
Healthcare
Estonia’s healthcare system has been revolutionized by innovative e-solutions. Patients and doctors, not to mention hospitals and the government, benefit from the convenient access and savings that e-services have delivered.
Each person in Estonia that has visited a doctor has an online e-Health record that can be tracked. Identified by the electronic ID-card, the health information is kept completely secure and at the same time accessible to authorised individuals. KSI Blockchain technology is being used for the system to ensure data integrity and mitigate internal threats to the data.
- 99% of health data digitized
- 99% of prescriptions are digital
- 2,3M queries by doctors every month
- 100% electronic billing in healthcare
e-Health Records
The Electronic Health Record (e-Health Record) is a nationwide system integrating data from Estonia’s different healthcare providers to create a common record every patient can access online.
Functioning very much like a centralized, national database, the e-Health Record actually retrieves data as necessary from various providers, who may be using different systems, and presents it in a standard format via the e-Patient portal. A powerful tool for doctors that allows them to access a patient’s records easily from a single electronic file, doctors can read test results as they are entered, including image files such as X-rays even from remote hospitals.
For assuring the integrity of retrieved electronic medical records as well as system access logs, the KSI blockchain technology is being used.
For example, in an emergency situation, a doctor can use a patient’s ID code to read time-critical information, such as blood type, allergies, recent treatments, on-going medication or pregnancy. The system also compiles data for national statistics, so the ministry can measure health trends, track epidemics, and make sure that its health resources are being spent wisely.
Patients have access to their own records, as well as those of their underaged children and people who have given them authorization for access. By logging into the e-Patient portal with an electronic ID-card, the patient can review doctor visits and current prescriptions, and check which doctors have had access to their files.
Visit the Estonian e-Health Records here.
e-Ambulance
e-Ambulance is a quick-response solution that can detect and position the phone call for the ambulance within 30 seconds and send the emergency ambulance to the necessary point fast. In an emergency situation, a doctor can use a patient’s ID code to read time-critical information, such as blood type, allergies, recent treatments, on-going medication or pregnancy.
e-Prescription
One of the key innovations in Estonia’s cutting-edge e-Healthcare system, e-Prescription, is a centralized paperless system for issuing and handling medical prescriptions. When a doctor prescribes medicine using the system, he or she does so electronically, with the aid of an online form. At the pharmacy, all a patient needs to do is present an ID-card. The pharmacist then retrieves the patient’s information from the system and issues the medicine.
Because the e-Prescription system draws on data from the national health insurance fund, any state medical subsidies that the patient is entitled to, also appear, and the medicine is discounted accordingly. Another major advantage of the system is that doctor visits are no longer needed for repeat prescriptions.
A patient can contact the doctor by e-mail, Skype or phone, and the doctors can issue repeats with just a few clicks, and the patient can collect the medicine from their closest pharmacy.
Today, 99% of all prescriptions in the country are issued electronically. This frees up time for patients and doctors, and reduces administrative strain on hospitals.
Developers of Healthcare
These Healthcare e-solutions are provided by the following Estonian companies:
- Nortal e-Health Record, e-Prescription, Hospital Information System, Patient Portal, Medical Data Exchange Visit website
- Helmes e-Health Record, e-Prescription Visit website
- Guardtime e-Health, e-Prescription Visit website
- INTELSYS e-Prescription Visit website
- Stacc e-Health, Personalised Medicine Visit website
- Queretec e-Health, Qure Data Management Platform Visit website
- Industry62 e-Health Record, e-Prescription, e-Ambulance Visit website
Find out more about the services and know-how of the Estonian IT sector
Building blocks of e-estonia
- e-Identity
Did you know that more digital signatures have been used in Estonia than in the rest of the European Union altogether?
- Interoperability services
Did you know that X-Road saves over 844 years of working time for Estonia every year?
- Security and safety
Did you know that scalable blockchain technology called KSI is invented by Estonian cryptographers?
- Healthcare
Did you know that Estonia uses blockchain technology to ensure healthcare data security?
- e-Governance
Did you know that 99% of public services are available to citizens as e-services?
- Mobility services
Did you know that self-driven vehicles have been allowed to drive on public roads in Estonia since 2017?
- Business and finance
Did you know that you can establish a company in Estonia just in 3 hours?
- Education and research
Did you know that twice as many students pursue IT careers in Estonia than the average in other OECD countries?