It's birthday time again for Australia's My Health Record system, which will next week celebrate eight years in operation following two years of gestation. And a difficult birth it was, as we not-so-fondly remember. Our reminiscing was inspired not just by its approaching birthday on July 1 but by a press release from the Australian Digital Health Agency, proudly boasting of a surge in use of the system during the COVID-19 crisis.
The term “surge in use” took us back to 2011 and 2012, when we were breathless with anticipation about the new baby, then known as the PCEHR. Some of our first online stories were about how the medical software industry was approaching the impending birth: first with trepidation, followed by alarm, and then with horror.
