• The pathology requester (e.g., general practice or specialist clinic) must have either of the following clinical software:
  • Best Practice – Lava SP3 and later, or
  • Medical Director – 3.17.2 and later
• The requesting software must also have the patient’s Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI) recorded as this is the unique identifier that is imbedded in the eRequest and also to enable the upload of the pathology results to the patient’s My Health Record. The IHI is not visible during the pathology request-test-report process and so patient privacy is upheld.
• The IHI must come from the requesting system in the electronic request to ensure that the results are uploaded to the correct My Health Record.
• IHIs can be retrieved from Services Australia (Medicare and DVA operator) and validated in the clinical software in the patient entry details screen.
• The eRequesting healthcare organisations must have a Healthcare Provider Identifier – Organisation (HPI-O) and this must be recorded in the clinical software.
• Individual healthcare providers undertaking eRequesting must have a Healthcare Provider Identifier – Individual (HPI-I) and this must be recorded in the clinical software.

Healthcare providers can choose not to upload to a My Health Record by checking the box labelled “Do not send to the My Health Record” at the bottom of the eRequest pathology request screen. This is the only way to prevent specific pathology results from being uploaded to the My Health Record system. Please note that manually ticking the check box on the printed paper copy is no longer valid for eRequests.

Healthcare providers will be able to access pathology results soon after they are uploaded by the pathology laboratory. Patients will be able to view their results in My Health Record or my health app immediately after they are uploaded. For certain categories (including anatomical pathology, cytopathology, and genetic tests) results will be available to consumers after a 5-day delay, regardless of test outcome. Visit the Australian Digital Health Agency’s website to learn more about pathology and diagnostic imaging providers uploading to My Health Record.