Patients electronically access their healthcare data in hospital

Patients can access their hospital data online in the ENT unit at the Lucerne Cantonal Hospital and in the hospital network Spital Netz Bern. Patients in Spital Netz Bern have been able to profit from this service since October 2012. evita is a free service provided by Swisscom.

Medical data are often stored in various places. Family physicians, treating medical specialists such as ophthalmologists, orthopaedic surgeons or gynaecologists, as well as hospitals each keep their own health records, to which patients often have no access. Two hospitals in Switzerland therefore are offering a new service.

Accessible at any time via the Internet

The ENT unit at the Lucerne Cantonal Hospital and the Spital Netz Bern offer patients free access to their examination findings and hospital records. To be able to profit from this service, they need to have an electronic health record in evita in which they can register and manage all of their healthcare and medical data. This data can also be made accessible to third parties.

More transparency for patients and medical staff

The hospital network Spital Netz Bern and the Lucerne Cantonal Hospital are the first two hospitals in Switzerland to promote the evita health record to their patients. Both organisations recognise the added value the evita health record gives hospitals and patients. “The aim of the collaboration with Swisscom is to provide our patients more opportunities for their personal health management and to contribute to more transparency,” says Professor Thomas Linder, chief physician of the ENT unit at the Lucerne Cantonal Hospital. “Additionally, our medical staff is informed faster and duplication can be avoided,” says Thomas Linder.

Patients in the ENT unit at the Lucerne Cantonal Hospital have access to an iPad so that they can log on to their evita health record and easily view their personal hospital documents at any time. This allows patients to view medical reports and review the information received from their physician after the consultation. During the pilot phase from April 2013 to April 2014 in the Lucerne Cantonal Hospital, only patients in the ENT unit – which is participating in the project – can profit from this service. The Lucerne Cantonal Hospital aims to integrate other units after successful completion of the pilot phase.

“The conclusions we draw today are very positive,” says Peter Gerber, director of the hospitals Tiefenau and Ziegler, part of Spital Netz Bern. “Our patients appreciate this service and actively use it.”

Modern health care for Switzerland

Stefano Santinelli, head of Health at Swisscom, also sees advantages for all parties concerned: «The electronic access simplifies access to personal hospital data and the existing processes in which patients only received access to their data on demand and on paper or a data medium.» Taking part in this project, the hospital network Spital Netz Bern and the Lucerne Cantonal Hospital assume a pioneering role in Switzerland and are responding to the current development in the healthcare sector and patients' needs. As Santinelli adds: “According to our surveys, patients wish to securely view and maintain their healthcare data electronically at any time.”