AMA Warning on Single National Health Database
Australia must avoid the establishment of a single national health database, the Federal Vice-President of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Sandra Hacker, warned today.
The warning comes as political momentum builds for a national integrated health data bank. Federal and state health ministers are expected to consider a proposal for a national medical database as early as July.
"Australians would not feel safe about their health records being held in a single, large pool of information. The significant issue for us is that health databases are potentially extremely dangerous. And while the AMA is very much in support of electronic health, it is in support of linkages rather than an immense, single health database, which we think would be just too risky.
"The AMA supports better information links between doctors, hospitals and medical services such as pathology laboratories and the electronic recording of a patient's health details that could be carried by the patient.
"The information could be stored on a card the size of a credit card and would probably be popular with diabetics, asthmatics, people with high blood pressure, the elderly and people reliant on pharmaceuticals.
"We all want to see better use of technology to improve patient care - but there are some real dangers in the headlong rush to e-health being pursued by the politicians of all political persuasions.
"They clearly think it's the next big thing - but there are some real dangers for patient care.
"The world is on the brink of a major technology revolution in health care, but not all players have the best interests of patients at heart.
"There are plenty of commercial players who want to get advertising access to doctors' prescribing and patient records software as well as medical records of individual patients.
"Our concerns include:
- insurers wanting to be considered part of a patient's 'treatment team' in order to access records and assess health care claims;
- on-selling of patient information obtained from health databases;
- doctors being locked into e-health networks with a closed system of providers - the so-called vortal;
- the potential for health information to be translated into business intelligence - converting e-health to e-commerce; and
- the adequacy of privacy protection legislation to safeguard access to medical records by third parties.
"The AMA believes that the establishment of electronic patient records has clinical merit, but only when the information is safeguarded against exploitation and access without patient consent.
"There should be no single national database of health information. Instead, we should be looking for an integrated health system where patient information is safeguarded with their health care providers.
"A system of linkages could ensure that, with patient consent or in an emergency situation, patient medical records can be accessed electronically across the nation, or even worldwide.
"These situations could occur when a patient is taken ill on holiday or when a hospital casualty department is trying to assess the patients medical history in an emergency situation.
"We need to ensure that information technology serves the health interests of patients - not the commercial interests of profit making companies. E-health must not become the captive of e-commerce.
"All major parties are embracing technology as a way of improving quality and/or reducing costs. We need full scrutiny of the rapid IT developments taking place in health care before its too late.
"The AMA will be examining these issues in detail at its forthcoming National Conference to be held in Canberra on May 26-28," Dr Hacker said