It’s happening, all Australians will have a My Health Record by the end of 2018 unless they choose not to. My Health Record is an individual’s safe and secure digital health information which already provides significant benefits for more than 5.9 million Australians. These include fewer adverse drug events, avoided hospital admissions, reduced duplication of diagnostic tests, better coordination of care for people seeing multiple healthcare providers, and better informed treatment decisions. Over 6.46 million clinical documents and over 21 million medication prescriptions and dispense records have already been uploaded to people’s My Health Records. 12,860 healthcare professional organisations are connected, including general practices, hospitals, pharmacies, diagnostic imaging and pathology practices. Healthcare providers can add clinical documents including: shared health summaries, hospital discharge summaries, diagnostic and imaging reports including blood tests and x-rays results, medications prescribed and dispensed, and e-referrals. Australians can manage privacy and control access to their My Health Record including what information gets uploaded and who has access such as family members, carers and healthcare providers. Allowing 24/7 access from anywhere with an internet connection, a major benefit is practitioners being able to spend more time with the patient and less time chasing other practitioners for relevant information. Having a My Health Record while travelling interstate or in an emergency is a noticeable advantage. My Health Record has multilayered and strong safeguards in place to protect individual information including encryption, firewalls, secure login, authentication mechanisms and audit logging. By the end of 2018, a My Health Record will be created for every Australian, unless they choose not to have one. If people choose not to have a My Health Record, they will be able to opt out by 15 October 2018 via either www.myhealthrecord.gov.au or phoning 1800 723 471. The North Coast Primary Health Network’s (NCPHN) My Health Record team will be holding a community information session at the Grafton Library to provide you with accurate information about My Health Record and answer your questions face to face. When: Wednesday August 8 at 11.30am Contact: Grafton Library for bookings: 6641 0100 and NCPHN for more information, enquiries@ncphn.org.au or 02 6618 5400.