Bulgarian Minister of Health Dr. Evgenii Zhelev, MD and Minister for State Administration and Administrative Reform Nikolay Vassilev have issued the country's first personal health records. The "Electronic Personal Ambulatory Book" was developed by eHealth specialist InterComponentWare (ICW) and Kontrax, a Bulgarian provider for medical practice management systems. The new solution will serve the same function as the paper-based personal ambulatory books of 40,000 state employees that were used up to now to keep track of their medical appointments.
The modern electronic version of the "Personal Ambulatory Book" provides authorized physicians not only with diagnoses and medication information on their patients, but also supplies copies of medical documents such as medical reports, radiographies or ECGs. Only the owners of an Electronic Personal Ambulatory Book decides, which doctor can access their information. An emergency data set is also provided that includes information about blood type, allergies, chronic illnesses and a person to contact in case of emergency.
Thanks to cooperation with Kontrax, Bulgaria's leading supplier of IT systems for physicians, medical information can be exchanged directly with the practice management system, Hippocrates. Other suppliers of practice management systems also want to begin offering their customers this opportunity in the coming months.
Concurrently with the issue of the first personal health records in Bulgaria, the two ministers also officially launched the new, national health portal www.zdravenportal.bg. The portal, also developed by ICW, is the entry point for the Personal Ambulatory Books, and offers Bulgarians immediate access to up-to-date health information, a registry of all doctors, hospitals and pharmacies, along with the necessary forms.
With its Electronic Personal Ambulatory Books and national health portal, Bulgaria continues to build on eHealth technology "made by ICW". In 2008, a consortium of ICW and Kontrax submitted the winning bid to implement both project in a Europe-wide request for offer issued by the two Bulgarian government ministries. In 2007 already, ICW, together with Cisco and Kontrax, implemented the pilot project for a national electronic health card, which networked seven medical practices and four pharmacies over a highly secure eHealth infrastructure.
Related news articles:
- InterComponentWare AG (ICW)'s Profile
About ICW
InterComponentWare AG (ICW) is a leading international eHealth specialist with locations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, USA, and Bulgaria. ICW's solutions connect the various protagonists in the health care sector, improving process-oriented communication and data integrity while increasing the quality of medical care: Its LifeSensor personal health record presents a perfect example, opening a doorway to health for every person. Networking solutions for hospitals and practicing physicians from ICW's Professional Suite facilitates trans-sector communication of medical data. Additionally, ICW offers technologies and services for national-level eHealth infrastructure projects. As part of the biT4health consortium, ICW has served as an important consultant for the introduction of the electronic health card in Germany, ICW is also involved in the eCard project in Austria and implemented the pilot project for the Bulgarian electronic health card and ePrescriptions.