Gov injects a further $229m into My Health Record modernisation – Security – Software

The federal government is to put $229 million into further modernisation of the My Health Record platform under its latest budget [pdf].

The funding injection will allow further work on “modernising” the electronic medical record system with “contemporary architectures to make information more accessible and discoverable” by 2028 [pdf].

The Department of Health and Aged Care had previously secured $429 million over two years in Budget 2023 for the program; this would have funded the program through to the end of June this year.

My Health Record funding was not the only health IT-related spending in this year’s budget, the Labor government’s last before a federal election.

Health and Aged Care also received $53.2 million to continue the implementation of the single assessment system.

This will also be put towards “the staged digital implementation” of the Aged Care Act 2024, which resulted from 148 recommendations for improvements to Australia’s aged care system made by a Royal Commission in 2022.

A further $37.8 million will also fund the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to support the Act’s digital implementation.

Business registers

Other big winners from the 2025 budget include the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which is to receive $207 million over two years from 2025–26 to deliver the second tranche of stabilisation and uplift of its business registers.

Last year, ASIC received $206.4 million over four years to continue the stabilisation project, but this funding was split with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).

NDIA’s fraud-detecting IT program

Meanwhile, $151 million over four years will be handed to the National Disability Insurance Agency’s (NDIA) to continue enhancements to fraud-detecting IT systems.

This funding builds on the $110.4 million over two years announced for the project in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) last year.

According to budget documents, the newest tranche of funding will be held in the Contingency Reserve “until the fraud and compliance system enhancements funded in previous economic updates are complete”.

In last year’s budget, NDIA was handed $83.9 million over two years to build or bolster IT systems used for fraud case management, claims assessment and identity proofing.