The Albanese Government is upgrading My Health Record to ensure that when Australians get a blood test or other diagnostic test, the results are uploaded to their My Health Record so the patient and their practitioner can see the result, quickly and automatically.
At the moment, only about half of pathology reports and just one in five diagnostic imaging reports are shared to My Health Record.
For the few results that are uploaded, patients usually have to wait seven days to view them.
These delays and missing test results are a barrier to good clinical practice, cause untold frustration for Australians, while also wasting scarce health system resources.
The Albanese Government will require pathology and diagnostic imaging reports to be uploaded to My Health Record by default.
Patients will also be able to see those reports immediately after they are uploaded, unless there is a clear need to delay a report to protect the wellbeing of a patient.
The changes are in response to the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce Report and are part of the Albanese Government’s $429 million upgrade of My Health Record.
Public consultation has opened, and Australians can now have their say on these changes.
Anyone is welcome to have their say, including healthcare consumers, carers, healthcare providers, state and territory governments, and software developers.
Provide your feedback before 31 October 2023.
Quotes attributable to Minister Butler:
“My Health Record is now old technology. It still uses the old PDF format that Labor installed when we were last in government. It was cutting edge then, but it’s clunky now.
“Just one in five diagnostic imaging reports are uploaded. The other four disappear into the digital ether.
“Patients find this so frustrating, because every lost test result means another day off work, another waiting room, another procedure and yet another gap fee. What a waste of time and money, for patients and for the health system.
“If a patient gets a diagnostic scan or pathology test, then those results should be uploaded. At the moment, this happens by exception, it is not the rule. I intend to make it the rule.”
