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I feel a thread coming on....
Do you trust the Department of Human Services?
Do you trust the Department of Human Services?
Today we learnt that the Department of Human Services (DHS) sent a letter on behalf of a research institute to people who had been prescribed lithium on the PBS, assuming they had bipolar.
This tweet was supposed to have this link! smh.com.au/healthcare/med…
And today we also learnt that DHS is using Medicare data matching to try to find welfare fraud. itnews.com.au/news/centrelin…
All a bit robodebty.
All a bit robodebty.
(Lets also remember that the DHS already let the police peek into Medicare information medicalrepublic.com.au/just-private-h… )
The thing is, you may have opted out of MyHealthRecord. You may be happy that MyHealthRecord has a secondary use of data framework, so you know what the health data in there will be used for (in theory)
IT DOES NOT MATTER!
IT DOES NOT MATTER!
This is not MyHealthRecord. The DHS reports PBS and Medicare info to MyHealthRecord. But at no point have you ever been informed or ever had the opportunity to opt out of your PBS and Medicare Data being used in this way. Ever.
The only way I (as a GP) could opt out of this to protect your information is never to offer another PBS prescription again. And never to provide you with the option for a Medicare rebate again.
We take confidentiality really seriously as doctors/GPs. What people tell me in the consulting room is sensitive, often never told to anyone else, and often really important.
Some of the Medicare data that generates doesn't say very much (though it says enough) - you had a consultation with this doctor on this date.
Some of it is much more sensitive. You had a pathology test for chlamydia? You had a Mental Health item billed? This is really private sensitive information. Not for police. Not for Centrelink. Not for a research Institute, no matter how well meaning.
PBS info might be even more sensitive.
Lithium, for example.
Implanon perhaps?
Depo antipsychotic?
Biological agents targeted at autoimmune conditions. (Think what employers might like to have that info!)
Lithium, for example.
Implanon perhaps?
Depo antipsychotic?
Biological agents targeted at autoimmune conditions. (Think what employers might like to have that info!)
As far as I know, this is the extent of DHS release of data (though to be honest, how would we know?) But if they are prepared to do this, who are they not prepared to release data to?
As @brookmanknight says, as GPs we really want to protect patients' information. We really can't if the DHS is using it like this. It worries me.
@brookmanknight Oh, and I should add that there are many Australians who will have left other countries with authoritarian governments to come here, and I dread to think what their thoughts about seeking health care might be.
