Australians will get easier access to their medical records and be at less risk of treatment and prescription blunders under a revamped e-health system that will cost the Abbott government at least half a billion dollars.
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The new myHealth Records system will be announced by Health Minister Sussan Ley on Sunday. It will build upon and replace some elements of a struggling scheme introduced by Labor in 2012, which has already cost taxpayers more than $1 billion.
Tuesday's federal budget will set aside $485 million over the next four years to get the new system up and running but costs will continue beyond that.
The government believes that once the system is fully operational it could save the federal budget in the order of $2.5 billion a year. The states would also benefit from billions of dollars in savings through a reduction in diagnosis, treatment and prescription errors that lead to thousands of hospitalisations every year.
It's hoped the system will also dramatically cut down on unnecessary duplication of procedures such as blood tests and X-rays.
"As patients, we've all been in situations where we've had to attend another doctor surgery because we were out of town or couldn't get an appointment with our regular doctor. It can be a time-consuming and often frustrating experience for patients and doctors alike," Ms Ley said.
"And as a parent of three children, I recognise the benefits of having your family's personal health information safely stored and accessible to healthcare providers. In the case of allergy or medicine interactions, having fast access to critical health data could be a matter of life or death, especially during emergencies."
The biggest change to Labor's Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record system will be a transition to an opt-out system.
That means that if a series of initial limited trials go well, all Australians will be given an e-health account and have their records put online, unless they choose to be excluded. Labor's system was opt-in, leading to a disappointingly small take-up rate – only about 2.2 million people, or 10 per cent of the population.
The government will also invest money in streamlining the system to make it more user-friendly so more doctors, nurses, pharmacists and hospitals want to be a part of it. So far, only a few hundred of the country's 1300 hospitals have adopted e-health.
The governing body NEHTA – the National E-Health Transition Authority – will be scrapped and replaced by the "Australian Commission for e-Health". The government says it will be less complicated and bureaucratic.
The changes are generally in line with the 38 recommendations made by a review of e-health ordered by former health minister Peter Dutton in 2013. The government sat on the report for more than 500 days before responding, leaving the system in limbo.
Labor and some in the medical profession will be pleased the government has chosen to push ahead with e-health, although some experts believe the government should scrap the whole system, describing it as a white elephant.
