Opening up the My Health Record to mobile devices and apps will raise “a world of great opportunities” through new technologies and analytical services that are now reaching an exciting maturity, the secretary of the federal Department of Health (DoH) says.

DoH secretary Martin Bowles told the New York eHealth Collaborative Forum at the New York Academy of Sciences last week that there was a significant role for information technology in the government's health reform plans, from opening up the My Health Record (MyHR, formerly PCEHR) to interact securely with mobile devices to allowing healthcare data collected by the government to be shared through a user friendly portal with technology developers and systems designers.