Introduction to connecting to the My Health Record system
Secure online access to the My Health Record system is available nationally to consumers and their healthcare providers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The My Health Record system is available from any computer or mobile device with an internet connection.
There are two ways through which authorised Healthcare providers can access patients’ records in the My Health Record system:
- Conformant and enabled clinical information software.
- Web-based and read-only National Provider Portal.
The Australian Digital Health Agency is the System Operator, with healthcare professional registration services to the My Health Record system administered by the Department of Human Services, and digital health policy and legislation governed by the Department of Health.
Steps for healthcare providers and organisations wishing to register for digital health
There are several components of digital health that allow healthcare providers and organisations to take full advantage of the national My Health Record system.
Below are the four fundamental steps required to register for digital health. A healthcare organisation is not obligated to complete all of the steps, however they will not be able to use some areas, or take full advantage of the My Health Record system if the organisation chooses not to do so.
- Healthcare Provider Individuals and Organisations - Register with the Healthcare Identifiers (HI) service
The HI Service is a national system for uniquely identifying eligible healthcare providers, organisations and individuals (patients).
All healthcare providers and organisations wishing to participate in the My Health Record system must first be registered with the HI Service. Once registered, healthcare organisations are issued with a unique 16-digit Healthcare Provider Identifier for Organisations – also known as a HPI-O. Healthcare Provider Individuals such as GPs, allied health professionals and nurses registered with AHPRA are already registered with the HI Service and have automatically been assigned a Healthcare Provider Identifier for Individuals – also known as a HPI-I.
- Providers that are employed in a healthcare profession that is not regulated by AHPRA will need to apply for a HPI-I, and can do so here. Register to participate in the My Health Record system
Healthcare providers will need to be authorised by their healthcare organisation to access the My Health Record system, by having an authorised officer linking a provider’s HPI-I to the HPI-O via the Healthcare Provider Online Service (HPOS).
If you are a healthcare provider individual running your practice as a sole trader, you will need to register your business as a Seed Organisation, and also perform the HPI-I to HPI-O linking step through HPOS.
Find out more about the registration process.
- Healthcare provider organisations – if an organisation is going to access the My Health Record using conformant software they will need to obtain a National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Certificate
A NASH PKI Organisation Certificate is a digital certificate that authenticates an organisation whenever they access the My Health Record system using conformant software.
Organisations can apply for a NASH PKI Organisation Certificate via HPOS. Please read more information about how to apply for a NASH PKI Organisation Certificate here.
If a Healthcare Provider organisation does not have access to conformant clinical software they may opt to use the read-only National Provider Portal to access the My Health Record. For more information see the Provider Portal page.
Practice Incentives Programme (PIP) eHealth Incentive
In addition to the above-mentioned steps, organisations applying to receive the Practice Incentives Program (PIP) from Medicare will need to complete these additional steps in order to be eligible to receive the incentive:
- Implement data records and clinical terminology (medical vocabulary).
- Obtain and actively use Secure Message Delivery (SMD) product.
- Obtain and actively use Electronic Transfer of Prescription (eTP) product.
Other healthcare organisations wishing to take full advantage of available digital health products can also complete any/all of these three additional steps.
For more information on PIP, visit the Practice Incentives Program page.
