Before you can begin configuring your installation of Bp Premier to access and use My Health Record functionality, your practice must be familiar with a minimum of eHealth terminology and apply for encryption certificates, practice identifiers, and individual identifiers.
Key terms in eHealth
The following table lists key terms used with eHealth.
Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
HI and HI service | Health Identifier and the Health Identifier service |
IHI | Individual Health Identifiers |
HPI-I | Healthcare Provider Identifier Individual (allocated to healthcare providers) |
HPI-O | Healthcare Provider Identifier Organisation (allocated to healthcare organisations) |
PCEHR | Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record. This acronym is no longer used. |
RO | Responsible Officer |
OMO | Organisational Maintenance Officer |
AHPRA | Australian Health Practitioner Registration Authority |
PKI | Public Key Infrastructure |
CDA | Clinical Document Architecture |
NEHTA | National Electronic Health Transition Authority (this is now the Australian Digital Health Agency) |
NASH | National Authentication Service for Health |
HPD | Healthcare Provider Directory |
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I still need a physical CD for my certificates?
From 07 November 2018, Medicare no longer issue NASH certificates as physical CDs. Organisation Maintenance Officers can now securely download digital NASH Organisation PKI certificates via HPOS (Healthcare Provider Online Services). Organisations whose existing NASH Public Key Infrastructure certificates expire after 07 November will no longer automatically receive a CD in the mail. Instead, you will be sent a letter approximately 60 days before the certificate expires notifying you of the expiry date and directing you to download a new certificate through HPOS.
NASH certificates expire after two years and need to be regularly renewed to ensure ongoing connectivity. Check the expiry dates of your imported NASH Organisation KPI certificates in Bp Premier and note when you will need to import new certificates. See Check Medicare certificates for expiry for more information.
Information on applying for a NASH certificate through HPOS is provided in the Department of Human Services website.
Your practice may already have some or all of the required My Health Record items.
What is the registration process?
The Australian Digital Health Agency has a summary of the process for registering with the HI Service and the My Health Record system.
You will need to:
- Nominate a Responsible Officer and at least one Organisation Maintenance Officer at your practice. Learn more about these roles and their responsibilities.
- Register your organisation through Health Professionals Online Service (HPOS).
- Complete the application form for registering with the HI Service and the My Health Record system.
- If you registered for the HI service, you will receive your practice's 16-digit HPI-O number. HI Service access will be added to your existing Medicare Location (Site) certificate.
This step only applies if you intend to apply for your HPI-O number online, instead of through a paper-based application form.
If you are registering for both the HI Service and the My Health Record system, complete all parts of the form.
If you have already registered for the HI Service and are only registering for access to My Health Record, complete only the My Health Record application part of the form.
If you also registered for the My Health Record system, you will receive your practice's Medicare NASH certificate.
After you have your HPI-O, HPI-I for each provider accessing My Health Record, and your two certificates, you can configure Bp Premier to access My Health Record online.
Which PKI certificates do I need to access the HI service and My Health Record?
Two types of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificates control access to the HI service and My Health record:
- A Department of Human Services (DSH) certificate gives access to the HI Service online. This certificate is referred to as the Medicare Location or Medicare Site certificate.
- A National Authentication Service for Health (NASH) certificate gives access to My Health Record online.
If your practice has registered to use Medicare online services, such as online claiming, the practice will already have a Medicare Site certificate, sent to you by Medicare on a CD. When you apply for access to the HI service, HI Service access will be added to your existing certificate.
However, the My Health Record system uses a different digital credential arrangement to the HI Service. The Medicare Site certificate cannot be used to access the My Health Record system. A NASH certificate is required.
You can either:
- apply for a NASH certificate after your practice has registered with the HI service and received an HPI-O number
- register for the My Health Record system using the same form, at the same time, that you apply for access to the HI service.
How do I obtain an HPI-I?
Healthcare providers who are registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) will have already been assigned a HPI-I. The provider can contact AHPRA (ahpra.gov.au) or the HI Service on 1300 361 457 to find out their HPI-I.
Healthcare providers in a field of practice not covered by AHPRA must complete an application to register for a HPI-I via the Department of Human Services.
How do I obtain an HPI-O?
Obtain a Healthcare Provider Identifier - Organisation (HPI-O) from the HI Service using either an online form or a paper-based form:
How does the overnight check work?
After you have set up Bp Premier for My Health Record, a background process runs overnight on the Bp Premier server that checks if patients are registered with a My Health Record record. Any patients who have registered for My Health Record will be marked as registered in the patient record.
What do I need to do?
There is nothing that the practice has to do to activate this function. However, to benefit from the new function, staff should regularly validate a patient's IHI numbers so that the lookup can be performed.
What does the process do?
The background process checks all patients with appointments the next day for verified and active IHI numbers. If patients are not already marked as having a My Health Record record, a lookup is performed against the My Health Record system. If the patient is registered, a flag is set in their record.
The next time the patient's clinical record is opened, their My Health Record button will have a green border, and you will be able to upload a Shared Health Summary and Event Summaries, and access any documents held on the My Health Record for that patient.
