The Federal Privacy Commissioner, Karen Curtis, is asking organisations, agencies and individuals to give their views about the operation of the Medicare and Pharmaceutical Benefits Programs Privacy Guidelines. All interested parties are invited to make submissions to the review.

The Privacy Guidelines apply to the handling of information obtained by any Australian government agency in connection with a claim under the Medicare Benefits Program or the Pharmaceutical Benefits Program. Currently, this involves the Department of Health and Ageing and the Health Insurance Commission (HIC). The Privacy Guidelines are intended to ensure the functional separation of the Medicare and Pharmaceutical Benefits claims databases.

The Privacy Guidelines are made under s.135AA of the National Health Act 1953 and are a function of the Commissioner under s. 27(1)(pa) of the Privacy Act 1988.

The Privacy Guidelines address issues such as:

• limiting how long the HIC may retain information which identifies individuals;
• restricting the circumstances under which the Department of Health and Ageing may receive identified information from the HIC; and
• limiting the extent to which information from the two databases can be linked.

An Issues Paper has been released to assist those interested in making a submission toward the review. The Issues Paper is now available ()

Individuals, agencies and organisations may make a written submission to the Office or they can put their views verbally by attending open forums to be held around Australia during November and December. The dates and venues for the open forums are provided below.

The closing date for submissions is Friday 4 February 2005.

To assist OFPC planning, please confirm your attendance at an open forum by emailing to glreview@privacy.gov.au

More information

If you would like more information about the Issues Paper, the review process or the open forums, please contact:

Name: Mr Nicholas Burrage Telephone: 1300 363 992