eletctronic health register??

milo · Guru

eletctronic health register??

jetj · Guru

Milo,

I think that site is what he means. Records are there to access from anywhere. I don't know how much of your medical history is made available though, certainly some of it is.

milo · Guru

is it worth doing ? if I end up with a camper van down the track,

2weis · Senior Member

i have heard that the take up rate of doctors is dismal . not many want to participate at this stage
brian

johnq · Guru

Milo,

Older people tend to want to sort out what they see as their outstanding business, particularly when they have been very ill. They worry they might not always be available to look out for you.

Your dad probably needs assurance that both he and his loved ones (you) will always be receiving proper care. In public hospitals and Medicare, people are being reminded to complete the form for electronic storage and sharing of your medical treatment. The idea is that especially if you have a number of people treating you, they all know what one another is doing and you don't have to tell them everything every time.

For your Dad's peace it would be good to remove the worry by doing as he says. You don't lose anything and you might get benefit. It doesn't cost you anything. If you are receiving government assistance it should save you having to go through all of the particulars every time too.

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

I believe the eHealth initiative is an excellent idea and as a full-time traveller it would be very helpful.

However, I finally lobbed into a Medicare Office to register for eHealth about a month ago - they were very helpful and registering was simple and painless. They then told me to go over the road to the doctor and have them upload my health details (which I could decide which bits to include or exclude). Luckily, I was in a town where I had been previously.

Over I trot to the doc's surgery. They were very friendly and courteous. However, they were not doing it "because the doctors have not been trained by the Govt". Additionally, there is no 'consultation code' for them to record their time against. The significance of that went over my head.

There was a change of government on 07 Sept. (has anyone noticed ) A recent announcement by the current Minister for Health stated that apparently about 657,000 people are registered for e3Health, but less than 5,000 have had records uploaded.

The Minister has said he will be taking steps (they love taking steps ) to have doctors trained and the system brought up to 'operative' status.

I have spoken to around ten doctor's surgeries in the past month and they all say they are not uploading anyone's details until "the government and AMA agree on the process and procedures."

Guess, like most things - a good idea we will need to wait for hmm

Cheers - John

milo · Guru

thanks guys, I was just having a look to see whats involved ,
and I have to put in my medicare, fine , my bank details?
and last claim by your doc , which mine is bulk build so what do I
do there... maybe if he asks, just say I have signed up..

jetj · Guru

Milo there should be a contact number to ask the question. Might be worthwhile when up and going.

Roving-Dutchy · Guru

From the involvement I have had when helping a senior member of our men's shed, you are able to fill in a lot of the details about your health and treatment and all your medication etc so if your doctor is not cooperative you can do a lot yourself, so if you are away from home at least some details will be available to the hospital or doctor, my advice would be to register and then go online and see how it all works.
Cheers
David

RosieW · Guru

We signed up online, went to the GP and he showed us what goes up - a brief 'history' of health issues (major ones) and current medications. He will give us a printout when we go, so we will have hard copies as well.

wazzawiseone · Veteran Member

Personally for me

Well and truly sign up. We did and no regrets as you are able to update some details yourself and the info is available anywhere.

Security wise !! No idea but the system appeals to me.

DOWNSIDE

As I understand it GP's will not upload info as there is nothing in it for them, think $'s. So much for the welfare of their patients. (They will lose exclusivity to data, therefore if they go to sell their Practice their Patients data does not have the same value !!!!!.)

However despite this if you are travelling it is a terrific resource

My thoughts

Cheers

Dunmowin · Guru

I have signed us both up, but since then, no doctors we have visited for various reasons, including rewriting scripts, have access to E Health yet, in fact, on surgery had not even heard of it. As a full time traveller, when this glitch is sorted, it should be good to have our history in one place, instead of "hard copies" in our brief case/filing box under the bed in the van.

Clare46 · Senior Member

If you are registered with humanservices.gov.au you can link you e health records, centrelink and medicare and access them all though the one login.

