Number of patient records uploaded to MHR due to ePIP
Dear Department of Human Services,
This is a request made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.
Could you please provide documents that include the information that relates to the Practice Incentives Program eHealth Incentive Program ['ePIP'] as per this webpage:
https://www.humanservices.gov.au/organis...
1. What date did this program commence?
2. How many GP practices are currently participating in the ePIP program (as of 2 February 2019)?
3. A list, current of 2 February 2019, of all GP practices participating in the ePIP program.
4. From the commencement of the ePIP program until 2 February 2019, how many GP practices have participated in the ePIP program?
5. Briefing notes, or summaries, or audits relating to the effectiveness of the ePIP program.
6. The total sum of all payments made under the ePIP program.
7. The total number of shared health summaries uploaded to My Health Record, by virtue of the ePIP program.
Should any fees arise from this request, I request that these fees be waived in the public interest. Public interest in these documents is demonstrated, in part, by this article:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Yours faithfully,
FOI Applicant
Dear Department of Human Services,
Further to the original request lodged 2 February 2019, I wish to narrow the scope of some of the requested documents. Subsequent to the lodgement of the request, publicly available information makes clear that the ePIP requirement to upload shared health summaries [‘SHS’] to the My Health Record ['MHR'] system was introduced after the commencement of the ePIP program.
Accordingly, the scope of items 1, 4, 5, 6 are narrowed as follows:
1. What date did the ePIP eligibility requirement for participating practices to upload SHS for a minimum of 0.5% of the practice’s standardised whole patient equivalent become mandatory [‘the commencement date’]?
4. From the commencement date until 2 February 2019, how many GP practices have participated in the ePIP program?
5. Briefing notes, or summaries, or audits relating to the effectiveness of the ePIP program after the commencement date.
6. The total sum of all payments made under the ePIP program from the commencement date.
The scope of the other documents requested at items 2, 3 and 7 remain unchanged.
Yours faithfully,
FOI Applicant
Dear Sir/Madam,
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your freedom of
information request.
Kind regards
Molly
Freedom of Information Team
Employment Law and Freedom of Information Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
Email: [1][email address]
[2]cid:image001.png@01D27D3A.D9CCAB90
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
Attention: FOI Applicant
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST – NOTIFICATION OF TRANSFER FROM ANOTHER
AGENCY
I am writing to notify you that the Department of Health (Health) has
accepted partial transfer of your attached request to the Department of
Human Services (DHS) of 2 February 2019, seeking access to documents under
the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
DHS has advised the scope of items 1, 4, 5, 6 of your request are narrowed
as follows:
1. What date did the ePIP eligibility requirement for participating
practices to upload SHS for a minimum of 0.5% of the practice’s
standardised whole patient equivalent become mandatory [‘the commencement
date’]?
4. From the commencement date until 2 February 2019, how many GP practices
have participated in the ePIP program?
5. Briefing notes, or summaries, or audits relating to the effectiveness
of the ePIP program after the commencement date.
6. The total sum of all payments made under the ePIP program from the
commencement date.
The scope of the other documents requested at items 2, 3 and 7 remain
unchanged (attached).
Health has accepted transfer of items 1 and 5 to 7. DHS will respond to
items 2, 3 and 4 separately.
Health will take all reasonable steps to notify you of a decision no later
than 30 calendar days after the date your request was received. You will
be contacted where a charge is applied for processing your request or if
we need to consult a third party.
Unless you advise otherwise, duplicate documents and Commonwealth employee
names and contact details below Senior Executive Service level and mobile
telephone numbers of all staff will be excluded from the scope of your
request under s22(1)(a)(ii) of the FOI Act.
You can contact the FOI Unit on (02) 6289 1666, or via email at
[1][email address], should you have any enquiries.
Regards
FOI Unit
[2]cid:image002.png@01D152AA.D704F7C0
Legal Advice & Legislation Branch
Legal & Assurance Division
Australian Government Department of Health
T: (02) 6289 1666 | E: [email address]
PO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health acknowledges the traditional owners of country
throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and
community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to elders
both past and present.
