A new digital healthcare system in the Apulia region of Italy is ensuring better patient care. The system allows regional bodies to collect and analyse healthcare information. A central feature is the PugliaSalute online portal and mobile app. The portal is the single point of access to Apulia’s digital health services and houses the websites of numerous healthcare institutions.
- 10 July 2022
“The regional digital health system is based on cooperation between different application systems, to support sharing of information between citizens and healthcare providers.”
Services on PugliaSalute enable patients to schedule and pay for medical appointments, view their exemptions and vaccination record and choose their general practitioner or paediatrician. Certain services are dedicated to specialised fields, such as treatment of coeliac disease.
Citizens can consult their electronic health records via the portal. These have been created for all Apulia residents and are updated automatically. Patients can see their entire medical history in digital format at any time. Healthcare professionals can view the records, subject to patient consent.
Continuity of care
Another important element of the digital health system is Edotto, through which basic services like primary, home and residential care; accident and emergency treatment; hospital admissions; and distribution of medicines are managed. For making appointments, the single booking centre matches supply and demand, thereby shortening waiting times.
The Territorial Health Information System issues electronic prescriptions and ensures continuity of care by connecting family doctors, pharmacies, outpatient and inpatient specialists, accident and emergency departments, analysis laboratories and electronic health records.
Work to make it interoperable with similar systems in other regions is ongoing. Digital systems for imaging diagnostics and monitoring of healthcare spending are under development.
Real-time emergency management
Apulia’s health emergency service, with its 118 telephone number, allows for real-time management of five operations centres and ambulances throughout the region. It comprises an IT device for exchange of patient information between ambulance crews and accident and emergency departments.
The system is complemented by an app through which people who are deaf or unable to communicate verbally can get help via a specially designed interface.
The digital health system has been integrated with regional systems related to mental health, anatomical pathology, oncology screening and sports medicine, and GIAVA, a platform with information on outpatient clinics and vaccinations.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, an additional GIAVA platform was created for surveillance, contact tracing, testing and follow-up measures. The platform automatically collected data and transmitted it to national authorities daily.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Integrated regional digital health system” is EUR 11 598 343 with the EU’s European Regional Development Fund contributing EUR 9 278 674 through the “Puglia” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period. The investment falls under the priority “Use and quality of ICT”.