My Health Record money trail: Questions raised over health lobby groups ‘on payroll’
QUESTIONS have been raised over why consumer and doctor groups supporting My Health Record are being paid by the agency rolling it out.
National
Don't miss out on the headlines from National. Followed categories will be added to My News.
EXCLUSIVE
IN the wake of a growing public backlash and increasing scrutiny of the My Health Record, key health lobby groups backing it are declaring themselves to be on the payroll of the agency rolling it out.
We can reveal the Australian Digital Health Agency has spent millions of dollars of taxpayers money trying to co-opt the support of leading health and consumer groups for the government’s online My Health Record.
A News Corp investigation of government tender documents has found
* The Consumers Health Forum has received over $105,000;
* The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners nearly $2 million;
* The Australian Health and Hospitals Association $1.2 million;
* The Pharmacy Guild $194,000;
* Australian Council Of Social Service $32 500.
The Australian Medical Association and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners both signed contracts with the government to promote the record to doctors in return for a $910 million increase in Medicare rebates.
In most cases the money was for educating their members or consumers about the record, mailing out letters and setting up a secure messaging system between doctors.
All the groups say they had in principle support for an electronic health record before they received the money, that the money did not change their view and some have been critical of aspects of the My Health record after receiving the money.
Every Australian will get an online My Health Record that will reveal if they have had an abortion, a mental illness, a sexually transmitted disease or a drug addiction unless they opt out by October 15.
Former AMA president Professor Kerryn Phelps says any individual or group that has received money from the ADHA needs to declare it.
“I have a very strong and unequivocal view that advocacy organisations like the AMA and other groups should not do deals with government in exchange for supporting programs,” she said.
“They need to be presenting a completely unbiased view on behalf of their members, we are not an arm of the government.”
The Australian Digital Health Agency has taken forthright approach in the last week.
Professor Phelps revealed after she spoke out about privacy problems with the record she received a phone call from Australian Digital Health Agency boss Tim Kelsey.
“What he tried to do was reassure me on privacy and security and I said I would have to proceed with my concerns,” she said.
“It was unusual to get a phone call like that,” she said.
Earlier this week a Parliamentary Library paper critical of privacy aspects of the My Health Record was removed from the library’s website and later a more anodyne version replaced it.
Queensland MP Bob Katter who shares privacy concerns has suggested the record is Orwellian.
“I read George Orwell’s 1984 and it scares me still. Big Brother is watching,” he said in a media release on his constituents concerns about the record.
The agency said it was collaborating with a wide range of clinical and consumer leaders and had 17 agreements with peak consumer organisations and informal agreements with another 15 organisations — to undertake collaborative communications activity around My Health Record.
“No stakeholder has been asked, as part of any contractual arrangements, to present a particular view point on having a My Health Record. Additionally, organisations are open and free to have their own views on My Health Record,” the agency said.
“These organisations are committed to the system and are encouraging healthcare providers to adopt use of the My Health Record system into daily practice,” the agency said.
News Corp revealed last week senior medicos were alarmed the My Health Record legislation allows police, the Australian Taxation Office and other government agencies to access the record without a court order and want that changed.
Health Minister Greg Hunt will meet with key doctors groups this week to try and solve the problem.
Meanwhile, key medical leaders including Dr Harry Nespolon the incoming president of the RACGP opted out of the record and AMA president Dr Tony Bartone revealed he doesn’t have one yet.
Now many leading health consumer organisations have begun declaring a potential conflict of interest in their media releases, revealing they have received payments from the Australian Digital Health Agency.
The Consumer’s Health Forum said this week: “We do accept funding from ADHA to distribute information and resources that explain the My Health Record to our members and networks.”
And Consumer’s Health Forum chief Leanne Wells told News Corp: “We have been clear with the ADHA that its funding does not give it the right to direct our policy and statements in regards to MHR.”
“Indeed a Memorandum of Understanding with ADHA makes it clear that we assert the right to speak independently of ADHA.”
The Australian Council of Social Services said in a media release it had “received financial support from the Agency to assist with communication to the community sector about the introduction of My Health Records”.
ACOSS said it was paid to arrange meetings, prepare and distribute materials and deal with member inquiries over a period of some six months.
“Nothing in the contract with the Agency prevents ACOSS from maintaining its fiercely independent advocacy as a national non-government peak body, including about the adequacy of the privacy settings in the My Health Record Program,” it said.
Both groups along with ACOSS and the RACGP this week demanded changes to the My Health Record legislation so that police and government agencies would have to get a court order to access the record.
AMA president Dr Tony Bartone said the AMA’s support for the My Health Record predated its 2017 compact with the government and went all the way back to 2009-10.
“I really want to be very clear you can’t link the two. They were linked on a piece of paper but it was simply an acknowledgment of what was already on the table,” he said.
“We have not taken one dollar for any advocacy from the authority,” he said.
The Australian Health and Hospitals Association said it developed a training package to support providers to upload information to the My Health Record with money it received from the government.
The Pharmacy Guild was paid to prepare materials to tell pharmacists about the My Health record and encourage patients to register for a record.
The RACGP said its funding was for face-to-face training sessions and webinars for GPs who are frontline users of the My Health Records system.
“Any funding received has had a specific purpose to create awareness of My Health Record and has not undermined the advocacy undertaken by the RACGP to ensure that My Health Record is a secure and usable system for consumers and doctors,” RACGP incoming president Dr Harry Nespolon said.