If you receive this email in error, please delete it and contact the sender
immediately.
You have received a secure email from the Department of Human Services.
Please select the link below to view the email.
Please note, you may have to register for this service
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Dear Department of Human Services,
Further to your correspondence of 20 February, I request that the document / email / matter sent to me via the DHS secure service be resent to this email address directly.
I am requesting this because I am unable to access the secure email server.
Yours faithfully,
FOI Applicant
Dear Madam/Sir,
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your freedom of
information request, originally sent to you on 20 February 2019.
Kind regards
Molly
Freedom of Information Team
Employment Law and Freedom of Information Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
Email: [1][email address]
[2]cid:image001.png@01D27D3A.D9CCAB90
Dear Department of Human Services,
RE: LEX 42296
Thank you for providing a copy of your correspondence dated 20 February 2019.
Further to your advice of the charge of $53.37, I request that the Department waive the charge for the access to the documents. This request is made because there is a compelling and overwhelming public interest in the release of the documents.
The public interest in the documents is evidenced by sustained, nuanced and consistent public, media and parliamentary interest in matters relating both to the My Health Record (MHR) system generally, as well as detailed interest in the functional, operational and policy frameworks that support and are involved in the MHR system.
As an example, in 2018, the Australian Senate held two inquiries into the MHR system:
1. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Bus...
2. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Bus...
Specifically, in relation to the ePIP program:
The Australian Medical Association has made a number of public submissions on the matter of the ePIP program: https://ama.com.au/media/ama-rejects-gov...
Further, there has been recent media interest in the operation of the ePIP program: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Without being exhaustive, there is substantive public interest in the function and operation of the ePIP program as it relates to the MHR system. The release of the documents would further advance public knowledge, awareness and discussion of both the ePIP program and the MHR system. The waiver of the charge is consistent with, and furthers, the purpose of the Act.
Kind regards,
FOI Applicant
Attention: FOI Applicant
I am writing in regards to your request to the Department of Human
Services (DHS) of 2 February 2019, which was partially transferred to the
Department of Health (Department), seeking access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
We have liaised with the relevant line areas who have advised that the
information in parts of your request are already publicly available, are
not contained in documents held by the Department, or are unclear, which
have been set out below.
1. What date did the ePIP eligibility requirement for participating
practices to upload SHS for a minimum of 0.5% of the practice’s
standardised whole patient equivalent become mandatory [‘the commencement
date’]?
· The current iteration of the Practice Incentive Program eHealth
Incentive commenced on 1 May 2016. The Practice Incentives Program eHealth
Incentive Guidelines – May 2016 reflect this and are available here:
[1]www.humanservices.gov.au/organisations/health-professionals/enablers/ehealth-incentive/47761
5. Briefing notes, or summaries, or audits relating to the effectiveness
of the ePIP program after the commencement date.
· The wording of this request does not provide enough information
that is reasonable for the Department to identify the requested documents.
The wording “relating to the effectiveness of the ePIP program after the
commencement date” is quite broad and as such preliminary searches
undertaken have had to use a number of search terms to identify potential
documents in scope. The results of these searches have returned almost
1000 documents that would need to be assessed to determine if they are in
scope of the request.
· On this basis the Department has issued the attached Notice of
Consultation for your action.
6. The total sum of all payments made under the ePIP program.
· There are no documents which provide the total sum of payments
made under ePIP. The figure is derived from a series of data sets provided
to the Department of Health by the Department of Human Services which
administers the Practice Incentive Program on our behalf. Annual
appropriations and expenditure for the PIP Program overall are published
in the Departments Portfolio Budget Statements here: [2]Budget 2018-19,
Budget Related Paper No. 1.9, Health Portfolio Budget Statements, Table
2.2.1: Budgeted Expenses for Outcome 2, p.64
7. The total number of shared health summaries uploaded to My Health
Record, by virtue of the ePIP program.
