The Australian Medical Association says the rollout of electronic health records has not met expectations.

Federal Health Minister Peter Dutton has announced an independent review of the project to see how it can be improved.

AMA national president Dr Steve Hambleton, one of the panel members for the review, says e-health records need to be made easier for doctors to use.

"It's certainly timely to actually have a look at the e-health records and just see where it is, where it's going, whether it's actually achieved what it set out to do and what we need to do to actually make it work," he said.

"The profession's always supported this, we just don't seem to have got the outcome we were looking for."

Mr Dutton says a lot of money has been spent on the project, but that the take up rate has been low.

Concerns were raised in July that the new system, which was trialled in parts of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, makes it difficult for doctors to access updated information.

Doctors also complained that the e-health program, designed to link a patient's medical records between doctors, hospitals and other providers, was increasing their workload.

Sorry, this video has expired Dr Steve Hambleton speaks with ABC News Breakfast

There were also privacy concerns, following revelations in September that an Adelaide man was was mistakenly sent another person's confidential login details.

He said he got an email from the National eHealth Record System operator about having successfully registered.

But he had made no such application, and said the email seemed intended for someone else with the same last name.

Dr Hambleton says the initial version of the system has several strong aspects and is safe and secure, but that key changes will benefit doctors.

"Clinical utility means that it decreases the search time and that we've got accurate information there. Those are the things that'll make clinicians want to use it and be able to use it."