Starting February 20, patients will also be able to receive e-prescriptions and e-referrals via Viber
19 February 2025 16:56
Starting February 20, messages from the Electronic Healthcare System (EHS) with a confirmation code, e-prescription number, or e-referral number will be sent to Viber. SMS will remain a guaranteed delivery channel for such messages. This was reported by the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU), "Komersant Ukrainian" informs.
As explained by the NHSU, if a patient has Viber, messages from the electronic system will be sent through this communication channel first, and if the patient does not have Viber, he or she will be delivered an SMS.
The next stage of delivery of messages from the Electronic Healthcare System will be the delivery of push notifications via Diia.
What notifications will appear in Viber and later in Diia
The patient will be able to receive:
– The e-prescription number and its redemption code;
– E-referral code to the doctor;
– Confirmation of consent to data processing;
– Creation of a treatment plan, etc.
The electronic healthcare system will automatically select the most convenient delivery method for each patient. From the EHR, the message will be immediately delivered to the Diia app. If the message is not delivered, it will appear in Viber. And if you don’t use these apps, everything will work as before – via SMS.
Thus, the EHR will help to avoid delays due to possible malfunctions of the mobile operator.
What to do if the patient does not have a phone
Patients who do not have a phone will still be able to get an information certificate.
When registering patients who do not have a phone in the Electronic Healthcare System with the “documents” type of patient authentication method, the doctor creates an e-prescription, e-referral, and prints an information certificate that duplicates the same information as in the e-prescription or e-referral, as well as an additional confirmation code.
If authentication through another person is selected (for children under 14 years of age or for incapacitated persons as an additional method of authentication), a notification will be sent to one of the parents or legal representative.
What is the Electronic Healthcare System?
TheEHIS is a large two-component system that contains medical data previously stored in paper patient records and in doctors’ documents.
The electronic healthcare system unites more than 35 million patients, hundreds of thousands of healthcare professionals, hundreds of services, and dozens of healthcare information system operators providing services for doctors and patients.
This system enables the following patient services, among others
– electronic declarations
– electronic referrals;
– electronic prescriptions for medicines under the government reimbursement program “Affordable Medicines”
– electronic prescriptions for antibiotics;
– medical certificates on the birth of a child and the eBaby service;
– medical certificates of temporary disability and electronic sick leave;
– COVID certificates.
In 2024, the functionality for issuing and redeeming e-prescriptions for medical cannabis medicines was launched.
The Ukrainian Electronic Healthcare System operates with an extremely high workload and almost record data growth rate. Last year, during the peak period, it processed about 2,500 requests per second and an average of 1,400 to 1,800 per second during the working day.
In total, there are 37 medical information systems in Ukraine that can work with the Central Database of the Electronic Healthcare System.
