Health Connect Australia

Health Connect Australia will help achieve a mature connected healthcare system by:

• agreeing and implementing national digital health standards (including terminology, access, security, privacy and authorisation)  
• increasing the use of information exchange standards, including HL7 FHIR®
• improving the use and adoption of national healthcare identifiers  
• providing a method for discovering that health information exists, who it is about, where it is located, how to access it and whether there is authorisation to access and share it
• ensuring the information exchanged is secure and meets consent and privacy requirements
• recognising the consumer’s right to decide who has access to their information and a healthcare provider’s right to withhold information if it is in the best interests of the individual and in accordance with professional standards
• leveraging existing national infrastructure including the My Health Record system, National Clinical Terminology Service and Healthcare Identifiers Service
• collaborating with stakeholders on the development of an information-sharing model agreement
• undertaking collaborative intergovernmental work on aligning relevant jurisdiction legislation to support health information sharing.

This phase will establish key foundational capabilities that will be leveraged in future phases as building blocks for national health information sharing. It includes:

• Architecture and Roadmap – Establishing the vision and approach for consistent health information sharing, developed in consultation with government, industry, and peak bodies.  
• National directory – Providing accurate, real-time access to healthcare provider and service information from a variety of sources, allowing users to easily find and connect with healthcare services.
• Authorisation service – Implementing a national trust framework to verify system and individual access rights to allow secure information exchange between healthcare providers, consumers and organisations, reinforcing security and privacy protections.  
• National diagnostic image access – Investigating the barriers to nationwide access and viewing of diagnostic images, with the view to addressing these barriers in subsequent phases, enhance collaboration and continuity of care.

This phase will support transitions of care and shared care journeys by establishing secure, standardised communication between healthcare providers, ensuring timely access to critical patient information while giving consumers greater visibility and control over their health-related documents.

• Providers will be able to exchange patient information securely, improving care coordination and reducing administrative burdens.  
• Consumers will be able to digitally direct referrals and requests without needing physical copies, streamlining access to care.  
• National legislative settings will be in place to support information sharing across systems, organisations and jurisdictions.

This phase will improve access to critical health information held across many different organisations by establishing a record discovery service, enabling healthcare providers to identify, locate and access essential patient information regardless of where it is stored.  

Consumers and carers will also gain the ability to find and retrieve their health records and those of their dependents across the digital health ecosystem.

Enhanced interoperability will reduce duplication of tests and procedures, ensuring providers can access previous diagnostic results, pathology reports and medical imaging.

By streamlining access to critical health data, this phase drives nationwide interoperability, enhances care continuity and supports more informed, efficient healthcare delivery.

As digital healthcare evolves, new capabilities will continue to be introduced to enhance data accessibility, personalisation and proactive care. Building on the foundation of secure information sharing and interoperability, this phase will focus on expanding value-added services that support innovative, consumer-driven healthcare solutions.

Health Connect Australia is the nation’s flagship initiative modernising health data exchange. It delivers a phased suite of technical, policy, and legislative enablers to support secure, interoperable, and person-centred sharing of health information. By leveraging contemporary digital standards, it empowers healthcare providers and consumers to connect seamlessly, laying the foundation for safer, more coordinated care across Australia’s health system. Rather than a single product, Health Connect Australia comprises a series of integrated services and capabilities delivered in stages. 

Health Connect Australia is addressing long-standing challenges in health information sharing across Australia’s healthcare system. While My Health Record has enhanced access to consumer health data, providers continue to face limitations in exchanging timely and complete information across settings. This program supports a more connected, secure, and person-centred approach to data exchange, enabling better coordination of care and empowering consumers. 

Health Connect Australia aims to strengthen the secure, timely exchange of health information to support safer, more coordinated care. It promotes consumer empowerment, privacy, and data protection while modernising digital infrastructure to reduce duplication and improve clinical efficiency. Through national collaboration and alignment with global standards, it lays the groundwork for a sustainable, interoperable health system. 

Health Connect Australia involves a broad coalition across the healthcare ecosystem, including consumers, carers, clinicians, healthcare organisations, funders, policymakers, researchers, and technology partners. These stakeholders work together to enable secure, interoperable data sharing and support innovation in digital health. Their collaboration is key to building a more connected, person-centred health system.  

The Agency will implement Health Connect Australia in phases, following a detailed roadmap to guide each stage. The Agency will lead the initiative and rely on strong industry participation to drive adoption. The rollout will prioritise high-impact use cases and ensure that core capabilities are built to be reusable across applications.

The Agency will prioritise national health goals, engage stakeholders directly, and align with established interoperability frameworks to shape implementation. To ensure long-term viability, the Agency will base delivery decisions on rigorous technical and financial evaluations - building a strong foundation for cross-sector innovation. 

Health Connect Australia uses common technology and architecture patterns across various legislative and policy frameworks to reduce duplication of investment. This streamlines system maintenance, lowers costs, and accelerates the development of new solutions. Health Connect Australia enhances information sharing by enabling multiple authorised providers to share and access health records directly, removing the need for repeated uploads.

Over time, it is expected that the common technology approach and services of Health Connect Australia will converge to support the sharing of information under the My Health Record legislative and policy framework. This means the My Health Record framework will be one of the policy frameworks enabled using the common Health Connect Australia technology approach.  

The Agency has outlined a proactive and evolving approach through its 2022–2025 Cyber Security Strategy. This strategy focusses on building a strong security culture, investing in workforce capabilities, and embedding security across every layer of its digital health services ensuring that data is safely collected, stored, and managed.  

The Australian Digital Health Agency’s Cyber Security Strategy 2022-2025 sets out our approach to uplifting capability, across the Agency, in response to the changing cyber environment and is available for download.

The Health Connect Australia Healthcare Provider Directory will deliver seamless access to accurate, up-to-date information about healthcare providers and the services they offer.

In 2026, the Agency will assume responsibility as the service operator for the Healthcare Provider Directory (HPD), which currently draws data from the Healthcare Identifiers Service, AHPRA, and the Australian Business Registry. This transition, being undertaken in close collaboration with Services Australia, will be completed ahead of pilot program commencement to ensure continuity and readiness for future enhancements.

The Directory will include all 970,000+ providers currently registered in the national Healthcare Identifiers Service, along with their professional and business details.

As the Provider Directory evolves, additional data sources such as the National Health Services Directory and Provider Connect Australia will be integrated to enrich the information available. The goal is to create a truly comprehensive and trusted national directory that supports better care coordination and system-wide interoperability.

In 2025, the Agency, working in partnership with RANZCR, is advancing discovery activities for a national medical imaging access capability. This initiative responds to strong stakeholder advocacy and engagement throughout 2024, which highlighted the urgency of improving access to diagnostic imaging for healthcare providers.

The Image Access concept aims to overcome longstanding barriers to the effective sharing and viewing of diagnostic images across Australia’s healthcare system. The vision is to establish a national capability that enables:

• Timely and secure access to diagnostic images at the point of care
• Discovery of prior imaging locations and access to those images via a national viewer
• Interoperability across public and private sector image repositories
• Alignment with privacy legislation and governance frameworks.

This work represents a critical step toward improving continuity of care, reducing unnecessary imaging, and supporting better clinical decision-making.