E-health information management according types of DRGs and ICD classification systems: Greek perspectives and initiatives

Abstract

Although efforts for the introduction of ICT in public health care system had begun already in the mid’ of 80s, the results have not yet reached the desired expectations. In order to meet the requirements of the future health care system, in the age of the “smart machine”, the continuous investment in IT without a clear return is unsustainable. Electronic health records are based on the coded data descriptions. Well known data coding schemes e.g. ICD-10, ICPC, GMDN family, have been successfully translated into Greek however less than a third of doctors use these schemes in the clinical IT assessment. Cost continues to be the biggest barrier in IT adoption; some current IT solutions are not usable, particularly for smaller public hospitals in Greece. Therefore, the cost of transforming paper-based data to e-patients' records does not allow doctors to share valuable information. In the Greek health information platform, a different approach of data exchange, across and outside the public hospitals should be implemented. The hospital should involve the Health Information scientists to assist the doctors in accessing and managing clinical information. The sharing of medical information should ensure that all core patient data conform to the related rules of health information resources management, and are based on international health coding and classification systems. The Health Information management education and training on ICT, must be achieved and maintained. The health information scientists should be educated and prepared for advanced clinical applications, and should use as a tool the evidence-based practice, in order to provide secure access to data to those people that they “need to know”.