Does my GP automatically see everything prescribed through online platforms?

Not necessarily at present. My Health Record is an opt-in shared record, and while most GPs and pharmacies upload dispensed medicines information, not all online-only prescribing platforms are currently required to do so. This means there are cases where a GP, pharmacist, or another prescriber cannot see a prescription that was issued through an online platform — even if that prescription affects clinical decisions about what to prescribe next. The government's proposed mandate would require online platforms to upload to MHR, closing this gap. In the meantime, the most reliable way to make your complete medicines list visible is to ask your pharmacist to reconcile your Active Script List and to bring an up-to-date list to any consultation.

Is it safe to use online prescribing platforms?

Online telehealth and prescribing services operate across a spectrum of clinical quality. Reputable platforms comply with prescribing guidelines, require adequate clinical history, and operate within the framework of professional registration obligations that apply to all Australian prescribers. The safety concern raised by this reform is not that online platforms are inherently unsafe — it is that fragmented medicines records create a specific risk when a patient is using multiple providers simultaneously without any one provider seeing the full picture. The reforms being discussed are about fixing the information-sharing infrastructure, not about shutting down legitimate online telehealth.

Online prescribing safety: what the MHR mandate actually means

What just happened

The Australian Medical Association has submitted to the federal government’s online prescribing safety consultation, backing mandatory My Health Record (MHR) uploads for online-only telehealth providers — but framing it explicitly as a minimum requirement, not a solution.

The context is the death of a Victorian woman in 2025 from a medication overdose, where prescriptions had been issued across multiple online prescribing platforms, each unaware of the others. No single provider had visibility of her full medicines history. The case became a focal point in the policy discussion about safety standards for the online-only sector of telehealth.

The government’s proposed reform has two parts. The first is a national medicines record — a combined view of the Active Script List, e-prescribing data, and My Health Record. The second is a specific mandate: online-only telehealth providers must upload medicines data to MHR by the end of 2026.

The AMA’s position is clear. The upload mandate is described as a “minimum safety requirement” — necessary, but insufficient on its own. Prescribers carry professional obligations for adequate clinical assessment and communication regardless of the channel through which they consult. A mandate that creates shared records without addressing the quality of the consultation that generated the prescription addresses only half of the problem.

The both-and

The problem MHR mandating solves — and what it doesn’t

The specific safety failure that prompted this reform is a fragmented medicines record. “Doctor shopping” — whether deliberate or incidental — becomes a structural risk when online platforms operate as closed information environments. A prescriber who cannot see what has already been prescribed elsewhere cannot make a fully informed decision about what to prescribe next. In the case of medicines with significant interaction or overdose risk, that information gap is a patient safety gap.

A national medicines record that includes online-platform prescriptions addresses this directly. If a patient consults three online platforms and a GP in the same week, each provider can see all four consultations’ prescribing decisions. The pharmacist dispensing the next script has the same visibility. That is a concrete, meaningful safety improvement.

The limitation the AMA named is that data sharing does not substitute for clinical governance. A prescriber who consults adequately — takes a full history, reviews the MHR, checks the Active Script List, considers interaction risk, makes a proportionate clinical judgement — will benefit from better data. A prescriber who does not is improved at the margins by having access to more data, but the underlying standard-of-care gap persists.

The AMA’s submission implies a second layer of reform that isn’t currently on the government’s timetable: minimum clinical assessment standards for online-only consultations. This is the harder policy problem. It requires defining what “adequate assessment” means when the entire encounter is asynchronous or video-based, and it requires enforcement mechanisms for when that standard isn’t met.

The telehealth sector is not monolithic

It is worth separating the clinical concerns here from a reflexive scepticism about telehealth. The online prescribing sector includes a wide range of operators: large, well-governed platforms with GP principals, appropriate clinical governance frameworks, and robust prescribing protocols; and at the other end, bare-minimum operations structured primarily around throughput.

The safety reform under discussion is aimed specifically at the data-sharing infrastructure gap, not at the legitimate value of telehealth access for patients who otherwise face barriers to care. For people in rural and remote areas, for people with disabilities affecting mobility, for people managing chronic conditions who need straightforward repeat scripting — online telehealth access is a genuine benefit.

The policy challenge is building the infrastructure and governance layer that allows legitimate access without enabling the fragmented prescribing patterns that create risk. Shared records are part of that. Prescriber assessment standards are another part.

What patients can do now

The medicines record gap that prompted this reform does not wait until the 2026 mandate to close. There are practical steps available now.

The Active Script List, which tracks electronic prescriptions, is already operating and pharmacists can access it. If you are consulting across multiple providers — including online platforms, specialist telehealth, and your regular GP — asking your pharmacist to review your Active Script List at your next dispensing encounter takes the data management burden off the clinicians.

MHR opt-in status also matters. If you are opted out of My Health Record, the shared record that the government is mandating providers to upload to will not capture your information. The opt-out decision is worth revisiting in light of this reform, particularly for anyone managing multiple conditions across multiple providers.

The more fundamental protection is having a consistent, known GP who has your full clinical history and who you can contact when something changes. Online prescribing platforms are useful for straightforward repeats and access in gaps — they function best as part of a care system, not as a substitute for one.

2 cents

The 2026 deadline for online provider MHR upload compliance is a real policy milestone. It will close a specific information gap that has created patient safety risk, particularly for people managing medicines with narrow therapeutic windows or significant interaction potential.

What to watch is whether the broader clinical governance piece — minimum assessment standards for online-only consultations — progresses alongside the data infrastructure reform, or whether it stalls. The AMA’s framing is clear: mandatory MHR upload is the floor. The question is whether the reform builds upwards from there.

For patients using online prescribing platforms: keeping your GP informed of what has been prescribed elsewhere is the most reliable current safeguard. It sounds obvious. It is surprisingly rarely done.

Verdict: yes — a policy reform that addresses a documented patient safety gap, with a 2026 deadline to watch and a clear secondary question about whether clinical governance standards follow.

Sources cited

Medical Republic — Mandating MHR won’t solve online-only telehealth safety (10 July 2026). https://www.medicalrepublic.com.au/mandating-mhr-wont-solve-online-only-telehealth-safety/127223
My Health Record — About. https://www.myhealthrecord.gov.au/for-you-your-family/what-is-my-health-record