The period for patients to opt out of having a My Health Record created for them ceases on Thursday 31 January 2019. The creation of the record will be a one-time activity to create an empty shell record for every Australian (who has not opted out).  Information will flow into the record when either the patient accesses their My Health Record for the first time or when a health practitioner looks up their record.

There will be a period following the 31 January deadline for the opt-out requests to be reconciled and before the My Health records are created in the system. We will inform members of the date when the new records become available for use by you and your patients. 

A patient can cancel or delete their record at any time and any Australian without a record will be able to register for a record in the future.

Further information about how to access and look up information and how to provide your information to your patient’s My Health record can be found on the government’s website.  Questions can also be sent to the ACRRM eHealth team at ehealth@acrrm.org.au

The national electronic health record system run by the federal government and now called ‘My Health Record’ has been in existence since 2012.  Over six million Australians already have a My Health Record and as a registered practitioner you can access the health records for patients in your care.

The record contains information from other healthcare organisations and providers and can include medications, allergies, pathology and diagnostic imaging results, hospital discharge summaries, referrals, specialist letters and advance care directives.  The volume of information available to you will depend on who is sending information to the system as it is not compulsory for providers to use and the patient can apply their own privacy controls to the record.