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My Health Record

Implementing My Health Record in your healthcare organisation

Find out how to establish policies, register your organisation, and access the system.

This page provides information for healthcare providers and organisations wanting to register with the Healthcare Identifiers (HI) Service and the My Health Record system, along with key points to consider prior to and after registration.

Follow the guidance provided in each section below to understand the process required to register your organisation.

Digital health foundations

Understanding Healthcare Identifiers

To be eligible to register to participate in the My Health Record system, your organisation will need to obtain a Healthcare Provider Identifier - Organisation (HPI-O).

The Healthcare Identifiers Service (HI Service) is a national system for uniquely identifying healthcare providers, healthcare organisations and individuals receiving healthcare.

The HI Service is a foundation component of all national digital health products and services, including My Health Record.

Healthcare identifiers help ensure individuals and healthcare providers have confidence that the right information is associated with the right individual at a particular point of care.

Types of healthcare identifiers:

  • Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI) identifies a patient (individual) receiving healthcare. An IHI uniquely identifies individuals who receive healthcare, including Australian citizens, permanent residents and visitors to Australia.
  • Healthcare Provider Identifier - Individual (HPI-I) identifies an individual healthcare provider who provides healthcare, such as general practitioners, allied health professionals, specialists, nurses, dentists and pharmacists, among others.
  • Healthcare Provider Identifier - Organisation (HPI-O) identifies the healthcare provider organisation where healthcare is provided, such as hospitals, medical practices, pathology or radiology laboratories and pharmacies.

Use of Healthcare Identifiers is governed by the Healthcare Identifiers Act. The HI Act requires that an organisation take reasonable steps to protect healthcare identifiers from misuse and loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Following the guidance provided in the sections below, will take you through the process for registering your organisation and obtaining an HPI-O.

Consider your healthcare organisation’s structure

Healthcare provider organisations participate in the My Health Record system either as a Seed Organisation only or as a Network Organisation that is part of a wider ‘network hierarchy’ (under the responsibility of a Seed Organisation).

A Seed Organisation is a legal entity that provides or controls the delivery of healthcare services. A Seed Organisation could be, for example, a local GP practice, pharmacy, private medical specialist, or the head office of a larger medical group. 

An example of a Network Organisation could be an individual department (e.g. pathology or radiology) within a wider metropolitan hospital. A network hierarchy operating in the My Health Record system consists of one Seed Organisation and one or more Network Organisations. All organisations will need to first register a Seed Organisation, prior to establishing any network organisations.

The majority of Healthcare Provider Organisations in Australia are independent – for example, suburban GP practices, pharmacies, private health specialists, or allied health care organisations. They will most likely participate in the My Health Record system as an independent Seed Organisation, rather than part of a network hierarchy.

It is important for organisations to determine their structure within the HI Service prior to registration for My Health Record.

Larger medical groups or hospital groups are encouraged to contact the Agency help desk for support and to discuss considerations before determining their structure:

Phone: 1300 901 001 during business hours
Email: [email protected]

Assign roles and responsibilities

Your Seed Organisation will identify staff for two key roles – the Responsible Officer (RO) and the Organisation Maintenance Officer (OMO). An OMO can also be identified for a Network Organisation.

Responsible Officer (RO): the officer of an organisation who is registered with the HI Service and has authority to act on behalf of the Seed Organisation and relevant Network Organisations (if any) in its dealings with the System Operator of the My Health Record system. For large organisations, the RO may be the chief executive officer or chief operations officer. For small organisations (such as a General Practice) the RO may be a practice manager or business owner.

Organisation Maintenance Officer (OMO): the officer of an organisation who is registered with the HI Service and acts on behalf of a Seed Organisation and/or Network Organisations (if any) in its day-to-day administrative dealings with the HI Service and the My Health Record system. Healthcare organisations can have more than one OMO if they wish. In General Practice, this role may be assigned to the Practice Manager, if you have one, and/or other senior staff who are familiar with the practice's clinical and administrative systems. Alternatively, the RO may take on the OMO role as well.

