Digitalization continues to advance. DigiSanté, an EDI program to promote digital transformation, has now been launched to ensure that the healthcare sector does not miss the boat. It is being developed on behalf of the Federal Council and will be formulated by the FOPH and the FSO in an initialization phase until the end of 2024 and then implemented by the end of 2034.
(red) Switzerland has one of the best quality healthcare systems in the world. In contrast to other areas of life, however, digitalization in the healthcare sector is much less advanced. For example, data that has been entered once must be entered again and again and cannot be used for different purposes. There is no broad-based, joint strategy for all stakeholders. The Federal Council and Parliament have recognized the weaknesses. Parliament submitted various motions on different topics relating to digitalization. On 4 May 2022, the Federal Council instructed the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) to develop a program to promote digital transformation in the healthcare sector in collaboration and coordination with other federal administration bodies. The Federal Council submitted the necessary commitment credit for implementation to Parliament in a dispatch on November 22, 2023.
The DigiSanté programme aims to catch up on Switzerland’s backlog in the digitalization of the healthcare system by 2034. The starting point for the program is the vision of a digital healthcare system based on the Health 2030 strategy. With DigiSanté, the Federal Council wants to improve the quality of healthcare, especially for patients. The aim is also more efficiency for everyone. This requires the seamless exchange of data for treatment, billing, research and administration. This requires better standardization. At the same time, data protection, informational self-determination and cyber security must be guaranteed and access to health data must be clearly regulated by law. Furthermore, the secondary use of the resulting health data for planning, management and research should be facilitated within the framework of the legal requirements.
The objectives of the program take into account the specific context of the Swiss healthcare system. DigiSanté should also exploit synergy effects with existing projects, such as the electronic patient dossier (EPD). International developments are also analyzed and taken into account where necessary and appropriate when implementing DigiSanté. The four strategic goals are digitize, orchestrate, standardize and anchor. The program is expected to include around 50 different projects. They range from legislative projects and software development to the development of nationally coordinated specifications for standardization. These are projects for which there are already mandates from the people, Parliament or the Federal Council. The program is closely coordinated with the projects to promote the use and management of data led by the FSO and the other measures to implement the Digital Switzerland Strategy. To achieve the target, thematic solution strategies will be developed in the period 2023-2024 and implemented in stages from 2025.
Source: www.bag.admin.ch/bag/de/home/strategie-und-politik/nationale-gesundheitsstrategien/digisante.html (last accessed on 04.12.2023).
InFo ONCOLOGY & HEMATOLOGY 2023; 11(6): 44
