Efficiency of New Legislation on My Health Record

This article discusses the new legislation on My Health Record in Australia and its efficiency in protecting patient's personal information and privacy. It covers the background information on My Health Record, the legislation already in place, changes made by the new reform, academic views, and concerns raised by critics. The article concludes that while the new legislation has increased privacy protection, there are still concerns about the complete deletion of personal data and the risk of cybercrimes.

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HOW EFFICIENT IS THE NEW LEGISLATION ON MY HEALTH RECORD?
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
My health record background information................................................................................3
Legislation already in place.......................................................................................................4
Changes made by the new reform..............................................................................................4
Deletion of records.................................................................................................................4
Release of records...................................................................................................................4
Academic views.........................................................................................................................5
Critic (Problem).........................................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
Summary....................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
On 31st July, Greg Hunt, Minister for Health announced a new legislation on My
Health Record (Gribbin, 2018, OAIC, 2018). He introduced into Federal Parliament’s House
of Representatives, My Health Records Amendment Bill 2018 (Timebase, 2018). With the
introduction of this legislation, a patient's health records cannot be accessed by the police or
government agencies without a court order, the records of a person who cancelled his My
Health Record application will be permanently deleted and a patient's personal information
will be protected. Just how efficient is this new legislation?
My health record background information
With the advancement in technology, the health sector has been computerised. My
Health Record, a system of digitally recording a patient's health information has been used
and will continue to be used in Australia (Australian Digital Health Agency, 2018). ADHA is
the system operator of My Health Record in Australia (Australian Digital Health Agency,
2018). This system stores records of the patient's health information like immunisation,
pathology results, organ donation and PBS information. There is also a record of the patient's
health summary and personal health notes. Those in support of it mention that it reduces
medical errors while those against it raise concerns of the extent of privacy and security the
system offers. Positive views have been given by Australians and the videos of feedback
from the citizens are in the Australian Digital Health Agency website, 2018. Some of the
benefits of the system include: the system can be accessed nationally , a record of the medical
history of a patient helps medical practitioners to treat the patient's better especially for
patients who don't have specific doctors .A patient is in control of his health records and can
thus say what can be uploaded in the system, what stays there and who can see the records
Hanna, Gill, Newstead, Hawkins and Osborne (2017), continuous updates in the system will

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ensure that the medical practitioners fully understand a patient's health in detail. The system
is particularly useful in times of emergency. The doctors can study the patient's medical
history and wisely decide on the medical procedure to be followed.
Legislation already in place
The legislation in place for the digital health services include: My Health Records
Act, Healthcare Identifies Act and Australian Policy Principles in Privacy Act. According to
Gribbin (2018), the Minister mentions that the current legislation was sufficient as it was but
he is willing to make the changes as proposed in the new legislation.
Changes made by the new reform
According to TimeBase 2018, the new legislation is intended to “strengthen the
privacy framework of My Health Record system”. The bill was introduced to address the
concerns by critics on the security and privacy of the records stored in the My Health Record
system (TimeBase, 2018).
Deletion of records
In the current legislation, My Health Records Act 2012, a patient's basic information
is stored for up to 130 years even when he or she had opted out. In the new legislation a
patient's health records are deleted fully once he or she opts out. The only data which will be
retained is the person's name and healthcare identifier and the day the cancellation takes
effect (Stilgherrian, 2018).No other personal records will be stored in the system.
Release of records
In the current legislation, any government agencies can access your health records
(Stilgherrian, 2018).However, the new legislation states that a court order is required before
the police or government agencies can access the records. The minister assures the citizens

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that in the past six years no document has been released and in future none will be released
without a court order (Williams, 2018).
Academic views
Prictor, Hemsley, Taylor and McCarthy (2018) argue that if the new legislation is
passed, My Health Record with have a greater privacy protection than other medical records.
If the court grants permission to the police to view the health records of the patient, they will
be able to access a patient's records and there is a risk of disclosure of information which is
not relevant (Prictor et al., 2018).
Merkel (2018) mentions that the deletion of a patient's records as provided by the new
legislation is not as easy as it sounds. He mentions that even if data is deleted from active
database being used, it can found in the systems backup which can retain information for a
particular time. Removal of data from the backup is not easy. Merkel (2018) further argues
that there is uncertainty when it comes to the issue of whether the police or government
agencies can access the backup data also when granted permission by the court to view a
patient's health records.
Arnold, Kemp and Vaile (2018) argue that My Health Record system is not a
clinically medical report. This is because it is neither up to date nor comprehensive. The three
scholars argue that due to this factors, the health records may be of no help and thus a
distraction in case of an emergency. Digital storage of information is risky because it may be
easy bait for criminals, hackers and even shoppers (Arnold, et al., 2018).Identity theft is also
a risk. The three scholars therefore advice Australians to opt out of the system now.
According to Kemp, Arnold and Vaile (2018), the My Health Record system has
more advantages than disadvantage and thus supports the system. The system could save a
patient's life in a case of emergency and a person is more informed and engaged in his
personal health. However, he mentions that the system is challenging for the digital illiterates.

