Swedish National Patient Summary Gains Wide Acceptance

In the wake of its successful launch in Örebro County, the Swedish Nationell Patientöversikt (NPÖ) national patient summary (Stockholm, Sweden) will be extended significantly in 2010, both geographically and in content.

The NPÖ, designed to facilitate the creation of an Swedish national electronic health record (EHR) system, was launched at Örebro county council and in Örebro municipality in May 2009 by the designated service provider Tieto (Helsinki, Finland). It was subsequently installed and went operational at Östergötland country council as well, during December 2009. During the first half of 2010, another three county councils are scheduled for implementation, and all 21 county councils are to be connected by the year 2012. Besides this systematic geographic extension, the NPÖ solution will also be extended in terms of technology and medical content. The Swedish pharmacy servicing company is currently being connected to the network, and will provide patient-specific data on medication given out by a large proportion of Swedish pharmacies. Doctors or nurses in connected county councils or municipalities will thus be able to find out exactly what medication patients have received from their pharmacy, provided the patient has consented.

Technologically, in 2010 the NPÖ is to be adapted to a new security solution that is becoming standard in the Swedish national information technology (IT) strategy, providing, for example, rules for role and competence management and for informed consent policies. The NPÖ endeavor is a cooperation between Tieto, a leading service company providing IT, research and development (R&D), and consulting services in Northern Europe, Germany, and Russia, and InterSystems (Cambridge, MA, USA), which is providing the health information exchange software platform necessary to enable rapid creation of an EHR for regional or national health information exchanges.

"Experiences in Örebro so far have really encouraged us and the Swedish Healthcare Advisory Organization [Sjukvårdsrådgivningen or SVR] to drive the project forward,” said Christer Bergh, who is responsible for Tieto's healthcare business in Sweden. "None of the patients have refused to give their consent to the archiving of data. They seem to be very aware that making their data available can improve care and safety.”

Related Links:
Swedish National Patient Summary
Tieto
InterSystems