-- Edited by Clare46 on Friday 11th of October 2013 11:27:48 AM

rockylizard · Guru

Dunmowin wrote:
I have signed us both up, but since then, no doctors we have visited for various reasons, including rewriting scripts, have access to E Health yet, in fact, on surgery had not even heard of it. As a full time traveller, when this glitch is sorted, it should be good to have our history in one place, instead of "hard copies" in our brief case/filing box under the bed in the van.

Gday...

Yeah Dunmowin - that is what the doctors are saying to me too, and apparently won't be rectified until the Govt addresses the issues the AMA seem to have with the system.

As I said earlier - "I have spoken to around ten doctor's surgeries in the past month and they all say they are not uploading anyone's details until "the government and AMA agree on the process and procedures."

And until these "processes and procedures" are agreed, doctors are not able to access your details even if you have personally put up what you know is your "history" rather than have your full "medical history".

Cheers - John

_wombat_ · Master (of Mischief)

I had a look at this when it first came out and I thought, bugga that, they want too much information, and as some have already said Dr's are not interested, it has been around a couple of years now and the uptake is not great, or so I have heard, personally I would have nothing to do with it, but that is just my opinion.

Having said that, those that are interested can always ask their regular Dr for a copy of their own file and input all the info themselves, no need for the Dr to put anything in and you just add whatever you need later down the track.

rockylizard · Guru

_wombat_ wrote:
I had a look at this when it first came out and I thought, bugga that, they want too much information, and as some have already said Dr's are not interested, it has been around a couple of years now and the uptake is not great, or so I have heard, personally I would have nothing to do with it, but that is just my opinion.
Having said that, those that are interested can always ask their regular Dr for a copy of their own file and input all the info themselves, no need for the Dr to put anything in and you just add whatever you need later down the track.

Gday...

Ya right wombat ... but just because you put the medical history you know into the system personally does not mean any other "health professional" (I love that title ) has the ability to access it when you are in need - the AMA and its members are not keen on it until the Govt (previous was lax - new seems interested) addresses the "issues regarding process and procedure".

From what I have been told (by Medicare when I registered) and read, we can determine just what things we want known and to allow "health professionals" to access so there is at least as much security on this system as any other online/computer based system for what that's worth hmm

So, until the Govt and AMA find common ground it will languish. As I said earlier, the current Minister for Health has shown interest and just maybe he will do something to rejuvenate the idea.

Cheers - John

_wombat_ · Master (of Mischief)

if you have a copy of your file and go to another Dr you can always take it with you and show the next Dr, but he/she may not have the time to read it. biggrin

rockylizard · Guru

_wombat_ wrote:
if you have a copy of your file and go to another Dr you can always take it with you and show the next Dr, but he/she may not have the time to read it.

Gday...

Agen - ya right wombat ... but that is what we (I) do now ... carry a hard copy ... and that is NOT eHealth hmm cry

I travel full-time and need tests each three months ... and every doctor I have visited has read my copies and also provides me with an updated "Medical Summary" with my new results to show the next "health professional".

That works well, but if I have "an incident" and am taken to a hospital without going to the van first to get "my hard copy", the "health professionals" who attend to me will not know a single thing about my history or medications etc ... especially if I am unconscious at the time hmm cry

Cheers - John

Ontos45 · Guru

Got caught with this "carry medical history and X-Ray/Cat Scan Pictures" . Retired in 2010 and started traveling and was told to put pictures under bed mattress to keep flat but damn body heat wreaked them. We got caught in the floods and most things wet. When ill in 2012 I had to chase old pictures from the Radiologist who took originals and thankfully he had on his computer.
Thought this Electronic Health Register would be savior it was said to be. Joined 6mths ago with all it's passwords (why you cannot use Centrelink info I don't know) and still no information on it even though my Doctor uses.
Cannot see where you can input information your self, maybe I'm stupid.
I now use Paradaxa instead of Wolferin and even though I have a medical dog tag wanted information on 1 site when traveling regarding history so a new Doctor just accessed records on-line.
Seems like another good idea stuffed by Government and AMA red tape.

Peter

Sheba · Guru

Some time ago, some-one else on this Forum mentioned having their Medical History on a Memory Stick. Next time I had to visit my DR., I did the same thing. Simple, and cost only the price of the Stick.

Cheers,

Sheba.