Our legal experts will keep you up to date on all relevant and current developments.
Next year is likely to see some significant steps forward for the national ehealth system following the release of the report of the review of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) by the Commonwealth Minister for Health in May. (1) The review undertaken over 6 weeks in late 2013, and headed by Richard Royle, Executive Director of UnitingCare Health (Qld), made 38 recommendations.
Welcome to the August 2014 edition of the Holman Webb Health Law Bulletin.
Australia has been at the forefront in various areas of innovation in health and medical research. This edition of the Bulletin focuses on innovation in the health, aged care and life science sector with articles on recent developments concerning health records, big data and privacy.
Two recent cases before the Australian Privacy Commissioner (Commissioner) serve as a reminder to organisations of the importance of keeping personal information of clients secure and adequately disposing of information that is no longer in use.
Advance care directives, also known as living wills or advance care planning, enable a person over the age of 18, who is mentally competent, to express their wishes in relation to future medical care and treatment.
2013 saw the legislative and regulatory environment for charities significantly changed. 2014 looks like being a repeat, but in the opposite direction. The government has confirmed its intention to abolish the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission (ACNC) and to return to the common law definition of charity of the purposes of Commonwealth laws.
Welcome to the May 2014 edition of the Holman Webb Health Law Bulletin.
The amendments to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) commenced on 12 March 2014, which are applicable to Commonwealth Government agencies and the private health sector. Ignore them at your peril because the penalties for breaches have significantly increased up to $1,700,000 for businesses and $340,000 for individuals.
FEBRUARY 2015 - UPDATE: “Please note that this case has been the subject of a successful appeal by Dr Dekker to the WA Supreme Court. Readers should review a report on this appeal in the February 2015 issue of the Holman Webb Law Bulletin”
A recent finding of the State Administrative Tribunal of Western Australia has sparked debate amongst Australian doctors and brought into focus the wide scope of what might constitute “improper or infamous” conduct by a registered medical practitioner.
Like the US, Australia is experiencing the proliferation of mobile medical apps (software applications that can be executed on a mobile platform) which seek to provide a number of functionalities, many of which operate between traditional disease management and health and wellness. Some of these new apps assist consumers with their health and wellness management, whilst others provide healthcare providers with tools to improve and facilitate the delivery of patient care.
As part of the 2010/11 Federal budget, the Government announced a $466.7 million investment over two years for a national Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) system for all Australians who choose to register on-line, from 2012-2013. This initiative has the potential to be a revolutionary step for Australian health care, in terms of both consumer's access to their own health information and improvement in information which will be available to health professionals when they treat a patient.
Australia privacy rights are regulated by Commonwealth and State legislation and the laws protecting confidential information under the common law.
Australian privacy laws govern the collection, use and disclosure of “personal information”. Further, individuals are provided with a right of access and correction of their own personal information. There are also data security, data quality and cross-border transborder data flow requirements.