- 11 August 2019
- Duration: 3:13
[Opening title card: My Health Record - My Health Record for healthcare providers in Victorian hospitals]
Female narrator: Hospital clinicians work in a challenging environment with many demands, often spending considerable time and effort gathering patient information from multiple sources.
Unlike localised records, My Health Record gives hospital clinicians access to a wealth of patient information from other healthcare providers.
Now that over 90% of Australians have a My Health Record, it is important for hospital clinicians to understand what it is, how it can be accessed, and the information it contains.
My Health Record is a secure online summary of a patient’s health information, which all healthcare providers can access and contribute to, at the point of care, enabling improved continuity of care across the entire health system.
The information in My Health Record can be divided into three categories – Clinical documentation, medicare and PBS data, and consumer-entered information.
When a patient’s healthcare provider uploads clinical information to My Health Record, it can aid hospital clinicians with patient assessment, reveal past medical history and inform medication reconciliation activities.
It can also reduce potential gaps in information between healthcare providers and hospital clinicians, leading to improved health outcomes for patients.
Access to the My Health Record system is via an icon on your hospital’s EMR/Clinical Information System or via a weblink to the My Health Record Provider Portal.
My Health Record can be accessed 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
By default, documents in a patient’s My Health Record can be accessed by authorised healthcare providers.
However, the My Health Record is controlled by the patient and they can choose who can access their information.
Where a My Health Record has been restricted, and there is a serious threat to the patient’s life, health or safety, a healthcare provider may use the Emergency Record Access function referred to as the ‘break glass’ feature.
This access is audited, and the healthcare provider will need to provide a reason for why they needed to use this function.
My Health Record adheres to the strictest cyber security standards and controls.
Clinicians are authorised to view information only for the purposes of delivering care. Use of information in the My Health Record is legislated in the My Health Records Act
My Health Record can be accessed by a wider audience than paper records, so always check with the patient that the information in their record is correct and current, and if you have any queries or see any errors, call the My Health Record Helpline on 1800 727 471.
My Health Record may not be a complete record and does not replace patient information collected and stored by your hospital.
But it does provide additional clinical information from other healthcare providers, enabling better informed healthcare outcomes.
Visit myhealthrecord.gov.au or your health service’s intranet for more information and training resources.
Reviewed 18 October 2021