back to article MyHealth Record rollout saga shambles on: ALP wants it put on hold

The rollout of Australia's MyHealth Record e-health system is moving from “troubled” towards “shambles”. In the space of the past few days: The Parliamentary Library has contradicted health minister Greg Hunt on the matter of law enforcement access to health records; Hunt has stuck to his guns nonetheless; the Australian …

  1. Mayday
    Black Helicopters

    Health Records, ok to a degree

    First of all, I have opted out. Any other skippy should too.

    I can see the merit in a system where health professionals and only health professionals with the consent on the patient can view and get information about them, so the GP or specialist can provide treatment and the like based on a history.

    What I don't like is how just about anyone else can see this too it would seem. I don't want some "informed party" to be able to view my health info. Fuck that. Not the cops, not some bank to assess my credit abilities because I may be too sick to pay for something, not CASA when they decide to revoke my pilot medical because I didn't tell some DAME about a head cold I had 5 years ago. No thanks.

    Not to mention the attraction to Mr and Mrs Hacker having this out hanging in the breeze on the internet, now that's another story again.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Health Records, ok to a degree

      only a matter of time until everyone with a health record has it leaked all over the internet, and/or gets sold off commercially to anyone with an interest in your health, REGARDLESS of your desires to keep it private.

    2. Adam 1

      Re: Health Records, ok to a degree

      > not some bank to assess my credit abilities because I may be too sick to pay for something

      The legislators seem quite asleep at the wheel on this point. They believe that they've sorted this out with $BIGFINE$. This does not address the actual threat model.

      A sufficiently big fine may have been an effective in 1983, but that assumes that they can

      (1) catch them in the act, and

      (2) prove that they were aware of the data misuse.

      In case you are scratching your head about 2, let me outline some possibilities.

      The data may be stolen in bulk via direct hack, or maybe like the publication quoted in the article, it gets accidently published (irony meter going off the scale). We have seen other government departments misconfigure their websites, resulting in the accidental leak sensitive data on asylum seekers.

      Or perhaps an insider may manage to exfiltrate the data Snowdon style. It would be a courageous decision to believe that it couldn't happen.

      Next step is that this data is purchased by a data aggregation company not based here. We are talking about companies paid to aggregate disparate data sources for AI training sets. That data is purchased by other aggregators, rolled together and sold on to yet others until it arrives in a company who specialises in using AI/Big data to provide risk assessment as a service to retail insurers. The retailers are at arm's length to the shadier side of the data collection. Even the risk assessment as a service don't realise that their AI training data is polluted by data obtained by questionable means. Definitely a case of don't ask don't tell.

      Your AMPs of the world won't be pulling out your discussion notes from your counselor or your MRI from a decade ago. They'll just get a number out that'll be your risk band where all this is factored in. This will affect your ability to get insurance products. Computer says no. Computer says add exclusion. Computer says big loading for that inclusion.

      And before anyone points out how you can investigate supply chains, remember it was only recently that Andrew Forrest discovered slavery in his supply chain. He claimed to be horrified and to have sorted it out immediately. I personally believe him. Supply chains are hard to assert. Even harder when you develop an AI that is trained to pick the datasets dynamically based on continuous "how well did it predict last week". They literally won't know why they've rejected you. Any authority charged with policing that the companies haven't misused the health data has zero chance of detecting it.

  2. Rustbucket

    Opt out now.

    https://www.myhealthrecord.gov.au/for-you-your-family/opt-out-my-health-record

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Opt out now.

      Hmmm. Can't opt out at the moment, medicare is down:

      "Due to the Medicare system being unavailable you are currently not able to opt out of My Health Record.

      This is because your Medicare number is required to identify you.

      You cannot opt out of My Health Record via the Help line or website at this stage."

      Wonder if it will stay down until the optout period ends.

    2. VikiAi
      Meh

      Re: Opt out now.

      x Won't accept correct NSW drivers license details either! x

      ...

      Turns out it because I have an existing record. But just returns a generic error and returns to the input page.

      Called and had it canceled.

      1. VikiAi
        Facepalm

        Re: Opt out now.

        Well, at least I tried to. Their system is down today. They assure me if I call back early tomorrow it will all be back again.

        It just instills such confidence! :-/

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    too many snouts in troughs, in Accenture's pockets.

    It should have been scrapped years ago. This was never about something for the people, just more taxpayer money going to multi national consultants.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What a Hunt

    AFAIK I have been opted out.

    Same with MyGov.

    Paper tax forms are still available.

  6. John Tserkezis

    I'm stunned.

    Not because a website collected my information without any trouble at all, I'm stunned that a goverment website collected my information without any trouble at all.

    I'm quietly expecting to get an email later on that their details have been hacked, and we should expect everyone's data to be available cheaply soon.

  7. sinsi

    Who has access

    Why does Telstra currently have access? What would a telco want with my medical history?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Who has access

      Stress levels.....?

    2. g-lock

      Re: Who has access

      Telstra bought a medical software company a couple of years ago.

  8. cantankerous swineherd

    hope Oz can't deport Kelsey, because we don't want him back.

  9. tygrus.au

    Most think MyHR system is a waste of $$$

    Less than 20% (AMA doctors or public vote ?) think the MyHR system will improve patient outcomes

    About two-thirds think it's a definite waste of time.

    https://www.doctorportal.com.au/mjainsight/2018/25/my-health-record-on-a-path-to-nowhere/

    There are so many limitations, lack of functionality, risks and impact to performance that the system is doomed to fail no matter how many people you sign up. Six years and ten clinical safety reviews later and we still have a long list of recommendations yet to be actioned or completed. Six years and no peer-reviewed research papers have been published that use a control trial and the implementation to show patient care improvements compared to the costs & risks.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Updated post @ Library

    The Parliamentary Library have updated their post. Will be interesting to compare versions.

    https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/FlagPost/2018/July/Law_enforcement_access_to_MHR_data

  11. Neon Teepee
    Black Helicopters

    "My" Health Record

    Should be renamed under the trades description act.

    Ideas anyone?

  12. Neon Teepee

    Health insurance will demand it.

    Whats the betting that your health insurance will sky rocket (more than it does every year anyway) if you don;t have a my health record. It would be a top notch way to weed out all those pesky customers who might actually use their health insurance and cost the insurer money.

    I had a record created, I have no idea how, and I had a hell of a time deleting it. Its not obvious.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Health insurance will demand it.

      No MyHealth record

      No Private Health insurance

      ===

      Public is the only way to go. (honesty)

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