Melbourne, Australia
Independent · Not a clinic
An independent Australian journal of digital health
Digital DoctorExplainers on telehealth, records, medicines and the systems between Australian patients and their clinicians.
The plumbing
Secure messaging, referrals, healthcare identifiers, FHIR, and the agency that operates the national infrastructure.
The Agency runs national digital infrastructure. It is not your GP, not Medicare, and not AHPRA. This explainer separates the operator of My Health Record, electronic prescribing standards and the HI Service from the Department that sets health policy.
Referrals still vanish between GPs and specialists because fax, inbox rules and half-connected software remain normal. This explainer covers electronic referrals, secure messaging, My Health Record uploads, and what patients can do while the letter is in limbo.
Australia has national identifiers, a summary record and a fashionable data standard. Patients still carry discs, repeat their history, and hear that the computer is down. Here is what FHIR and the HI Service can and cannot fix.