Roxon told journalists at a press conference in Sydney yesterday (see video above) that the project would see Australians access their electronic health record online through a system run by Medicare.
“The easiest way to think of it is how you access your bank details online,” she said.
Dr Chris Mitchell, RACGP President, said that the passing of this legislation is the foundation needed to make e-health work in Australia and the passing of this legislation would not have been possible without the ongoing hard work and determination of general practice.
Dr Pesce said healthcare identifiers are an important building block for electronic health records.
"Healthcare identifiers will facilitate the timely and accurate sharing of electronic patient information to improve medical care in Australia," Dr Pesce said.
Weiterlesen: Australia: Healthcare Identifiers To Kickstart e-Health Implementation
Initially, only Medicare would operate a secure website or portal that would allow patients to retrieve their personally controlled electronic health records, she said.
But she left the door open for other service providers, such as health insurance providers, to manage patients' e-health records in future.
Ms Thomas said the ANF hoped the government's e-health reform agenda could now be advanced to deliver a more streamlined health system for the nation.
Weiterlesen: Australia: Health identifiers a good start on e-health