A card with health data. But in Italy the South does not adhere Even buying a drug will be easier, with the electronic medical record You will be able to move more safely in these twelve countries
ROME - The medical history of each person enclosed in an electronic card. A European digital bank that collects all the data relating to the health of millions of citizens. It all stems from the agreement reached by twelve European countries, including Italy. The operational protocol for joining the Consortium will be signed on 22 September.
In Italy, for the moment, only ten regions have joined the European project. All the southern regions are missing.
Initial cost 22 million euros, half to be paid by the European Union. Sweden will be the coordinator of the project, therefore it will have a higher share of funding than the other countries, while Lombardy will lead the other regions. First verification in 2011. The system should be fully operational by 2015.
At the moment it is Spain that has an advanced digitized medical archive system among the countries that have joined the European project "Smart Open Services". The obstacles to overcome are many and not insignificant: from the linguistic difference to the diversity of computer systems and the different laws on privacy.
But how will the system work in practice? Here are some examples. A citizen decides to go on vacation to Spain, but falls ill there. The Spanish doctor knows nothing about the patient's health conditions. But don't worry with the digitized "clinical file" that the tourist has brought with him and after his consent the doctor will be able to access the "Patient summary" which summarizes the diseases that have affected him. The same goes for medicines. If the tourist follows a particular therapy, all the medicines prescribed in Italy are listed in the electronic "clinical file". If, on the other hand, the Spanish doctor decides, after having read all the data, he can prescribe a new drug to the patient with the obligation to report it electronically to the Italian health system. And Italy will have to forge ahead to be ready at the start of the new IT system. The risk is that many regions, almost all of the South, will remain outside the system. In our country, only Lombardy has set up a computer system at the regional level. With the regional service card, the Lombard citizen has access to all health services and all his data is recorded on the card, from the health card to the tax code, from the pathologies to the treatments he has followed or is following.
In Tuscany, the health department is working to allow a regional computer system to function. «For the moment we have digitized all diagnostic imaging, from x-rays to CT scans, - says the councilor for health Enrico Rossi - all by investing 120,000 euros and saving 60,000 because liquids for film development are no longer purchased. Unfortunately, the Italian health reality is very complex: some regions are unable to recover from the deficit and are also marking time on projects such as the European one on the digital health bank".
As part of the European project, Italy was responsible for implementing the IT system security services, developing the pilot sites and verifying the functioning of the various connection systems with public health facilities and doctors. Once the system has been developed, the second phase will serve to coordinate and connect the data to the European "brain".
The digital archive of Spain
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