By using My Health Record,Specialistswill have better access to health information to improve clinical care for their patients and provide better care coordination. This will reduce the administrative burden for gathering information such as*:
Medicines information (over 101.4 million medicine documents)
Allergies and adverse drug reactions
Immunisation information from the Australian Immunisation Register (6.39 million)
Pathology (32.7 million) and diagnostic imaging reports (5.52 million)
Hospital discharge summaries (5.69 million)
Shared health summaries from GPs (3.83 million)
Medicare information (907.69 million)
Patient entered information e.g. advanced care planning document (283 thousand)
If the specialist does not have a conformant CIS, they can use theNational Provider Portalto access a patient’s My Health Record securely via a web browser (log in through PRODA). The specialist will be able to view and download information but will not be able to upload any information.
Get training in use of My Health Recordand related resources through the specialist clinical peak organisations (eg. RACP, RACS) or theMy Health Record website
Start using the My Health Record system
Frequently asked questions
The Australian Digital Health Agency has provided this list of frequently asked questions for Specialists.
Who can access a patient’s My Health Record?
The primary purpose of the My Health Record is to support a patient’s healthcare. Only healthcare provider organisations involved in a patient’s care are allowed by law to access the patient’s My Health Record. Treating healthcare providers can view documents in the patient’s My Health Record (this is the default patient setting).
The patient can see which organisations or providers have accessed their My Health Record. Every time a provider views the patient’s My Health Record or uploads a document, it is logged in the ‘Access History’ of the My Health Record. The patient can set up automatic notifications to receive an email or SMS the first time a new healthcare provider accesses their My Health Record, including in an emergency.
No one is permitted to access or disclose any information within the patient’s My Health Record for insurance or employment purposes. Information from a patient’s My Health Record cannot be released to law enforcement or a government agency without a court order. The patient’s health data cannot be sold or used for commercial purposes.
How safe is the My Health Record system?
Many safeguards are in place to protect the information held in the My Health Record system, such as strong encryption, firewalls, secure login processes and audit logging. There are people, processes, technologies and legislation keeping the information held in My Health Record safe.
People
The My Health Record system is monitored by the Cyber Security Centre within the Australian Digital Health Agency. All personnel involved with the administration of the system undergo security checks.
Process
A range of security processes limit access to the My Health Record system. External software goes through a conformance process before it is allowed to connect to the system. This includes healthcare provider software and mobile applications.
Technology
A range of technology is used to protect the sensitive personal and health information held in the My Health Record system, including:
Firewalls to block unauthorised access
Audit logs to track access to records
Initial and regular anti-virus scanning of documents uploaded to records
System monitoring to detect suspicious activity
Legislation
The privacy of information in the My Health Record system is protected by legislation which includes:
