Right now, there's no single method of accurately identifying people receiving healthcare, healthcare providers or the organisations managing care, and mismatched patient information is an acknowledged problem - so this is a solid step forward in building a more efficient, more secure health system in Australia.
People won't have to apply for an identifier - it will be allocated automatically to every Australian with a Medicare card or a Department of Veterans' Affairs treatment card. People not covered by these will be allocated identifiers on an individual basis.
UHI rollout is planned for mid-2010, with the draft legislation open for public comment until Thursday, 7 January 2010.
More on this in January's IT:informer.
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