“It is one of the priorities of the Slovenian presidency of the European Council to lessen the gaps between old and new European Member States,” said Kukovic. She sees information and communication technologies in general and eHealth services in particular as suitable tools for reaching this goal.
In particular, the bottom-up interoperability process for eHealth services initiated by the European Commission could help new Member States to reach EU averages more quickly, said Kukovic. For Member States with eHealth projects in their early stages, best practice examples and the experience that will be gathered in the “SOS large-scale pilot project” on interoperability can be useful tools when it comes to deciding which technology to use.
Slovenia is currently in the process of upgrading its existing health insurance card system. The cards were originally issued between 1998 and 2000. Not only do they contain administrative patient data; 82 per cent of citizens have also agreed to the storage of data on medicines they have received. And more than 1,000 people have electronically stored their decision on the post-mortem donation of organs.
The goal of the system upgrade, which will take place from late 2008 onwards, is to renew the existing health insurance card scheme for Slovenian citizens and provide digital certificates to securely access personal medical data and to authorize access by, for instance, medical doctors. New professional cards for healthcare workers will also be issued, again with digital certificates for secure access to personal medical data, for electronic prescription and for electronic medical referrals. Ultimately, an online system for the direct and secure exchange of medical data will be set up, beginning with an exchange of data between healthcare providers and health insurance companies.
In parallel to this infrastructure project, Slovenia is also running a number of innovative eHealth services, for instance a teleradiology network, a homecare project for COPD patients and a web-based solution for care management in depression. Most recently the “eBirth service” was implemented in a pilot phase in three maternity hospitals. eBirth allows for the electronic registration of newborn babies in the Central Register of the Population of Slovenia and accelerates administrative procedures related to child birth both for parents and for healthcare providers.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): (PP)
Quelle/Source: HealthTech Wire, 09.05.2008
