Governments across Australia have committed to a national approach to e-health that will enable a safer, higher quality, more equitable and sustainable health system for all Australians.

E-health is set to improve the way healthcare is delivered by transforming the way information is used to plan, manage and deliver health services. It will achieve this through better use of information technology to facilitate electronic access, transmission and recording of health information.

Foundations, standards and solutions are being established to enable the secure electronic transfer of information such as referrals, test orders and results and prescriptions quickly and safely between healthcare providers.

In the future e-health will enable you to:

Have electronic access to your own information helping you to better manage and control your personal health outcomes
Support healthcare providers in their decision making by making your health information electronically available at the right place and right time
Feel assured that your personal health information is being managed in a secure, confidential and tightly controlled manner.

The Healthcare Identifiers Service (HI Service)

A healthcare identifier is a unique number that will be assigned to each healthcare consumer, and to healthcare providers and organisations that provide health services.

The identifiers will be assigned and administered through the HI Service that has been established to undertake this task.

A key aim of healthcare identifiers is to ensure that individuals and providers can have confidence that the right health information is associated with the right individual at the point of care.

For further information on the HI Service see: Frequently Asked Questions on the HI Service and more information about healthcare identifiers and the Healthcare Identifiers Service is available at www.ehealthinfo.gov.au or www.medicareaustralia.gov.au.

The healthcare identifiers project is a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) initiative and is has been developed through the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA).
For more information on NEHTA’s work program see www.nehta.gov.au

Legislation to support the HI Service

The implementation of healthcare identifiers is supported by a strong and effective legislative framework that includes governance arrangements, permitted uses and privacy safeguards.

The legislation and regulations to support the HI Service are now available to view at ComLaw:

Healthcare Identifiers Act 2010

Healthcare Identifiers (Consequential Amendments) Act 2010

Healthcare Identifiers Regulations 2010

National Partnership Agreement (NPA) on E-Health

On 7 December 2009, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) signed a NPA on e-health setting out cooperative jurisdictional arrangements for e-health, including the HI Service. A copy of the COAG Communiqué and the NPA on e-health are available.

Health Privacy

Privacy is a fundamental principle underpinning quality healthcare. Consumer trust in the appropriate handling of personal health information must be maintained as the health sector moves to adopt and implement new technologies. Ensuring that there is a clear privacy framework will allow consumers to reap the benefits from improved information flows at the point of care, knowing that their privacy will be protected.

There have been a number of major reviews of privacy law in Australia, the most recent being undertaken by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) For Your Information: Australian Privacy Law and Practice, Report 108 (2008).

On 24 June 2010, the Australian Government released an exposure draft of the new Australian Privacy Principles, a cornerstone of the Australian Government’s privacy reforms.
The new principles have been referred to a Senate Committee which will consult on proposed reforms to the Privacy Act.

The exposure draft and a link to a companion guide are available online at: www.dpmc.gov.au.

In recognition of the importance of privacy as a foundation for e-health developments, the additional health privacy proposals were released for public consultation as part of the consultation around the HI Service.

Consultation to date

On 13 July 2009 the Australian Health Ministers’ Conference announced national consultations on the legislative framework to underpin the governance, privacy and agreed uses for national healthcare identifier numbers essential to a secure national e-health system. A copy of the communique is available. (PDF 14 KB)

A paper Healthcare Identifiers and Privacy: Discussion Paper on proposals for legislative support was released describing and seeking comments on legislative proposals to support the establishment of unique identifiers for healthcare purposes and the privacy of health information. The closing date for submissions was 14 August 2009. In total 93 submissions were received.

Submissions from the consultation, for which the authors have given permission to release, are available here.

In November 2009, Health Ministers agreed to public consultation on revised legislative proposals for healthcare identifiers, including the release of an exposure draft of the Healthcare Identifiers Bill 2010. Public consultation commenced on 20 November 2009. The Bill was publicly released by the Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon. Nicola Roxon MP on 10 December 2009. Public consultation closed on 7 January 2010 and a total of 54 submissions were received.

Submissions on the exposure draft legislation consultation, with permission of the authors are now available.

On 12 March 2010, as part of further consultation on the regulatory support the operation of the Council of Australian Governments’ Healthcare Identifiers Service, the Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon. Nicola Roxon MP released exposure draft regulations for comment. In addition, a consultation paper was released by the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council to support interested stakeholders in making a submission. Public consultation closed on 9 April 2010 and a total of 50 submissions were received.

Submissions on the exposure draft regulations consultation, with permission of the authors are available.

As part of the consultation process, revised exposure draft regulations were released on 2 June 2010. Final Regulations were made in late June 2010.

Further information

For additional information please contact the Department of Health and Ageing, eHealth Strategy Branch on (02) 6289 3919 or ehealth@health.gov.au

More information about healthcare identifiers and the Healthcare Identifiers Service is available at www.ehealthinfo.gov.au or www.medicareaustralia.gov.au.

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