Curać (HZZO): eKarton is in accordance with the data protection regulation

“The future is now” is the title of the III. regional conference on digital medicine which emphasized the fact that Croatia is not accidentally a central place for such a meeting, as some IT solutions have successfully come to life in our country. The best example of this is ePrescription, for which Croatia is a leader in the EU. Based on this success, it was heard at the conference that Croatia continues with similar projects, states the press release from the organizers of the HIT conference.

This year’s conference covered a wide range of topics related to the application of digital solutions in medicine and pharmacy, with some of the main topics being eKarton, the application of GDPR, measuring therapy outcomes, and digital systems for patient support being just a few of the conference topics.

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– The goal of the conference is to bring together different industries in the healthcare profession and organizations precisely to facilitate and accelerate the processes in the digitalization of medicine, and I thank you for recognizing this and enhancing this gathering with your presence. I also thank you for your overall engagement which contributes to making the future, as the name of the conference suggests, a reality for patients – said the director of HIT conference, Mladen Kovaček.

The conference was opened by the Minister of Health, Prof. Dr. Milan Kujundžić, who expressed his pleasure at the organization of such a gathering and that the participants of the conference across hospitals and other institutions will spread the necessity of digital technologies and informatization in the Croatian system. He emphasized that everything good that has started should continue to be developed and openly invited all institutions and entities to participate and continue to propose their vision of what could be built in the future, they say in the press release.

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The State Secretary of the Central State Office for the Development of the Digital Society, Bernard Gršić, also addressed the attendees, reflecting on the digital technologies that are changing the society we live in and the way we live, but also providing us with new knowledge. They encourage us towards digital transformation but also towards ourselves, and it is important to develop the area of digital skills and knowledge, especially for doctors. He noted that we must be aware that digital skills are something we need today and in the development of society.

The rich program included lectures from experts from leading Croatian and European IT and pharmaceutical companies, and the conference was supported by healthcare professionals, the Ministry of Health, the Croatian Health Insurance Institute, and the Central State Office for the Development of the Digital Society.

How measuring treatment outcomes and improving adherence to therapy provide greater value for the patient was discussed in the panel “Is the future really now”, it is stated in the press release.

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– While we sit here listening to lectures, every 30 seconds, an amputation of a leg occurs in the world for patients suffering from diabetes. 80 percent can be prevented. We spend 4.5 billion kuna on diabetes treatment, and as much as 88 percent of financial resources goes to treating complications – emphasized Dr. Goran Lazić.

One of the main reasons why patients do not respond satisfactorily to therapy is poor adherence. Adherence is the degree to which a patient follows the therapy prescribed by their doctor. Some previous studies have shown varying results in the application of digital technology to improve adherence.

– We created the Terappia application to ensure that our medications are completely effective. Patients in most cases do not take their medications regularly and claim that the medications are not good. For a medication to be effective, it is very important that it is applied correctly. By applying medications correctly, we reduce costs – emphasized Igor Haralović, director of Sandoz. He highlighted the importance of providing patients with a unique user experience and that they are certainly working on recognizing the important role of pharmacists in the healthcare system, as stated in the press release.

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– In collaboration with Sandoz, we have started working on promoting an application that allows patients and doctors to monitor regular therapy intake. Pharmacists are still the only healthcare professionals that patients see at least once a month or more. They know more about patients and treatments as well as other forms of treatment that patients use. Technical matters are also an important role for us – emphasized Ana Soldo, president of the Croatian Pharmaceutical Chamber.

However, for further improvement of therapy results, it is also important that there is a systematic approach, which is only possible through effective measurement of therapy outcomes. Systematic measurement of outcomes could lead to more efficient application of therapies, and thus better results for the patient.

Matic Meglic, a regional expert from a company that is one of the largest global leaders in medical technology, believes that the exchange of information is very important and emphasized that the key stakeholders are indeed the Government and the Ministry, which provide the greatest value and budget. The second are healthcare professionals. And the last are, of course, the patients for whom the experience is very important.

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A special focus at the conference was the panel discussion “Bring IT on” on the sensitive issue of the availability and use of personal data from digital patient files and eKarton as a turning point in the digitalization of healthcare, while preserving data security in accordance with the new EU regulation (GDPR). Namely, from this year, EU member states are obliged to start implementing the regulation that prescribes stricter protection of personal data.

– We at HZZO view everything through the satisfaction of the patient and providing them with a higher quality and safer protection, and in that case, we support the implementation of eKarton. At this moment, we have several challenges. The system is designed in a modular way and an excellent infrastructure has been created so that it is easily connectable with new systems such as eKarton. We are working on making eKarton available outside of Croatia through EU projects – said Jelena Curać from HZZO.

– The informatization of healthcare is focused on data protection because we know that health data is sensitive. We have been thinking about this even before GDPR. We have developed eKarton in accordance with the new regulation. Exclusively if citizens give consent through the Health portal for their data to be visible. Likewise, citizens can see their eKarton data at any time through the portal. Everything is in accordance with the regulation – she noted.

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Secure data exchange is particularly relevant after the Facebook affair. Its regulation will enable or facilitate other digital projects in medicine. The improvement of technology has provided us with solutions that have enabled significant improvement in adherence, i.e., better compliance with doctors’ advice on taking therapy, it is emphasized in the press release.

The ultimate goal of such an innovative view of healthcare is greater value for the patient for the same money. The technology that would enable this is already available. It is necessary to organize processes and enable all significant stakeholders in healthcare to contribute to such improvements, which is also the primary goal of the conference “The future is now”.