Published: 3 April 2024
Background
The OAIC is reviewing the National Health Privacy Rules 2021 (Rules) to ensure they remain fit-for-purpose.
The Information Commissioner is required to issue the Rules pursuant to section 135AA of the National Health Act 1953. The Rules set out how Australian Government agencies may use, store, disclose and link Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule (PBS) claims information.
The Rules apply to Australian Government agencies that handle MBS and PBS information, with a particular focus on Services Australia and the Department of Health and Aged Care which process and store information about MBS and PBS claims for health services in Australia.
The OAIC is seeking submissions from interested stakeholders on the draft Rules to enable revision and remaking of the Rules before they are due to repeal on 1 April 2025. The OAIC is seeking to finalise and lodge the new Rules in August 2024.
The OAIC engaged privacy consultancy Information Integrity Solutions Pty Ltd (IIS) to conduct a public consultation from March-June 2021. The consultation involved publishing a consultation paper, inviting submissions and holding two targeted roundtable discussions with key stakeholders to provide input to the review. The OAIC received 23 written submissions and the roundtables were attended by 23 stakeholder representatives from 14 different organisations. IIS prepared a Final Report summarising submissions and suggesting recommendations for the review of the Rules. (Note: The Final Report refers to the 2018 version of the rules, therefore the clause references should be cross checked if you are viewing the 2021 National Health (Privacy) Rules.)
The OAIC have considered the recommendations from the Final Report and prepared a summary of our response. Overall, the majority of recommendations were agreed to or agreed in part and have been implemented in the draft new Rules.
*Please note, the version of the IIS report uploaded initially to this page contained a formatting issue, which has now been rectified. To avoid any confusion, if you downloaded your copy on or before 4 April 2024, please re-download it to ensure you have the correct version.
View the OAIC response to the Final Report
The OAIC have now prepared a draft version of the new Rules for consultation.
Purpose of the consultation
The OAIC is seeking submissions from interested individuals, agencies and organisations on the new draft Rules, including but not limited to:
- their effect on individuals
- the operation of MBS and PBS processes
- public sector operations and policy development, and
- open data and associated research initiatives.
Consultation questions
Within the scope of section 135AA of the National Health Act, do the revised Rules appropriately reflect:
- Community attitudes and expectations regarding the handling of their personal information; in particular, certain health information
- Public policy approaches favouring data use and re-use in research, evidence-based decision-making and the provision of government services generally
- Privacy protective measures to ensure MBS and PBS data are appropriately safeguarded.
It is not necessary to respond to every topic or question raised above. Nor should you feel restricted to the topics or questions we have raised. When commenting, we encourage you to provide evidence to support your feedback, including examples, case studies, statistics or other information.
How to provide comments
Submissions can be made to: PrivacyRulesConsultation@oaic.gov.au
The closing date for submissions is Wednesday 1 May 2024.
We intend to make all submissions publicly available. Please indicate when making your submission if it contains confidential information you don’t want made public and why it should not be published.
Requests for access to confidential comments will be determined in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1982.
Privacy collection statement
The OAIC will only use the personal information it collects during this consultation for the purpose of considering the issues raised above.
