What Is a Health Summary and What Information Does It Include?
A health summary is a concise overview of important information about your health. In general practice, it helps healthcare professionals quickly understand key parts of your medical history, such as current health problems, medicines, allergies and relevant past history.
In My Health Record, there is also a specific document called a Shared Health Summary. It is created by an eligible healthcare provider and gives an up-to-date snapshot of important health information at a particular point in time.
A health summary is not the same as your complete medical record. It is designed to bring together the information most useful for providing ongoing care.
Key takeaways
• A health summary is a concise overview of important information in your health record.
• A general-practice health summary can include current health problems, medicines, allergies or adverse reactions, past history, immunisations, family history and relevant health risk factors.
• A Shared Health Summary is a specific clinical document in My Health Record.
• A Shared Health Summary commonly includes medical history, medicines, allergies and adverse reactions, and immunisations.
• Only an eligible nominated healthcare provider can create or update a Shared Health Summary in My Health Record.
• Your health summary is not necessarily your complete medical history, so other records, reports and clinical notes can still be important.
What is a health summary?
In everyday healthcare, a health summary is a short clinical overview that helps a practitioner understand the main information relevant to your ongoing care without reading every consultation note in your file.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) says a current health summary should give a practitioner enough information to safely and effectively provide care. Its general-practice standards identify health summaries as an important part of active patient health records.
The exact format can vary between healthcare services and clinical software, so two health summaries may not look identical.
What information can a health summary include?
According to the RACGP standards, a current health summary can include, where relevant:
• known allergies and adverse drug reactions
• a current medicines list
• current health problems
• relevant past health history
• immunisations
• relevant family history
• health risk factors, such as smoking, nutrition, alcohol and physical activity
• relevant social history and cultural background
Not every summary needs every category. The information included should be relevant to the person and useful for their care.
Why is a health summary useful for a telehealth appointment?
A current health summary can help a healthcare practitioner quickly understand important parts of your medical history, particularly when you are seeing them for the first time. This may include your current medications, allergies, existing medical conditions and other relevant health information. However, a health summary may not contain everything your practitioner needs, so you should still provide any information relevant to your consultation and answer your practitioner's questions as completely as possible.
If you're preparing for a Grove Health doctor consultation, having your current medications, allergies and relevant medical history available can help your practitioner complete an appropriate clinical assessment.
What is a Shared Health Summary in My Health Record?
A Shared Health Summary is a specific type of clinical document in My Health Record. The Australian Digital Health Agency describes it as a summary of your health status that is added to your record by a healthcare provider.
It can include four key areas:
• known allergies and adverse reactions
• medicines you are taking
• medical history, including diagnosed conditions
• immunisations
Your most recent Shared Health Summary can be viewed in My Health Record, and healthcare providers who are authorised to access your record may also be able to see it.
Who can create or update a Shared Health Summary?
A Shared Health Summary is not created by the patient. It is created by an eligible nominated healthcare provider who is generally involved in coordinated and comprehensive care.
The Australian Digital Health Agency guidance for healthcare providers says a nominated healthcare provider may be:
• a registered medical practitioner
• a registered nurse
• an eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner
The nominated provider is often the person who regularly coordinates your care, such as your usual GP.
When should a Shared Health Summary be updated?
A Shared Health Summary is intended to reflect your health status at a point in time. It may be created during a health assessment or updated when there are significant changes to important information such as your medical conditions, medicines, allergies, adverse reactions or immunisations.
The Australian Digital Health Agency notes that a person has one current Shared Health Summary at a time. A newer summary therefore provides a more current snapshot than an older one.
Is a health summary the same as your full medical record?
No. A health summary is an overview, while your full medical record can contain much more detailed information.
A complete patient record may also include:
• individual consultation notes
• test and pathology results
• diagnostic imaging reports
• referral letters and specialist correspondence
• hospital discharge summaries
• care plans and other clinical documents
• administrative and appointment information where relevant
Healthdirect explains that My Health Record does not replace the medical records kept by individual healthcare providers. The same principle applies to a Shared Health Summary: it is useful, but it is not a complete record of every aspect of your healthcare.
