COPENHAGEN: Morgens Engsig-Karup, CIO of Denmark's Central Health Region, who attended last week’s HIMSS 2010 Health IT Leadership Summit in Rome, has emphasised that before trying to shape the future of health IT, CIOs must first look at their country’s national healthcare strategy.
The Danish healthcare strategy has five main pillars: enabling better cooperation between primary and secondary sectors, more efficient patient pathways, the monitoring of chronic illnesses, quality improvement and the consolidation of acute hospital functions.
According to Engsig-Karup, these goals must be reflected in the health IT activities of the regions.
"In 2012, we will have one regional EPR system which includes patient administration and booking, specialty workflows as well as access to the National Medicine Chart and eJournal," he said.
Engsing-Karpu commented that by 2012, he expected most paraclinical systems to be consolidated, allowing for direct access from the EPR system. This will minimize double registration of patient information, and facilitate more efficient handling of referrals.
"We are planning to allow hospitals to book each others’ resources and enable patients to rebook their appointments on the Internet – but this is not a technical question, this is a political question," Mr Engsing-Karpu said.
In 2007, four counties came together to form Denmark’s Central Health Region. This led to the coexistence of a number of different legacy systems, including five PAS systems, five EHR systems and three RIS systems in five databases. A top priority is to consolidate these legacy systems.
"But consolidation must leave room for innovation and if hospitals are unwilling to change their systems, it might also be due to the fact that these systems are good," Engsing-Karpu said.
Mr Engsing-Karpu said that the old systems were almost always cheaper than the new ones and, therefore, CIOs must consider the "benefits of scale" rather than the "economies of scale."
Elin Schmidt, representing Denmark’s Health Region South, commented that she would like the workplace to become more like a Smart Phone, allowing doctors to choose from a variety of Apps depending on their needs.
"We will have info boards in all major emergency rooms, tele-interpreting for all hospital departments and IT support for pre-hospital care," she said.
Denmark is planning to implement 24 projects within the next few years, with a total budget of EUR 50 million per year.
Source: HealthTech Wire for HIMSS Europe
