What is a personal digital healthcare environment?
A personal digital healthcare environment is a place where you can keep all your medical information: from care providers, from your own records and from apps that monitor health and exercise, for example. It is an online environment to which only you have access. And it is up to you who you share that information with.
Towards a personal digital healthcare environment
Some healthcare providers and IT suppliers already offer patients the opportunity to draw up and manage a personal health record (PHR). More and more patients are also keeping their own records, but the scope for combining and perhaps sharing all these records is still very limited.
To improve the situation, various parties in the healthcare sector are collaborating on a special programme to give people more control over their own health. In 2016 they will agree standards and basic requirements for personal digital healthcare environments. This will enable suppliers to develop safe, reliable, user-friendly products. This will allow anyone to safely compile and share their own health information online.
If you want to know more about the government’s plans for telehealth (eHealth) go to Government encouraging use of eHealth.