Electronic records
As technology advances, more health providers are embracing electronic data bases as a quick and convenient method of storing information, including patient records.
Both the existing public sector legislation and the private sector regime apply to all information, whether it's stored on paper or electronically. However, extra security may be needed to prevent unauthorised access to information held in an electronic storage system.
The rise of the Internet and electronic databases has seen an increased interest in the establishment of online health record databases, such as the proposed NSW Electronic Health Record and the federal HealthConnect initiative. These data bases require doctors to disclose health information, collected for the purpose of treating a patient, to the database. It can then be accessed by other doctors and members of the health industry. This has numerous benefits, such as the ready availability of up-to-date patient records, irrespective of the location of the doctor, and the opportunity to have a patient's entire medical history recorded on the one file. However, under the new regime doctors must obtain the patient's consent to having their medical history included in the database and the information may not be used for purposes other than that for which the consent was obtained.
Further, access to certain aspects of a person's health record can be limited to specific practitioners. So, for example, access to a person's psychiatric history could be restricted to the person's treating psychiatrist and pharmacist.
