An improved My Health Record will be at centre of push to modernise primary healthcare

The under-utilised and much-maligned My Health Record will be at the centre of a push to modernise primary healthcare, with better digital systems to be discussed at national cabinet.

The Strengthening Medicare Taskforce has agreed to improve and expand the use of the platform, with a broader range of health professionals able to access and add to digital health records a key recommendation of its report to drive improvements in primary care.

On Friday the Australian Medical Association will also call for stronger safeguards to protect patient data, warning that European-style privacy laws should be considered to prevent health data being used to boost private profits rather than health.

The Allied Health Professions Australia and Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association have welcomed expanded use of My Health Record, pointing to its increased use during Covid and utility providing more seamless healthcare.

The record was upgraded to an opt-out system in 2018, with more than 1m exiting the system over privacy concerns.

Although the Australian Digital Health Agency boasts that 23.5m Australians have My Health Records, some consider the system a failure due to its $2bn price tag and the small proportion of records that have been accessed.

In 2022 some 5.35m records were viewed, up from 4.37m in 2021, with Covid vaccination certificates driving renewed interest in the platform. The ADHA boasts that a quarter of a million patients who previously opted out have now re-registered.

The ADHA data shows 99% of general practitioners are registered and use My Health Record but just 31% of specialists are registered and only 13% have used it.

In January, the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, confirmed Australia was considering implementing such reforms.

The AMA president, professor Stephen Robson, said appropriate use of health data can enhance the provision of care for patients, improve health outcomes, increase equitable and individualised care, while minimising duplication and gaps in care.

The AMA is particularly concerned about technology companies moving into the healthcare space and access by private health funds.

The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, wants a NSW trial for pharmacists to prescribe antibiotics, a move which GPs have warned could result in over-prescription and worsen medicine shortages.