· There are no documents which provide the total number of shared
health summaries uploaded to My Health Record, by virtue of the ePIP
program. The figure is derived from a number of sources and the Department
is able to advise that the total number of shared health summaries
uploaded by ePIP participating practices between 1 May 2016 and 31 October
2018 was 1,825,680.
Based on this information would you like to withdraw parts 1, 6 and 7 of
your request or would you like the Department to make a formal decision?
Please advise how you would like to proceed by COB Monday 25 February
2019, otherwise the Department will deem parts 1, 6 and 7 of your request
withdrawn and no further action will be taken.
You can contact the FOI Unit on (02) 6289 1666, or via email at
[3][email address], should you have any enquiries.
Kind regards
FOI Unit
[4]cid:image002.png@01D152AA.D704F7C0
Legal Advice & Legislation Branch
Legal & Assurance Division
Australian Government Department of Health
T: (02) 6289 1666 | E: [5][email address]
PO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health acknowledges the traditional owners of country
throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and
community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to elders
both past and present.
If you receive this email in error, please delete it and contact the
sender immediately.
Dear FOI Applicant
I am writing to follow up on the below email and subsequent phone
conversation yesterday 25 February 2019 regarding your request.
As discussed on the phone you advised that you would respond to the
Department of Health’s (Department) request to withdraw parts 1, 6 and 7
of your request yesterday, but noted that there may be a delay as your
response would go to the Department of Human Services (DHS) as your
initial request was sent to them through the Right to Know website. In
consideration of this I advised that the Department would extend the due
date for your response to allow for your email to be forwarded from DHS to
the Department.
I have contacted the FOI unit at DHS to ascertain whether they have
received an email from you and they have advised they haven’t. To enable
the Department to assist you with your information needs we ask that you
email us (via DHS) your response regarding parts 1, 6 and 7 of your
request by COB Wednesday 27 February 2019. If no response is receieved by
this date the Department will deem parts 1, 6 and 7 of your request
withdrawn and no further action will be taken.
You can contact the FOI Unit on (02) 6289 1666, or via email at
[1][email address], should you have any enquiries.
Kind regards
FOI Unit
[2]cid:image002.png@01D152AA.D704F7C0
Legal Advice & Legislation Branch
Legal & Assurance Division
Australian Government Department of Health
T: (02) 6289 1666 | E: [3][email address]
PO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health acknowledges the traditional owners of country
throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and
community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to elders
both past and present.
If you receive this email in error, please delete it and contact the
sender immediately.
From: FOI
Sent: Friday, 22 February 2019 8:02 AM
To: '[FOI #5243 email]'
Subject: Freedom of Information Request 1031 [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Attention: FOI Applicant
I am writing in regards to your request to the Department of Human
Services (DHS) of 2 February 2019, which was partially transferred to the
Department of Health (Department), seeking access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
We have liaised with the relevant line areas who have advised that the
information in parts of your request are already publicly available, are
not contained in documents held by the Department, or are unclear, which
have been set out below.
1. What date did the ePIP eligibility requirement for participating
practices to upload SHS for a minimum of 0.5% of the practice’s
standardised whole patient equivalent become mandatory [‘the commencement
date’]?
· The current iteration of the Practice Incentive Program eHealth
Incentive commenced on 1 May 2016. The Practice Incentives Program eHealth
Incentive Guidelines – May 2016 reflect this and are available here:
[4]www.humanservices.gov.au/organisations/health-professionals/enablers/ehealth-incentive/47761
5. Briefing notes, or summaries, or audits relating to the effectiveness
of the ePIP program after the commencement date.
· The wording of this request does not provide enough information
that is reasonable for the Department to identify the requested documents.
The wording “relating to the effectiveness of the ePIP program after the
commencement date” is quite broad and as such preliminary searches
undertaken have had to use a number of search terms to identify potential
documents in scope. The results of these searches have returned almost
1000 documents that would need to be assessed to determine if they are in
scope of the request.
