Do your patients find it hard to keep track of their medical results, hand-outs, doctors’ notes and other important paper documents? Do they see a specialist only to realise they are a little unsure of their previous medical history? If your patient answer yes to any of these questions, they would benefit from uploading their records to My Health Record.
What is My Health Record?
My Health Record is an online summary of your patient’s medical information, that they choose to keep online in the one place. Healthcare providers from different medical services can access patients’ medical information quickly to help coordinate the best level of care.
Healthcare professionals can view someone’s My Health Record if their patient invites them to manage their record (nominated representatives). Someone can also be made responsible to manage a patient’s record if they are not able to do this (authorised representatives).
How can My Health Record help provide more comprehensive care for my patients?
Through My Health Record, healthcare providers can gain a more holistic picture of their patient’s health by drawing from different medical information and improve their patient’s treatment and health outcomes.
Benefits of My Health Record for healthcare providers include:
- Easy to view and add patient health information.
- Access timely information about their patients e.g. prescriptions, pathology reports etc.
- Important medical information is stored in one location and is easily available – especially in case of an emergency.
How can My Health Record help my patient?
My Health Record helps your patient self-manage their medical information. They can nominate which healthcare providers can see their health details by updating their privacy settings. Patients can also set alerts for when someone looks at their records, enabling them control over how their personal medical information is accessed and utilised. Patients can use a My Health Record to;
- View and manage their health information.
- See tests results, prescriptions, health provider notes
- Add their own notes during an appointment
- Update personal information including whether they identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person. This information helps to create a more informed care plan for the patient and medical professionals to work from.
Sign up for My Health Record?
As of 31 January 2019, a My Health Record was created for everyone with the option for people to opt out. The new permanently delete function gives people a choice about how they want to manage their health and care. Deleting your health record removes all your data from the platform.
Children can register for their own My Health Record from the age of 14. Parents/guardians will no longer be able to look see any health information unless they are invited to be nominated representative. If patient’s are over 14 and would like to register for My Health Record:
- Go to My Gov to sign in to one’s myGov account.
- Select Services
- Select Link another service
- Select My Health Record
If your patient does not have a myGov account, they can set one up at My Gov.
For more information about My Health Record and how it can benefit you and your patients please contact Aashima Bhatnagar, AH&MRC Data and Systems Officer via email: Abhatnagar@ahmrc.org.au
