CHF 400 million project for a more digital healthcare system
Published: Thursday, Nov 23rd 2023, 11:20
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With a CHF 400 million project, the Federal Council wants to promote digitalization in the healthcare sector over the next ten years. For this to succeed, all stakeholders are called upon. It is clear that Switzerland has a lot of catching up to do.
"Yes, we have to catch up," Anne Lévy, Director of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), told the media in Bern on Thursday. Hospitals and doctors' practices have been working digitally for a long time, but with different programs. "They don't speak the same language." As a result, a lot of data has to be recorded multiple times - a source of error that needs to be eliminated.
The Digisanté program to promote digital transformation in the healthcare sector is intended to remedy this situation. The Federal Council approved this on Wednesday and submitted the dispatch on a corresponding commitment credit of CHF 392 million for the period from 2025 to 2034 to Parliament. "An important decision", as Lévy emphasized.
"Public service for the healthcare system"
The aim of the program is to better coordinate systems and processes in the healthcare sector. The federal government wants to use the money to digitalize health-related government services such as registers, reporting systems and information platforms across the board and ensure that they can communicate with other IT systems.
The aim is to improve networking so that all data can be quickly accessed digitally, said Lévy. The project is "very complex", hence the long implementation phase of ten years. All stakeholders - including the cantons and service providers - have a role to play. The federal government has an important coordinating role and ensures investment security in areas where there is no market.
The further use and linking of health data should also be expanded, as Georges-Simon Ulrich, Director of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), emphasized. Automated data queries to service providers must be systematized. Lévy summarized: "We want to create a public service for the healthcare system."
Numerous puzzle pieces
Digisanté comprises a total of fifty sub-projects in four packages. They range from legislative projects and software development to the development of nationally coordinated specifications for standardization.
One example in the area of infrastructure is the establishment of the hospital register, which is to cover all hospitals. This will form the basis for federal data collection and support hospital planning and the implementation of the Electronic Patient Record (EPR), among other things. The platform for monitoring and reporting communicable diseases is also intended to replace the existing systems for mandatory reporting.
In the data use package, for example, a competence center for national cancer evaluations is to be created. Researchers are to be given secure access to cancer information and data, which can also be linked to third-party data. This should enable the development of cancer to be analyzed more comprehensively.
"We feel the support"
According to Lévy, the costs for the packages of measures cannot be calculated down to the last franc. However, she is convinced that there is now enough money and personnel available for a digitalization push.
The cantons and service providers, who are also responsible for the program, are motivated to make their contribution to the success of the project, says Lévy. "We feel the support for the program."
According to the FOPH Director, the digital transformation in the healthcare system should lead to better quality, especially for patients, but also to greater efficiency, more transparency and increased patient safety. The focus is on the benefits for the population, for healthcare professionals and for healthcare companies and organizations.
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