· On this basis the Department has issued the attached Notice of
Consultation for your action.
6. The total sum of all payments made under the ePIP program.
· There are no documents which provide the total sum of payments
made under ePIP. The figure is derived from a series of data sets provided
to the Department of Health by the Department of Human Services which
administers the Practice Incentive Program on our behalf. Annual
appropriations and expenditure for the PIP Program overall are published
in the Departments Portfolio Budget Statements here: [5]Budget 2018-19,
Budget Related Paper No. 1.9, Health Portfolio Budget Statements, Table
2.2.1: Budgeted Expenses for Outcome 2, p.64
7. The total number of shared health summaries uploaded to My Health
Record, by virtue of the ePIP program.
· There are no documents which provide the total number of shared
health summaries uploaded to My Health Record, by virtue of the ePIP
program. The figure is derived from a number of sources and the Department
is able to advise that the total number of shared health summaries
uploaded by ePIP participating practices between 1 May 2016 and 31 October
2018 was 1,825,680.
Based on this information would you like to withdraw parts 1, 6 and 7 of
your request or would you like the Department to make a formal decision?
Please advise how you would like to proceed by COB Monday 25 February
2019, otherwise the Department will deem parts 1, 6 and 7 of your request
withdrawn and no further action will be taken.
You can contact the FOI Unit on (02) 6289 1666, or via email at
[6][email address], should you have any enquiries.
Kind regards
FOI Unit
[7]cid:image002.png@01D152AA.D704F7C0
Legal Advice & Legislation Branch
Legal & Assurance Division
Australian Government Department of Health
T: (02) 6289 1666 | E: [8][email address]
PO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health acknowledges the traditional owners of country
throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and
community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to elders
both past and present.
If you receive this email in error, please delete it and contact the
sender immediately.
Dear Department of Human Services (DHS),
I would be much obliged if you could forward this email to the FOI unit of the Department of Health (Health), with the subject heading "FOI Reference 1031"
Yours sincerely,
FOI Applicant
--- EMAIL TO DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH re: FOI REQUEST 1031 ---
Dear Department of Health,
Thank you for your patience.
I refer to your email of 22 February, our phone conversation of 25 February and your subsequent email of 26 February, in which you sought confirmation that Parts 1, 6 and 7 of the request could be withdrawn on the basis of the information being publicly available.
I respond as follows:
Part 1: The information provided satisfies the request, and I appreciate your assistance with locating this. Part 1 is withdrawn.
Part 6: I understand your position that there is no singular document, or set of documents, in which the sum total of all payments made under the ePIP program is stated. I have reviewed the appropriations report and note that expenditure for the overall PIP program aggregates all components of the PIP program (including the ePIP component.) On this basis, the information provided does not satisfy the document sought.
Further, you have identified that the sum total of ePIP expenditure is derived from a number of datasets. This indicates that documents pertaining to Part 6 are available, given that the Department is clear that the sum total could be derived. Could you please review the response to Part 6; and, should no documents be located, amend Part 6 to "Documents from which the sum total of payments made under the ePIP program could be derived. Any information within these documents not relating to the ePIP program are excluded from this request."
Part 7: The Department has advised the existence of a number of documents from which the total number of shared health summaries uploaded to My Health Record, by virtue of the ePIP program can be derived. The Department also advised that the derived total of shared health summaries is 1,825,680. To arrive at this figure, the Department may very well have produced a document in which the various data sets were combined and totalled. This document would appear to fall within the scope of the request. Could you please review the response to Part 7.
Should no documents be located, could Part 7 be amended to "Documents from which the sum total of shared health summaries uploaded to My Health Record by virtue of the ePIP program could be derived. Any information within these documents not relating to the number of shared health summaries uploaded is excluded from this request."
I also acknowledge the commencement of consultation regarding Part 5 of the request, and will respond in due course.
