Electronic patient records and other key digital services have become available for 45 federal university hospitals in Brazil, covering 27 million patients. The achievement was obtained through a collaboration involving Ebserh – the Brazilian Hospital Services Company – and RNP, the national research and education network (NREN) of Brazil.
The new Management Application for University Hospitals is the first in the public hospital management system to receive certification from the Brazilian Society of Health Informatics. The certification proves that the platform meets the standards required for electronic health record systems such as information security, integrity of clinical data, traceability, interoperability, and compliance with legislation.
Besides electronic patient records, the system supports digital prescriptions for medications, appointment scheduling and exams, inventory control, and distribution of supplies.
Adjustments made during operation
To achieve certification from the Brazilian Society of Health Informatics, RNP and Ebserh worked in partnership.
“The certificate is a historic milestone for digital transformation in Brazilian public health. It is recognition that a system developed in the public sector can meet the highest standards of security, quality, traceability and compliance with the General Data Protection Law,” says Ebserh’s Information Technology Director, Giliate Coelho.
An obstacle was the need to make changes without interrupting the operation and evolution of the platform. To achieve this a joint effort was needed with RNP.
“The cooperation with Ebserh has been generating significant results for over 10 years and continues to evolve to offer new services, training, security and privacy consulting, telehealth and telemedicine, among others,” says Antônio Carlos F. Nunes, director of Services and Solutions at RNP.
Enables more integrated care
The next step is to implement the certified platform at all Ebserh hospitals. Further, the platform can serve as a reference for other digital health projects in the public sector.
“Healthcare professionals now work with a more reliable system that guarantees authenticity and integrity of clinical information. Managers benefit from institutional credibility and the possibility of expanding digital services. And patients will benefit from safer and more integrated care, based on standardized and protected clinical records,” highlights RNP Solutions Manager Hélder Vitorino.
The text is inspired by the article “RNP vai investir R$ 15 milhões em redes de colaboração para transformar a saúde digital no Brasil” (in Portuguese) at the RNP website.
Contributor
