Introducing Health Identifiers
- All Australians will be provided with a unique identifier called an IHI (Individual Healthcare Identifier) when seeking medical services.
- Healthcare Provider Individuals like GPs, Specialists, and allied health professionals such as optometrist, speech therapists and physiotherapists will be provided with an HPI-I (Healthcare Provider Identifier-Individual).
- Healthcare Provider Organisations like state health departments, hospitals, medical
practices, pathology or radiology laboratories and pharmacies will be provided with an
HPI-O (Healthcare Provider IdentifierOrganisation).
IHIs have been created to be used by healthcare providers to improve the security and efficient management of an individual's personal health information with strict privacy laws governing how these numbers are used. IHIs do not replace Medicare or DVA numbers and do not affect the way medical benefits are claimed.
Pracsoft and Clinical have been enhanced to interface with the HI service, and can interact with the HI service in real-time, retrieving and then storing a patient's IHI in the system.
The Practice - each registered practice must apply for an HPI-O (Healthcare Provider IdentifierOrganisation) number, which must be entered in the associated field on the Practice tab of MedicalDirector Clinical Options. Medicare Australia can also issue you with a Signing Certificate and Encryption Certificate, which must be imported via the PKI tab of MedicalDirector Clinical Options.
Practitioners - each registered practitioner must apply for an HPI-I (Healthcare Provider Identifier-Individual) number, which must be entered in the associated field within the practitioner's details.
Patients - each registered patient will be provided with an IHI (Individual Healthcare Identifier) number, which is automatically retrieved and entered into the associated field within the patient's demographics/details.