A totally new My Health Story is coming THIS WEEK

As you all know, I’ve been madly working away at the My Health Story (MHS) project for years – it’s been a decade, actually.

It is because of my experience with misdiagnosis, breaches of privacy through the Workers Compensation and Income Protection systems, since COVID and my mum’s experience with managing aged care (and her stroke!) that have kept me so invested in it – I believe we all need to own our health information. And actually that’s regardless of whether you have a chronic health condition.

As I age now and begin to forget the details of my personal health story, I’m relieved and feel great to know I have my history as I lived it with me all the time.

My project is very valuable. But I wanted to make it better.

After being a finalist for Melbourne Design Week this year and really using MHS to manage my parents’ care, I have gathered a lot of feedback, and although I knew it was overdue for redesign and redevelopment, I’m glad I waited, as this year provided me with some real feedback from researchers, carers, people working in the aged care industry like home care package providers and the Melbourne Design Week audience.

With my professional design experience, input from some very dear people and a focus- especially on the need for greater privacy– I embarked on a totally new MHS.

Wanting the best possible privacy meant we had to ditch the MHS online system so information wasn’t syncing from devices to the online system– it was a bit risky, even though we were doing it right. Anywhere there’s a door for data to move through adds risk. So we closed as many paths to personal information as possible and added the tightest encryption possible (buckets, AWS, and encryption at all times!).

No one can access your story unless you share it with them.

This means:

— No MHS administrator
— not me
— not the servers

— no single bot or person

And if they do, enormous bells will be going off to alert us.

And

There’s no sending information to users. No advertising, no social media pixels or Google stats following you around, no monitoring of how you use or what you input into your story.

The only thing MHS exists for is to help you save and/or share your story, if you want to. You can print it and never share it. It’s totally up to you. And if you change devices, you can still know that your information is safe with you.

People need a place they can trust. And I believe that place could only ever have been built by a patient and/or someone who was treated poorly by insurers. Sadly, I tick both those boxes. Thankfully, I also have the professional experience to design this idea, and I’ve found a brilliant, small development team. The bigger the team, the more risk.

So, what’s changing in the new system?

No more unlimited stories (unless you sign up before Monday!)

Your first two health stories will be included in your annual $49 registration fee.
You can sign up for three years for $129.
Each additional story will cost $9 (one-off fee).

That’s the whole model: no tiers, no add-ons, and no in-app marketing or advertising.

What happens to the stories you’ve already made

You get to keep every story you created before the update, for free.

To be clear about what this does and doesn’t mean:

Additional health stories made on MHS before our redesign release are free, but unlimited creation ends when the update launches. After that, new stories follow the pricing above.

Why now is a good time to start

A health story is most useful when it’s ready before you need it. You might want one for yourself, one for a parent and one for your child. With MHS, you can create separate stories, so information is easier to share and piece together at appointments, if/when something changes, or over time.

What you should do now

We highly recommend printing your health story or creating a PDF of it before November 16, 2026. Also note all the recipients who have received Access to your health story. The Access Links will not work in the new system. You will need to create new ones.

What to do next

We plan to launch the new MHS during the week of November 16, 2026. Find MHS in the iOS App Store or Play Store, or sign up online.

After the New MHS is launched

You will be logged out of your account automatically and have to log in and read/accept the updated Terms and Conditions and Privacy Statement.

If you were using MHS online, you will need to download the App from your App/Play Store to your desktop or device – it will ONLY work on your handheld devices and desktops (if you have a current operating system). We took the decision to end the online system very seriously, and we made it primarily to better protect your privacy and information.