Why this matters for your practice
A shared health summary is the one My Health Record document type that is tied directly to money. The eHealth Practice Incentive requires a practice to upload shared health summaries for a minimum of 0.5% of its SWPE count in every PIP payment quarter, and if the target is missed, the payment for that quarter is treated as an overpayment and recovered. It is the requirement practices most often fail on. Everything else about the document matters less than that quarterly count.
What is a shared health summary?
A shared health summary is a specific clinical document type in My Health Record, not a general term for any summary of a patient's health. The Australian Digital Health Agency defines it as "A clinical document summarising an individual's health status and includes important information such as allergies/adverse reactions, medicines, medical history and immunisations. Only a nominated healthcare provider can create or update the shared health summary." That restriction to a nominated provider is what makes this document different from almost everything else uploaded to the system.
The document is built around four content areas: known allergies and adverse reactions, medications the patient is taking, medical history, and immunisations.
A shared health summary is normally completed when the patient sees their primary healthcare provider, and can be written by a GP, a registered nurse or an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner. Within the record itself, the most recent shared health summary is shown on the record home page. Older ones sit under Documents, then Clinical Records, then Shared Health Summaries, and can be filtered by fields such as date, author or organisation.
Do not confuse it with an event summary. The Agency defines an event summary as "A clinical document that may be uploaded to an individual's My Health Record summarising one or more episodes of care." An event summary captures episodes of care. A shared health summary captures the patient's overall health status across those four content areas, and only a nominated provider may write it. Uploading event summaries does nothing for your shared health summary count. More detail is on the Agency's shared health summary page and in the Agency's glossary.
Who can create a shared health summary?
Only a nominated healthcare provider can create or update a shared health summary. That is a defined role under the My Health Records Act 2012, not a matter of practice policy. Under that Act, a nominated healthcare provider must be a medical practitioner, a registered nurse, or an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health practitioner (with Certificate IV in Primary Health Care). On top of the profession requirement, there is an agreement requirement: the healthcare provider and the individual must agree that, for the purposes of the My Health Record system, the healthcare provider is that individual's nominated healthcare provider.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Who authors it | A nominated healthcare provider: a medical practitioner, a registered nurse, or an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health practitioner with a Certificate IV in Primary Health Care |
| What has to be agreed | The healthcare provider and the individual must agree that the provider is that individual's nominated healthcare provider for the purposes of the My Health Record system |
| What it contains | Known allergies and adverse reactions, medications, medical history, immunisations |
| Where it appears | The most recent one on the record home page; older ones under Documents, then Clinical Records, then Shared Health Summaries |
The practical consequence is that a practice manager cannot assign this work to whoever is free. The pool of eligible authors inside a practice is usually small, which is why the count is fragile when one of them takes leave.
How shared health summaries are counted for the eHealth Practice Incentive
The ePIP shared health summary target is 0.5% of the practice's SWPE count in every PIP payment quarter. The quarterly point-in-time dates are 31 January, 30 April, 31 July and 31 October, and the count has to be met within the quarter, not caught up afterwards.
The worked numbers look like this:
| Practice SWPE | Minimum shared health summaries per quarter |
|---|---|
| 5,000 | 25 |
| 8,000 | 40 |
| 12,000 | 60 |
The payment side works per SWPE. The eHealth Practice Incentive is paid at $6.50 per SWPE and is capped at $50,000 per annum per practice. The cap is reached at roughly 7,692 SWPE, after which the annual payment stays at $50,000 even though the upload target keeps rising with practice size. A practice at 12,000 SWPE therefore earns no more than a practice at 8,000, but must upload 60 summaries a quarter instead of 40.
What the regulator or assessor expects
All five eHealth requirements must be met at the same time in the quarter: integrating Healthcare Identifiers, secure messaging capability, data records and clinical coding, electronic transfer of prescriptions, and the shared health summary uploads. Meeting four out of five fails the quarter.
On the summaries themselves, only genuine, clinically reviewed shared health summaries count. A duplicate or an automated stub does not satisfy the quota, and neither does registering a patient for My Health Record or uploading other document types.
Operationally, the expectation is a named owner for the upload routine with a backup, so the count does not die when one person is away. The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing identifies practices that have not met the shared health summary upload requirement for a payment quarter and writes to them directly. The eHealth Incentive payment for the affected quarter is then treated as an overpayment and is recovered.
Common mistakes
Counting registrations or other documents as shared health summaries. Registering a patient for My Health Record is not a shared health summary, and uploading event summaries or other document types does not satisfy the quota. Only a clinically reviewed shared health summary uploaded within the quarter counts.
Running a fixed monthly upload routine. Because the target is a percentage of SWPE, it rises as the patient base grows. A fixed routine of a set number per month drifts out of compliance over time without anyone deciding to stop.
Assuming any staff member can author one. Only a nominated healthcare provider can create or update the document, and the eligible professions are limited to medical practitioners, registered nurses, and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health practitioners with a Certificate IV in Primary Health Care, each with the agreement of the individual.
Assuming the payment is passive once earned. Each quarter is assessed on its own. A practice that met the target last quarter still needs to meet it in the current one, and a missed quarter is recovered as an overpayment after the Department writes to the practice.
Letting the count lapse when a key GP is on leave. If the practitioners who author summaries are the ones on leave, the pool of eligible authors shrinks. This is where the named owner and backup arrangement earns its keep, because the quarter does not pause for leave.
Frequently asked questions
What is a shared health summary?
A clinical document in My Health Record that summarises an individual's health status, covering allergies and adverse reactions, medicines, medical history and immunisations. It is a specific document type, not a general summary, and only a nominated healthcare provider can create or update it.
Who can create a shared health summary?
A nominated healthcare provider: a medical practitioner, a registered nurse, or an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health practitioner with a Certificate IV in Primary Health Care. The provider and the individual must also agree that the provider is that individual's nominated healthcare provider for the purposes of the My Health Record system.
What does a shared health summary contain?
Four content areas: known allergies and adverse reactions, medications the patient is taking, medical history, and immunisations. The most recent summary appears on the record home page, and older ones are found under Documents, then Clinical Records, then Shared Health Summaries.
How many shared health summaries does my practice need to upload?
At least 0.5% of your SWPE count in every PIP payment quarter, counted at the point-in-time dates of 31 January, 30 April, 31 July and 31 October. For reference, a SWPE of 5,000 needs 25 per quarter, 8,000 needs 40, and 12,000 needs 60.
Does registering a patient for My Health Record count as a shared health summary?
No. Registration is not a shared health summary, and neither is any other document type. A summary only counts toward the ePIP target if it is a clinically reviewed shared health summary uploaded within the quarter.
Is a shared health summary the same as an event summary?
No. An event summary summarises one or more episodes of care. A shared health summary captures the individual's overall health status across allergies, medicines, medical history and immunisations, and only a nominated healthcare provider can create or update it.
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