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ADHA to find new CEO as Tim Kelsey steps down

During his tenure, millions have opted out of the ADHA's My Heath Record, however ten times that number have opted in.
Written by Campbell Kwan, Contributor

The Australian Digital Health Agency Board (ADHA) has announced the resignation of its CEO, Tim Kelsey, who took on the post three years ago.

"During [Kelsey's] time, the agency has done much to be proud of, particularly working with stakeholders and the community to provide more than 22 million Australians with an online summary of their key health information through their My Health Record, and to support the introduction of e-prescribing," ADHA said in a statement.

As ADHA CEO, Kelsey oversaw the rollout of My Health Record. Last month, the Australian National Audit Office pointed out a number of security issues concerning the My Health Record implementation, including instead of testing against the Australian government's Information Security Manual, vendors sign a form saying they are compliant. Otherwise the audit office said the rollout was "largely effective".

In November, the ADHA's annual report [PDF] revealed there were 38 matters reported to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) during the year concerning potential unauthorised access, security, or integrity breaches regarding My Health Record.

It was revealed during Senate Estimates in February that a little over 2.5 million Australians had opted out of the government's online medical file. And of those who had a record created automatically for them on 22 February 2019, 30,402 had subsequently cancelled their record as at 14 April 2019.

See also: Rushed My Health Record changes still missing the point

Kelsey joined the ADHA back in 2016, having jumped ship from being Telstra Health's strategy and commercial director. 

Prior to Telstra Health, Kelsey was the UK's first national director for patients and information in NHS England where he was responsible for patient and public participation, marketing, brand, and communications, as well as the design and launch of the NHS Choices website -- the UK's national online health information service.

During his tenure at NHS England, NHS Choices was mired with issues, such as coding errors that redirected browsers to third-party malware hosting sites. 

Kelsey will officially leave the role on 17 January 2020, with the ADHA to appoint an interim CEO shortly as it looks for a replacement, the agency said.

"The board is engaging with the agency to ensure staff are supported during this time of change and will be taking all appropriate steps to ensure the ongoing management of the agency's business," the ADHA said.

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