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The aim of a shared health summary is to provide key pieces of information about an individual’s health status, facilitating care across their entire healthcare domain.

Shared health summary in the Australian context

Nominated healthcare providers author a shared health summary during or soon after a consultation with a patient. It might contain information about allergies and adverse reactions, past medical history and or immunisation information.

The shared health summary is uploaded to the My Health Record system for viewing by participating practitioners who are providing ongoing care for that patient.

A shared health summary is a key piece of information for populating an individual’s consolidated view in the My Health Record system and must be supplied as a structured clinical document.

Shared Health Summary Diagram

Figure 1: high-level overview of clinical document delivery

These flows are described below:

  1. The nominated healthcare provider consults with a patient and writes a shared health summary in their local system.
  2. The authoring system converts the clinical information into a structured electronic document.
  3. Other healthcare providers, responsible for the ongoing care of the same patient, can view the shared health summary by downloading it from the My Health Record system.

 

Feature specifications

The Australian Digital Health Agency has provided the following specifications that apply to the shared health summary:

Supporting specifications

Roadmap

Roadmap: 
June, 2017
Completed
This incremental release of the shared health summary end product introduces an updated version of the Shared health summary – My Health Record usability recommendations.
April, 2015
Completed
These updates are aimed at addressing issues identified during the implementation of shared health summary specifications and clarifying existing requirements. Improvements have also been made to interoperability, clinical safety and privacy. Additional updates supported v3 of the Australian Medicines Terminology (AMT).
December, 2014
Completed
This incremental release introduces an updated version of the shared health summary - PCEHR usability recommendations.
August, 2014
Completed
Introduces the template package library as a new product component.
May, 2014
Completed
Replaces the Supplementary guidance for implementers product component, introduced with the previous version of this end product.
November, 2013
Completed
This incremental release represents a key outcome of the Agency’s Clinical Usability Programme Release 1. This release has been focused on resolving key usability issues with clinical information systems used by general practitioners.
October, 2013
Completed
Provides details about the context of the shared health summary v1.4 release and the artefacts required for implementation. Introduces supplementary guidance for the implementation of shared health summary documents, representing a key outcome of the Agency’s Clinical Usability Programme Release 1.
September, 2012
Completed
Provides details about the context of the shared health summary v1.3 release and provides direction to all the artefacts required for implementation.
May, 2012
Completed
Provides context about the shared health summary v1.2 release and direction regarding the artefacts required for implementation.