I only learnt about this a few days ago and now the details get worse.

My Health Record is a database about you and your health at first it will have information from "over 700 public hospitals and health services across Australia", "diagnostic imaging and pathology providers".

Who has access to this "There are now tens of thousands of healthcare practitioners, public and private hospitals, community pharmacies and other healthcare providers connected to the My Health Record system, with more joining every day."

This database is by default opt-in everyone is going to be in it. But there is a 3 month period where you can opt-out (people have had trouble trying to opt-out).

http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/security/its-time-to-decide-if-you-want-to-opt-out-of-new-my-health-record/news-story/77dc11f719eab73adcd851145cd2517a

It could be good for some people older people who do not leave Australia.

Like any database it could be hacked if the NSA, Pentagon etc can get hacked how safe will this be with tens of thousands having access.

Scenarios that could effect people just a few.
Young people buying life or travel insurance you forget a minor injury or something the insurer gets access to your file and the first thing they will do is look for something to invalidate the policy.

Older people or young while at a doctors you mention you had a little dizzy spell or something else a while back they put that on the database, now if an insurer or potential employer finds out good luck.

Here is a quote from the person Turnbull help set it up "if he was Australian he would "probably" withdraw from My Health Record."
The reason being that "he took issue with the way My Health Record required users to arrange their own security settings, rather than defaulting to a more private set-up. "I think it's problematic. Those kind of security settings kind of make sense for an opt-in system … but when it becomes an opt-out system, and you find out all your data is on there, 'oh, and by the way it's all being shared', well, no — I think that's one of the flaws,"
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-18/my-health-record-former-digital-transformation-boss-has-concerns/10006788

And this is supposed to be a liberal government?

I've already opted out but I have no confidence that'll make the slightest difference.

We are told we can opt out, which us what I intend to do.

My records will not be in that database, my small country town Doctor has not got the time or will to put it there, our government has been ill advised by its public service or some such in this matter, in an effort to cut health costs this last week my four annual visits to the Doc went mad, vistit one to get permission for blood test, two to get blood test,three get result of said tests, four permission [type two sugar] to get form filled in so I could get test strips to record sugar , next? report back EACH MONTH and give Doc daily recorded tests results, from 4 a year to? well looks about 14! Turnbull old son! sorry I seem to have lived too long

No doctor can enter your medical information unless you give them your medicare number.
(and even if they have your number, you still have the right to request that they do not place that information online)

I had set up my "health record" long ago so I could write under "allergies" that I am allergic to medicare. If I happen to be unconscious or unable to communicate, then it is important that they know that I refuse to accept stolen money from government.

Should the NSA or the pentagon steal my record, what have I to fear or hide? is there a need to keep secret the fact that I am not a thief?

I cannot see the problem with a national database, it could actually save lives.

For those who are paranoid about privacy, there is none if you want to live in our society. Via tax file numbers, medicare, bank account etc, everyone knows your information already.
it seems the only ones complaining have something to hide.

Try buying wine with your credit card and you get junk mail from wine clubs, buy nappies from Kmart and you get all sorts of junk mail from baby product suppliers. Disclose too much or not enough while applying for a loan, and the bank will tell you what you have missed.

Ask the ATO for an extension on payments and they will tell you, yes/no based on your resent purchases (car , boat, house)

Although none of us like the idea of "Big Brother" knowing all of this, I sleep at night knowing we have a stable government, a police force and army that will protect me, schools and government services close by because of demand and businesses that can make a profit without ripping off the customer (yes I know there is always exceptions)

Hey Philip S,
Radiologists have been able to provide digital copies of X-Rays on disc as well as the traditional films for quite a few years now, and the software that runs on your PC to view these x-rays also includes the ability to upload to a patient database.

So the technology for this kind of thing - a way for patients and medical professionals to avoid the hassle of dealing with films (waiting for them, collecting them etc.) has been around for a while.

And I believe it will make it easier for patients, and save time for doctors.

So I think the My Health Record idea isn't necessarily a bad idea.

It is sensible to have a streamlined system where people who do need to know can get access to medical info quickly.

But the security side of things and data sharing aspects seem to be of a concern, personal information needs to be secure and only given to those who need to know when they need to know and not retained.

They need to foolproof any potential misuse of this new system; even if the wrong people in government departments for example have access to national citizen health records there is a serious potential for misuse.

//I cannot see the problem with a national database, it could actually save lives.//

I dunno, sounds a bit sus to me:

"Police will also be able gain access to the information under certain circumstances"

WTF? Since when are the police part of the health system? What other third parties that have nothing to do with health will be poring over our data?

