From recent conversations with health care practitioners, two of the most asked questions about My Health Record are:
- “What if my patient is affected by family and domestic violence?”
- “When can teenagers take control of their My Health Record?”
Family and Domestic Violence
If your patient is concerned about an individual finding them or their child through information in their child’s My Health Record, there are a number of protections that can promptly be put in place to protect the family’s safety.
Call the My Health Record Help line on 1800 723 471 and ask for the record to be suspended.
Controlling information in your My Health Record
There are ways patients can control and protect information, and their children’s information, in their My Health Record.
- Set privacy and security controls
- See who has viewed your record
- You can register for My Health Record under a pseudonym
- Access by authorised representatives
Take control of your record from age 14
Once a patient turns 14, they can take control of their My Health Record from their parent or guardian. Once they take control of their record, the parent or guardian will no longer be authorised to act on their behalf.
When the parent or guardian is in control
If the parent is in control of the My Health Record, once the child turns 14, no new Medicare data, PBS data or immunisation information will be added to the record.
However, clinical documents uploaded by a doctor, medicine dispense records uploaded by a pharmacist, or test results uploaded by a pathology lab will still be visible if the parent is in control of the record.
When the young patient is in control
Patients can choose what information is included within their record. Documents will be uploaded by healthcare providers and there will be up to two years’ past Medicare claims data (doctor’s visits) and PBS claims data (prescribed medications) and immunisations from the Immunisation Register.
Patients can choose to remove the Medicare, PBS and immunisation information from their record, and they can hide clinical documents or restrict who can access it.
Patients may want to allow someone else to have access to their My Health Record, such as a carer, family member or trusted friend.
If so, they can appoint them as the nominated representative. All nominated representatives must act according to the will and preferences, and they can be provided with one of the following types of access:
- General access – view all documents, except those you have marked as restricted.
- Restricted access – view all documents, including those you have marked as restricted.
- Full access – view all documents and make additions to the My Health Record.
The period to opt-out for My Health Record will be open until 15 November 2018. Individuals can visit www.myhealthrecord.gov.au or ring 1800 723 471 to opt-out or for more information.
For provider support with My Health Record, contact [email protected] or 6618 5400.