Shared Health Summary vs Personal Health Summary: what is the difference?
These two My Health Record features sound similar, but they are different.
Shared Health Summary: created or updated by an eligible nominated healthcare provider. It summarises key clinical information such as medical history, medicines, allergies and adverse reactions, and immunisations.
Personal Health Summary: information that you can add yourself to My Health Record, including medicines, allergies and adverse reactions.
The Australian Digital Health Agency says you can update your Personal Health Summary at any time. It does not replace information entered by your healthcare professionals.
How is a health summary different from a referral or discharge summary?
These documents serve different purposes:
• Health summary: an overview of important ongoing health information.
• Shared Health Summary: the formal My Health Record document containing a snapshot of key health information.
• Referral: information sent to another healthcare professional when requesting assessment or care.
• Discharge summary: information about a hospital stay and the care or follow-up needed after discharge.
A person may have all of these documents in their healthcare records, and each can provide different information to the professionals involved in their care.
How do I view my Shared Health Summary?
The Australian Digital Health Agency says you can view it through My Health Record by:
• signing in to My Health Record through myGov
• selecting the record you want to view
• opening Documents
• selecting Clinical Records
• selecting Shared Health Summaries
The most recent Shared Health Summary may also appear on your My Health Record home page.
For a broader explanation of the system, read What Is My Health Record and How Does It Work in Australia? once available on Grove Education.
Can I ask my GP to add or update a health summary?
You can ask your healthcare provider whether your health summary is current and whether an updated Shared Health Summary can be uploaded to My Health Record where appropriate.
Healthdirect notes that when there is little information in My Health Record, you can ask your doctor to add a summary of your medical history.
Whether a particular document is created or updated will depend on the healthcare provider, the information available and the circumstances of your care.
What if information in my Shared Health Summary is wrong or out of date?
It is worth checking important health information for accuracy, particularly allergies, medicines and significant medical history.
The Australian Digital Health Agency guidance on incorrect or missing information says that if incorrect information appears in a document uploaded by a healthcare provider, you should ask that provider to correct it as soon as possible. You can also contact the My Health Record help line if you need assistance.
If something important is missing, speak with the healthcare professional who holds or manages that information. Not every healthcare provider is connected to My Health Record or uploads every type of document.
What should I check in my health summary before an appointment?
Before seeing a new healthcare professional, it can be useful to check whether the following information is current:
• your medicines and doses
• allergies and adverse reactions
• major current or past health problems
• recent changes in your health
• immunisations where relevant
• important family or social history if it may affect your care
Do not assume that every healthcare professional has seen every document in your record. If something is important to the consultation, tell them directly as well.
You can also use Grove's doctor appointment preparation checklist to organise the information you may want to have ready.
A health summary is a useful snapshot, not the whole story
A good health summary can make important information easier to find and can support continuity when more than one healthcare professional is involved in your care.
The key is to treat it as a current snapshot rather than a complete history. If your health, medicines or allergies change, make sure the healthcare professionals involved in your care have the latest information.
Learn more about Grove Health
Ready to learn more? Grove Health provides telehealth consultations with Australian-registered healthcare practitioners. Learn how Grove Health works and what to expect from your consultation.
This article provides general educational information and is not a substitute for individual medical advice. Health records and summaries can vary between providers and systems. If you are unsure whether information in your record is accurate or complete, speak with the healthcare provider who created or maintains it.
Sources
• Australian Digital Health Agency - Shared health summaries
• Australian Digital Health Agency - My Health Record for healthcare providers
• Australian Digital Health Agency - Personal health summaries
• Australian Digital Health Agency - Incorrect or missing information
• Healthdirect - My Health Record
• Royal Australian College of General Practitioners - Standards for general practices, 5th edition