In a letter to the Dutch parliament last month, André Rouvoet, the Dutch minister for youth and family, said all institutions dealing with children's health care will be required to use electronic health records by the end of 2009, E-Health Europe reports.
The electronic patient files will include information on a child, his or her family situation and other circumstances.
The EHRs will help boost the quality of health care for children by storing all the important information about a child's medical history in a central document that will be accessible to authorized personnel, Rouvoet said.
Rouvoet said implementation will occur in three stages:
- Existing paper records will be digitized;
- Necessary data transfer infrastructure will be introduced; and
- A feasibility study will be conducted to study the complete information exchange chain in children's health care (E-Health Europe, 9/5).