An IHI is a unique 16-digit number that will be allocated to each Australian resident and others seeking healthcare in Australia.

If you are enrolled with Medicare or hold a Department of Veterans Affairs treatment card, you will automatically be allocated an IHI. If not, a temporary IHI number will be provided when you next seek healthcare.

The Healthcare Identifiers (HI) Service is scheduled to commence operations in July 2010. Healthcare providers will start using healthcare identifiers when their patient software systems can interface with the HI Service. Software vendors have indicated that this process may take between 6 and 18 months to complete. Once their software is compliant, healthcare providers will be able to obtain IHIs from Medicare Australia through an online process to update their active patient records. Medicare Australia will only return an IHI where there is an exact match and will not disclose information, other than the number itself, that has not been provided by the healthcare organisation. Or the provider may obtain an IHI through an online service or by phone when the individual next visits the doctor or goes to a hospital or clinic for treatment.

Healthcare providers and related entities may use and disclose healthcare identifiers, namely for communicating and managing health information as part of the:

• provision of healthcare to an individual; or
• management, funding, monitoring or evaluation of healthcare;
• provision of medical indemnity cover for a healthcare provider;
• conducting research that has been approved by a Human Research Ethics Committee.

Healthcare identifiers can also be used to lessen or prevent a serious threat to an individual's life, health or safety or to public health or public safety. Where information is disclosed for these purposes the receiving healthcare provider or entity is authorised to collect the healthcare identifier and use it for the purpose for which it was disclosed.

Healthcare identifiers can not be used for other purposes including for insurance and employment purposes, unless the use is for the purpose of healthcare delivery to an individual. For example, it is expected that some private health insurance companies will use identifiers to provide services to their customers, such as chronic disease management programs.

Handling of healthcare identifiers does not authorise the sharing of associated personal or health information which would still need to be undertaken in accordance with existing privacy and health information laws in each jurisdiction.

Healthcare identifiers are not a health record. The information held by the HI Service Operator will be limited to demographic information such as name and date or birth needed to uniquely identify individuals and providers. Identifiers will provide a much more reliable way of referencing patient information, particularly in healthcare providers' electronic information management systems.

The healthcare identifiers are an important building block to enable a the future national Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) system.

The national PCEHR system will be separate from the Healthcare Identifiers (HI) Service. The PCEHR will use identifiers to facilitate the identification of a consumer and healthcare provider. This will provide consumers and their healthcare providers with greater certainty that the individual's information is being correctly attributed to their electronic record.

Your IHI will be associated with a limited amount of identifying information such as, name, date of birth, and sex. In some circumstances, further data may be required to ensure unique assignment or to assist with the use of IHIs such as: address, birth plurality and birth order, and aliases.