Industry Brief Special Bulletin

Dear Visitor

Federal Parliament yesterday passed the Healthcare Identifiers Bill 2010. It was a momentous day for the Australian community and a crucial milestone in the development of e-health. Successful passage of the Bill, through both Houses of Parliament, will now be followed by a meeting of the Federal Executive Council next week to consider the associated regulations.

The Bill was the essential go-ahead the market needed to move forward with e-health, ultimately leading to development of a Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record. Medicare Australia is now finalising the national HI Service and release 3 of the technical specifications for July 1. This will flag the start of a progressive roll-out that is likely to take 18 to 24 months to achieve national coverage across the healthcare industry.

As the contracted service operator, Medicare Australia is the central contact for software vendors wishing to integrate identifiers into their products. The first step for companies wishing to get involved is to register with Medicare Australia's Online Technical Support Branch. The agency is responsible for issuing the latest technical specifications, providing integration testing, access and technical support.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in the e-health community for their dedication and hard work, particularly the ICT industry leaders who have worked tirelessly to help bring this to fruition. The passage of the Bill means we have the legislative framework we need to progress - and that is a vote of confidence to be celebrated today.

Peter Fleming, CEO

Useful links

• Today's official media release from the Minister for Health.
• Frequently Asked Questions about the Healthcare Identifier Service.
• Find out more about how the HI Service operates.
• Read Medicare Australia's Information Sheet for Software Vendors.
• Contact Medicare Australia's Online Technical Support team to get started.
• View the last issue of NEHTA's Industry Brief newsletter.

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