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Critic (Problem)
As technology advances, cybercrimes increase. This poses a risk on My Health
Record system. A patient's health records is a target (Coventry and Branley, 2018).This is due
to the weaknesses in the existing technology and a history of failure of complete eradication
of cybercrimes (Coventry and Branley, 2018).Cyber hackers may hack the system and use a
personal records of the patient( Arnold, et al., 2018).
It is crucial for the Australians to be clearly informed about the system. No
information which is not acknowledged by the public should be added to the records.
According to Han (2018), My Health Record system can also store a patient's genomic
information. ‘The system is not ready to store such kind of information because it is too
sensitive and risky’. The Australian citizens were not informed about storage of this kind of
data and thus this leads to lack of trust between the patient's and the government. This is still
not catered for in the new legislation.
Concerns have been raised on whether medical employers who have access to a
patient's health records can use the records to check the employees’ entire health records prior
to employment. The Federal Government and the Australian Digital Health Agency have
assured the patient's that under the Healthcare Identifiers Act 2010 section 14(2),
the healthcare providers were prohibited from collecting, using or disclosing a healthcare
identifier number to a person's My Health Record for employment and insurance purposes.
Conclusion
My new health record has been used and has many benefits. It helps the patient's to
keep track of their health status (My Health Record, 2018). The new legislation on My Health
Record will increase the privacy of a patient's records. The police and government agencies
will not be able to access a patient's records without a court order and a patient's personal

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information will be deleted from the system once he or she opts out. However, there are still
concerns about this new legislation. Complete deletion of personal data is not as easy as it
seems because the health system has a backup storage for personal information. Australians
are therefore not certain whether there details in the backup storage will be deleted and if not
whether the police and government agencies will have access to these data once given a court
order. There are risks of cybercrimes that may affect the legislation. However, the legislation
in place ensures a strict punishment of any person who would have committed a cybercrimes
in relation to My Health Record system (My Health Record, 2018). My Health Record
system has more advantages than disadvantages. Only a small percentage of the Australian
population have opted out of the system (Australian Digital Health Agency 2018)
Summary.
 On 31st July, Greg Hunt, Minister for Health in Australia, announced a new legislation on my
health record system.
 A patient's health records cannot be accessed by the police or government agencies without a
court order, the records of a person who cancelled his My Health Record application will be
permanently deleted and a patient's personal information will be protected.
 However, this legislation is not clear in matters of whether backup data will also be deleted
once a patient opts out and the system suffers cybercrime risk

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References
Arnold, B. B., Kemp, K., Vaile D., (2018). My Health Record: the case for opting out. [Online] The
Conversation, Available at: https://theconversation.com/my-health-record-the-case-for-
opting-out-99302 [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].
Australian Digital Health Agency. (2018). Using the My Health Record system [Online] Available at:
https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/using-the-my-health-record-system [Accessed 12 Oct.
2018].
Coventry, L., & Branley, D. (2018). Cyber security in healthcare: A narrative review of trends,
threats and ways forward. Maturitas, 113, 48–52. doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2018.04.008
[Accessed on October 11, 2018]
Gribbin C., (2018, August 1). Government bows to pressure over My Health Record privacy
concerns. ABC News. [Online] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-31/court-
order-needed-for-my-health-record-greg-hunt-says/10058544 [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].
Han, E. (2018, August 6). My Health Record can store genomic information but critics say it's not
ready. Available at https://www.smh.com.au/healthcare/my-health-record-can-store-
genomic-data-but-critics-say-it-s-not-ready-20180801-p4zuxz.html [Accessed on October 11,
2018]
Hanna, L., Gill, S.D., Newstead, L., Hawkins, M. and Osborne, R.H., 2017. Patient perspectives on a
personally controlled electronic health record used in regional Australia: ‘I can be like my
own doctor’. Health Information Management Journal, 46(1), pp.42-48. doi:
10.1177/1833358316661063
Merkel, R. (2018, September 10). My Health Record: Deleting personal information from databases
is harder than it sounds. Available at http://theconversation.com/my-health-record-deleting-

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personal-information-from-databases-is-harder-than-it-sounds-100962 [Accessed on October
11, 2018]
My Health Record. (2018). My Health Record. [Online] Available at:
https://www.myhealthrecord.gov.au/ [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].
OIAC (2018). My Health Records| Office of the Australian Information Commissioner - OAIC.
[Online] Available at: https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy-law/other-legislation/my-health-
records [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].
Prictor, M., Hemsley, B., Taylor, M., & McCarthy, S. (2018, September 30). If privacy is increasing
for My Health Record data, it should apply to all medical records. Available at
http://theconversation.com/if-privacy-is-increasing-for-my-health-record-data-it-should-
apply-to-all-medical-records-102654 [Accessed on October 11, 2018]
Stilgherrian. (2018, August 29). Australian government moves to improve My Health Record
privacy. Available at https://www.zdnet.com/article/australian-government-moves-to-
improve-my-health-record-privacy/ [Accessed on October 11, 2018]
Timebase. (2018). TimeBase - New Bill to Strengthen My Health Records Privacy Introduced Into
Federal Parliament. [Online] Available at:
https://www.timebase.com.au/news/2018/AT04781-article.html [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].
Williams, H. (2018, August 2). My Health Record Redraft: The Changes That Affect You. Available
at https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/08/my-health-record-will-no-longer-be-open-to-
unlimited-police-access/ [Accessed on October 11, 2018]