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New way for patients to access My Health Record
An app launched this month is designed to facilitate access to medical details including vaccination histories and advance care documents.
The app gives patients another way to check details that are included on My Health Record. Image: supplied.
A new app is now available to help patients access My Health Record.
The app was developed by the Australian Digital Health Agency.
In a launch announcement, the agency said the app is ‘designed to encourage consumers to take a more proactive role in managing their health’.
Dr Rob Hosking, Chair of the RACGP Expert Committee – Practice Technology and Management (REC–PTM), said the app offers another option to patients.
‘This is a government-sponsored app for patients to access their My Health Record on their mobile phone,’ he told newsGP.
‘GPs need to know that their patients now have another method to access their My Health Record.’
The My Health Record database has been a flagship digital program under successive governments, but its reliability and the budget required to develop it have been criticised.
However, its use by patients surged during the pandemic, with immunisation details and PCR results raising its profile.
Known as my health, the app will contain information that has been uploaded to a person’s My Health Record including:
• medicine information history
• pathology results, including COVID-19 test results
• proof of vaccination history and upcoming immunisations
• allergy and reactions information
• hospital discharge summaries
• and advance care planning documents.
It is available via the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Dr David Adam, a GP who also sits on the REC–PTM, features on a training video discussing the app on the Digital Health Agency website.
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