Already postponed from spring to autumn 2020, the introduction in Switzerland of the electronic patient record (EPD) will not become reality until next year. The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) indicates this Wednesday to Keystone-ATS. He alleges delays in the certification procedures.
The FOPH confirms information revealed by the newspapers of the Tamedia group. In February, he was still confident: he believed that the first electronic records would be introduced during the summer by the suppliers who were most advanced in the certification process. Other operators were to follow in the fall. It is not so.
The federal office now expects the DEP working group, made up of the Confederation and the cantons, to quickly complete the certification process, he writes. The FOPH requires that the first reference communities launch at least the pilot operation of the DEP before the end of the year, so that all residents can open their own electronic file next spring.
Confederation regulation
“No reference community is able to know the date of the introduction of DEP,” said Samuel Eglin, director of Axsana, one of the future suppliers. And to recall that none of the nine future reference communities is yet certified. To explain these delays, Mr. Englin points to the regulation staggered by the Confederation, parallel to development work and certification procedures.
For its part, Axsana billed for its work in 2019 at 10% of the regular fee for its platform. The launch costs are not fully covered by the State. Owned by twelve German cantons and organizations in the health sector, this company has decided to invoice only around 40% of this fee for the year 2020, when an 80% rate was initially planned.
The electronic patient record (EPD) will gather all the medical data relevant to the treatment of a person. It must be permanently accessible by health specialists. The DEP aims to improve the safety, quality and effectiveness of medical treatment.
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