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Government releases e-health plan for July 2012

Australians are a step closer to accessing their medical records after the government issued the blueprint for national electronic health records

Australians are a step closer to accessing their medical records from July 2012 after the government issued the blueprint for national electronic health records.

The government released the concept of operations for the personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) system on Monday.

Health and ageing minister, Nicola Roxon, said the plan would help build the core parts of the system in the move from paper-based records to secure e-health data.

"Ehealth will help us provide better care, save lives and save money," Roxon said in a statement on Monday.

"Patients will no longer have to remember every medical test, immunisation or prescription they have.

"Doctors and other health care professionals will no longer have to rely on patients to accurately recall past treatment and will be able to work together more easily to provide better care."

The concept of operations was a plan on how the national e-health system would work, what would be the structures for security and privacy and the benefits to patients, carers and healthcare professionals.

The plan follows the release of the draft proposal in April, with subsequent consultations with patient groups, health professionals, the software industry and other governments.

Australians could register for a PCEHR from July 2012, with the scheme to be an opt-in and not compulsory for patients.

The PCEHR system would allow patients or their doctors through a 16-digit identification number to search and view for clinical documents and access reports, the report said.

A summary of an individual's allergies and adverse reactions, medicines, medical history, immunisations, directives and recent healthcare events would be accessible, it said.

Patients would be able to access their PCEHR online, while healthcare providers would be able to use a clinical system along with the internet portal.

Concerns about privacy and security were alleviated as there would not be a single government store of personal information.

Instead, documents would be accessed from several secure repositories.

The system would work with government, service providers and private sector organisations delivering together the information to individuals and healthcare providers.

Roxon said she would use a prototype of how the e-health system worked in Parliament House on Monday.

Nominations for the 2012 ARN IT Industry Awards open on Tuesday, June 12.

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