Researchers and drug companies will be able to get data from your new digital health record
INSURANCE companies will be banned from accessing sensitive data on a new online health record for every Australian but other third parties, including drug companies can get their hands on it.
Health
Don't miss out on the headlines from Health. Followed categories will be added to My News.
INSURANCE companies will be banned from accessing sensitive information on a new online My Health Record that will be created for every Australian this year.
However, other third parties will be able to apply to access the health data under rules released by Health Minister Greg Hunt.
Australians who don’t want their private health data shared will have to take action to inform the government they want to keep it out of the hands of researchers and other interested parties.
Over five million Australians already have a My Health Record that contains sensitive health information including whether they have a mental illness, a sexually transmitted disease or an abortion.
REVEALED: Medicare rebates to be slashed
Every Australian will be issued with such a record by the end of this year unless they specifically notify the government they do not want it.
The government has announced it wants to share the information on that record with researchers and other people including possibly pharmaceutical companies.
It issued a set of rules that will apply to those who wish to access the information.
The data can’t be used for commercial and non-health-related purposes, including direct marketing to consumers, insurance assessments, and eligibility for welfare benefits.
Insurance companies will not be able to access the data, the rules say.
An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) ethics committee will decide who can access the information.
A My Health Record Secondary Use of Data Governance Board will be responsible for, and release regular statements about, data availability and quality.
BUDGET SCARE: Patients pushed onto generic medicines
The rules will be reviewed two years after the first dataset is released.
Mr Hunt said health policy experts would use the information to better forecast emerging health trends and develop better health strategies to benefit Australians patients.
Anyone found breaching patient privacy will face severe penalties, including jail sentences.
It could be 2020 before the first release of My Health Record data to third parties, he said.
The Privacy Foundation said it was very concerned the government would not be asking the express consent or people to use their health data.
The government would assume people had given permission to share their health data with third parties unless they bothered to opt out, Privacy Foundation health committee spokesman Bernard Robertson Dunn said.
This was in direct contradiction with the consultation report which said express consent was best, he said.
Mr Robertson-Dunn said it was “interesting” the government had released the framework late on Friday during budget week when it was likely t attract little attention.
“When governments do that it looks suspicious,” he said.