Would your really trust Peter 'The Killer Potato' Dutton and his goons with sensitive data like that?

I will shortly be sending a letter to health minister asking whether for clarification on whether or not I can refuse access to my medical records to those outside the medical system who have no business concerning themselves with such deeply personal information. If the answer is that I can't, I'll be opting out of the system entirely.

I opted out.

//it seems the only ones complaining have something to hide.//

Those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear, eh?

XD

How charmingly naive, kirby483. Now, where I have heard that idea before... oh yes, it was Goebbels.

Persuading people not to be concerned about privacy issues, Lesson 1: Don't quote Nazis.

kirby483 Quote "we have a stable government, a police force and army that will protect me" Ask the victims of the African gangs in some states how the police protected them.

Armchair Critic & Belly & kirby483 - Lets assume you are a young person you have an accident you are unconscious taken to hospital they take blood and other samples for pathology testing, you can't tell them not to put the info on the database, gee you have drugs and very high alcohol levels and gee they see you are HIV positive that all goes on the database, How does your future look now? Later the whole database is hacked and sold you could also be blackmailed depending on your job and situation.

As Toni Lavis says Police, you can bet will access it, drugs in system good luck with that.

Yuyutsu Quote "No doctor can enter your medical information unless you give them your medicare number." In your case it's not the doctor you have to worry about it is the pathologist etc that do the tests.

There are penalties for people misusing it, but just think, reported data breaches are nearly a daily event how many go unreported because of the damage to the company?

Hackers do not care about penalties.

What is the purpose of this base? I opted out too, as did my Doctor, is the information just another needless cost?has this government in an effort to cut costs put them on ?

Belly- It has cost over $2 Billion dollars, I believe this started 10 years ago so who was in power then.

Armchair Critic The xrays etc could just as easily be emailed to a doctor.

The Government want people in it so have made it opt-out you are in it unless you opt-out and you only have 3 months to get out after that bad luck.

Any money bet, all politicians will not be in this database.

Hey Philip S,
What could they spend 2 billion dollars on? (Thinking outloud)

I think realistically there's no avoiding a digital health record in the long run.
They'll just make it mandatory from the time we're born.

I also do think that with it comes the potential for a greater more efficient level of care as we move forward.

But I most certainly share everyones concerns about missuse of data.

From simple things, like if you're interstate a need to visit a gp for something simple like a flu; and not needing that gp you may never see again have access to medical information that isn't relevant;

To ensuring an incumbent leader can't access medical records of rich people with ill-health and offer them fast track on organ transplants for political contributions to stay in power.

- From one end of the spectrum to the other there's a million ways this info could be misused.
- We need to foolproof it -

I think I might opt out too.
The more of us that do, the government will be more likely to address our concerns.

Dear Philip,

«Yuyutsu Quote "No doctor can enter your medical information unless you give them your medicare number." In your case it's not the doctor you have to worry about it is the pathologist etc that do the tests.»

No, they too do not get my medicare number, I pay the bills and that's the end of it.

What I do need to worry about is my so-called "private" health insurance, because they wouldn't let me have a policy without my medicare number: I only have this to cover for hospital stay because hospital beds are very expensive, but I would never claim on any medical items because they go through medicare and I refuse to receive even a cent from government.

Yuyutsu - Highly unlikely unless you are Osama B. L. or someone like that but if they really wanted to find out who someone was even not knowing the medicare number they could very simply do it.

1 Someone went to the doctor on this day for a pathology service there will be a record of who the doctor was.

2 Go to the doctors surgery look at the visits for that day easily narrow it down to some people would not be hard to find it was you.

3 The doctor or a nearby business has a security camera you will be on it.

Armchair Critic - Personally I think it could be a good thing especially for elderly BUT tens of thousands have access to it and the FBI, CIA, NSA have all had data stolen and been hacked the risk for younger people with many years to live is far too great.

Just on the news, 1.5 million health records compromised on Singapore's health data base; seems someone hacked it; the potential in any such system for blackmail is enormous.

I just read an article recapping the fiasco of the filing cabinets containing top secret documents that were discovered in a Canberra just before they were to be offered up for auction. There was some stammering about ‘human error’, a secret enquiry by a member of the Public Service responsible for the stuff up, and if anyone was held to account we will never know - although we can guess that nothing happened.

The point of this article was: can we trust the same sort of idiots who sent government secrets to a junk shop with our medical records on their data base, as we are being asked to do?

Left out 'junk shop' after 'Canberra'.

