WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA) and the Australian Digital Health Agency have partnered to assist residential aged care homes (RACHs) to use My Health Record to enhance continuity of care for residents.
My Health Record is a secure online summary of key patient health information. The My Health Record December 2023 report identified more than 23 million records existed with over 1 billion documents containing clinical and medicine information. Over 95% of pharmacies, GPs and public hospitals are contributing patient data to patients’ health records. However, less than 35% of RACHs have registered and under 6% of those have used My Health Record.
Recommendations from the Aged Care Royal Commission include the adoption of My Health Record in RACHs. It offers high value functions in RACH settings including the medicines’ view which assists with medication reconciliation, and the pathology and diagnostic reports which help to avoid duplication of testing and scans. My Health Records’ shared health summaries, transfer overviews and advanced care planning documentation support the timely acquisition of up-to-date patient in-take/transfer and end of life care information by RACHs.
When it comes to resident care after-hours, My Health Record is a valuable supplement to RACH procedures for keeping residents’ digital medical records up to date, particularly following an episode of after-hours care. My Health Record is also a positive enabler of telehealth because it provides remote access to patient information for GPs during a telehealth consultation and enables RACH registered nurses to record and upload an event or transfer to the record.
The Australian Digital Health Agency’s registration support team can assist RACHs in registering for the My Health Record system to ensure access to health information to support the care of clients and residents. We encourage RACHs to take advantage of the Agency’s tailored one-on-one support available until mid-2024. RACHs can access the registration support checklist here.
Further information for connecting to My Health Record can be found here or by emailing MHR.Registration.RAC@digitalhealth.gov.au