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The 5th video of the Enter e-Estonia: the video series takes a closer look at e-health and the various digital health services like the patient portal or e-prescription. Since 2007, health records have been digitalised in Estonia and are available to both the patient and health care professionals. This includes doctors, nurses, and paramedics.
In this video: digital health
Logging into the system allows the user to view their insurance status, family doctor, medical history, health scans and lab reports. This is also accessible to the new doctor whom the patient visits. However, the patient does have the right to make certain data inaccessible. And the system’s transparency means that the user can see who has viewed his or her medical data.
The e-health portal has helped to streamline and save time for a number of common services. Sick-leave notices can be issued digitally and are then automatically sent to the patient’s employer. Digital prescriptions can be retrieved from any pharmacy in Estonia with the patient’s ID card. And doctors can prescribe recurring prescriptions in a mere 15 seconds!
Other medical certificates are digitalised as well. Health declarations for employment or driver’s licences are available online and sent to relevant agencies. Doctors register newborn babies after birth, and connect his or her information to the parents or guardians. Not only does this create an easy solution to obtain a copy of the child’s birth certificate, but later it allows parents to access their children’s health records.
Digitalised data is useful for national statistics, such as monitoring health trends, and tracking epidemics. And the system is a transparent way to keep doctors and patients up to date and informed. Saving time, money, and stress.
