Electronic Health Record (EHR)

Last updated: 16 October 2008

What is Healthelink?

Healthelink is a new electronic health record system.

It is designed to collect people's health information from existing systems and hold it in a central place where health care providers and the individual can easily and quickly access it.

The Healthelink program is currently being run as a pilot. This means that it only operates in certain areas and for certain people.

Only a selected number of health care facilities are involved in the pilot. For a list of the hospitals, community health centres and general practices that are participating, please visit our website at www.healthelink.nsw.gov.au

The benefits

• The electronic health record allows individuals and their health care providers to access the same information from the same place, no matter where the information was generated from.



• Timely access to information helps health care providers make better decisions about their patients.



• The electronic health record is updated regularly and is easily accessible via the Web. This means that health care providers can access information quickly, when it's needed.



• The electronic health record closes the gap between the public and private health sectors by allowing health care providers to easily share health information.



• Individuals can view information about their own health and care through the Web. This will help individuals better understand their own health issues.



• Health care providers will have a dependable source of information. This will take the burden off the individual to remember all the details of their medical history.



• Individuals can allow important people in their life to access their electronic health record.

Information held in Healthelink

Healthelink contains a summary of information that is normally collected by health care providers. It is not intended to replace other hospital or community systems and it does not replicate all the information held in these systems.

The information held in Healthelink includes important details like diagnoses (medical problems), medications, blood test results, x-ray reports and allergies.

When an electronic health record is created for an individual it starts out blank. Information will accumulate over time as the individual receives care from participating facilities.

Individual participation

The Healthelink electronic health record pilot is open to individuals who are aged 15 years and younger or 65 years and older and who live in selected postcodes around Maitland and parts of greater western Sydney.

The eligible postcodes in greater western Sydney are 2142, 2145, 2146, 2147, 2148, 2150, 2153, 2747, 2750 and 2770.

The eligible postcodes in the Maitland area are 2320, 2321, 2322, 2323 and 2324.

Taking part

The decision to remain in the Healthelink program is up to the individual.

To give individual's time to decide, there is a 30 day cooling off period before their record is made available to health care providers.

If the individual does nothing, their record will be available for their health care providers to view, after 30 days.

Individuals can withdraw from Healthelink at any time by contacting the Healthelink Service Centre. Once an individual has withdrawn from Healthelink no additional information will be added to their record and it will not be available to view by any health care provider.

Health care provider participation

There are different kinds of health care providers involved in the pilot including family doctors (GPs), public hospital doctors and nurses, and community health professionals.

Only selected health care providers can view an individual's electronic health record. Every health care provider who is given access to Healthelink must sign an agreement to respect the privacy of individuals and to maintain the confidentiality of their information.

Individuals are entitled to know who has accessed their record. They can find this out by calling the Healthelink Service Centre or by gaining access to their electronic health record online.

Privacy

NSW Health understands that the privacy of health information is important. For this reason, there are strict access procedures in place so that only authorised health care providers are able to view Healthelink records. Every health care provider who is given access to Healthelink must sign an agreement to respect the privacy of individuals and maintain the confidentiality of their information.

And we have made the system as secure as possible to prevent unauthorised access to the system. With this in mind, the system undergoes yearly audits by independent specialists to make sure the system is secure from unwanted intrusion.

Further Information

Visit our website for detailed information about the Healthelink pilot at www.healthelink.nsw.gov.au or call our Service Centre on 1800 75 22 66.

Further Information

• Healthelink  http://www.healthelink.nsw.gov.au/
• Healthelink Electronic Health Record Pilot Evaluation - Summary Report  http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pubs/2008/healthelink_summary.html