What is My Health Record?

My Health Record is a secure online summary of your health information. It can include test results (pathology and imaging), discharge summaries from hospital, your medication list (PBS prescriptions), allergies and adverse reactions, immunisation history, care plans and referral letters, and clinical notes your doctors choose to upload. It was created as an opt-out system in 2018-2019, so most Australians have one unless they actively opted out.

How do I access My Health Record?

You can access My Health Record through your myGov account at my.gov.au. Sign in, then click on My Health Record. You can also use the My Health Record app. You need to link My Health Record as a service in myGov (separate from Medicare). You will need your Medicare card or IHI number and identity verification documents.

Who can see My Health Record?

Healthcare providers involved in your care can access your record when they need to treat you. This includes GPs, specialists, hospitals, pharmacies, and allied health providers who use connected clinical software. You can see who has accessed your record in the access history log. You can set access controls to restrict which providers can view your record, and you can remove individual documents.

Can I opt out of My Health Record?

The opt-out period officially closed in January 2019, but you can still cancel your record at any time by calling the My Health Record helpline on 1800 723 471 or through your myGov account. If you cancel, all information in your record will be permanently deleted. You can also choose to keep your record but restrict access to specific providers.

My Health Record — What's In It, How to Access & Privacy

What is it?

My Health Record is a secure online summary of your key health information. Doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers can upload information to it, and you can access it anytime.

It was created as an opt-out system in 2018–2019. Most Australians have one unless they actively chose to opt out. You may already have a record without realising it.

What's in your record

🔬Test results — pathology (blood tests, urine, swabs) and imaging reports (X-ray, CT, MRI, ultrasound). Uploaded automatically by many pathology labs. 💊Medications — PBS prescriptions dispensed at pharmacies. Shows what was dispensed, when, and by whom. 🏥Hospital discharge summaries — summaries from hospital admissions, including diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up instructions. 📋Shared health summaries — uploaded by your GP. May include current conditions, medications, allergies, and recent test results. ⚠️Allergies and adverse reactions — recorded by your healthcare providers. 💉Immunisation history — from the Australian Immunisation Register. 📄Care plans and referrals — GP Management Plans, specialist referrals, and Team Care Arrangements may be uploaded. 📝Advance care planning — you can upload your own advance care directive.

Note: Not everything appears automatically. Your GP needs to upload shared health summaries manually. Some private pathology results and specialist letters may not appear unless the provider uses connected software.

How to access it

1. Go to my.gov.au and sign in (or create an account).

2. Click "Link a service" → select My Health Record (this is separate from linking Medicare).

3. Complete identity verification — you will need your Medicare card number or IHI (Individual Healthcare Identifier) and identity documents.

4. Once linked, My Health Record appears on your myGov dashboard.

You can also access it via the My Health Record app on iOS and Android.

Help: My Health Record helpline — 1800 723 471 (free call).

Who can see your record?

Healthcare providers involved in your care can access your record when they need to treat you. This includes GPs, specialists, hospitals, pharmacists, and allied health providers using connected clinical software.

You are in control:

👁️See who accessed it — the access history log shows every provider who viewed your record, when, and what they looked at. 🔒Restrict access — you can set a Record Access Code (RAC) so only providers you give the code to can view your record. 🗑️Remove documents — you can hide or permanently delete individual documents from your record. 🚫Block specific providers — you can restrict individual healthcare organisations from accessing your record (note: this does not apply in emergencies).

Emergency access: In a medical emergency, your record can be accessed even if you have set restrictions. This is designed to help save your life. Emergency access is logged and audited.

Why it matters

🚑Emergency departments can see your medications and allergies when you cannot speak for yourself. 🩺New doctors can see your history without you having to remember every detail. 💊Pharmacists can check for drug interactions across all your prescribers. 🏥After hospital — your GP can see what happened in hospital and follow up properly. 📋Test results — check your own blood test and imaging results online without waiting for a phone call.

The opt-out period closed in January 2019, but you can still cancel your record at any time. Call 1800 723 471 or cancel through your myGov account.

If you cancel, all information in your record is permanently deleted. It cannot be recovered. Healthcare providers will no longer be able to access it.

Instead of cancelling, you may prefer to keep your record but restrict access using a Record Access Code. This way the information is there if you need it in an emergency, but providers cannot view it without your permission.

The most useful part of My Health Record is the shared health summary — a snapshot of your current conditions, medications, and allergies uploaded by your GP. But your GP has to do this manually.

Next time you see your GP, ask: "Could you upload a shared health summary to My Health Record?" It takes them 2-3 minutes and makes your record much more useful for other providers who treat you.

Children have their own My Health Record, managed by a parent or guardian until the child turns 14. From age 14, the young person can take control of their own record.

Parents can view immunisation records, test results, and hospital summaries for their children through their own myGov account.