SA Health not allowing uploads of clinical documents to MyHR for under-18s

GPs have criticised an SA Health policy directive that bars personnel from uploading clinical documents such as pathology reports or discharge summaries to the My Health Record for children and young people under the age of 18.

SA Health has been uploading discharge summaries to the system since 2013, with pathology and diagnostic imaging reports being uploaded from May last year.

However, this is restricted to patients over the age of 18, with an SA Health directive stating that “where a patient is under the age of 18, no documents will be uploaded by SA Health personnel to the MHR system” and alluding to the potential to cause harm.

An SA Health spokesperson said the policy directive was “inclusive of all SA Health information for pathology, medical imaging reports, and hospital inpatient discharge summaries to protect the privacy and safety of children under the age of 18 years old”.

“This is one of a number of controls in place to mitigate the risk of releasing information in a domestic violence situation or where there are child protection issues,” the spokesperson said.

One GP labelled the decision as “ridiculous”, saying the My Health Record belongs to the patient, not the state government, and the policy undermined the purpose of My Health Record.

Another GP, Adelaide’s Daniel Byrne, who sits on the Australian Digital Health Agency’s My Health Record improvement committee, said he believed the policy was brought in during the “opt-out” phase when there was a deal of community anxiety and a heightened level of concern about privacy.

“I doubt a clinician was involved in this policy,” Dr Byrne said. “I have checked on the content of results uploaded by SA Health. They do not contain any address or contact details of the patient.”

Dr Byrne said that in his opinion. the safety of children is being impeded by withholding clinical information from families and their GPs.

“I see children sent home from ED with advice to ‘see your GP for follow up of results’,” he said. “With no results available I then have to wait on the phone for 30 minutes to get the results – which are then freely given to me with no checks on my identity.

“If I had a child with a chronic disease I would be furious with SA Health for withholding this information.”

A spokesperson for ADHA said healthcare providers participating in the system, including jurisdictions, are responsible for developing their own policies in relation to what information is uploaded.

“These policies are informed by the technical capability of their systems, state and territory laws, and their own data management practices,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the system included the ability for an authorised or nominated representative, typically parents and carers, to access another person’s My Health Record, such as a child.

“The individual can see who has accessed their My Health Record at any time – including by an authorised or nominated representative,” they said. “Every time a person opens an individual’s record, views a page, or makes any changes, it gets logged in the ‘Access History’ of My Health Record.

“From 14 years old, all individuals have control of their own My Health Record and can add health information to it such as medicines, allergies and adverse reactions.”

SA Health said the system was voluntary for all participants and as such, a provider is not compelled to share a document, even when the patient may wish for it to be sent to their record.

Pulse+IT understands that some health services in Victoria also have a policy of not uploading documents for children. The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services has been approached for comment.