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Healthcare Identifiers

The Federal, State and Territory governments have developed a Healthcare Identifiers Service (HI Service) which uniquely identifies healthcare providers, healthcare organisations, and individuals who seek healthcare in Australia. The HI Service is operated by Medicare Australia (the Service Operator) on behalf of the Governance Authority, the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA).
 
The HI Service helps to identify people and organisations involved in healthcare across Australia, using a unique 16 digit identification number. These identifiers give individuals and healthcare providers confidence that the right health information is associated with the right individual at the point of care.
 
There are three types of healthcare identifiers:
 
• Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI)—allocated to all individuals enrolled in the Medicare program or those who are issued with a Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) treatment card, and others who seek healthcare in Australia.
• Healthcare Provider Identifier – Individual (HPI-I)—allocated to healthcare providers involved in providing patient care.
• Healthcare Provider Identifier – Organisation (HPI-O)—allocated to organisations (such as a hospital or medical clinic) where healthcare is provided.
 
The Service Operator is authorised by law to allocate IHIs to individuals and to disclose IHIs to healthcare providers without the individual’s consent. However, strict privacy laws govern how these identifiers can be used.

Access to, and management of, these identifiers is supported through a number of channels:

For healthcare providers
•    MSO—(Medicare Australia Service Officer). All services* for healthcare providers, with the exception of creating a provisional IHI, are available through MSOs via telephone, email and fax.
 
*Healthcare organisations wishing to arrange for an IHI batch search must contact Medicare Australia.

To contact the HI Service team:
Call: 1300 361 457
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
•    B2B—(Business to Business or web services). Some services are available electronically via B2B for healthcare providers and organisations. To use this channel, appropriate software is required and healthcare providers and organisations should check with their software provider in regards to what services their software supports.

•    HPOS—(Medicare Australia’s Health Professional Online Services). Some services are available though HPOS, which is accessible via the Medicare Australia website at www.medicareaustralia.gov.au.

For Individuals
•    MSO—All services for individuals are available via telephone, email, fax and face-to-face at a Medicare office.

•    OLS—Healthcare individuals can view and print their IHI History and update alternate names through Medicare Australia’s consumer Online Services (OLS). The OLS channel is accessible via the Medicare Australia website at www.medicareaustralia.gov.au.
 
A healthcare identifier is not a personal electronic health record; the HI Service does not store any clinical information with an IHI record. The information held by the HI Service is limited to demographic information (such as name, date of birth and sex) which is needed to uniquely identify healthcare individuals, healthcare providers and healthcare organisations.

Healthcare identifiers are an essential building block needed to support the future of eHealth in Australia.

You can view your IHI history online by registering for Medicare Australia's Online Services.

Watch this video to see how the HI Service will work.