In a year and a half, Unique Electronic Health Records will become obligatory in Colombia. Law 1438 of 2011, which reformed the Social Security System for Colombian healthcare, states that the Single Electronic Health Record will be obligatory by the 31st of December 2013.

It also establishes, in articles 62 and 64, with regard to Integrated Health Service Networks, that they will make electronic exchange of demographic, clinical and epidemiological information possible between different agents and components of the Healthcare System.

Furthermore, the regulations state that the identity of users of services will be verified via a consultation procedure in the databases of the National Registry of the Civil State (Article 112).

For more information on Law 1438 visit Healthcare Accreditation where a pdf can be downloaded here.

How suppliers are preparing

This is without doubt a great opportunity for the sector, as better performing IT solutions are required. Suppliers are making great efforts to optimize their range of solutions.

HeOn, a leading company in technological support for large integrated healthcare service provision currently provides solutions for over 40 hospital institutions, 350 outpatient institutions, 390 outpatient pharmacies, 307 laboratory testing units, 15 emergency centers, 25 home hospitalization programs, and 28 Optometry Centers, amongst others. All of them receive a support tool for care procedures based on a Single Electronic Health Record throughout the country, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, that is completely integrated with the databases of the largest Healthcare Promotion Bodies (insurers) in the country. The information of over four million affiliated patients and around 28,000 users of the tools is processed via HeOn technological solutions.

The company is currently working to achieve new standards of integration for healthcare organizations. It has integrated PACS in such a way that the doctor can access diagnostic imaging at the patient's side, as well as Clinical Laboratory, Pharmacy and Diagnostic Imaging Systems. They can also access Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence systems that facilitate decision making at all levels of the organization.

Another international company with a presence in Colombia is Dräger, which offers computer technology for clinical use and software solutions for healthcare centers, chiefly patient data management systems for intensive care and perioperative care.

Its product, Omega, consists of integrated patient monitoring solutions that send vital signs, DICOM images, laboratory data, ECGs and clinical applications directly to the point of care. And as its solutions are modular, they can be extended to adapt to the needs of the client.

The Health division at Everis in Colombia manages a portfolio of specific solutions that facilitate the transition process towards a more connected health service. These developments are focused on reducing the cost of care processes and increasing the income of third parties through an action plan that includes externalization, interoperability, specialization, automation and management of purchasing, suppliers and new innovations. 

Focused on the optimization and innovation of care processes, Everis' service consists of working with healthcare organizations to achieve the implementation of new clinical process administration methods, optimizing care procedures and applying innovation in all the different links in the value chain. The purpose is to achieve traceability and to make it possible to monitor the entire process from beginning to end, generating management indicators for each activity and agent involved through the use of of Lean Healthcare methodologies.

Everis' electronic health record and hospital-based clinical-healthcare information system complete the supply of solutions that can easily evolve to adapt to new needs at the center and the best future developments in management, integrating themselves with other information subsystems. 

This story originally appeared at E-Health Reporter Latin America.