Ministry of Health accelerates hospital digitalization

The Ministry of Health has signed 207 contracts with hospitals across the country to implement digitalization projects, announced Minister Alexandru Rogobete. According to him, the degree of completion of these projects has reached approximately 40-45%: "At the national level, the Ministry of Health has signed 207 contracts, practically, with 207 hospitals in the country. The degree of completion is somewhere around 40-45%, I am referring here to projects closed, reported and fully paid. All other projects are in the tender phase, a large part completed, and a significant percentage is already in implementation. The deadline is August next year. I have no emotions that we will not be able to implement and report on the digitalization projects." In parallel, the Ministry of Health is running a tender that is in the final phase, for the creation of national administrative registers. These include the Registry of Health Professionals, an electronic database that will include medical personnel from all health units, structured by specialties and age. Rogobete also specified that the health insurance IT platform will have a first functional interface at the end of December, with the complete system to be operational in August next year. Through this platform, each health unit will create its own profile and will be able to request funding directly from the ministry, digitally. "Depending on availability, opportunity and necessity, applications will be approved or rejected, also in digital format,” the minister explained. At the same time, Rogobete stressed that the process of complete digitalization of the health system will take time: "Let's not expect that from August next year the health system in Romania will be 100 percent digital. The transition of certain procedures from the written to the digital area takes time and is not humanly possible to achieve instantly.” The minister's statements were made during a visit to the Institute of Speech Therapy and ENT Surgery "Dorin Hociotă", one of the medical units that has already completed the digitalization process by implementing several projects financed by European funds.