Example HPI-O Structure

Prior to registration

Prior to registering to participate in the My Health Record system, your organisation will need to have a security and access policy in place. For more information on policies and participation obligations, visit the link below.

Security and access policy

Register your organisation for an HPI-O and with the My Health Record system

The Responsible Officer (RO) of your organisation will need to register the organisation with the HI Service to obtain an HPI-O.

Register for a PRODA account

Provider Digital Access (PRODA) is an online authentication system for healthcare organisations to securely access government online services, such as Health Professional Online Services (HPOS).

Your organisation will need to identify who will be acting in the role of a Responsible Officer (RO). This person will be responsible for the practice and may be the owner or manager of the organisation. The RO will have primary responsibility for the practice's compliance with participation requirements, ensuring that the practice and its employees comply with the relevant legislation, policies and regulations.

This individual will need to register for a PRODA account if they do not already have one.

Helpful registration tips:

  • Ensure the name you register the account with has the same name as all your documents, or a Change of Name certificate is provided as supporting documentation.
  • Confirm the gender on the account matches the documents.
  • Confirm the DOB is entered correctly
  • The email address used to register the Individual PRODA account should not be a publicly accessible email address such as an admin account.

Register for a PRODA account

Link to Health Professional Online Service (HPOS)

When you first log in to PRODA, you will need to link to HPOS. Visit Services Australia to discover the steps to link HPOS to your PRODA account. You will then be able to access a range of eligible services using your PRODA log in.

Learn more

Register a seed organisation with the Healthcare Identifiers Service (HI Service)

Once the RO has registered for PRODA and linked HPOS to their account, they can register the organisation with the HI Service. This national service underpins the secure transmission of digital health data by uniquely identifying healthcare organisations, healthcare provider individuals and healthcare recipient individuals.

Once registered with the HI Service, your organisation is issued with a unique HPI-O number. This number is used to identify the organisation in a range of national digital health initiatives.

When you register to use the HI Service, you’ll also need to include your healthcare organisation type.

From the HPOS ‘My programs’ page:

  1. Select the My Health Record and Healthcare Identifiers tile
  2. Select Healthcare Identifiers - Register seed organisation
  3. Complete the online form to register your seed organisation
  4. For more information, visit the Services Australia website.

Registering a seed organisation with the HI Service also registers the organisation for My Health Record.

Register any networked organisations

A network organisation provides services as part of a seed organisation. Like a maternity ward in a hospital or a medical practice operating under a larger medical group.

If you’re registering a network organisation you need to link it to either a seed organisation or another network organisation in the HI Service.

When you register to use the HI Service, you’ll also need to include your healthcare organisation type.

Step 1: Register your network organisation in HPOS

You must be either a RO or OMO of a seed organisation to register a network organisation. You need to link your new network organisation to either a seed organisation or another network organisation when registering.

To register a network organisations in the HI Service, log in to your PRODA account to access HPOS, then:

  1. Select My programs then Healthcare Identifiers and My Health Record.
  2. Select Manage Healthcare Identifiers.
  3. Select which seed or network organisation you want to link the organisation to.
  4. Select the My Organisation details, and then Add organisation.
  5. Follow the steps to create your new network organisation.

Once your request has been processed, you will receive the outcome to your HPOS inbox. This will include your new network organisation's HPI-O.

Once you have a HPI-O you can register to access My Health Record (see below).

Step 2: Register your network organisation to access My Health Record

Once your organisation has a HPI-O you can register in the My Health Record.

To register your organisation in the My Health Record you must also be a RO or OMO for the network organisation.

When you register, you need to set access flags:

  • By choosing 'Yes' an access flag will be set for this organisation. Consumers can restrict access to their record by this organisation.
  • By choosing 'No' the access flag will be the same as the parent organisation, this organisation will have access to the same health records as the parent organisation.

