Last month, The Australian Digital Health launched the my health . The my health app allows Australian citizens to view important health information from My Health Record. It’s a great example of digital transformation in government and ehealth. It provides better transparency for people (they can view all their health data whenever they want) and helps medical practitioners provide more holistic, linked-up medical services. Using the my health app you can quickly and easily access your medical history and information in a central location without having to print out and physically store documents, or rely on going to a doctor or medical or healthcare provider to get the information.
You can use it to quickly and easily access:
- Immunisation information
- Pathology results
- Allergies and reactions
- Hospital discharge information
- Information about prescription medicines you’re on (or have been on)
How do you set up my health?
There are a few steps involved in setting up my health, but it is relatively quick to do:
- Download the app from Google Play or the App store
- Link the app to myGov
- Link your My Health Record to your myGov account (if you haven’t already done this)
To give you an idea of the effort, I linked My Health Record to myGov and linked up the my health app in about 3 minutes.
How do you use the my health app?
Once you’re logged in and linked up, the app gives you clear and easy access to a range of health information. The user interface is well-designed, making it easy to see the different categories at a glance.
The ‘Medical history’ gives you an overview of all areas (e.g. medicines, Medicare services, test results) displayed in date order, with the most recent first. Or you can choose a specific area to look at like Medicines (which shows you recently filled prescriptions) or Test results (which shows results like blood tests). For example, I decided to look at a few years’ of blood test results and compare iron levels.
The my health app makes it super easy to look at all your important health information in one spot.
You can also add children under 14 years of age to the so you can easily see their important health information too.
Is my health secure?
my health is designed with security in mind, using end-to end encryption technology integrated with the My Health Record platform. In addition, on the client side there are data protection mechanisms to secure peoples’ health information against external interference.
About My Health Record
The Department of Health set up My Health in 2012. In 2016, the Australian Digital Health was appointed as the operator.
Salsa Digital’s take
my health is an easy-to-use digital health tool that provides a centralised record for people’s health information. It gives people easy access to their health data, which gives them greater control over their health data.
The my health app is a great example of digital transformation in government and specifically ehealth. Centralised, digital health records provide many benefits to both citizens and healthcare providers. It will save citizens time filling out forms and ensure new medical professionals have access to accurate health information.