Healthcare Identifiers Service – Public Consultation On Draft Regulations
The Australian Government has released draft regulations to support the operation of the Council of Australian Governments’ Healthcare Identifiers service.
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12 March 2010
The Rudd Government today released draft regulations to support the operation of the Council of Australian Governments’ Healthcare Identifiers service.
Individual healthcare identifiers are a key foundation for the introduction of a national electronic health (eHealth) system which is a crucial part of the Government’s healthcare reform agenda.
The draft regulations set out how healthcare identifiers will be assigned to individual healthcare providers and provider organisations and the security requirements authorised users will need to meet to participate in the service.
To date, there has been no single method of accurately and reliably identifying either the people receiving healthcare, the healthcare providers or the organisations managing care. Mismatching of patient information is an acknowledged problem in the health system.
Healthcare identifiers will provide a new level of confidence and accuracy when communicating patient information between healthcare providers involved in the delivery of health services.
Legislation to establish the Healthcare Identifiers service was introduced to Federal Parliament on 10 February 2010. This legislation was passed by the House of Representatives on 11 March 2010 and will next be considered by the Senate.
The draft regulations are being circulated now to obtain stakeholder feedback and provide more detailed information about how the Healthcare Identifiers service will operate.
The draft regulations will help healthcare providers and software vendors to better understand the potential impacts of the introduction of healthcare identifiers on their current business practices.
Stakeholder involvement in the development of regulatory support for the Healthcare Identifiers service is critical to ensuring it operates effectively and establishes the necessary foundations for future eHealth development.
The Rudd Government recognises the revolutionary potential of eHealth systems and the need for these to be underpinned by appropriate safeguards to ensure that the privacy and integrity of personal information is maintained.
Public comments on the draft regulations are invited up until 9 April 2010, and can be submitted to ehealth@health.gov.au or
Draft Regulations for the Healthcare Identifiers Service
eHealth Branch, Primary and Ambulatory Care Division (MDP1003)
Department of Health and Ageing
GPO Box 9848
Canberra ACT 2601.
For all media inquiries, please contact the Minister's Office on 02 6277 7220.
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