2017-04-27
National Audit Office: the Functionality of the e-Health System is still Fragmented
The audit, on the third stage of the development of the e-health system (years 2012-2015), conducted by the Supreme Audit Institution, shows that during this stage, which is valued at 30 m euros, the errors, characteristic to previous stages were repeated, such as the lack of strategic management and a rational approach towards the financing of information systems.
The e-Health system contains digitized patients’ health data (medical history records, recipes, medical certificates, etc.) and information technologies that enable the exchange of said data between medical and other relevant institutions („Sodra“ (Lithuanian State Social Insurance Fund Board), National Health Insurance Fund, etc.). This system has been implemented in Lithuania since 2015 during three stages, its development cost around 40 m euros.
The audit showed that the utilization of the system remains passive, the issue of the lack of IT infrastructure remains unsolved, not all the links between different institutions that are essential to the e-health system are created, the usage of e-signature is lagging, the process of managing and clearing incidents remains unclear, not all the security measures for sensitive personal data are ensured, there are questions regarding the maintenance of the complete system in the future.
One example of the lack of strategic management and irrational utilization of funds – duplicate decisions. During the stage of regional project planning for the e-health system, the opportunities for reproducing and combining equivalent projects were not extensively discussed, and as a result, personal healthcare institutions who participated in eight regional projects, the value of which was close to 2 m euros, created, modernized, and financed 17 analogous functions of the information system.
The auditors point out that the e-health development programme for the years 2015 to 2025, was confirmed in 2015, and the projected investments amount to around 28 m euros. This programme is set to be used to further develop the e-health system, but if said programme is not revised, similar development problems are bound to arise in the future.
Supreme Audit Institution presented recommendations to the Ministry of Health, that would help to ensure the proper functioning of the complete system, and also recommended, that before starting a new stage of the system’s development, mistakes would be evaluated and measures provided in order to ensure that a sustainable model for management and financing of the system would be created in the new stage of development.