Estonia to hold personal EHR conference

Estonia will hold an e-health conference in October to provide an insight into the problems and successes that the country has experienced while implementing its national health information system.

The conference will specifically focus on the electronic health record system that was launched in December 2008 and now contains more than 1.5m medical documents belonging to 350,000 people.

The Estonian EHR registers all residents’ medical histories from birth to death and is based on a state-developed, nationwide infrastructure called the X-road platform.

This uses existing in-house information systems and communication infrastructure, integrated by special system modules.

The project includes providing patients with digital health history, digital prescription system, and e-registration system.

It has faced delays in some areas due to problems relating to connecting old and new systems and the enforcement of the national laws around the collection and exchange of personal medical data.

The conference will be held from 13-15 October in Tallinn. Organised by the Estonian eHealth Foundation, it aims to bring together industry leaders, experts from the public and private sectors and clinicians.

It will also provide delegates with the opportunity to attend sessions and site visits to Estonian companies who have been involved in the Estonian national health information system implementation process.

Link: Conference website