Work to implement the e-Health strategy for Switzerland agreed by the Federal Council in June 2007, which includes as one of its main objectives the nationwide implementation of the electronic patient file for everybody by the end of 2015, is progressing steadily and according to schedule.
A consultation process is currently running until mid-August amongst the players in the Swiss healthcare market in relation to two recommendations that have been developed within the sub-projects of Standards and Architecture, and Pilot Schemes. The recommendations will be adjusted as required according to the results of the consultation and presented to the steering committee in October for its decision.
The recommendations of the Standards and Architecture sub-project relate to the main elements for secure data exchange between the organizations involved in a decentralized national e-Health structure, in particular regarding the definition of a role concept and of metadata (data which contains information about the data which is to be accessed and which, for example, is necessary for searching or for controlling authorizations).
The recommendations of the Pilot Schemes subproject comprise a proposal for a concept for evaluating pilot schemes. The evaluation process has two stages. In the first stage, a pilot scheme is evaluated for compliance with the e-Health strategy according to 29 criteria. Pilot schemes which fulfil the required criteria are to be labelled “compliant with strategy”. In the second stage the pilot schemes are evaluated in terms of “innovation” on the basis of 43 criteria.
As well as the above-mentioned recommendations for the sub-projects, a team of experts on e-Health appointed by the Federal Council in December 2009 is currently preparing a report indicating which statutory provisions are required for implementation of the e-Health strategy for Switzerland. The report is due to be submitted by the end of September to the Federal Department of Home Affairs, which – on the basis of the report – will prepare a draft for a Federal Council Decree on further procedure by the end of the year.