Australia launches e-health records.

• Position: HEALTH RECORDS - Brief article

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Despite the recommendation to delay from the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA), Australia launched its Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record Project platform on July 1. The NEHTA warned that the system, which includes a consumer portal where people can compile their own medical information, was unstable with 60 high-severity and critical bugs, according to a July 24 article in The Australian.

Indeed, according to The Australian, the system was offline and unavailable for consumers for three days in its first week of public operation. While a spokesperson said the system was taken down intentionally to test its performance, other sources said the system had crashed.

Enrollment in the system has been slow--just 320 had registered in the first five days of operation, according to a July 9 article in The Sydney Morning Herald...