My Health Record offers significant potential to improve care coordination and health outcomes, particularly for older Australians.
This is because older Australians generally experience a higher prevalence of chronic and complex conditions, polypharmacy and interact more frequently with the healthcare system.
One way to support your older patients is to confirm their key health information is available in My Health Record by uploading an accurate and up-to-date shared health summary. This will help ensure your patients get the best possible care when they are visiting other health care providers or if they go to hospital.
For patients with cognitive issues, having medicines information available in their My Health Record, including brand name, active ingredients, strength and dosage instructions, can decrease the burden on patients and reliance on their memory. Having key information available in My Health Record can also save your practice time, by reducing the number of requests for information from your practice. Consider making the upload of shared health summaries for older patients’ part of routine practice, such as on completion of a 75+ health assessment.
To learn more, register for a My Health Record practical demonstration session on the Australian Digital Health Agency website.
For further support on using My Health Record in your practice, contact primarycare@nwmphn.org.au or phone (03) 9347 1188.
