Start of content
Show
The My Health Record system can transform quality, experience and value in Australia's healthcare system through a range of important benefits. How can My Health Record transform healthcare?My Health Record aims to transform Australia’s healthcare system through benefits realisation. The Australian Digital Health Agency is working closely with stakeholders to implement a range of projects and programs to support changes and measure expected benefits associated with My Health Record. Some identified ways My Health Record can provide benefits to Australia’s healthcare system are through:
Improving medication safetyMedication errors that lead to harmful medication safety incidents and adverse drug events may be preventable through increased accessibility to patient information. Access to information for people and their healthcare providersAccess to information via My Health Record may enable self-management and reduce clinicians’ time necessary to perform several information-led tasks, freeing up productivity for more critical activities. My Health Record offers an electronic summary of a person’s key health information that can be shared securely between them and registered healthcare providers involved in their care to support improved decision making and continuity of care. Reducing unnecessary servicesAccess to information via My Health Record may help patients by avoiding duplication of diagnostic tests and services. How are benefits measured?The Australian Digital Health Agency has developed a 10-year My Health Record Benefits Evaluation Plan that includes continuous research and monitoring of My Health Record adoption, use, impact and benefits realisation. The insights gained from this research are continuously used to guide Agency programs and product initiatives aligned to realising My Health Record benefits. How are benefits realised?Benefits realisation for My Health Record is driven by activities that create health system efficiencies and support greater effectiveness in healthcare management. These include:
ReferencesHospitals are an important part of Australia’s health landscape, providing services to many Australians each year. My Health Record provides a vital source of information for healthcare professionals and their patients enabling continuity of care between the hospital health system and community care. Achieving a critical mass of awareness of staff within all healthcare settings will be key to the success of increased use of the My Health Record system across Australia. For hospital staff, the key behavioural change requirement is increased awareness of the My Health Record matched with a consequent increase in the viewing of such things as patient shared health summaries, medications view documents, pathology and diagnostic reports within the My Health Record. This will be dependent on the connectivity of hospital services’ clinical information systems and the readiness of eHealth solutions within each state and territory and private hospital readiness. This section contains information for hospital staff who wish to increase their awareness and understanding of My Health Record. My Health Record benefits patients, healthcare providers and hospitals by sharing key health information at the point of care, anywhere, anytime. The two videos below, taken from a case study in our online learning module, illustrate how a patient’s hospital journey can change depending on whether or not they have a My Health Record. To find out more about the benefits of My Health Record in hospital environments and how you can start to use it in your work, access our new interactive online learning module. Access to key health informationBy accessing the My Health Record system through your hospital’s clinical information system you can access information about your patients such as:
Sharing informationIf your hospital has compliant software, you will also be able to upload important health information about your patients, such as a discharge summary, which can then be viewed by other hospitals and other healthcare providers involved in their care. You will be able to view the patient shared health summary when they are in your hospital. Greater efficiencyHaving access to a patient’s key health information can help you operate more effectively by allowing you to:
Hospitals that want to register for the My Health Record system should contact their local health department eHealth team or the Australian Digital Health Agency Provider Readiness team for further information and assistance. There are two ways through which authorised healthcare providers can access an individual’s record in the My Health Record system. 1. Conformant softwareAccessing the My Health Record system through conformant clinical software enables healthcare providers to upload, view and download information from an individual's My Health Record. Click here for more information on access via conformant software 2. National Provider PortalIf a healthcare provider does not have access to conformant software, they can view an individual’s My Health Record through the National Provider Portal at: https://portal.ehealth.gov.au. The healthcare provider will be able to view and download information from the individual’s My Health Record, but will not be able to upload any clinical information. Click here for more information on access via the National Provider Portal Establish roles, responsibilities and policiesPrior to registering your organisation, you will first need to establish your team members’ roles and responsibilities as they relate to interacting with the Healthcare Identifiers Service and the My Health Record system. While your registration is being processed, this is an opportune time to: Contact your local PHN for assistance with the above if required. Please note that the majority of documents, available for upload within hospital and health services, are uploaded in the background (automatically) by each State/ Territory eHealth department through normal delivery portals, unless the consumer has requested otherwise. Further guidance and training should be sort from your organisations eHealth/Digital Health team. Please refer to your organisations policies and procedures for viewing and uploading of clinical information through jurisdictional health and private hospital clinical information systems in the first instance. Learn how to: Please refer to local organisational policies and procedures. Learn more about/how to: A range of training and resource materials are available to support hospital staff with My Health Record, including webcasts and online learning modules. Access training and resources for hospitals BrochuresA range of brochures are available to support you in introducing My Health Record to your patients. Further brochures will be uploaded as they are developed and published. Consumer portal guidesA range of step-by-step guides are available to support patients in interacting with their My Health Record, including uploading a personal health summary, setting privacy controls and a range of other functions. Contact usSee the Contact us page for guidance on who to call for help and support. Start of content
A healthcare organisation that is participating in the My Health Record system is required to comply with a range of obligations. Healthcare organisations must comply with the following legislation: Changes to your organisationIt is important to understand what changes your organisation may need to make before registering to participate in the My Health Record system, and to ensure ongoing compliance with the above legislation. Potential changes include: SecurityYou will need to review, update, maintain, enforce and promote to staff policies that ensure the My Health Record system is used safely and responsibly. These policies need to address matters such as how authorised persons access the system, the training delivered to staff before accessing the My Health Record system, and the physical and information security measures used by the organisation. See Privacy and Security. User account managementYou will need to confirm the IT system(s) staff use to access the My Health Record system employ reasonable user account management practices, including: restricting use, uniquely identifying users and secure access mechanisms (such as passwords). Data qualityYour existing obligations to maintain your own detailed and accurate clinical records remains, and you are also responsible for ensuring that information uploaded to the My Health Record system complies with your participation obligations. This includes ensuring your employees are registered healthcare providers (i.e. they have a healthcare provider identifier; HPI-I) before they author any record that will be uploaded to the My Health Record system. Ongoing participation obligationsSet out below are a number of ongoing obligations on a participating healthcare organisation. Please note, this is not an exhaustive list of obligations. If in doubt of your organisation’s obligations, you should contact the System Operator. To participate in the My Health Record system, your healthcare organisation must:
There is an overview of policies required to participate in My Health Record and templates for writing your My Health Record Security and Access Policy and Use of a NASH PKI certificate policy. General practices participating in the Practice Incentives Program (PIP) eHealth Incentive are required to establish and put into writing a Secure Message Delivery policy and a Clinical Coding and Terminology policy. There are a Secure Messaging Delivery policy template and Clinical Coding and Terminology policy template to help you. In addition, a number of organisations have developed sample policies to assist you: |