Doubts about Australia’s $A467 million Personally Controlled Electronic
Health Record (PCEHR) project have emerged during submissions to a
Senate inquiry underway this week in Canberra.
Under the proposed scheme, due to begin operation on July 1 2012, all
Australians will have the option of registering for a PCEHR, designed to
ensure medical professionals have access to comprehensive patient data.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) does not believe that requiring
patients to "opt-in” to the PHECR will deliver a sufficient uptake to
make the system successful.
"Experiences of opt-in systems from Australia and from overseas indicate
that adoption amongst consumers will progress slowly,” submitted Dr
Steve Hambleton, AMA President.
"If that is the case, in the early days we are concerned that if medical
practitioners search for a PCEHR they will often not find one for their
patient. This may deter future attempts by medical practitioners and
consequently lead to a very low uptake of the proposed PCEHR by medical
professionals. We predict it will be many years before the PCEHR becomes
ubiquitous in health care. Read more...
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