We have two Senate inquiries into the #myHealthRecord happening at present.
First we have this one:
My Health Record system
On 15 August 2018, the Senate referred the following matter to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee for inquiry and report:
The My Health Record system, with particular reference to:
- the expected benefits of the My Health Record system;
- the decision to shift from opt-in to opt-out;
- privacy and security, including concerns regarding:
- the vulnerability of the system to unauthorised access,
- the arrangements for third party access by law enforcement, government agencies, researchers and commercial interests, and
- arrangements to exclude third party access arrangements to include any other party, including health or life insurers;
- the Government’s administration of the My Health Record system roll-out, including:
- the public information campaign, and
- the prevalence of ‘informed consent’ amongst users;
- measures that are necessary to address community privacy concerns in the My Health Record system;
- how My Health Record compares to alternative systems of digitising health records internationally; and
- any other matters.
Submissions were sought by 14 September 2018. The reporting date is 8 October 2018. On 19 September 2018, the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 12 October 2018.
The Community Affairs Committees have agreed to share relevant evidence in the My Health Record system inquiry and the inquiry into the My Health Records Amendment (Strengthening Privacy) Bill 2018. Only matters related to provisions of the Bill will be considered in the Legislation Committee inquiry.
Here is the link:
And we also have this one:
My Health Records Amendment (Strengthening Privacy) Bill 2018
On 23 August 2018, the Senate referred the My Health Records Amendment (Strengthening Privacy) Bill 2018 to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report.
Submissions were sought by 14 September 2018. The reporting date is 8 October 2018. On 19 September 2018, the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 12 October 2018.
Submissions were sought by 14 September 2018. The reporting date is 8 October 2018. On 19 September 2018, the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 12 October 2018.
The Community Affairs Committees have agreed to share relevant evidence in the My Health Record system inquiry and the inquiry into the My Health Records Amendment (Strengthening Privacy) Bill 2018. Only matters related to provisions of the Bill will be considered in the Legislation Committee inquiry.
Here is the link:
From the website the Reference Committee is chaired by the Greens (Senator Rachael Siewart) and the Committee looking at the Legislation (which Greg Hunt introduced a while back and which has passed the House of Reps.) is chaired by Senator Lucy Gichuhi (Lib, SA).
There is a good deal of cross over Membership between the two Committees.
Both Committees have 3 Government Members and 3 Opposition Members so the full range of outcomes would seem to be possible.
It will be noted that both committees are due to report this Friday – 12 October, 2018.
The Committees have received 146 Submissions and 5 Additional Documents.
I have provided a broad outline of what I saw as having come out of the Submissions here:
I listened to and read the hearings on the three separate days and I think it would be fair to say that Government Senators questions suggested they believed that everything was in hand but that, in the broad, the Opposition Senators took a considerably more skeptical view, believing there were a range of issues that needed to be addressed, as reflected in the Submissions.
I think this week will determine the direction of Digital Health in Australia, and that we have reached a fork in the road, and for the Government not to follow what the experts have suggested would be silly in these partisan times I believe.
One arm of the fork sees opt-out continuing as scheduled, creation of millions of records for a large number of unsuspecting citizens and continuing investment in a project which is already past its use-by date.
The other arm is substantial pause and review for the whole #myHealthRecord program to really come to grips with what we are trying to do with it, what value it can offer, what alternatives there are free of concern both of the sunk cost or of a fear that in if not the present #myHR then nothing.
The closer the final outcome is to the latter the better in my view, but I fear the forces of inertia will prevail in the environment of the paralyzed polity we are presently seeing.
Last point – what really matters is what the Government decides to do after it receives the two reports on Friday. We may have to wait a while for that, as the frenzied lobbying from the ADHA and associated sycophants plays out. That said what the two reports say will be central to what finally happens.
What do you think will finally happen?
David.
1 comment:
The big question for me is - what happens to consumer choice? This is not a government service such as mediacare nor is it a revenue collecting service such as ATO. For those of us who have opted out and use other means such as MediTracker, HotDoc, HealthKit or simply store recorded visits and medications of personal cloud storage with access provided to loved ones?
It is clear in recent months the major players such as Apple and Microsoft are enabling fast and simple ‘consumer’ apps. It will not take much for clinical software solutions to enable either their own or other applications access via simple portals.
Why bother with secure electronic messaging when the information will be uploaded into a less than secure and private database? The fax and email would seem a far more private and secure form of keeping patient/provider communications safe as meets the intent of the Hippocratic Oath (something the ADHA or Government pledges to uphold or would even be aware of)
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