Healthcare Identifiers

Most Australian residents have been issued with an Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI). A key objective of the Healthcare Identifiers Service (HI Service) is to enable reliable healthcare related communication between individuals, healthcare providers and provider organisations.

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

Medicare Australia is the operator of the HI Service and this role is separate from its other functions such as payment of Medicare claims. Medicare Australia’s functions are governed by Medicare Australia Act 1973 and legislation that sets its functions and the privacy and security of personal information it holds. Medicare Australia is a trusted and secure provider of health related services.

The HI Service is a national system for uniquely identifying healthcare providers and individuals. The HI Service operates in conjunction with authentication infrastructure and complies with international best practice for information security. One of the key foundations for a national approach to e-health will be a standard process across the health sector to accurately identify everybody involved in a healthcare transaction. This includes the person receiving healthcare, the person providing healthcare, and the place where the care is given.

NEHTA is working on a final version of the The Healthcare Identifiers Service Implementation Approach and will continue to work with stakeholders to develop more detailed implementation plans for each sector.

 

Implementation Plans

DocumentsDate AddedHits
File Icon HI Service Implementation Approach 31/05/2010 980
File Icon Hi Service Communication Plans 31/05/2010 629

Healthcare Identifier Fact Sheets and FAQs

DocumentsDetailsPublished DateStandard IDHits
File Icon Healthcare Identifiers - FAQs for ProvidersFile Icon 08/12/2009 1829
File Icon Healthcare Identifiers - FAQs for Individuals File Icon 08/12/2009 1653
File Icon IHI Consultaton paper Q&AFile Icon 22/07/2009 2877

Concept of Operations