In April this year, the Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, stated that by July 2012 all Australians will be able to “sign up for a personally controlled e-health record . . . [that] will enable better access to important health information currently held in dispersed records around the country”.1 Laudable aims, but can patients and clinicians trust the reliability and confidentiality of this personally controlled e-health record (PCEHR)?
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- 1 University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW.
- 2 University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS.
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- 4. National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission. A healthier future for all Australians: final report June 2009. Canberra: Department of Health and Ageing, 2009. http://www.health.gov.au/internet/nhhrc/publishing.nsf/Content/nhhrc-report (accessed Jul 2011).
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