Summary
Date: 23 October 2017
The Department of Health launched a public consultation process to develop a framework and draft implementation plan for the secondary use of data in the My Health Record for research, policy, planning, system use, quality improvement, and evaluation activities.
Under the My Health Records Act 2012, health information in the My Health Record may be collected, used and disclosed “for any purpose” with the consent of the healthcare recipient. In addition, one of the functions of the System Operator (the Australian Digital Health Agency) is “to prepare and provide de-identified data for research and public health purposes.” Before these provisions of the Act will be implemented, a framework for secondary use of My Health Record system data must be established.