About the changes
Better access
My Health Record provides Australians with easy access to their key health information.
Currently, healthcare providers can choose if they upload health information to My Health Record. As a result, not all key health information is currently shared to consumers My Health Record.
Legislation changes have established requirements for healthcare providers to share key health information to My Health Record by default. These changes respond to recommendations made by the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce. Public consultation has supported this change.
Rules will set out what health information must be shared to My Health Record and by which healthcare providers. Pathology and diagnostic imaging providers will be the first healthcare providers required to share test results to My Health Record.
There will be exceptions to the requirement to share to My Health Record, including where:
- a patient does not have a My Health Record,
- a patient asks that health information is not shared,
- a healthcare provider has concerns for the health, safety or wellbeing of their patient, or
- technical system issues occur beyond the control of healthcare providers that prevent sharing from happening.
Consumers will continue to have control of their My Health Record including being able to choose not to have a My Health Record.
Consumers can use privacy controls to:
- set restricted access codes, which limits who can access their record or specific documents in their record
- permanently delete a document from their record or hide and restore a document within their record
- set notification preferences to remind them to review who has accessed their record and can be set to receive notifications when it is accessed.
The Australian Digital Health Agency is the System Operator of My Health Record. The Agency is already working with pathology and diagnostic imaging providers and organisations to help them register and connect to the My Health Record system.
More information and support about My Health Record is available on the Australian Digital Health Agency website.
Faster access
Currently, patients are waiting 7-days before they can access most pathology and diagnostic imaging reports that have been shared to My Health Record.
The Australian Digital Health Agency is seeking to remove this delay for pathology and diagnostic imaging reports, to provide Australians faster access to their health information.
More information about changes to support faster access will be available after considering:
- advice by the Clinical Reference Group
- feedback as part of consultation activities.
There may be some circumstances where there will still be a delay, such as where delays would support clinical safety and consumer health, safety and wellbeing. Clinical advice and support from the Clinical Reference Group and feedback as part of our consultation activities will help us consider this matter.
Why the changes are important
The changes aim to give consumers and their healthcare providers better access to key health information, when it is needed, to help:
- empower consumers to participate in their own healthcare
- make it easier for healthcare providers to coordinate care and access information
- support healthcare providers to make better clinical decisions that can
- reduce avoidable adverse outcomes, hospital admissions and duplicate tests
- increase use of evidence-based appropriate treatments and interventions.
Who we work with
We are working with the Australian Digital Health Agency (The Agency) and a Clinical Reference Group to make these changes.
Information on the Clinical Reference Group is available on the Australian Digital Health Agency website.
Find out more
Read the frequently asked questions for more information.
Frequently Asked Questions – Modernising My Health Record (Sharing by Default) Act 2025
Consultation process
We ran a consultation process from 8 September to 31 October 2023 to help us make these changes. You can find out more and read a summary of key themes from this process on the consultation hub.
Subscribe to updates
You can subscribe to receive updates about the changes to improve sharing of pathology and diagnostic imaging results to My Health Record.
My Health Record
You can find out more about My Health Record on the Australian Digital Health Agency website.