Australia to get optional EPR

The Australian Government has announced plans to spend €331m (£275m) over the next two years to provide an electronic patient record for every citizen.

The plans, outlined in the government’s 2010-11 budget papers, show that each patient that opts into the plans will have a summary of their health information held electronically.

The summary will include clinical data such as conditions, treatments, medications, test results, allergies and alerts.

The EPR will be rolled out in stages, beginning with those people who have most contact with the health service and specifically those with long term or complex health conditions, older people and mothers and newborn babies.

Patients will not only be able to decide who gets to see their records, but what is to be stored in the files. The system will be evaluated following the implementation at the initial sites.

Health minister, Nicola Roxon, said: “Patients will no longer have to remember every detail of their care history and retell it to every care provider they see. They will be able to present for treatment anywhere in the country and give permission for health professionals to access their relevant history.”

A report published in May established that found an e-health system could save the Australian health system €5.3 billion (£4.4 billion) annually by 2020 and prevent 5,000 deaths each year.

The government plans to spend, €130m (£107m) in 2010/11, and €197m (£162m) next fiscal year. The government said it would consider further funding depending on the status of the rollout.

A 16 digit Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI) will be automatically generated for each citizen that opts into the system to allow unique and accurate identification. The government is also considering allowing high profile patients to have two numbers to add an additional layer of security.