The implementation date is yet to be named but already the legislation is shaping health interoperability.
Even though the federal government has yet to commit to an implementation date, the Sharing by Default legislation is already having a positive effect.
Peter O’Halloran, chief digital officer of the Australian Digital Health Agency, said pathology results and images were already being uploaded to My Health Record “at a scale never seen before”.
The Health Legislation Amendment (Modernising My Health Record—Sharing by Default) Bill 2024 was passed by Parliament in February this year, but the government postponed its implementation to allow providers to prepare.
The legislation mandates, in the first instance the uploading of pathology results and imaging to patients’ MHR.
Speaking at the Digital Health Festival in Melbourne today, Mr O’Halloran said the lack of an implementation date had been no barrier to increased uploading.
“Sharing by default is already working, even before the legislation is in force, and that’s fantastic,” he said.
Dr Tanya Kelly, acting deputy director-general of eHealth Queensland, said she was excited about the way Sharing by Default would change the MHR.
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“Up until now the MHR has not held a cohesive narrative of your healthcare story,” she told DHF delegates.
“Sharing by default is a game changer. The consumer will suddenly become the holder of the most information about themselves.”
Dr Kelly said eHealth Queensland had “seen this coming”.
“As a general strategy we are avid uploaders,” she said.
“Patients are crossing jurisdictions all the time – not just across borders but between GPs, emergency departments, private physios.
“Having all that information sitting above those transitions is incredibly valuable.”
Dr Kelly said eHealth Queensland had rolled out its integrated electronic medical record across 65% of the state’s hospital beds.
“We can see that has a large impact,” she said.
The Digital Health Festival is being held in Melbourne today and tomorrow.