This came up in the discussion re access to Opt-Out myHR Records.
Media Release – Catherine King MP
Shadow Minister For Health And Medicare = Member For Ballarat
ANOTHER HEALTH BUNGLE – OPEN SLATHER ON YOUR HEALTH DATA UNDER TURNBULL
” The revelation that hundreds of thousands of health practitioners will be given open access to sensitive health data is extremely concerning.
Reports today say that electronic health records will be automatically set to “universal access” under the Turnbull Government’s opt-out scheme, meaning health practitioners will automatically have access to an individual’s full medical history – whether it is relevant to the treatment they are administering or not.”
This means that a dentist or optometrist could know if someone has had an abortion, or their history of mental illness, even if a person has not disclosed it to them.
“Given the Turnbull Government’s appalling IT record, Australians have every right to be worried about their rollout of this project,” Ms King said.
“Last year, one billion lines of Medicare data with private claims information were freely available for download in a massive data breach on the Government’s watch.
“They need to tell Australians what is happening, or they risk people losing confidence in the system before it even gets off the ground.”
When Labor originally set up the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record it was an opt-in system, with users setting up access preferences and controls. Now that the system has moved to opt-out, it seems that the Turnbull Government has not set up the same automatic safeguards.
“The information in these records is too important to be another addition to the Government’s list of health bungles. Australians deserve to know how their information will be protected.”
----- End Release
Here is the link to this release and a lot of other commentary:https://nacchocommunique.com/category/e-health-my-health-records/
I would have expected the Labor Party to stay well out of this discussion. It seems political warfare means they will really leap on any grist for the mill. (BTW - does anyone have a link to Ms King's current press / media releases? They are not easy to find.)
It really is quite interesting that the Labor spokesman finally has an adverse comment to make given the way the ALP has totally failed to push any accountability for the myHR mess over the last few years. Surely enough time has passed for them to develop a little objectivity as to where their 'baby' has wandered off into a wasteful swamp. I guess this might be the first sign of the worm turning, or not!
David.
Catherine King's media releases, at least some of them. There's been nothing added since September last year:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.catherineking.com.au/media/national-media/
It will be interesting to see if ADHA claims to have upgraded MyHR to fix all the problems identified in the Royle review before it goes opt-out. Otherwise the system designed to be opt-in will be made opt-out but not be designed to be such. Which looks like what's happened with access control.
And to me the biggest fraud being played on the Australian public is that "you can control who sees it and what goes it it". Which, as I've pointed out before is not the case with the Shared Health Summary. You can't restrict access and your GP can put up whatever they want.
Rumour in Canberra is that the ALP factions in NSW were not pleased their preferred canidate got the CEO position at the ADHA and they are building this up to replace Tim with her in time for the next election or sooner. I guess it is not what you know it's who you knot. Time will tell but my money is on a change at ADHA and Tim is about to out played unless he is quick to find reason to stop it.
ReplyDeleteI went for my annual review yesterday. How much of the session goes to MyHR is anyone's guess, but I'll have a go.
ReplyDelete1. My pathology results would be the simplest to transfer, but https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/news-and-events/news/1324-nsw-patients-first-to-view-their-pathology-results-in-my-health-record suggests that's not happening.
2. My influenza vaccination is probably recorded somewhere, eventually, will it ever get into MyHR?
3. I may have had influenza-like symptoms. I know some sentinel practices record & send those events, but do they go to MyHR?
4. I'm pretty sure, though, that urgent work is in progress to pick up my mild hyperlipidemia, in case I would like to receive marketing notices of brand new (expensive) medications.
With rapid consolidation of our medicine into large-scale corporate thinking, strategies like the MyHR are coming to the forefront in healthcare delivery in Australia, I believe through observation and conversation is leading worryingly towards a dramatic increase in the amount and detail of documentation, implemented through use of electronic health records. EHRs are structured to prioritise the interests of a myriad of political and corporate stakeholders, resulting in a complex, multi-layered, and cumbersome health records system, largely not directly relevant to clinical care.. The MyEHR enforces the centrality of market principles in clinical medicine, redefining the clinician's role to be less of a medical expert and more of an administrative bureaucrat, and transforming the patient into a digital entity with standardised conditions, treatments, and goals, without a personal narrative.
ReplyDeleteSomewhere along the line something has gone horribly wrong, become very expensive and detrimental to both patient and provider.
April 21, 8:40PM. I very well put point. Why can we not have these sorts of debates in public with ADHA? Is there anyone there that can have a sensible open discussion on these sorts of subjects?
ReplyDeleteI don't even know who works there anymore.