Don't punish the doctors! Make My Health Record more user-friendly, says the AMA.
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen says any moves to penalise doctors for not providing patients' records for a "clunky" My Health Record would be a "blunt tool" and "lazy policy".
She was quoted in The Australian about a recommendation from the Senate's community affairs legislation committee to modernise the system.
It would make participation in My Health Records mandatory for all doctors, but voluntary for patients, and withhold Medicare rebates from those who failed to upload test results and medical information onto patient records.
Dr McMullen said: "The AMA is very keen to see better uptake of the My Health Record and making it more useful in day-to-day clinical practice is the key - including better integrating it with clinical software.
"Linking a patient's Medicare rebate to a requirement to upload to the My Health Record is a blunt tool and is lazy policy. We need to do much better as the reality is that the My Health system is out-of-date, clunky, and has become an electronic shoe box full of PDF records.
"We have discussed this issue with the Department of Health and Aged Care at length and we have been assured that there is no plan to extend the use of this power to GPs or other specialists in the near future."
