Medical Records opt in/out

[Trent]

After reading up on this I'm not overly concerned. Mostly because my GPs office already has it all stored on their own cloud so they can access it from various clinics around town. Doesn't really matter to me if it's in my doctors hands or in the health department, if it's online it's online.

It’s about target visability. Your GP is a small target amongst thousands of small targets. The probability that someone will go after it is low.

However a centralised government database with the names and health records of millions of Australian citizens? That’s a high profile/high reward target that will almost certainly be under constant cyber attack from all over the world. Not to mention the risks of what the government may decide to do with the data in the future.

[1AZRAEL1]

The government doesn’t have a stellar record of keeping our data safe. I don’t trust them with this. The cons outweigh the pros.

[DELTAprime]

It’s about target visability. Your GP is a small target amongst thousands of small targets. The probability that someone will go after it is low.

However a centralised government database with the names and health records of millions of Australian citizens? That’s a high profile/high reward target that will almost certainly be under constant cyber attack from all over the world. Not to mention the risks of what the government may decide to do with the data in the future.

Who do you trust to do a better job of security? A local GP clinic or the Australian government? If you answered a local GP then you are insane.

No networked security is perfect, but at least the government has security personnel on staff. Your local GP on the other hand could very well terrible security and you would never know it.

Frankly if my records have to be in someone's cloud I'd rather the one with a known good level of security, not a GP that could have extremely terrible security.

[Trent]

Who do you trust to do a better job of security? A local GP clinic or the Australian government? If you answered a local GP then you are insane.

No networked security is perfect, but at least the government has security personnel on staff. Your local GP on the other hand could very well terrible security and you would never know it.

Frankly if my records have to be in someone's cloud I'd rather the one with a known good level of security, not a GP that could have extremely terrible security.

You completely missed the point of my post.

Also those GPs with crappy security you’re talking about are going to have unrestricted access to this database. So if someone were to gain access through one of these GPs yor refer to, they could potentially access the records of anyone. Not just that particular GP’s patients.

We have internet security experts everywhere saying that what the government is proposing is at best a half arsed solution. The rules around its use are rubbery at best and will be subject to the whim of the government of the time. Your data is being treated as a product and will be used as such in the future. Same with your kids. Provided it doesn’t end up hosted on a website first . Are you ok with that?

[1AZRAEL1]

It's not just about the lack of security.

This too

"Patients control access to the record, so they can switch off their entire record and make it only available using a pin code, or use that process with individual documents," Dr Hambleton said.

Patients can get an SMS or email anytime someone new accesses their record — but it is up to individuals to set up those privacy and access settings.

Robert Merkel, a software engineering lecturer at Monash University, said he was worried the safeguards were not in place by default.

"I am concerned that most people simply aren't going to be aware of those privacy controls," Dr Merkel said.

Because the they didn't have many people sign up for this, they are going to blanket sign up everyone and have those that wish to opt out do so. Absolutely backwards way of doing this.

[BigTransformerTrev]

Because the they didn't have many people sign up for this, they are going to blanket sign up everyone and have those that wish to opt out do so. Absolutely backwards way of doing this.

To be honest, I wasn't even aware of this whole thing until I saw this thread a week ago and then a news story yesterday.

Personally I don't like the idea of them signing us up without our permission and then us having to go to the trouble of opting out. I don't like that at all.

My main problem is what use the government of today and possible uses the governments of the future will put your private health information to. For instance imagine if you were going for a job in a government department and they checked and saw you had taken considerable stress leave in the past because of a note your GP wrote you a decade ago. Think they will employ you over someone who doesn't have that on their record? I don't trust the powers that be one bit to not pull something like that. And considering how the government walks hand-in-hand with big business (can anyone say 'giant tax cuts'?) I don't trust them to not eventually 'accidentally' share our details with corporations.


"And it says here Mr Simpson, that you once held a dog by its back legs and walked it round like a wheelbarrow"
"I was ten!"
"Well it all goes on your permanent record"

[1AZRAEL1]

The government doesn't have a good record for that. And if they want to gain any trust back, this sure as hell won't do it.

[Trent]

To be honest, I wasn't even aware of this whole thing until I saw this thread a week ago and then a news story yesterday.

Personally I don't like the idea of them signing us up without our permission and then us having to go to the trouble of opting out. I don't like that at all.

My main problem is what use the government of today and possible uses the governments of the future will put your private health information to. For instance imagine if you were going for a job in a government department and they checked and saw you had taken considerable stress leave in the past because of a note your GP wrote you a decade ago. Think they will employ you over someone who doesn't have that on their record? I don't trust the powers that be one bit to not pull something like that. And considering how the government walks hand-in-hand with big business (can anyone say 'giant tax cuts'?) I don't trust them to not eventually 'accidentally' share our details with corporations.


"And it says here Mr Simpson, that you once held a dog by its back legs and walked it round like a wheelbarrow"
"I was ten!"
"Well it all goes on your permanent record"

The most likely scenario is that a government will decide to make your record available to health insurance companies when assessing your premium. Suddenly every health check/issue you ever had will be used as a justification to charge you more for health insurance.

[BigTransformerTrev]

The most likely scenario is that a government will decide to make your record available to health insurance companies when assessing your premium. Suddenly every health check/issue you ever had will be used as a justification to charge you more for health insurance.

Thats a good point. We had health insurance for years but got rid of it as it was too expensive and only used if for discounts on dental anyway. Now we just have ambulance cover but as we get older will probably need to get it again one day

[Autocon]

To be honest, I wasn't even aware of this whole thing until I saw this thread a week ago and then a news story yesterday.

Your not the only one. Apparently even people in the medical profession didnt know his was happening. The government has been so secretive about this that almost all the people my family n friends know and theirs didnt know and some still dont.