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Australia aims to generate a digital health record for each of its 24.7 million citizens by December 2018. Despite the security and privacy promises made by the Australian government, over 20,000 citizens have chosen to opt out of the process immediately.
A “My Health Record” will exist for each participating citizen until 30 years after the individual’s death or 130 years after the individual’s birth date if there is no record of a date of death. The Australian Healthcare and Hospital Association (AHHA) is asking that the 6 million Australians with a My Health Record do not opt out of the digitalization after citing the numerous benefits of the program: “Better coordination of care among multiple health care providers, better informed decisions on health care that involve both the patient and the health care provider, reduced duplication of diagnostic tests, fewer adverse drug events and reduced hospital admissions.”
However, those opposing the transition argue that the medical benefits are inflated and instead point to the security and privacy risks at stake. For example, Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner warns that the decision to allow third party access to the data may put patient information at risk.
Read more about the benefits and risks of My Health Record at: https://spectrum.ieee.org/riskfactor/computing/it/australians-choosing-to-optout-of-controversial-my-health-record-system
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