The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) has signed a contract with Chamonix IT Management Consulting for the company to build out a My Health Record mobile app for accountholders.

The contract, valued at AU$2.1 million, is for Chamonix IT to build a new mobile app that gives My Health Record account holders the ability to view their patient, clinical, and lab records.

As part of the deal, the ADHA has also acquired Chamonix's IP rights for the health record app Healthi, which is what the My Health Record app will be based on. Healthi provides health record services and was the first third-party app to be connected to the My Health Record.

ADHA representatives said the My Health Record app would differ from Healthi in a few ways, particularly through providing notifications about COVID-19 boosters and access to digital vaccination certificates.

Other information that will also be available on the app will be general immunisation history statements, hospital discharge summaries, advanced care directives, medications, and allergies, ADHA said.

All of this information will be in read-only format.

"My Health Record is the one unique place that has a national dataset with approximately nine in 10 Australians. With a My Health Record app, they will now have a more convenient way to access that essentially in a way they're used to in their everyday lives," ADHA told ZDNet.

The IT consulting firm was selected to build out the channel following an open tender process conducted by the ADHA.

The idea for the consumer-facing My Health Record app arose after the ADHA developed an internal platform, called Healthcare Information Provider Service Mobile (HIPS), that is already available for clinicians. HIPS is a middleware product that provides clinicians access to patients' healthcare information and services through connecting with the Healthcare Identifiers Service.

Development of the My Health Record app was also spurred by a "significant increase in consumer demand" over the last 12 months of My Health Record information, with the agency saying there has been a 500% increase in the number of pathology reports viewed by consumers and a 100% increase in pathology reports uploaded by clinicians.

The My Health Record mobile app is expected to be available in early 2022.

Earlier this year, the ADHA said it was taking an "open-minded" approach in its search for software providers to help further enhance My Health Record functionality in relation to clinical information systems so that more private specialists would use the platform.

The agency at the time explained that developing such a service was challenging as different types of specialists are likely to have different information needs, and follow somewhat different workflows in accessing and sharing patient information.

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