Today 345

Yesterday 897

All 39397001

Friday, 29.03.2024
eGovernment Forschung seit 2001 | eGovernment Research since 2001

A few years ago, international experts reported that Greece’s healthcare system was on the brink of collapse with government health spending dropping year after year. Since 2009, Greece’s GDP has dropped 26% affecting the already high unemployment rate leading to more people without health insurance and limited access to healthcare services. The financial crisis put pressure on a healthcare system under a lot of strain and in urgent need for reform, making it vulnerable to economic fluctuation and ill prepared to meet the changing needs of society.

How is Greece tackling the challenges of digital healthcare?

The country is facing unique geographical, geopolitical particularities related to healthcare services, given its potential to play a trans-regional role in health and medical tourism, looking outward from Europe to the Mediterranean, the Balkans, Eurasia, and the Middle East. Besides its very diverse geographical environment of isolated islands and mountainous regions, Greece needs an effective health management system for the incoming refugees and immigrants. Greece has also faced increased healthcare demands, related to its ageing population, the management of chronic diseases and the need for more prevention and health education that leads to healthier behaviours.

Implementing ehealth solutions in a challenging environment

International practice has shown that the adoption of digital healthcare technologies could improve healthcare quality and provide effective support. Greece’s imminent demand for high quality healthcare and medical tourism services, the structural changes introduced by the economic crisis and its already-advanced IT sector led to the development of a local ehealth ecosystem that works towards innovative health and care service models. Greeks managed to turn the challenges into opportunities, having already successfully implemented ehealth projects, with the Greek ePrescription system being at the forefront. The Greek ePrescription system, implemented in 2010, supports all healthcare providers such as doctors, clinics, hospitals, pharmacists as well as patients. Being linked to the Citizen Unique Identification Registry, the ePrescription system files six million ePrescriptions per month, as over 98% of prescriptions and referrals are prescribed electronically through the system. Together with the above applications, the Greek e-Government Center for Social Security (IDIKA) has also installed a National Appointment Management System (eRDV) for Primary healthcare and hospitals to provide proficient and convenient patient care, while reducing administrative costs. Other implemented hospital applications relate to the electronic healthcare record for primary healthcare, the hospital information system already installed in 14 Greek hospitals as well as a centralised solution for hospital management.

Apart from this national eGovernment body, the stakeholder constellation of the booming Greek ehealth ecosystem comprises of public and private policy makers, specialised hospital personnel, academia, service providers, software vendors and a plethora of innovative start-ups.

Greece at eHealth Week

It is said that our response to crises reveals a lot about our attitude and perception, and for the Greeks, the current economic crisis offered the chance to be more strategic about how public money is spent and to search for new opportunities for partnerships. Despite several reform efforts, the Greek healthcare system still faces problems. Nevertheless, the noteworthy implementation of ehealth services in the Greek healthcare system reveals new paths to address some of these challenges which can lead from insecurity and instability to a state of empowerment, inspiration, and action, not only for Greece but for its partners as well. To this aim, stakeholders of the Greek eHealth ecosystem will be joining the most influential healthcare IT event, the eHealth Week, organised by the European Commission, the World Health Organization and HIMSS Europe, in Malta, on 10–12 May. Together with a national pavilion, the Greek delegation is organising a workshop where ICT experts will talk about PHRs, APIs, and telehealth. This is the first time Greece is participating with a national pavilion at an international ehealth event of this scale.

---

Autor(en)/Author(s): Venetia Kyritsi

Quelle/Source: Health IT Central, 25.04.2017

Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:

Go to top