This appeared a few days ago:
Push to make Victoria’s consent-free digital health database opt-in
Denham Sadler
National Affairs Editor
The state government is attempting to pass legislation facilitating the establishment of a centralised electronic patient health information sharing system for health services to share health information to provide medical care.
The bill was debated in the Victorian upper house last week but did not come to a vote. It will likely be voted on when Parliament sits again next week.
The health record will be used by state hospitals, ambulance services, certain residential care services and public health services, with information stored in it to include prescribed medicines, allergies, discharge summaries and lab results.
The database has been in the works since 2020, and was a recommendation from a 2015 independent report on the elimination of avoidable harm and deaths.
In contrast to the similar national My Health Record, Victorians will not be given any option to opt-out of the health database and consent will not be required, under the state government’s plan.
The new database and information sharing framework will help to provide the best care possible for patients, Government Services Minister Danny Pearson said.
“The application of the bill recognises the challenges of siloed information across the Victorian public healthcare system, and the importance of strengthening the system for the health and wellbeing of all Victorians,” Mr Pearson said in Parliament.
“In Victoria, critical health information is currently spread across different health services, in separate systems and in paper records. This fragmentation of patient health information often means that clinicians manually gather patient health information, through fax or phone calls.
“Enabling information sharing through state of the art technology operated by the department is critical to supporting the reforms underway to modernise and future-proof our health systems for the health and wellbeing of all Victorians.”
The legislation introduces two new criminal offences for the unauthorised access of information on the health database, with a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment.
The scheme is similar to the Commonwealth’s My Health Record, which became an opt-out system in 2018. More than 2.5 million people chose to opt out from the system, equating to nearly 10 per cent of all Australians eligible for it.
But the model put forward by the Victorian government does not include the ability for individuals to opt out of the system.
The plan has been criticised by legal, civil and digital rights organisations, with concerns centred on a lack of ability to opt-out, that the database could be a “honeypot” for hackers, and that the proposal has been rushed through Parliament without adequate consultation.
The Opposition and crossbenchers have flagged that they will move amendments to make the health database have an opt-out function in Parliament next week.
This would be a crucial step in ensuring the system is trusted by the public, Digital Rights Watch program lead Samantha Floreani said.
Lots more here:
https://www.innovationaus.com/push-to-make-victorias-consent-free-digital-health-database-opt-in/
It is clear that the Victorian Labor Government is adopting what can only be described as a totalitarian approach to the harvesting and collection of patient data is being stubborn in the extreme. This is flat out wrong and there is a much better way to proceed!
By going down this path the Premier is really living up to his pandemic appellation of "Dictator Dan"
All they have to do to introduce this system properly make a credible case for this system – including the risks of opting out – and then proceed to introduce the system allowing the individual decide if they want to be included.
It really is as simple as that and if they think there is real benefit in proceeding with this system then this really is the only way to proceed.
David.
About 10 or more years ago the VIC government and the Health Department introduced HealthSmart which sounded very similar to this new proposal. It was highly contentious costing hundreds of millions of dollars. It failed and was disbanded. This sounds like a new attempt to start all over again probably because they have forgotten what happened with HealthSmart.
ReplyDeleteIt would be useful if the stated purpose and benefits of these schemes were even remotely realised. You have CEO and managers that have no rudimentary understanding of data and data folk who have no understanding of people, objectives, or of healthcare. None have any care about costs or return on investment.
ReplyDeleteHealthSmart Revisited.
ReplyDeletehttps://delimiter.com.au/2013/10/30/lessons-healthsmart-era-big-health-projects-victoria/
The report recommended that the State Government stop trying to achieve fully integrated health record interoperability — the holy grail of e-health projects, but one that has historically proven impossible to achieve in almost any jurisdiction globally. Instead, the report recommended a focus be placed on “achieving critical business requirements and on improving patient safety”.
HAS A BUSINESS CASE BEEN UNDERTAKEN FOR THIS PROJECT? IF SO, WHERE IS IT?
ReplyDeleteSurely a business case is required before passing legislation to commit Victoria to a massive IT spend!
The state government is attempting to pass legislation facilitating the establishment of a centralised electronic patient health information sharing system for health services to share health information to provide medical care.
The bill was debated in the Victorian upper house last week but did not come to a vote. It will likely be voted on when Parliament sits again next week.