Policy Submission: Modernising My Health Record—Sharing by Default

Policy Submission: Modernising My Health Record—Sharing by Default

Health Legislation Amendment (Modernising My Health Record—Sharing by Default) Bill 2024 [Provisions]

The Australian Government is proposing legislative changes through the Health Legislation Amendment (Modernising My Health Record – Sharing by Default) Bill 2024.

These changes aim to improve healthcare coordination by requiring the automatic sharing of pathology and diagnostic imaging reports to My Health Record (MHR) and potentially removing the current seven-day delay for consumer access to these reports.

LHA highlighted concerns about the potential impacts of "sharing by default" on LGBTIQ+ populations, including risks to privacy, mistrust in digital health systems, and barriers to healthcare access. LHA’s submission recommended safeguards such as opt-out mechanisms, enhanced privacy controls, anti-discrimination measures, and community-informed education campaigns to ensure equitable outcomes and build trust in the MHR system.

You can read the full submission here.

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ABOUT LGBTIQ+ Health Australia
LGBTIQ+ Health Australia, (formerly the National LGBTI Health Alliance), is the national peak health organisation in Australia for organisations and individuals that provide health-related programs, services and research focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people and other sexuality, gender and bodily diverse (LGBTIQ+) people and communities. Dropping the “+” from our name only occurs within digital formats that do not allow mathematical symbols, such as within our domain name, handles and hashtags.
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