Privacy pro overview series#

Low maturity of digital health in Australia – My Health Record already has a lot of great features, but not all that it could. Government oversight – Less fragmentation of records than if they were managed by a number of businesses, health providers or by the individual consumer, more transparency and accountability than if managed by industry, but concerns about access by other government departments, law enforcement or future changes to legislation are reasonable. Both pros and consĬentralised record keeping – Having your own and your family’s health information such as immunisations, allergies, medicines, and end-of-life wishes available for access from a central database makes it much easier to ensure it is available wherever and whenever you need it, but it may present a single target for bad actors to access a trove of individuals’ health information. You also need to consider these as they relate to your own personal circumstances, as what we have listed as a pro may be a con for you. There are many more than listed here, each with greater detail. So, to the key pros and cons of the opt-out measure. While this has increased the risk, though still relatively low, of accounts being hacked, who would go back to the uncertainties, queues, and time-consuming transactions of pre-internet banks? The best way to reach the connected digital health future we want is to take part in building it.įurther, don’t just think about how My Health Record could work in our current health system: what totally transformed models of care in the future could My Health Record enable?Ī somewhat comparable development in terms of population-wide impact has been the revolution triggered by electronic banking in terms of consumers’ ease of access to payments and accounts. It is important to compare MHR with the record keeping we currently have, made up of fax machines and filing cabinets, not just a future possible ideal state that My Health Record could or should reach. We see the ability to access our own records in this way as a key step in the shift from health consumers as passive patients, to consumers as active partners in their own care, exercising choice and control. Yet opt-out stands to bring us much more quickly to an inflection point where, for the first time, consumers en masse will have access to their records – and to personally control who sees them and under what conditions. It should not be seen as a revolutionary or final version that solves all our problems and that never changes – it is an evolutionary step that will only get to where it needs to be with use by, and engagement of consumers and health professionals.Ī common complaint of the current level of MHR information is that often it is too meagre to be of much use and that too many health providers are reluctant to use it for cost, efficiency, and change-resistant reasons.Ĭonsumers have also regarded it as clunky, although improvements are underway. Going for opt out makes it much more likely that MHR will become effectively universal with all the benefits of scale, interconnected care and potential for transformational change that this offers for patients and for the health system. In simple terms, the more Australians who use MHR, the more use it will be to Australians.

The Consumers Health Forum has strongly supported MHR and the change to an opt-out approach because we believe that, for the majority of Australians, the potential individual and national health benefits outweigh the risks that it may pose to privacy and security. So the crunch questions about the pros and cons of MHR now take on a more immediate and direct import for the majority of Australians who have so far not signed up. This article was first published in Croakey, a social journalism project that enables debate and investigations of health issues and policy.Īfter years of uncertainty about the future of a nationally effective eHealth system, Australia is now preparing for the biggest step yet towards a near-universal scheme with the expansion of the My Health Record’s (MHR) reach to all people – except those who choose to opt out.

Privacy pro overview series#

Want more information about My Health Record? Check out our series of webinars with experts, consumers and representatives from government that cover all the major issues: /hub-my-health-record-webinar-series