Insurer NIB wants access to members’ genetic information

Health insurer NIB wants to use genetic information and My Health Record data to calculate the risk profiles of its members.

The Australian Medical ­Associ­­ation has reacted with alarm at the suggestion of accessing My Health Record data. Picture: iStock

Health insurer NIB wants to use genetic information and My Health Record data to calculate the risk profiles of its members, in a major push towards person­alised preventive medicine.

The listed insurer has created a data science and health services company in partnership with US provider Cigna Corporation, with plans to use de-identified big data to calculate individual health risks. NIB chief executive Mark Fitzgibbon raised the ire of doctors by foreshadowing an application by the new company to access government-held electronic health records.

“Potentially this body as a registered healthcare provider, with our members’ permission, could access My Health Record,” he said. “It will be a healthcare provider and it will be eligible to apply to access that data.”

But the body in charge of My Health Record, the Australian Digital Health Agency, reiterated that My Health Record data “cannot be privatised or used for commercial purposes”. Insurers are barred from applying to ­access My Health Record data under legislation.

Mr Fitzgibbon said NIB had long wanted to move from being a “sick care company” into preventive medicine. The sophisticated data analytics performed by the new joint venture would be key to achieving that aim, he said.

“I think it’s a giant step forward in our ambitions and it’s going to lead to a quantum shift in the way that we think about our healthcare system,” he said.

NIB proposes to feed the health data of its members to the new joint venture company on an anonymous basis. The joint venture would then calculate the health risks faced by an individual member, and send that information back to NIB, which would then approach the member with suggested interventions. The joint venture would also undertake frontline service delivery, ­initially in mental health coaching and hospital discharge management. Mr Fitzgibbon flagged a push towards collecting the genetic ­information of members to aid the process.

Data privacy experts question whether the joint venture company could guarantee members’ information would remain anony­mous. Bruce Baer Arnold, an assistant professor at Canberra Law School, said there were “real concerns” members’ health data could be compromised. “Many of the claims about anonymity just don’t stand up in practice,” he said. “And in the future, they will stand up even less.”

The Australian Medical ­Associ­­ation reacted with alarm at the suggestion of accessing My Health Record data. “We continued to be reassured … that any ­access by any private health insurance company to My Health Record will not be allowed,” said AMA president Tony Bartone. “Any backdoor way to try and get access will be met with very strenuous opposition.”

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners said it was vital My Health Record data did not end up in the hands of insurers. “When a patient steps into their GP’s office, it’s vital they have faith that their health information is private,” RACGP president Harry Nespolon said.

“The government has developed a framework to govern the secondary use of My Health Record data and the framework states that no insurance agencies will be permitted to access it.”

The Australian Digital Health Agency said the law governing My Health Record access was clear: “No one is permitted to ­access, or ask you to disclose, any information within your My Health Record for insurance or employment purposes.”