The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) today repeated its call for the Federal Government to urgently revisit the proposed changes to the Practice Incentive Program (PIP) Digital Health Incentive that would establish mandatory requirements for the uploading of clinical documents to My Health Record.
“In light of the revelations this weekend about incorrect records, I repeat my call for the Government to reconsider its position,” RACGP President Dr Frank R Jones said.
In November, Dr Jones wrote to Health Minister Sussan Ley suggesting the changes were “misaligned, ill-timed, superficial, will not support meaningful use, and – as a result – will not improve patient care and safety”.
The likely changes, released as a discussion document by the Federal Government in October, came at time when the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) released a report highlighting many general practices are failing the stringent privacy requirements set for the use of the My Health Record, exposing practices to the risk of significant fines.
“The RACGP again urges the Government to fix the usability problems first before pushing ahead with the proposal and exposing GPs to risk and patients to possible safety issues.”
Dr Jones said there were still a number of usability issues with the system as evidenced by the weekend’s revelations.
“For the Government to attempt to drive GP use of the My Health Record in this environment, with so many issues still to be addressed, is likely to be counterproductive,” he said.
Dr Jones said the RACGP recommended a broader strategy to engage and encourage other healthcare providers to use My Health Record, which would provide better clinical and healthcare benefits.
“Mandatory ePIP requirements to engage in the My Health Record put general practice and their patients at risk and the Government is ill-advised in adopting these measures as a way to create use of the system,” Dr Jones said.