Why Introduce a Health Insurance Smart Card in Australia?

There are strong indications that now is an appropriate time for introducing a health insurance smart card in Australia. Reviews of health implementations in Europe to date verify that a critical mass of projects exists and that technological requirements have been satisfied. Costs of card readers have declined to a desirable level, the security features of smart card may be employed to overcome confidentiality and privacy concerns, and opportunities exist to improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of health care delivery and administration on a national level. However for a successful health insurance smart card system to be implemented in Australia, unique socio-cultural and economic contexts must be incorporated into the systems design. These include implementation on a national scale to ensure coherency, compatibility, and interoperability between insurance and healthcare providers; modifying existing health information systems to migrate to the smart card network; convincing medical practitioners to adopt guidelines on electronic medical records; and ensuring privacy and confidentiality of patient records through a mixture of legislative, administrative, and technical controls. When these criteria are satisfied in the smart card insurance design, the opportunity for this technology to provide customised benefits, improved efficiency, and a speedier delivery of services in the current socioeconomic climate will be realised.