Maltese doctors lag behind EU average in computer, internet use
Maltese general practitioners make less use of computers and internet in their profession compared to their colleagues in the EU, according to a pan-European survey on electronic services in healthcare. The Benchmarking ICT use among general...
Maltese general practitioners make less use of computers and internet in their profession compared to their colleagues in the EU, according to a pan-European survey on electronic services in healthcare.
The Benchmarking ICT use among general practitioners in Europe report released by the European Commission a few days ago gives both a general overview and a country-by-country assessment, and the one given on Malta is not so positive.
"Malta has to be considered a weak average performer in terms of e-health as it scores below the EU27 average with regard to most indicators included in the survey," the report concluded.
Malta shows a very basic level of infrastructure availability as only 65 per cent of GP practices own a computer and 55 per cent are connected to the internet. Quite astonishingly though, the report admits, nearly all practices that are connected to the internet use a broadband connection for this purpose. This pertains to 51 per cent of all Maltese GP practices. Indeed while Malta scores rather low in comparison to the other EU27 member states with regard to computer and internet use, it holds a solid mid-field position for broadband connections.
The report says Malta shows its best e-health performance in the area of medical and administrative patient data storage and the use of a computer for consultation purposes. Yet even here usage rates lie quite far below the EU27 averages. Decision support systems are still rather the exception than the rule. Patient data transfer has not yet very much arrived on the agenda of Maltese GPs: only 15 per cent of the practices routinely transfer medical patient data and only seven per cent exchange administrative data electronically.
The report notes that "The issue of e-health is new on the political agenda in Malta. Recently however many projects and reforms have been planned." It goes on to mention that the national e-health vision was formulated by the Ministry of Health, the Elderly and Community Care in 2005. One year later, it was approved by the government and fed into a public consultation process in order to receive feedback from the different stakeholders involved in the provision of health care services.
In order to broaden the scope of online health services the government launched several projects that are to enable health professionals to build and maintain standardised information websites. Another innovation in Malta is the e-health portal that offers many e-health services including an online application for the European Health Insurance Card or an online patient referral system.
The survey also makes reference to the Integrated Health Information System (IHIS) and describes it as "the most important e-health project in Malta". The system is based on the precursor patient administration system (PAS) used by several hospitals today. The new system will be expanded to be used not only by hospitals but also by other healthcare providers and patients.
"These projects - if realised according to plan - may well contribute to an increase in the storage and transfer of electronic patient data which are used today to a very limited extent only," the report concludes.
In the past five years, the share of GPs active in e-health in the former EU15 member states has increased remarkably. As regards ICT infrastructure, the share of practices that use a computer has gone up from 81 per cent in 2002 to 90 per cent last year. The internet - or dedicated GP networks - is nowadays used by 72 per cent of the EU15 GPs, as compared to 63 per cent in 2002.
Indeed the general conclusion of report is that e-health applications have a growing role in the doctor's practices. However, the European Commission warned there remain significant differences in their availability and use across Europe. About 70 per cent of European doctors use the internet and 66 per cent use computers for consultations. Furthermore, there are wide differences across countries: Denmark has the highest broadband penetration among general practitioners (91 per cent), Romania the lowest (about five per cent).
Administrative patient data is electronically stored in 80 per cent of general practices: 92 per cent electronically store medical data on diagnoses and medication and 35 per cent electronically store radiological images. European doctors often transfer data electronically with laboratories (40 per cent), but less to other health centres (10 per cent).
The survey shows that the most advanced countries in ICT access and connectivity are more likely to use them for professional purposes. For example, Denmark, where high-speed internet is most widely available in Europe, sees extensive use of e-mail communication between doctors and patients in about 60 per cent of practices (the EU average is only four per cent).
The survey also highlights areas for improvement and further deployment, such as electronic prescriptions (e-prescribing), which is practised by only six per cent of EU general practitioners. This is widely used in only three member states: Denmark (97 per cent), the Netherlands (71 per cent) and Sweden (81 per cent).
Telemonitoring, which allows doctors to monitor a patient's illness or manage chronic diseases remotely, is used only in Sweden (where nine per cent of doctors provide telemonitoring services), the Netherlands and Iceland (both about three per cent).
Exchange of patient data across borders is also rare, done by only one per cent of the EU's general practitioners, and with the highest usage rate in the Netherlands (at five per cent).
The report said a majority of European doctors agree that ICT improves the quality of healthcare services that they provide. Doctors not using ICT cite a lack of training and technical support as major barriers. To spread e-health, they ask for more ICT in medical education, more training and better electronic networking among healthcare practitioners wanting to share clinical information.