Looks like the Government like opt-out, they are considering this one.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5976489/Every-primary-school-student-weight-measured-class-unless-parents-formally-opt-out.html

Every single primary school student will have their weight measured in class unless parents formally 'opt out' under new plan to tackle obesity crisis

Plan proposes measurement checks for height and weight to be done in schools
Suggestion is that checks will be conducted to in a bid to tackle obesity in kids
Australia currently sits at sixth place in the world for overweight population
Statistics say one in five children between two and four are overweight or obese
Parents may choose to formally 'opt out' of the checks for their children

In a bid to tackle obesity in children, a plan proposed by the Global Obesity Centre (GLOBE) wants to measure children's height and weight in primary school.

The plan proposes to conduct checks at schools for all Australian children in Year 1 and Year 6, or every two years, unless parents choose to formally 'opt out'.

Australia currently ranks sixth highest in the world for having an overweight or obese population.

Statistics say that one in five children between two and four are overweight, and one in four children between the ages of five and 17 are overweight or obese.

GLOBE believes that the actual number of overweight Australians is likely to be higher, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The centre, operating at Deakin University, believes that the measurements will help in determining the actual scale of Australia's obesity crisis.

GLOBE put in a submission to the federal government's inquiry into the country's 'obesity epidemic', and Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed that the government is considering the proposal.

My comment
Something needs to be done, there are too many overweight people in Australia, but we are becoming a country where the Government have there nose in everything.

Apparently "the digital health record system recording 35 reported “data breaches” in the past financial year, according to the federal Privacy Commissioner’s office"

So much for secure.

According to ‘The World Today’, dissent on the matter of online health records is growing. Ex-premier of Queensland, Campbell Newman, has “joined the chorus”. He finds the idea of public servants and government having access to our health records “completely unacceptable”. He urges everyone to opt out. HRC’s Ed Santo is also concerned. Ex HRC commissioner, now Liberal politician, says he will be opting out. The fact that the AMA is supporting Big Brother on this is enough for me to opt out. Many of the people who have been part of a trial on this intrusive government meddling have opted out already.

More trouble for the database.

Domestic violence perpetrators may be able to access confidential health records due to the federal government's new online health service.

Women's agencies are concerned that Australia's new online service, My Health Record, may jeopardise the privacy and safety of victims of domestic violence.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5984681/Domestic-violence-risks-escalate-result-new-Australian-online-health-record-system.html

Opt out at myhealthrecord.gov.au

If this does not make you opt-out nothing will.

Health sector tops the list as Australians hit by 300 data breaches since February

AUSTRALIA introduced mandatory disclosure laws earlier this year — and we now know just how vulnerable our data is.

Aussies have been the victim of more than 300 major data breaches this year — with hackers and criminals getting access to the private data of hundreds of thousands of people.

The 305 breaches have taken place in just the past five months, since February 22, when Australia’s new mandatory reporting laws came into force which demand businesses disclose when they have been hacked.

Bank details, credit card numbers, passport information, driver’s licences and other personal information was among the data accidentally lost, shared or stolen.

And the main target for hackers was the healthcare sector which was the worst hit with 49 major data breaches. Although none involved the government's contentious My Health Record system.

The finance sector was the next on the list, with 36 breaches.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/hacking/health-sector-tops-the-list-as-australians-hit-by-300-data-breaches-since-february/news-story/5e95c47694418ad072bf34d872e22124

Con'T

HACKERS LOVE HEALTHCARE

The data comes as the Federal Government is scrambling to assure the public over the safety of its My Health Record system which recently changed to a compulsory system unless Australians opt out before October 15.

Because of the ability to sell large batches of personal data for profit on the dark web, people’s healthcare data is often considered more valuable than credit card information.

It’s not just names and dates of birth and address information which can be used for identity theft, but health files can also contain someone’s blood type or the prescription drugs they take. Hackers could used such information to harvest their credentials and access their prescriptions.

Sensitive health data could also be used to bribe someone. Or if large data sets are stolen, to extract a ransom from healthcare providers, which happened a couple years ago in California.

In April, e-health specialist Dr Nathan Pinskier of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners told the ABC that no healthcare organisation or business was immune to security breaches.

“In Australian cybersecurity, there are only two types of healthcare organisations — those that know they’ve been hacked and those that don’t know they’ve been hacked,” he said.

The following month, news.com.au reported that a security breach had potentially exposed the personal information of up to 8000 Family Planning NSW clients including women who sought abortions or contraception.

At the time, the reproductive and sexual health organisation sent an email to all of its clients apologising for a “cyber attack” which “may have compromised our online databases”.