Share
From the beginning of September, the eZdrave mobile app will send notifications about upcoming preventive check-ups and vaccinations. This will be possible with the launch of the "Long-term Health Care" module, which is part of the National Health Information System (NHIS).
"The module allows the configuration of a national preventive calendar and will organize the personal health care plan of all citizens," announced Boris Kostadinov, Director of Software Integration at Information Services during the presentation of the new functionalities of the system, in the presence of Deputy Minister of Health Assoc. Petko Stefanovski and the Acting Director of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) Prof. Momchil Mavrov.
According to Boris Kostadinov, the upgrade of NHIS is a huge step in the process of digitalizing healthcare in Bulgaria. The "Long-term Health Care" module includes mandatory preventive check-ups, tests, and vaccinations, starting from birth and continuing throughout life. For each of these events, the eZdrave mobile application sends a timely notification to the patient/parent and the GP.
"With the introduction of the preventive module in NHIS and the possibility for citizens to access their health records through the eHealth application without an electronic signature from the beginning of September, Bulgaria is one of the leaders in the electronization of health care throughout Europe" stated Deputy Minister of Health Assoc. Prof. Petko Stefanovski. According to Prof. Mavrov, through the digitalization of processes and the expansion of access to the electronic record, patient control over processes in the health system will increase.
The main goal of the "Long-term Health Care" module is to take care of the personal plan of citizens, depending on their age and gender. The platform manages the processes related to prevention, screening, medical risks, long-term health conditions and their tracking. The plan for each citizen is created from the moment of his first registration in the NHIS. For newborns, this is the registration of birth through the "Hospitalization" module, and for other citizens, it is the creation of the first electronic document in the system. The plan is automatically filled in by the NHIS with the upcoming events in the next 3 months, according to the national Preventive Calendar and the current age of the citizens.
"In addition to receiving notifications for upcoming preventive check-ups, through the eZdrave mobile application, citizens will have information about exactly what they should do within the framework of prevention," said Boris Kostadinov. For each event (check-up or vaccination), NHIS prepares an electronic diagnostic card, which contains a list of measurements, tests, and questions for the patient. The list is created from predefined nomenclatures, based on the individual patient characteristics and according to the context of the relevant event.
In the coming months, the "Long-term Health Care" module will be upgraded to include chronic diseases, risk factors, and family burden, assisted pathways for pregnant women and childbirth, and communicable disease registry.
So far, NHIS has registered e-examinations, 58.3 million e-prescriptions, of which 4 million called "white prescriptions", 57.5 million e-referrals, 4.8 million electronic hospitalizations, 7.2 million immunizations and over 9 million dental procedures. More than 55,000 doctors, nearly 14,000 dentists, 10,400 pharmacists, more than 750 laboratories, 3.258 pharmacies and more than 480 medical institutions work with the NHSIS, according to data on the system.