A nurse accesses an electronic medical record.The Digital Health Group of the Foundation Institute for the Improvement of Health Care (IMAS Foundation) is promoting the Citizen's Digital Health History (HDS);a portable registry, accessible from anywhere, supported on multiple devices and owned by the individual.The HDS would include all the citizen's contacts with the different health and social protection providers, regardless of their public or private nature or the place where said relationship took place.Thanks to this, the information silos of the current system would be overcome, allowing continuity of care both between levels of care and between different regions and centers.The HDS would also incorporate administrative, lifestyle, social environment and socio-health data, in addition to those generated by the different health providers.On the other hand, the clinical information would include the patient's experience, collected through a standardized questionnaire.In a second stage, the information generated by portable digital devices that record biometric and physical activity information for non-medical use could also be incorporated.As explained by the IMAS Foundation, all this information would offer "a holistic view of the state of health of citizens and its determinants, facilitating personalized attention, improving results and perceived quality".As the information belongs to the citizen, he could consult it whenever he needed it, as well as provide it to any provider.This control over their data “would contribute to the co-responsibility of the individual in the management of their health and would greatly reduce the stress that patients usually face when they move geographically or change their health center.In addition, it would increase the efficiency and cohesion of the system”.The Digital Health Record would also be a means of relationship between the health system and the person, through which they could communicate.Patients could express their advance directives, informed consents or their perceived experience.And the health services make appointment reminders, epidemiological alerts, vaccination alerts, recruit volunteers for clinical trials or promote health promotion, among other issues."An important aspect is that the HDS is not intended to replace the current Electronic Medical Records, which are guarded and maintained by care providers," explains Ignacio Ayerdi, coordinator of the IMAS Digital Health Group."These would continue to maintain patient records, necessary to offer care in their centers."The Health History would be an additional tool that would allow the patient's history to be traced, as well as adding "very valuable information to address the different situations that require attention by the health or socio-health services," says the patron of the Foundation and former President of Philips Iberian.In addition, by collecting administrative and environmental information, the HDS "would facilitate clinical and epidemiological research, becoming a tool for implementing far-reaching public health plans."There are currently 17 health services in Spain, one for each Autonomous Community.In addition to this, there are other entities that offer health care: INGESA (of a state nature, manages the Health of Ceuta and Melilla), mutual societies (for civil servants and work accidents) and private health.Each of these agents store the health data of their beneficiaries in different digital systems, between which there is no exchange of information.In a society in which people are in continuous movement, the fact that the information necessary for health care remains stagnant in the different health centers and administrations is an obstacle to adequate care.On their journey through the different health systems and centers, citizens face unnecessary repetition of tests, delays in diagnosis and overlapping treatments, among other hardships.The project, which is being presented to different health authorities and administrations, arousing great interest, would be a pioneer in Europe and worldwide."This initiative responds to a need to improve the efficiency and cohesion of the health system as well as the right of citizens to have control over their data," says Francisco Javier Elola, director of the IMAS Foundation."Furthermore, it would place Spain at the forefront of healthcare digitization and would contribute to strengthening the Spanish technology industry, favoring innovation and economic growth in our country."“We believe that this is a state project.Given the characteristics and strengths of our National Health System, let us now take advantage of the opportunity to lead an extraordinary digital revolution project”, adds Julián Pérez Villacastín, president-elect of the Spanish Society of Cardiology and also patron of the IMAS Foundation.This website uses cookies so that you have the best user experience.If you continue browsing you are giving your consent for the 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