The Federal Government has announced the National E-Health
Transition Authority has contracted for the development of a new national healthcare
identifier service.

It will identify a person’s name, date of birth, address and the
names and addresses of their practitioners, and is the first step towards
establishing a shared electronic health records system.

Federal Minister for Human Services, Joe Ludwig, says it is not an
access card and people can decide whether or not they want to be part
of the service.