Govt approves ‘Integrated Health Information Platform’

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : A scheme to set up an ‘Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP)’ to maintain the Electronic Health Records (EHRs) of patients in a centralized manner and to be made available nationwide online for medical history with the help of Health Information Exchange has been approved.

The objective of IHIP is to keep the medical records of the patients in digital form which could be accessed by the patient as well as providers as and when required. IHIP will help exchange of clinical data among providers irrespective of the hospital site visited by the patients.

IHIP will be implemented in a phased manner. In phase I, IHIP will be implemented on a pilot basis in three States & five Central Government Hospitals. On successful implementation of the pilot phase, IHIP will be rolled out pan-India, according to a PIB release.

With the advent of the envisaged system of EHRs of citizens in an inter-operable manner pan-India, online availability and accessibility would be ensured. This would facilitate continuity of care, better health outcome and better decision support system and is expected to help in reducing expenditure on avoidable repetitive and similar diagnostic tests. The Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare) Anupriya Patel stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on February 6, 2018.