How to bring digital health closer to people?

Representatives of parties related to the field of healthcare came together in research and business campus Tehnopol to discuss the pros and cons of remote services. It was also discussed how to bring digital health closer to people?

Anneli Laansoo from the Ministry of Social Affairs spoke of the plans and directions of the state for bringing digital health closer to people by focusing on the Patient Portal and the consent service.

The ex-ante analysis of the updated Patient Portal looks at ways to help people keep tabs on their illness. “The Patient Portal has a complex structure,” says Laansoo, specifying that, “at times, people find it difficult to understand because it is in the language of doctors and the portal is not user friendly nor does it offer enough useful services.”

She brought out that people mostly want the Patient Portal to serve as a tool for keeping up-to-date with their illness: they want to have the opportunity to better organise their treatment, have an overview of everything related to the illness and use the Patient Portal as a safe channel for communication outside appointments. Prototyping revealed which services and data should end up on the Patient Portal.

Laansoo also covered the consent service – who has access to health data to develop services and how? She highlighted the fact that the market for services based on personal data has room for improvement. According to her, there is great potential in the wider use of health data in services provided by the private sector and this would allow innovative solutions to be piloted and implemented more swiftly.

An impact analysis will be conducted from August to December this year for the purpose of analysing third-party access to national databases from the viewpoint of the expectations of people as service users, analysing the whole concept of the consent service on the level of information systems (based on the example of the Health Information System and the Digital Prescriptions Centre) and identifying the impact and risk that granting access involves and the obstacles arising from legislation as well as the measures that can be taken to remove the obstacles on a cross-sectoral level.

The Information System Authority is working on an integral solution for the consent service at the same time.

Opportunity to share health data to create new services

Sander Randorg from the Information System Authority is responsible for the development of services related to personal data. The purpose of such services is to give an overview of the data processing already under way (Personal Data Usage Monitor) and soon of the possibility to decide who receives the data (consent service).

“Estonia is well placed to enable the consent-based cross-use of data between the public and the private sector,” admits Randorg, “but there are currently no technical or legal solutions to make it a reality.

Today, any traffic between databases takes place on the basis of legislation. There are now efforts to create a practical way for people to be able to share their data with companies.”

According to him, the consent service resolves consent management (verification, overview, inquiries). Consents are valid for a limited time and can be withdrawn.

The development of microservices is happening simultaneously with the consent service impact analysis and legal matters.

Maarja-Liis Elland from TalTech highlighted the importance of assessing the impact of remote appointments. TalTech’s healthcare tech study programme put together a methodological guide for the systemic study of the quickly implemented remote appointments. The guide provides an overview of the importance of assessing remote appointments, how to do this and which methods to choose in order to collect the necessary data. The guide is designed to be used by healthcare professionals performing remote appointments as well as researchers, hospital managers and regulatory bodies.

The meeting Tervisekogukonna kärajad took place in Tallinn on 8 September.

The Connected Health cluster led by Tehnopol Science Park is Estonia’s biggest healthcare tech community, uniting health service providers, health tech companies and all other key interest groups in the field. With the help of the cluster, it is possible to carry out national cooperation projects and export health technology solutions to other countries.

The activities of the cluster are co-financed by Enterprise Estonia.