What is My Health Record?
My Health Record is an online storage and management system for each individual’s health information, such as prescriptions, vaccinations, allergies, and results of pathology tests. My Health Record only contains a summary of your health information, not a detailed record like your GP would keep. My Health Record is administered by the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA).
My Health Record does not replace records currently held by your health providers, such as your GP or hospital; it is an additional collection of health summaries. You control what appears in your My Health Record, and who can see the information contained in it.
Summary information flows into an individual’s My Health Record from Medicare, GPs, public and private hospitals, specialists, pathology, diagnostic imaging, allied health, and aged care. If you have a My Health Record created, the last 2 years of information from your Medicare record will be added to your My Health Record. No past information from other sources will be added. For example, any hospital visits you have had prior to your My Health Record being created will not appear.
Many people already have a My Health Record already as it’s been available for several years. It was previously known as a Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) or eHealth record. However, now all Australians will have a My Health Record made for them automatically unless they opt out by 31 January 2019.