Athens, Greece –The adoption of e-health systems in Greece is happening at an exceptionally slow pace. Hand-written referral notes were the sole tool available to physicians to order diagnostic exams for their patients, on the basis of which payers reimbursed diagnostic centers. One of the major health funds, the
Public Servants' Healthcare Organization was faced with a dramatic increase in its diagnostic exams budget: from €155,494,142.8 in 2003 to €297,051,270.7 in 2009, whilst the number of insured members remained stable.
The implementation of the pilot electronic referral project at the Public Servants’ Health Care Organization, which insures 1.5 million members, was one of the first attempts to control these expenditures and improve health care services, in a transparent and fair manner.
The replacement of hand-written referrals with an electronic system resulted in a 32% cost saving for the organization and contributed to the decrease in the number and the rationalization of the type of diagnostic exams ordered.
Assistant Professor, Kyriakos Souliotis, PhD, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Peloponnese, says:”Pharmaceutical spending was not the only culprit of excess public spending in health care in Greece. The implementation of real-time monitoring of referrals (“e-diagnosis”) delivered over 30% in savings in diagnostic tests’ expenditure.”
The full study of the pilot electronic referral project, “
Transforming Public Servants' Health Care Organization in Greece through the Implementation of an Electronic Referral Project,” is published in
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