Kind regards,
FOI Applicant
Dear FOI Applicant
Thank you for your email, it came directly to the Department of Health
(Department) FOI email inbox so we were able to review it straight away.
Please see responses to each part of your email below:
1. What date did the ePIP eligibility requirement for participating
practices to upload SHS for a minimum of 0.5% of the practice’s
standardised whole patient equivalent become mandatory [‘the commencement
date’]?
· Based on your email the Department now considers this part of
your request withdrawn and no further action will be taken.
5. Briefing notes, or summaries, or audits relating to the effectiveness
of the ePIP program after the commencement date.
· As per our phone conversation of 25 February you will provide a
response to this part shortly.
6. The total sum of all payments made under the ePIP program &
7. The total number of shared health summaries uploaded to My Health
Record, by virtue of the ePIP program.
· The Department confirms that there are no documents that contain
the information you are seeking in these parts of your request, and that
the information is derived from a series of data sets and sources held by
the Department and the Department of Human Services.
· In order to you assist your information needs the Department
provided links to publicly available information for Part 6 and calculated
the figures from a number of datasets for Part 7, which were provided to
you in the email of 22 February.
· In response to your question about a document that may have been
produced in arriving at the figure in Part 7, as Freedom of Information
requests are based on documents held by the Department at the time a
request is made, any documents created after this time would not fall
within scope of a request.
In your email you ask that if no documents are located for Parts 6 and 7
of your request that you wish to amend these to the following:
· Part 6 - "Documents from which the sum total of payments made
under the ePIP program could be derived. Any information within these
documents not relating to the ePIP program are excluded from this
request."
· Part 7 - "Documents from which the sum total of shared health
summaries uploaded to My Health Record by virtue of the ePIP program could
be derived. Any information within these documents not relating to the
number of shared health summaries uploaded is excluded from this request."
As these amended scopes specify different documents to the ones in your
original request, to proceed, the Department would consider parts 6 and 7
of your request withdrawn, and would treat the amended scopes as a new
request.
Based on this information would you like to withdraw parts 6 and 7 of your
request, and submit a new request based on your amended scopes, or would
you like the Department to make a formal decision? Please advise how you
would like to proceed by COB Thursday 28 February 2019, otherwise the
Department will deem parts 6 and 7 of your request withdrawn and no
further action will be taken.
You can contact the FOI Unit on (02) 6289 1666, or via email at
[1][email address], should you have any enquiries.
Kind regards
FOI Unit
[2]cid:image002.png@01D152AA.D704F7C0
Legal Advice & Legislation Branch
Legal & Assurance Division
Australian Government Department of Health
T: (02) 6289 1666 | E: [3][email address]
PO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health acknowledges the traditional owners of country
throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and
community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to elders
both past and present.
If you receive this email in error, please delete it and contact the
sender immediately.
Dear FOI Applicant,
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your freedom of
information request.
Kind regards
Molly
Freedom of Information Team
Employment Law and Freedom of Information Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
Email: [1][email address]
[2]cid:image001.png@01D27D3A.D9CCAB90
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
Dear Sir/Madam,
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your freedom of
information request.
Kind regards
Molly
Freedom of Information Team
Employment Law and Freedom of Information Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
Email: [1][email address]
[2]cid:image001.png@01D27D3A.D9CCAB90
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
FOI Applicant left an annotation ()
Unless you download all the documents, sometimes what is happening isn't clear. Trying to assist:
A. Original request sent 2 February 2019, requesting Items 1 - 7.
B. Scope of Items 1, 4, 5 and 6 revised 9 February 2019.
C. Department of Human Services (DHS) acknowledged A and B on 13 February 2019 and transferred Items 1 (revised), 5 (revised), 6 (revised) and 7 (original) to the Department of Health (Health). DHS will continue to process Items 2 (original), 3 (original) and 4 (revised).
D. Health acknowledged the transfer of Items 1 (revised), 5 (revised), 6 (revised) and 7 (original) on 15 February 2019.