X-ray results available immediately on My Health Record

GPs are being urged to prepare as the latest in a raft of digital health reforms comes online this month, with limb X-ray results now visible to patients on My Health Record immediately on upload.
 
As part of a staged rollout of ‘sharing by default’ rules, March’s changes also make a range of other diagnostic imaging available for patients to view after five days instead of seven, including CT, MRI, PET, ultrasound, and torso imaging.
 
If there are multiple results in the same report, where different access timeframes apply, the five-day delay period will apply to the entire report, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (DoHDA) confirmed.
 
GPs will continue to have access to all reports as soon as they are uploaded to My Health Record.
 
It follows the first tranche of changes, which came into effect in October 2025, making most pathology results visible on upload and a reduced delay of five days put in place for others, including cytopathology, anatomical pathology and genetic tests.
 
Dr Rob Hosking, Chair of the RACGP Expert Committee – Practice Technology and Management, said with the reforms now live, GPs must prepare for patients to have their medical information earlier.
 
‘Each GP needs to have good follow-up plans with patients about how they are going to deal with the test results,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘We need to be careful of patients making decisions on their own management based on an incorrect self-assessment of the results they see on My Health Record.’
 
A third wave of changes will roll out in July this year, with healthcare providers required to upload pathology and diagnostic imaging reports by default.
 
‘A transition period will exist to help healthcare providers to be ready to comply with the new rules,’ DoHDA said.
 
‘Support will also be available for those who need more time.’

In an analysis earlier this year, Dr Hosking noted the reforms had brought significant changes to the previous default set-up when GPs used to see and interpret tests first.
 
‘The patient may even see their results earlier than their doctor if their GP is consulting or the result arrives outside normal general practice hours,’ he wrote.
 
‘For many patients, particularly those managing a chronic condition which they know a great deal about, early access will be empowering.
 
‘For others, it may create distress in exactly the moment when reassurance, context, and clinical reasoning are most needed.’
 
Dr Hosking also recommends a Government-funded tool for GPs to help patients find out more about their results at Pathology Tests Explained.
 
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