All Australians to have e-health record
10 May 2015 by News Desk
Everyone in Australia will have an electronic health record as part of a new e-health system.
The Government believes that a national e-health system could save taxpayers $2.5 billion per year within a decade, with an additional $1.6 billion in annual savings also delivered to individual states.
Health Minister Susan Ley said the best way was to put everyone on the system. If a person did not want to be on the system, they would need to opt out. “It’s not going to be out of their control and we are going to give the community the confidence they need.”
Ms Ley said it was important that all Australians sign up to e-health. “It’s vital as you move between different clinicians in the health system that everyone has the information they need.”
Patients will have the power to suppress parts of the record they do not wish to be seen, as the health record will be controlled by the patient. Funding of $485 million for the e-health record will be announced in this week’s budget.
