Aussies urged not to panic as My Health Record opt-out sees teething problems
Australians who don’t want their medical details on a national digital database have three months to opt-out of the system from this week.
The federal government’s My Health Record system allows medical professionals to access your health information at any time.
But some Aussies, who aren’t comfortable having their medical details on a national record, are struggling to make it through the opt-out process.
Australian Digital Health Agency’s Chief Medical Advisor Professor Meredith Makeham admits there are teething problems but there’s no need to panic.
“I think we always anticipated a lot of people would be calling as opt-out commenced,” she tells Steve Price.
“I’ve heard some reports that people have had some delays getting through, but people shouldn’t panic. There are three months that you can think about this and make up your mind whether you want to opt-out or not.”
Professor Makeham says over five million Australians are in the system already, assuring Steve the database is airtight.
“We’ve been running this system now for six years with defence-level cybersecurity measures in place.
“The system is constantly threat tested and surveilled and in the six years of operation, there has never been a security breach.”
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