Australia's government will fine health practitioners $66,000 for breaches of electronic health records, iTNews reports. Draft legislation includes penalties of $13,200 for each instance of a record being either breached or accessed without authorization. It also states that healthcare practitioners can only upload patient data if consent is obtained and that Australians will have access to their own data. Exceptions to patient records access rules include "to prevent a serious threat to an individual's life, health or safety" or to public health and safety. Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record system will be more secure and private than paper-based records.
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