Australia’s Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon says a smart card will soon replace the old magnetic stripe Medicare card to support the shift towards widespread availability of e-health records. The card will hold an individual health care number that will be issued to all Australians so that each person’s records can be correctly identified and linked.

But yet to be determined is how much this changeover will cost. For example, health care providers will need new card readers, as well as access to a secure internet messaging system linking doctors’ rooms, public and private hospitals, specialist and community clinics, pathology and radiology labs and even the aged-care sector.

Read more here.