The AMA supports the idea of the personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) system, but president Steve Hambleton said the current system was flawed because GPs and hospitals could not easily access and enter information in the system.
Nationally, the Health Department says 407,000 Australians - about 1.7 per cent of 23 million people - had registered for an eHealth record since its launch in July 2012.
Of those, more than 26,300 were South Australians.
But Mr Hambleton said most of those records would be blank documents.
Mr Hambleton said few GP practices, including the Brisbane practice where he works, had the ability to easily link to the system to update the PCEHR.
"It has to be efficient for GPs and require minimal clicks of the mouse. If there are five patients waiting outside we are not going to do anything else, unless it's a single click."
He said funding for non-GP specialists, such as pathology, also did not exist which meant there was no incentive for them to use the system either.
"We need to get the techs out of it and start consulting with the people using it ... we need to make them understand they need to talk to the clinicians and doctors who are using it.
"It is nowhere near ready, it is nowhere near up and running.
"It doesn't replace existing systems. Existing systems need to be upgraded to send information in an efficient way."
A spokeswoman for SA Health said it had developed a new IT solution to act as a bridge between its own system and the national eHealth system to allow hospitals to send electronic discharge summary information to a patient's PCEHR.
"This solution will be progressively implemented across all metropolitan hospitals (excluding Noarlunga General Hospital in the short term) and Mt Gambier Hospital by the end of August 2013," the spokeswoman said.
She said other state health departments were considering using the bridging program as a way to meet their requirements to send information to the PCEHR.
A spokeswoman for the national Health Department said consumers were able to sign for an eHealth record by phone, internet, in person or in writing.
"The Australian Government is implementing a national ... strategy to support consumer and healthcare provider participation in the eHealth record system," she said.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Jordanna Schriever
Quelle/Source: NEWS.com.au, 07.07.2013
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