Last week, Victoria-based Melbourne Pathology became the latest pathology provider to upload reports to My Health Record (MHR). This allows both patients and clinicians to have convenient and secure access to their pathology reports. Other Victorian labs sharing reports with consumers and clinicians in the MHR include Alfred Health, Monash Health and VCS Pathology. The full list of participating providers is available here. 

THE LARGER TREND

Last June, the Northern Territory (NT) Department of Health became the first pathology provider to link the online tests results it is sharing via MHR with Lab Tests Online, HealthcareITNews reported. In the same month, South Australia (SA) Pathology also connected to the MHR.

Based on the latest statistics from the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) as of December 2019, there are 22.68 million MHRs, of which 12.99 million records have information in them.

ON THE RECORD

“Investigation results are one of the most common tools doctors use to evaluate your health. In the 2018-2019 financial year alone, Medicare funded over 147 million pathology tests,” said Professor Meredith Makeham, a GP and Chief Medical Adviser, ADHA in a statement. 

“It’s easy to quickly lose track of your results, particularly if you don’t have a regular GP or when you are seeing a range of healthcare professionals to manage multiple conditions and tests.

MHR allows you to keep your important test results safe in one place, which you and your healthcare providers can access at any time to make more informed decisions about your treatment or care.”

Victorian-based general practitioner, Dr Nathan Pinskier, said: “When I need a patient to have a pathology test, I simply send an electronic request and the patient attends the lab with a paper copy. Since the lab already has the electronic request, there’s no human data entry, which greatly reduces the risk of patients receiving the wrong test.

Once there’s a report, I receive a copy through my secure messaging software and my patient receives a copy in their MHR, where it can’t be lost and where future healthcare providers can review it to inform their own clinical decision-making.”