The worst thing about the disappointing way the federal government's My Health Record has been implemented is that millions of Australians are now much more likely to opt out of the potentially life-saving initiative than otherwise.
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Unless swift action is taken to reassure people their information will not be shared with private health insurers, ambulance chasing legal firms and the like, this may well end up a "tech wreck" of similar magnitude to the bungled 2016 Census and the "Robo-debt" debacle.
That is bad given the core concept, an on-line portal through which any individual's detailed medical records can be accessed by authorised persons in the event they changed medical practitioners or were involved in a medical emergency, is excellent.
Much time could be saved, for example, if at the click of a mouse an ambulance officer or doctor was able to access a car accident victim's blood type, current medications, allergies and pre-existing medical conditions.
The trouble is it is beginning to look as if the Health Minister, Greg Hunt, and his department, have tried to get this up and running on the cheap.
They have, for starters, co-opted the pre-existing, and decidedly clunky, "Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record" (PCEHR) rather than commissioning a new platform specifically designed with ease of use, best practice security and strict limits on how information could be shared in mind.
These shortcomings have, according to Paul Shetler, the former head of the Government's Digital Transformation Agency, compromised the network to such an extent that if he was an Australian citizen he would probably opt out.
Tuesday's intervention by the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, in which he called on people to support My Health Record, suggests he is not happy with the way the scheme is being sold by Mr Hunt.
While he reassured voters it would have "the highest security", the IT experts aren't convinced.
Mr Shetler described the security settings, and the 7,800 word privacy statement which itself concedes there are risks from the online transmission and storage of personal information on the system, as "quite strange".
"Your data can be accessed for things that have nothing to do with your health," he said. "It's not opt-in, it's opt out, and it's kind of hard to opt out".
The platform was unable to cope when more than 20,000 people tried to opt out either online or over the phone on Monday. Callers reported waits of up to 90 minutes and many were surprised to learn they couldn't opt out because profiles had already been generated for them automatically as a result of the transition from the PCEHR.
Consumers are, quite justifiably, concerned about who will be able to see their records and what they will be able to do with them in the wake of revelations at least one Health App, Health Engine, has already on-sold private patient information to ambulance chasing legal firms.
The breaches of the Ancestry.com database and the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica controversy haven't helped.
The only way this roll-out will succeed is if the Health Department can convince people it will keep their details safe.
If that means core elements of the program need to be redesigned and reworked then so be it.
