After the presentation from the President of the Health Commission, Karla Schaefer (GPF), the law to create a National Register of Electronic Health Records was approved with 87 votes in favor and four abstentions. 

This regulation seeks to modernize care at every medical center in the country and to make it more flexible, thus avoiding the duplication and loss of tests. The electronic system will make it possible to create an interconnected national registry via the Ministry of Health and the National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (Reniec).

Congresswoman Schaefer said that her commission presented the bill based on projects presented by the Gana Peru Nationalist Parliamentary Group, Nacional Solidaridad and the Fujimorista Parliamentary Group, led by the legislators Josué Gutiérrez (NGP), Gustavo Rondón (SN) and Pedro Spadaro (GPF).

During the debate the importance of the initiative was emphasized by several congressmen including Spadaro, Gutiérrez, Rondón, Jaime Delgado (NGP), Segundo Tapia (GPF), Enrique Wong (APGC), Teófilo Gamarra (NGP), Cristóbal Llatas (NGP), Rosa Mavila (AP-FA), César Yrupailla (NGP), Ángel Neyra (GPF), Elsa Anicama (NGP), Jorge Rimarachín (AP-FA), Mesías Guevara (AP-FA), Luis Iberico (APGC) and Fernando Andrade (GPPP).

Paper bureaucracy in the public and private healthcare system will be discarded with the implementation of an electronic health record program that will be integrated as part of an inter-institutional agreement known as “Salud.uy” (Health.uy). 

The aim is to provide a digital medium for all patient care records to improve how this information is managed and to generate greater efficiency in the health system.

With this step, the file containing important information about the medical treatment and illness of the patient will be able available to multiple specialists without delays or transfers. It will also provide more security for the user in handling their electronic health record, as it avoids paper transfers or losses, among other aspects.

The program will be launched in two weeks by the government, reports the El Observador newspaper, citing the Executive Director of the Agency for Electronic Government and the Information Society (Agesic), José Clastornik. Over the days prior to the launch, there will be coordination meetings between the technicians who took part in the initiative, with the objective of defining how many users will start to use the new tool.  

This record will record healthcare data for each person, from perinatal records to death in both public and private establishments. “It will be a revolution for healthcare provision in Buenos Aires Province,” said Deputy Juan de Jesús, the author of the project. The objective of the new regulation is to “achieve greater efficiency and improve the use of resources,” explained the president of the Frente para la Victoria block in the Chamber of Deputies, adding that it means “modernizing healthcare provision policies by making use of new technologies.” The new regulation establishes that the system for the unique electronic health record for each person will meet the following general principles: finality, veracity, confidentiality, accessibility and individual ownership. De Jesús concluded that the law “is part of a series of policies that are being implemented to improve patient rights and facilitate the work of professionals in the system.”  

Seeking to work in person with communities in Puerto Chacabuco, Coyhaique and Aysén, where the “Machitún Antares” operation was carried out, SAYDEX made a valuable contribution to help patients receive quality care and ensure that they will receive the diagnoses and treatments prescribed at a later date by supplying the RAYEN system to the ship “Sargento Aldea” for the five day operation in Puerto Aysén.  

Dr. José Fernández, Clinical Manager of the company, in association with the team charged with supervising the functioning and support of the solution, in which the information of all the people treated was recorded, thus demonstrating the advantages of having an Electronic Health Record from both a clinical and a statistical standpoint. In the Aysén region, around 115 thousand inhabitants are treated in addition to the floating population and the workers from different companies who come to the area.

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The President of the Republic, Ministers of Health and the Economy and AGESIC are making progress on reaching an agreement to make the electronic health record a reality in Uruguay. According to official data, the project is expected to be implemented in two years.

The same system will be used in a unified manner at every care center in the country. This will improve the population’s access to healthcare services, fortify prevention and facilitate early diagnoses and treatment.  

On Thursday, 4th of October, an agreement was signed that aims to create the conditions for healthcare service providers to provide their services in an integrated, complementary and user-focused manner. Tools such as electronic health records, imaging technology and telemedicine will make it possible for patients to be assessed by specialists in different parts of the country in addition to each region.

The executive director of AGESIC, José Clastornik, said that at the moment it is possible to make progress with the project because elements are present that increase confidence in the management of information. He explained that privacy and protection of data are regulated by a Law that establishes, protects and monitors these factors.  

The objective of this law is to assert the population’s right to healthcare by making their medical information and files available everywhere in real time, in an effort to make the healthcare system more efficient overall and simultaneously to ensure the confidentiality and security of each patient’s personal and clinical information. This law would apply to all forms of healthcare; both public and private.  

Representative Germán Kahlow, president of the 100% Santafesino block, described the project as being “...one of the different ways in which the State can use IT tools. We believe that this initiative would be a significant step forward in ensuring the right to Public Healthcare. Using digital tools to link the public/private healthcare center-patient relationship will improve the quality of service provision.”

He went on to note that “the State has a responsibility to adopt all the measures it can in order to ensure that the right to healthcare is upheld: Prevention and treatment of diseases and the struggle against them, as well as the creation of an environment where everyone is guaranteed medical care and services if they get ill. Having a single, homogenous and universal electronic health record will provide every citizen with a very valuable online information service, given the importance of having up to date information that can be accessed from anywhere in the world at any given time. This service, which the State would provide for every Santafesino, would improve the quality of medical care as it would provide the quick, simple and flexible clinical information needed in patient care.”   

He continued with the affirmation that “it is proven that efficiency, quality and safety in healthcare improve and medical errors are reduced, transcending quality standards, when better patient information is available.”