Bavaria launches patient-controlled health records

The German Patient-Partner Association (PPV), a health provider network, and the German statutory health insurance organisation AOK Bavaria are to introduce electronic communications between GPs and patients.

The system will include a patient-controlled personal electronic health record, which enables patients to determine who can access their record, or nominate their doctor or carer to set access controls.

PPV, which has over 343 linked medical experts in a range of disciplines, will use an online health record LifeSensor, provided by German eHealth company InterComponentWare AG, to enable the new electronic links between GPs and their patients.

The Bavarian implementation of the LifeSensor personal health record follows a successful trial earlier this year. The record system is claimed as one of the most advanced in Germany, significantly ahead of the national health card project, which is beginning with electronic prescribing and then later introducing a personal health record.

The LifeSensor online health record will provide clinicians from the PPV health network with access to copies of their patient’s health data, as recorded by other clinicians within the association.

Clinical data within the online personal health record will include medications, allergies, vaccinations and details of check-ups and lab results. The intention is to use the record to increase communication and collaboration between clinician and patients, and between different groups of clinicians caring for a patient.

Patients will own their online record and be able to decide which clinicians can access their data, change or delete it. If a patient does not want to assign these access rights themselves they can ask their GP, pharmacist or other representative to assign authorisations to access the record.

Dirk Schuhmann from InterComponentWare, told E-Health Insider that the personal health record had two main purposes. The first is: “To share data between physicians, so they can access data that other clinicians have entered.”

The second aim is to provide a personal health record “fully controlled by the patient, so they can choose what physicians have access, or they can nominate a clinician who will provide access to others,” said Schuman.

The record includes special protocols for care of geriatric patients and patients with chronic wounds, enabling easy electronic communications between clinicians and care givers.

Dr Elmar Schmid from PPV, said: "With the personal health record LifeSensor, the linked GPs and medical specialists can access extensive patient information for the first time in a joint online database. Pharmacists, physiotherapists and nursing staff can also access certain information in the record, which they are authorised to view."

The electronic links and information exchange will also be used to enable some GPs in the PPV organisation to concentrate on the treatment of rarer conditions, with other clinicians referring patients on to these specialists. The LifeSensor personal record is designed to ensure that a patient’s GP is always informed about their latest treatment and therapy status.

PPV clinicians can compile an individual care team for patients requiring outpatient care, which may include a community nurse and a physiotherapist. The encounters with members of the care team are documented in a case protocol contained within the personal electronic health record.

The service is available to Bavarian patients insured by AOK, offering them integrated care and the advantages of a personally controlled electronic health record and electronic communications with participating doctors.

For patient travelling abroad the record will also be securely available online and in English if required.