An e-health platform costing millions is in trouble. The current Minister of Health was involved in the project.
- "Pomeranian e-Health" was supposed to give patients access to medical records and make registration easier, but the project remains dormant. Its launch has been postponed numerous times and remains uncertain.
- Hospitals already have the equipment and systems, but they lack the legal basis for processing medical data. Without them, the platform could be useless.
- Already in 2023, the Ministry of Health discouraged the voivodeship authorities from expanding regional platforms
The platform, which is supposed to revolutionize the availability of medical care in Pomerania, has been struggling with problems for years and - according to information from Rynek Zdrowia - the success of the entire project is still in question.
Although the Chancellery of the Marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship assures that a gradual launch of the regional platform is planned in the coming months, the applicable regulations may prevent the operation of the most important tools.
"We've been waiting for this project for a very long time, so we're probably more pleased with this finale than with any other, as we've already signed the final contract for the final stage of e-health implementation. (...) I'm very happy that we'll be able to offer patients and staff completely different operating conditions," said Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda , then president of Pomeranian Hospitals and, since July of this year, Minister of Health in Donald Tusk's government, on Radio Norda FM in April 2022.
This is the "Pomeranian e-Health" initiative, which was planned for 2016-2023 . This meant that by the end of 2023 , patients would have access to health information and electronic medical records, remote registration, and coordination of medical care for certain chronic conditions, among other things.
The value of the project grew at one point to PLN 192 million , with the vast majority coming from EU funds and the rest from the budget of the Pomeranian Voivodeship and 13 medical entities participating in the initiative.
In April 2024, the Trójmiasto.pl website indicated that the program's implementation had been postponed until the fourth quarter of 2024. In January of this year, "Pomorskie e-Health" was designated a defunct project . This meant that the project had failed to achieve its goal, and therefore it would be financed from its own resources and without European funding. The provincial authorities then decided to postpone the program's launch for another year.
What is the situation today? Michał Piotrowski , spokesperson for the Chancellery of the Marshal of the Voivodeship, tells us that the regional platform has been created, but its launch is dependent on, among other things, the completion of work at the healthcare facilities that will use the platform in the process of providing medical services.
In all participating facilities, work related to expanding their IT infrastructure and purchasing computer and server equipment has been completed. Furthermore, hospital information systems (HIS) have been launched.
The final two stages of the project include implementing ERP systems (i.e., financial, human resources, and payroll) in the hospitals and integrating the hospital systems with the regional e-health platform. Only after all implementations and security audits are completed will full system integration be achieved.
- In the coming months, the completion of work in medical entities and the gradual launch of the regional platform are planned - says Michał Piotrowski.
The problem is that the usefulness of the implemented tools may be limited, or even nonexistent. This is because, as Piotrowski admits, the project encounters problems related to the lack of legal basis for regional platforms in Polish e-health regulations.
According to Piotrowski, the Center for Healthcare Information Systems, now the e-Health Center , previously assured that such legal authorization would be implemented. The result is that it may not be possible to process any medical records within the e-health platform.
It's worth noting that as early as 2023, Piotr Węcławik, then director of the Ministry of Health's Innovation Department, stated during the Health Market Forum that, following agreements with the European Commission, the ministry was not recommending the development of regional platforms. Those already in operation were to cease expansion and serve, at most, as data repositories. The direction was to be greater centralization of e-health, the effects of which are increasingly visible, for example, through the Central e-Registration and the upcoming Smart Services Platform .
We reached out to CompuGroup Medical , the IT company behind the "Pomeranian e-Health" initiative, for comment. We're awaiting a response.
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