Health Minister Mark Butler has slammed pathology giant Healius for withholding patient data from the central My Health Record digital platform, amid a push by the federal government to rein in spending on unnecessary scans and tests.

Healius, the country’s second-largest pathology provider, stopped uploading test results on September 12. In August, a significant drop-off in uploads resulted in as many as 3 million fewer results provided to the My Health Record site.