Patients

• Coordinated and integrated care at the point of need, anywhere, anytime
• Better quality of care and personalised medicine
• Enhanced safety of treatments received, e.g. avoid repeating previously unsuccessful treatments or conflicting medication, perform close monitoring of health changes
• More patient privacy thanks to data protection standards
• A smoother patient experience: no more duplicate examinations or unnecessary consultations, faster start of the best treatment for your health situation
• More empowerment through access to your own electronic health records

Having access, as a patient, to your own health records managed by your health professionals, gives you a stronger voice in the management of your care. The insights you gain will enable you to hold more effective conversations with your healthcare professionals and to make better decisions. Empowered patients are also more motivated to follow treatments, adapt their life style, focus on prevention and they have better care experiences.

There are practical benefits too, e.g. patient web portals sometimes enable digital communication with your health professional, or give you the opportunity to order repeat medication, book appointments, or receive reminders on activities you have to undertake.

More recently, you can easily install apps on your smartphone to boost your wellness and life style habits (e.g. running trackers, food and weight monitoring, or blood pressure measurement). Health data that you collect in this way, of your own accord, give you more insights and motivation.

How wonderful would it be if your health professionals would be able to access this data as well?

But if your smartphone apps are poorly interoperable, it will be hard to exchange data with the more traditional health data systems.