The European Commission said that later on this year it plans to report on the potential and development of telemedicine and to make recommendations on cross-border interoperability of electronic health record systems. A project with several EU member states on cross-border e-health services for patients travelling within the EU is in the pipeline.
The Benchmarking ICT use among general practitioners in Europe report released by the European Commission a few days ago gives both a general overview and a country-by-country assessment, and the one given on Malta is not so positive.
"Malta has to be considered a weak average performer in terms of e-health as it scores below the EU27 average with regard to most indicators included in the survey," the report concluded.
Malta shows a very basic level of infrastructure availability as only 65 per cent of GP practices own a computer and 55 per cent are connected to the internet. Quite astonishingly though, the report admits, nearly all practices that are connected to the internet use a broadband connection for this purpose. This pertains to 51 per cent of all Maltese GP practices. Indeed while Malta scores rather low in comparison to the other EU27 member states with regard to computer and internet use, it holds a solid mid-field position for broadband connections.
The report says Malta shows its best e-health performance in the area of medical and administrative patient data storage and the use of a computer for consultation purposes. Yet even here usage rates lie quite far below the EU27 averages. Decision support systems are still rather the exception than the rule. Patient data transfer has not yet very much arrived on the agenda of Maltese GPs: only 15 per cent of the practices routinely transfer medical patient data and only seven per cent exchange administrative data electronically.
The report notes that "The issue of e-health is new on the political agenda in Malta. Recently however many projects and reforms have been planned." It goes on to mention that the national e-health vision was formulated by the Ministry of Health, the Elderly and Community Care in 2005. One year later, it was approved by the government and fed into a public consultation process in order to receive feedback from the different stakeholders involved in the provision of health care services.
In order to broaden the scope of online health services the government launched several projects that are to enable health professionals to build and maintain standardised information websites. Another innovation in Malta is the e-health portal that offers many e-health services including an online application for the European Health Insurance Card or an online patient referral system.
The survey also makes reference to the Integrated Health Information System (IHIS) and describes it as "the most important e-health project in Malta". The system is based on the precursor patient administration system (PAS) used by several hospitals today. The new system will be expanded to be used not only by hospitals but also by other healthcare providers and patients.
"These projects - if realised according to plan - may well contribute to an increase in the storage and transfer of electronic patient data which are used today to a very limited extent only," the report concludes.
In the past five years, the share of GPs active in e-health in the former EU15 member states has increased remarkably. As regards ICT infrastructure, the share of practices that use a computer has gone up from 81 per cent in 2002 to 90 per cent last year. The internet - or dedicated GP networks - is nowadays used by 72 per cent of the EU15 GPs, as compared to 63 per cent in 2002.
Indeed the general conclusion of report is that e-health applications have a growing role in the doctor's practices. However, the European Commission warned there remain significant differences in their availability and use across Europe. About 70 per cent of European doctors use the internet and 66 per cent use computers for consultations. Furthermore, there are wide differences across countries: Denmark has the highest broadband penetration among general practitioners (91 per cent), Romania the lowest (about five per cent).
Administrative patient data is electronically stored in 80 per cent of general practices: 92 per cent electronically store medical data on diagnoses and medication and 35 per cent electronically store radiological images. European doctors often transfer data electronically with laboratories (40 per cent), but less to other health centres (10 per cent).
The survey shows that the most advanced countries in ICT access and connectivity are more likely to use them for professional purposes. For example, Denmark, where high-speed internet is most widely available in Europe, sees extensive use of e-mail communication between doctors and patients in about 60 per cent of practices (the EU average is only four per cent).
The survey also highlights areas for improvement and further deployment, such as electronic prescriptions (e-prescribing), which is practised by only six per cent of EU general practitioners. This is widely used in only three member states: Denmark (97 per cent), the Netherlands (71 per cent) and Sweden (81 per cent).
Telemonitoring, which allows doctors to monitor a patient's illness or manage chronic diseases remotely, is used only in Sweden (where nine per cent of doctors provide telemonitoring services), the Netherlands and Iceland (both about three per cent).
Exchange of patient data across borders is also rare, done by only one per cent of the EU's general practitioners, and with the highest usage rate in the Netherlands (at five per cent).
The report said a majority of European doctors agree that ICT improves the quality of healthcare services that they provide. Doctors not using ICT cite a lack of training and technical support as major barriers. To spread e-health, they ask for more ICT in medical education, more training and better electronic networking among healthcare practitioners wanting to share clinical information.
The European Commission said that later on this year it plans to report on the potential and development of telemedicine and to make recommendations on cross-border interoperability of electronic health record systems. A project with several EU member states on cross-border e-health services for patients travelling within the EU is in the pipeline.