The Government has released the Exposure Draft of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records Bill 2011 for public consultation.

The draft legislation outlines the process by which consumers, health care organisations and data repositories will register to be part of the eHealth system which will provide access to electronic health records.

This legislation will establish a strict security system to protect the privacy of patients using the eHealth system. Patients will not only be able to access their own eHealth record but will also be able to view who has accessed their record.

The legislation includes strong penalties of up to $66,000 for a record being inappropriately accessed. If more than one record is accessed without authorisation then the penalty multiplies by the number of records.

There will also be proactive monitoring of the system to detect suspicious or inappropriate behaviour, ensuring that records are only accessed when there is a need to do so.

Patients can upgrade their privacy settings to suit their needs. Doctors, or other health professionals, will be the only people allowed to create medical notes on the file. Patients can add their own notes about their general health but cannot make medical notes.

All Australians will be able to register for a personally controlled eHealth record from July 2012.

Comments on the legislation will be open until Friday 28 October. Final legislation will be introduced into Parliament later this year.