With the pilot 'Parental authority in health care' Logius is testing a new facility that allows parents to access their minor child's electronic health record using their own login medium (DigiD). Participants in the pilot, which revolves around the authorization component, include the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) and hospital Tjongerschans.
Digital inclusion has been high on the list in political The Hague for years. In that respect, the pilot "Parental Authority in Care," in which parents can access the data of their minor child, fits seamlessly into the policy of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. This is also the opinion of Ruben de Boer, who works as a policy officer at the ministry. He is closely involved in the pilot as a stakeholder. "As of July 2020, healthcare institutions must make patient records available to patients digitally," Ruben says. "That also applies to the medical records of minor children. These measures all fit with the goals we have in the field of e-health. It is essential that we make steps in that now.'
Until now, many hospitals still work with a paper procedure, which allows parents to request the patient records of their minor child. Some hospitals already offer a digital variant. But that variant is not always equally secure, explains Onno de Kip, implementation manager at Logius. "The hospital cannot determine with certainty whether the parent also has parental authority. That is why we are working on another authorization solution, where parents can use their own login medium to view their children's patient records. VWS sets the policy, we give it hands and feet."
One of the Dutch hospitals currently making an authorization option available to parents is the Tjongerschans in Heerenveen. The hospital is a fairly compact organization, making it a suitable candidate for the pilot. This is also what project leader Janneke Hofstede of the Tjongerschans thinks. "We were approached by Logius because we already have some experience in offering these files to parents. So we don't have to have something completely new built. In addition, we have a small ICT department, which means we can switch quickly."
Janneke is enthusiastic about the pilot because she sees the great benefits of a new facility for parents. "Not only do I think we should have a uniform, digital solution for this in the Netherlands, I think it also saves our hospital a lot of time. Now parents have to submit an authorization form to us, after which they also have to have their legimitation checked. By logging in with your own means you skip all those steps." Onno: "With the new application, we make a link to the Basic Registration of Persons, which allows us to verify parental authority. So that goes a lot faster and safer."
After a period of months during which Logius tested and accepted the application, it is now time to test the application in practice. The project group is starting with a survey of target mothers. "Test subjects can log into the Tjongerschans and, after verification of their DigiD, request the data of children under 12," Onno explains. "Later, the test group will be expanded to include fathers of minor children. And eventually we want to introduce the facility for the group 12 to 16 years of age as well."
Ruben from VWS: "This is a very nice pilot, because we not only speed up the process of requesting data, but also gain experience with parental authority testing. Later we want to extend the authorization component to other target groups. Think of the caregiver who supports his mother, and wants to log into the hospital on her behalf."
Ruben speaks highly of the cooperation with Logius and the hospital: "We know how to find each other very well and also have constructive discussions. For example: what are the risks involved in making this kind of information available? We provide the input; Logius can adjust the business rules accordingly. That makes for a very fine collaboration."
This article also appears in the files Privacy in Healthcare, Youth & Education and Digital Transformation
source: Logius
