Private. Secure. You choose.

A private identity for health research.

My Health Passport gives you a unique research identifier that you can use when participating in health research.

Create your Passport Number using your own identifying information. The information you enter stays on your device — it is not sent to the cloud or shared with third parties by My Health Passport.

Elements of your name, date of birth, and gender are encoded, which makes re-identification of you difficult.

You can then copy your Passport Number and share it with participating researchers. Using the same number over time can help researchers connect your responses across surveys and, where appropriate, link research data with other approved health datasets.

You stay in control of when and where you share your Passport Number.

YOUR
INFORMATION

MY HEALTH
PASSPORT NUMBER

MP-7F3K-92Q8-4LM6

YOU CHOOSE
WHO TO SHARE
IT WITH

Processed on your device. Your information stays with you.

Your details, your device

Generate Your Passport Number Now

Fill in each field below. When you're done, make a note of your Passport Number, or copy it straight to your computer's clipboard.

Private. Secure. You choose.

My Health Passport Number Technology

Your My Health Passport Number is generated using the SLK-581 (Statistical Linkage Key 581) — a privacy-preserving data linkage key used across Australia's health data environment.

What is SLK-581?

SLK-581 is a statistical linkage key format developed by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). It's designed to bring records relating to the same person together across different datasets — without revealing their identity.

How is it generated?

Your identifying information is used on your device to create a unique SLK-581 key. The key is built from selected letters and digits of your:

First name Surname Date of birth Sex

These elements are converted into a coded, one-way key. Reverse engineering the key to successfully identify you by name is very unlikely.

Its purpose and use

SLK-581 allows data from different sources to be linked for research and planning purposes, while protecting personal privacy. When appropriately approved, it lets a researcher link data from their study with other health datasets, without knowing, sharing or recording personal identifying information like your name, date of birth, address or sex.

Optional: SHA-256 barcode

For studies that prefer an extra layer of protection, your Passport Number can also be converted into a My Health Passport Barcode — a one-way SHA-256 hash computed in your browser. It's deterministic (the same Passport Number always produces the same barcode) but can't be turned back into the original number or the details behind it. You can generate and copy your barcode below, alongside your Passport Number.

How SLK-581 works

1

Information stays with you

You enter your identifying information on your device. It's not sent to any server.

2

SLK-581 key generated locally

Your device uses the information to create your unique SLK-581 key — your Passport Number.

3

Privacy-preserving key

The key uses a coded, one-way format. It's very unlikely to be used to successfully identify you by name.

4

Used in approved research

Where ethically and legally approved, researchers use the key to link data across health datasets.

5

Better insights, better health

Linked data helps researchers generate better evidence to improve health and health services.

Widely used in Australian health data

SLK-581 is one of the most widely used linkage-key formats in Australian health and community-service data collections. It was developed by the AIHW and has been applied in hospital, aged-care and national registry data linkage for over a decade.

This tool is an independent, open implementation of the SLK-581 format — it isn't an official AIHW product.

Key features

Privacy by designSLK-581 protects your identity by design — it doesn't expose your personal information.

One-way and codedReverse engineering the key to successfully identify you by name is very unlikely.

No central identity databaseMy Health Passport doesn't store or hold your identifying information.

Approved use onlyLinkage can only occur in approved environments with governance and ethics oversight.

Benefits research, protects youEnables important research and planning while keeping your personal data private.

Private. Secure. You choose.

Privacy and Performance

My Health Passport is designed with privacy at its core, while using a linkage approach that has been evaluated in Australian health-data research.

Your information stays with you

The identifying information you enter to create your My Health Passport Number is processed locally within your browser. This page does not send that information to My Health Passport servers for processing.

The implementation is designed not to place identifying inputs in cookies, local storage or session storage. The generated Passport Number is what you can copy and choose to share.

Almost completely unique

Your Passport Number is derived from the core demographic elements used by SLK-581. The combination is designed to make accidental duplication uncommon, although no statistical linkage key is guaranteed to be unique for every person.

Performance you can trust

Published Australian research has found that SLK-based linkage can achieve very high match quality. In one AIHW evaluation, a stepwise strategy using SLK-581 with additional common variables achieved a 99.7% positive predictive value and 98.5% sensitivity compared with a reference name-based strategy.

✓

Your privacy is protected. Performance is proven.Linkage performance depends on the quality and completeness of the information available in the datasets being linked.

Privacy by design

Your identifying information is processed locally in your browser.

1

You enter information

Entered into this browser on your device.

2

Encoded locally

Used in memory within your browser.

3

Passport Number

Generated locally from supplied data.

4

Not stored

No cookies, local storage or session storage for inputs.

5

Not uploaded

Identifying information is not sent to the cloud by this page.

🔒 Your identifying information stays on your device. Only the Passport Number is designed to be shared.

Performance you can trust

SLK-581 has been evaluated in Australian health-data linkage studies.

99.7%Positive predictive value

AIHW evaluation of a stepwise SLK-based linkage strategy using SLK-581 with additional common variables.

98.5%Sensitivity

Reference links identified by that stepwise SLK-based strategy.

0.6%Shared SLK-581

AIHW reported this proportion among about 440,000 residential aged-care residents.

Important: these are results from particular datasets and linkage methods, not a guarantee for every future linkage. Results depend on data quality and completeness.

Sources: AIHW evaluation · AIHW SLK-581 Guide · Peer-reviewed registry study

SLK-581 is a statistical linkage key, not a guarantee of identity. It can produce missed or incorrect matches. Appropriate linkage projects use governance, validation and, where necessary, additional variables.

For researchers

Resources for Researchers

Guidance and reference material for researchers who want to use My Health Passport Numbers (SLK-581 keys) in their own studies and survey tools.

Setting up My Health Passport for research projects

A guide for researchers on setting up the My Health Passport Portal for research projects, including how to pass a Passport Number (SLK-581 key) directly into a REDCap or Qualtrics survey.

Download the guide (PDF)