e-Health System on the Right Way

Aquasoft, a company specialised in development and implementation of information and communication technologies, has presented, in recent days, positive aspects of implementation of e-Prescribing in the Czech Republic. The aim of the electronisation of the health sector (e-Health) is to increase effectiveness of provision of health care services in both the Czech Republic and EU, and thus to contribute to a better health condition of citizens.

The benefits of introduction of e-Prescribing in the Czech Republic were presented by Aquasoft within the framework of the seminar entitled “Successful introduction of e-Prescribing as one of the starting priorities of the e-Health strategy“ which was held in the second half of September in Bratislava. The seminar was attended by a number of experts who were discussing both advantages and problems connected with e-Health in the Europe-wide context.

The central storage area of prescriptions for which Aquasoft delivered its application software is the first of a number of projects planned within the framework of the national e-Health concepts. The project was successfully implemented for the State Institute for Drug Control (SÚKL), and at present approximately one half of pharmacies are connected to it. MUDr. Zdeněk Hřib, Senior Business Consultant of Aquasoft and one of the leading experts in the field of patient safety in the Czech Republic says: “e-Health is a generic term used for a number of tools based on information and communication technologies which support and improve prevention, diagnostics, treatment, monitoring and management of health and living style.” The electronic healthcare system furthermore includes, for example, communication and handover of medical documentation between patients, healthcare providers and payers, and associated tools for a unique identification of communicating participants and assurance of the communication credibility.

The aim of the national e-Health project is to improve health condition of the inhabitants of the Czech Republic, to make provision of healthcare services to citizens of the Czech Republic as well as of other countries of the EU more effective, and thanks to this strategy to increase the quality of this care and the safety of patients as a final consequence. MUDr. Zdeněk Hřib comments: “e-Prescribing will mean a significant contribution to safety, information level and comfort of patients, and at the same time it offers a potential of significant savings in the field of payments for drugs from the health insurance system.” Another advantage in comparison with the existing, i.e. non-electronic system, is limitation of error occurrence and abuse of drugs. Thanks to the electronic prescribing, the doctors and pharmacists will have, subject to the patient’s consent, access to the information about drugs used by the patient in question, and therefore they will be able to assess any possible risks of the treatment proposed by them much better. “The data from the central storage area will be a valuable asset for the monitoring of risks of excessive use of medical preparations, as well as a source of data in view of prevention and control of occurrence of antibiotic resistance,” says MUDr. Zdeněk Hřib.