First patient portal launched in Estonia

The iPatsient (ePatient) portal, began its pilot phase in November 2007 at East Tallinn Central Hospital and is now fully online for all patients to log onto. To date, nearly 1,000 people have used the portal, and if it proves successful it will be rolled across Estonia as part of its e-health strategy.

National deployments of the iPatsient portal are due to start in the autumn. Patients can access the portal from the hospital’s website using information sent to them on an ID card in the post. In the hospital, they must use the ID card to log onto the system, on home PCs they will need the card number and a PIN code selected by the user.

They must then answer preset security questions to ensure the full security of their medical records. Once logged into the portal, patients can view their medical records, book doctors appointments and pay consultation fees. It is also possible to order an appointment reminder via SMS or email or both. The software for the portal was developed as a collaborative effort between the hospital and GenNet Laboratories.

A hospital spokesperson told E-Health Europe: "Here, patients can view data about their health, collected at the Ida-Tallinn Central Hospital for the period from 1 June, 2003, as well as to reserve the visit to a doctor and pay the bill for his visit. Also patients wishing to do so can order SMS or email reminder of the visit to the doctor.

Use of the portal is only possible with personal data recorded using the ID-card or PIN-code. To date, the youngest user registered so far is 13 years old and the eldest is 86 years old."

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