A biometrics-based project is being piloted by health workers in three South African provinces, and is expected to have large-scale benefits for patients using State healthcare facilities.
The project, driven by the national and provincial health departments, involves the establishment of a central "infomediary", which collects and references key medical information on behalf of a patient, says Len Klopper, MD of Electronic Patient Records, whose company supplies software for the pilot project.
The project allows for patient identification using fingerprints, and links patient data in various healthcare institutions.
"This information is communicated using HL7, an international ANSI-accredited protocol adopted as a standard by the South African Department of Health. The secure data is accessed with the patient`s express consent and this is controlled through the use of biometrics, which also controls user login and access levels," says Klopper.
Until now, he explains, government health facilities` electronic systems had very little communication with each other, with no cross-province communication. This meant patients were tied to a single point of care, as their medical records could not be accessed at a different facility.
"Electronic health records are now being tested at 15 State hospitals, in the Northern Cape, Western Cape and will be launched in the Free State later this month. This project is being developed in a more advanced fashion than anywhere else in the world," Klopper claims.
The standards have been defined and accepted by the Department of Home Affairs as being implemented in the Home Affairs National Identification System. The clinical data is supplied directly from and to clinic/practice/hospital systems in use via the Internet, provided they are HL7 compliant.
In the event of there being no system in use at the point of patient care, Klopper points out, a Web interface exists, granting access via the Internet, and the system is now also available to all State health facilities on their internal Open-net.
He states that the benefits of the system are vast, including the elimination of unnecessarily repeated clinical laboratory tests, simply because a patient`s file cannot be found or is at another institution.
"The National Health Laboratory Systems supplies electronic laboratory results to the same infomediary. Any image or video object can easily be attached to the patient record, providing a comprehensive confidential medical record."
Klopper adds that patients have access to their own information, subject to ID/password or biometric verification, as do the patients` chosen registered medical service providers.
"The lifetime electronic health record thus goes wherever the patient goes. The immediate benefit to people on antiretroviral treatment is that they are not tied to one assessment centre any longer.
"Monitoring of medication compliance is another related innovation also proving successful, in that a pill bottle is cell-network connected and signals when opened. Alerts are raised via SMS to remind patients and, failing a response, a clinician or social worker is notified. Again, this is Internet-based."
The Department of Health has tasked the State IT Agency to initiate the national implementation of the system.
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