Brazil studies the adoption of openEHR

The country sets new standards and methods for its National Electronic Health Record Project.

As part of the implementation process for stage III of government decree No. 2.073, OF THE 31ST AUGUST 2011, a national EHR Workshop was held aimed at defining the methods and standards to be used for the Brazilian EHR Project (RES-National). The conclusions were largely underpinned by openEHR. Held in Brasilia from the 8th to the 10th of May 2012, the workshop covered topics such as architectural principles, the scope of implementation and governance.

It was agreed that the Ministry of Health and the recently created workgroup would kick off initial work by reviewing the Minas Gerais Health Department's templates based on openEHR formalism. These would provide the basis for the first of four phases of the RES-National Project, whose ultimate purpose is to make health information within the current national systems electronically available in a secure manner through a citizen's portal and to support healthcare professionals and administrators. The main focus will be on promoting continuity of care, especially at the primary care facilities....

The workshop demonstrated a clear acceptance of the use of openEHR EHR extracts for the exchange of health information. The participating organisations, which included SBIS, CONASS, CONASEMS, ABRASCO, universities, supplementary health organizations, the states of Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Goias, and the city of Belo Horizonte, supported the final document, which defines service terminology and template management...