At the beginning of 2024, the percentage of citizens who accessed at least one electronic health record (EHR) for themselves or others was 41%, although increasing compared to 2023 (35%). These are the most recent data from the Digital Health Observatory of the School of Management of the Polytechnic of Milan which shows “how it is necessary to further promote the use of this tool”. From the monitoring data available on the website monitopen.fse.salute.gov.it, explains the Observatory, it is clear that the most widespread services are those linked to access to Covid certificates (95% of the Regions), to exemptions (81% ) and booking and paying for visits and exams (76%).
The regions that offer the greatest number of services are Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany (23 services) followed by Lazio (22), Piedmont (21), Lombardy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and the Autonomous Province of Trento (18 services each). “This is an opportunity to make citizens aware of this tool,” says Chiara Sgarbossa, Director of the Digital Health Observatory, regarding the information campaign of recent weeks ‘Electronic Health Record. Safe in our health’ which “has made it possible to communicate to the entire Italian population the advantages associated with the collection and availability of health data. “According to the professionals who have used it,” adds Sgarbossa, “the tool reduces the time needed to find information, simplifies reading the documents exchanged, provides critical information for managing the patient in emergency situations and allows for more personalized decisions to be made based on the patient’s entire clinical history.”
