E-HEALTH SYSTEM – STATUS AND PERSPECTIVES
Journal Title: Българско списание за обществено здраве (Bulgarian Journal of Public Health) - Year 2011, Vol 0, Issue 1
Abstract
At the end of the 20th century and in the beginning of the 21st one electronic health (e-Health) has gradually become a term that was associated with the broad implementation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the field of healthcare. Some authors make use of this term in order to define the utilization of digital technologies for the needs of clinical medicine, medical education and healthcare management. Other authors take into consideration its more narrow sense with regard to the Internet use in the medical practice. In the article an analysis was performed of more than 50 definitions for e-Health used in the scientific literature. In most part of the definitions the term e-Health was related to the delivery of medical services as nearly 25% of definitions have emphasized on the improvement of the ratio “expenditures – effectiveness” in the healthcare or on the increased effectiveness of the processes. Demographic processes in the European countries, growing migration and expectations for high quality and accessible health services within the European Union (EU) have faced the healthcare systems towards greater challenges. The initiative e-Europe was established in December 1999 by the European Commission and indicated the beginning of a powerful use of information technologies in the European health sector. This raises questions related to the legislative aspects in their usage in the medical practice and science. The achievement of semantic interoperability, standardization, certification and general EU requirements for the electronic patient records were considered in the article as key elements for gaining operative compatibility (interoperability) of information infrastructures and systems within the EU. These problems were the main topic of the first Action plan for a European e-Health Area. It outlined the steps for implementation of ICTs for the healthcare and boosted the use of broadband high speed Internet in the health systems. In the realization of the plan all Member-states adopted national strategies for e-Health. Many of them have integrated the national health portals, electronic patient records, electronic prescriptions and telemedical applications. Large-scale projects have been realized for the achievement of operative compatibility of the information technologies and systems. The portal of the EU Public Health appeared, too. After the adoption of the National strategy for electronic health in 2006 in Bulgaria the processes for implementation of ICT in the healthcare have also strengthened. A series of systems for telemedicine have been conducted as well as some pilot projects, including electronic health cards, electronic records, national health portal. Plenty of national registries were created and the integrated information system of the National Health Insurance Fund was also implemented.
Authors and Affiliations
Valeri Tzekov
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP485110
- DOI -
- Views 77
- Downloads 0
Main aspects OF nutrition IN infants 0-6 months of age in Bulgaria
Infants are risk population group in relation to nutrition, due to their rapid linear growth, accelerated brain development, accelerated development and maturation of immune system, higher prevalence of communicable dise...
EVALUATION OF HEALTH LITERACY FOR PEOPLE OF WORKING AGE
Health literacy is the most reliable individual health prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCD). As one nation has more health-educated people, the population health will have better characteristics, morbidi...
HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT OF CHILDREN FROM THE HOME FOR MEDICAL AND SOCIAL CARE IN THE TOWN OF ZLATITSA IN RELATION TO THE AMBIENT AIR POLLUTION IN THE NDUSTRIAL REGION OF PIRDOP-ZLATITSA VALLEY
The aim of the current study is to conduct health risk assessment of children in a Home for Medical and Social Care (HMSC) in the town of Zlatitsa in relation to the ambient air pollution in the industrial region of Pird...
FIRST STUDIES ON THE BULGARIAN MARKET FOR BISPHENOL A IN INFANT FEEDING BOTTLES
Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic compound used primarily as a monomer in production of polycarbonate plastics, epoxy resins and as a non-polymer additive to other plastics. Because of the extensive use of BPA in the manuf...
HYGIENIC ASSESSMENT OF THE WATER RESERVOIRS "STUDENA", "BISTRICA" AND "PCHELINA", BASED ON PERFORMED HYDROBIOLOGICAL ANALYZES AND DETERMINATION OF SOME CYANOTOXINS
For the water bodies, used for drinking water supply of the populated areas or recreation by the public, it is very important to know what their saprobity is, how far they have reached in their environmental development...