To set access flags, log in to your PRODA account to access HPOS, then:

  1. Select My programs then Healthcare Identifiers and My Health Record.
  2. Select My Health Record - Register Organisation then Healthcare Organisation Registration.
  3. Select an organisation from the list.
  4. Select which organisation you want to register and what access flags they should have, then Save Changes.
  5. If you agree to the terms accept the Participation Agreement, and then select Register.

You’ve now registered your nominated organisation in the My Health Record system.

Obtain HPI-Is for all clinical staff who will be using My Health Record

All healthcare providers within your organisation will need to be uniquely identified using a HPI-I to access the system. All Ahpra registered healthcare providers will already have a HPI-I.

Ahpra registered healthcare providers

Accessing your Healthcare Identifier

The following options can assist you in obtaining your HPI-I:

  • Option 1: You would have received your HPI-I in correspondence sent to you from Ahpra. If this has not been retained, you can obtain your HPI-I from the Ahpra website using your login account, or by calling Ahpra on 1300 419 495 Monday to Friday 9:00am - 5:00pm (local time). If you know your Ahpra User ID simply add 800361 to the front of ID to get your HPI-I.
  • Option 2: Call the HI Service enquiry line on 1300 361 457 Monday to Friday 8:30am - 5:00pm (local time) and request your HPI-I.
  • Option 3: If your healthcare organisation is registered with the HI Service, your Organisation Maintenance Officer (OMO) can retrieve your HPI-I from Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) for you, provided you have consented to have your details published in the Healthcare Provider Directory (HPD).

Non-Ahpra registered healthcare providers

Options for healthcare providers not registered with Ahpra to obtain their HPI-I

If you are a healthcare professional in a field of practice not covered by Ahpra you may still be eligible to obtain an HPI-I, provided that you meet the criteria for an individual healthcare provider set out in the Healthcare Identifiers Act 2010.

To be eligible a healthcare professional must be a current member of a professional association which:

  • relates to the healthcare that has been, is, or is to be provided by the member, and
  • has uniform national membership requirements, whether or not in legislation.

If you believe you meet the above criteria and wish to obtain an HPI-I, see the Services Australia website for more information.

Setting up access 

In most healthcare settings, access to the system is via conformant clinical software, the National Provider Portal, or hospital applications. 

Option 1: accessing via conformant software

Many common clinical information systems (CISs) conform to My Health Record and can connect directly to the system. This means that healthcare providers are generally able to access, view and upload information to a patient's record through their conformant CIS.

Click here to check whether your clinical software conforms to the standard.

To access My Health Record using conformant clinical software, your organisation needs either a National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) certificate or a Contracted Service Provider (CSP) number for linking.

Check with your software vendor whether you need to have a NASH PKI Certificate or whether they will be interacting with the system as a Contracted Service Provider (CSP).

Use a NASH PKI certificate:

Request and download a NASH PKI certificate

The National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) is used by healthcare organisations to securely access and share health information. A NASH Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Certificate is required for access to the HI Service.

This certificate can be requested, linked and downloaded through HPOS by your Organisation Maintenance Officer (OMO). In a healthcare organisation, the role of OMO may be assigned to a staff member who is familiar with the practice’s administration systems. Alternatively, the RO may take on the OMO role as well.

Request and link NASH certificates

You need to log on to your PRODA account, then select:

  1. Go to service on the HPOS tile
  2. My programs
  3. Healthcare Identifiers and My Health Record
  4. Healthcare Identifiers - Manage existing records
  5. My organisation details
  6. the Certificates tab.

When selecting the required organisation record, you may need to navigate to the correct record. Read more about Healthcare Identifiers Service for health professionals.

To request a NASH certificate:

  1. select Request a NASH PKI site certificate
  2. select either the Software Product or I cannot select a product because
  3. enter a mobile number
  4. tick the check box to confirm you have read and understood the terms and conditions
  5. save changes and submit.

When your certificate is ready for downloading, your Personal Identification Code (PIC) will be sent in a text message. You need the code to activate the certificate.

