability, the arrival of powerful open-weight models like Kimi K3, and what happens when the hyperscalers become the front door to healthcare. With Thanks to Datacom: Download the Executive Briefing Playbook Link Download ‘Don’t Walk. Run.’ here Connect with Professor Coiera on LinkedIn Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions [email protected] Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

This week on Pulse: Hot Topics, Louise and George look at what happens when digital health stops being a pilot and starts being a system decision — and why, again and again, the technology isn't the hard part. Portugal Buys AI Physiotherapy for an Entire Country — Portugal's National Health Service has contracted Sword Health to make AI-supported physiotherapy available to all 10 million citizens, free after a prescription, prompting the question: are governments shifting from buying AI software to buying AI-delivered healthcare? AI and Accountability: The First Complaints Land — The UK's first complaints about clinicians' inappropriate use of AI have reached professional regulators, arriving well before the evidence base and accountability frameworks are ready. 95% of Health Apps Have No Verifiable Regulatory Approval — Rudolf Wagner's analysis found that of nearly 96,000 apps qualifying as Software as a Medical Device, 95% had no verifiable CE marking or FDA authorisation, leaving consumers with no easy way to know what they're actually using. Doctors Want Wearable Data, But Can't Use It — A new AMA(US) survey found 97% of physicians would review data from a patient's wearable, but no more than 6% have actually integrated it, blocked by missing standards, workflow fit, reimbursement and liability. Virtual Care Could Transform Residential Aged Care — Australian researchers found virtual care between aged care homes and GPs improves access and reduces unnecessary hospital visits, but is undermined by poor integration, unreliable networks and limited staff training — the technology works, the system around it doesn't. With Thanks to Datacom: Download the Executive Briefing Playbook Link Resources: Sword Health partners with Portugal's National Health Service Link First complaints made over clinician use of AI, HSJ via Patient Safety Learning Hub Link Ensuring the clinical impact of medical artificial intelligence, Andreoletti et al., Lancet Digital HealthLink Analysis of Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) Compliance in App Store Applications, Rudolf Wagner Link Docs unable to harness wearables data, survey finds, Axios Link Virtual care could benefit residential homes – study, Pulse+IT Link Virtual care in residential aged care homes, Journal of Medical Internet ResearchLink Recommendations: Clinicians – be part of the research into clinician use of AI, open globally Link Standards Australia telehealth and virtual care standard Link There's An AI For That (TAAFT) newsletter Link Age-Friendly Futures newsletter, George Gouzounis Link "Welcome to the Land of the Free" — World Cup song by Jason Stills Link Visit Pulse+IT.news to subscribe to breaking digital news, weekly newsletters and a rich treasure trove of archival material. People in the know, get their news from Pulse+IT – Your leading voice in digital health news. Follow us on LinkedIn Louise | George | Pulse+IT Follow us on BlueSky Louise | George | Pulse+IT Send us your questions [email protected] Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric