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- In the future, everyone in Switzerland should receive an electronic patient dossier free of charge.
- All healthcare providers will be required to keep such dossiers.
- The Federal Council presented a corresponding revision of the law on Wednesday.
Although there are already electronic patient dossiers in this country, they have hardly been used to date. According to the Federal Office of Public Health FOPH, just 19,481 electronic patient files were opened by mid-April 2023. The Federal Council now wants to issue an electronic patient dossier to everyone in Switzerland and also makes health service providers responsible for keeping the dossiers.
Medical association: too complicated and impractical
However, reactions to these plans have been mixed. The medical association FMH, for example, is skeptical. Its President Yvonne Gilli emphasizes that one is by no means against digitization in the healthcare sector. However, the planned electronic patient dossier is far too complicated and impractical to use.
What we definitely don’t need is an additional administrative burden.
Doctors have to spend too much time in front of the computer, criticizes Gilli. «What we definitely don’t need is an additional administrative burden. Then the health professionals get out of the various professions. » Before the electronic patient dossier can be further expanded, the product must first be improved.
Gilli is also bothered by the fact that the federal government wants to oblige all healthcare professionals, i.e. all doctors, pharmacists or physiotherapists, to keep such electronic dossiers in the future. It would be nice if more doctors would take part in the electronic patient dossier, says Gilli, “but this requires a useful product and not an obligation”.
If you don’t want a dossier, you have to take action
Criticism can also be heard from the Consumer Protection Foundation. Specifically, she complains that in future everyone in Switzerland should automatically receive an electronic patient dossier. Anyone who does not want this must actively defend themselves against it, so a so-called opt-out solution is planned.
We are only in favor of an opt-out solution if the consumer can first see what is in the dossier.
“We’re a bit skeptical about that,” says Sarah Stalder, head of consumer protection, “we will work to ensure that there is only one opt-out solution if the consumer was able to see what’s in this dossier at first.” .
Stalder also holds doctors and hospitals in particular responsible. You should get more involved and do everything to ensure that the electronic patient dossier becomes practical. According to Stalder, when it comes to digitization, Switzerland is lagging behind other countries in the healthcare sector.