SMART CARDS AS COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN HEALTH INFORMATION-SYSTEMS

Knowledge about the patient's up-to-date state of health is vital. One handicap is often the lack of communication. Communication is especially important when - as in the case of the patient with a chronic disease - the patient is treated in various institutions. Medical smard cards allow the healthcare professional access to the patient's medical history, information on the last treatments, etc. This article describes expected benefits, development scheme and functionality of a patient smard card using DIABCARD as an example. DIABCARD provides the specification for a Chip Card Based Medical Information System (CCMIS) for the treatment of patients with chronic diseases. Diabetes, which is a 'typical' chronic disease was chosen as an example. Patients with chronic diseases are treated at all levels of health care and in various health care sectors. Having a Portable Personal Medical Record (PPMR) on a chip card means that the necessary information for an integrative treatment of the patient is available at any time, also in a shared care environment. The DIABCARD CCMIS-Architecture allows an implementation into different environments and is covered by approved standards. Data security, data protection and privacy have been integrated. One of its main issues is its upward compatibility and its suitability for different configurations of chip cards within the system. A prototype is at the moment being developed, small scale field tests restricted to well defined areas will take place this year. DIABCARD concentrates on diabetes at the moment, the concept of the diabetes chip card will, however, be extendable to other chronic diseases. It will thus have an important impact on the quality of health care and also contribute to cost reduction of European health care budgets.