For more information on NASH certificates please visit the NASH page.

or link a CSP number:

Link the software vendor's CSP number in HPOS

If your organisation uses software that connects to My Health Record, and the software vendor is a contracted servicer provider (CSP), you need to link the CSP in HPOS in order to connect to My Health Record.

Check with your software vendor to confirm that they are a CSP, and obtain the 16-digital CSP number prior to completing the linking process.

Follow the steps in this guide for Contracted Service Provider Linking in HPOS (PDF, 311.37 KB).

Configure software

Once you have completed either the NASH or CSP linking process, contact your software provider to access support to appropriately configure your healthcare identifiers and certificates.

Option 2: accessing via the National Provider Portal (NPP)

Healthcare providers who do not have conformant clinical software, can access an individual’s record through the National Provider Portal. The NPP is a web-based, read-only site that allows healthcare providers to view the information in a patient's record. The uploading of documents is not supported.

To use the NPP, healthcare providers need to get set up first. Your organisation will also need a Healthcare Provider Identifier - Organisation (HPI-O) and be registered to participate in the system.

Set up access by linking the HPI-I to the organisation's HPI-O

For a healthcare provider representing a healthcare organisation to access the NPP, the Responsible Officer (RO) or Organisation Maintenance Officer (OMO) must link their HPI-I to the organisation's HPI-O. This can be done by:

Once successful linking has occurred, healthcare providers representing the organisation can access the NPP.

If your organisation is not yet registered in the HI Service and My Health Record, see above.

Accessing and using the National Provider Portal

  • Step 1: Log onto the NPP. Go to https://provider.ehealth.gov.au/login.html to access the portal.
  • Step 2: Click on the 'Login' button
    You will be redirected to the PRODA login page where you will be required to enter your username and password.
  • Step 3: Link your PRODA ID to the My Health Record system by entering your Identifier Number
    You will only need to complete the linking once.
  • Step 4: Select the organisation you are representing
    If you work for multiple healthcare provider organisations, please select the organisation you are representing in relation to your specific patient’s care.
  • Step 5: Search for the individual's record
    Once you log in, a search screen will appear. Add their information to the search screen to find their record. To find the individual's record, the information you enter must match their details as recorded with Medicare.
    The information required includes: Last name, Date of birth, Sex, Identifier (IHI, Medicare or DVA)

Log in to the National Provider Portal here:

Log in to National Provider Portal

Option 3: accessing via hospital applications

Most hospitals across Australia are already connected to the system. This means that authorised employees are generally able to access and view information in a patient’s My Health Record through the hospital's applications.

If you are working in a hospital or other healthcare setting, check with your health information manager or local intranet for information on how to access the system in your organisation’s applications.

Remember to check your organisation's policy regarding access and use of the system.

Hospitals that are looking to connect to My Health Record are encouraged to contact the Agency via our Help Desk.

HIPS mobile

HIPS mobile provides authorised employees with seamless access to their patients’ healthcare information and services, when and where they need it. It is available as an add on to existing HIPS software enabling the viewing of records on mobile devices, including mobile and tablets.

Benefits

Mobile access to HIPS allows for viewing of records on mobile and tablet where and when it is needed. This means:

  • Critical information is on hand and available to all clinicians while performing ward rounds, bedside consultations and remote care.
  • For Emergency Departments this can mean saving time, when patient history needs to be accessed in an Emergency - including medicines, pathology and Covid history including immunisations.
  • Improved management of patient information for Clinicians, who can now create specific ‘My Patient’ lists for each of the clinician’s work locations and access records on and offsite via the hospital’s VPN. This list syncs with the HIPS UI standalone view.

More information about HIPS

Train staff prior to use

Find resources to help you feel confident using the system. Detailed information, software summary sheets, training and support are all available here.

Education and training

The Agency also has a recommended training list (PDF, 185.62 KB)

Ensure your organisation is meeting ongoing participation obligations

Healthcare organisations must operate in accordance with relevant policies and legislation when participating in the system. Learn more about your ongoing participation obligations here.

Ongoing participation obligations