Over 800 000 personal Electronic Health Cards ('Carta Sanitaria Elettronica' - CSE) have been already distributed in the Region of Tuscany, Central Italy. By the end of July 2010, all 3 600 000 new generation health cards will have been delivered to the region's residents.

One's entire health history can be accessed via this smart card of 4x7 cm. The embedded microchip is the access key to the holder's health data, including all the information pertaining to hospital stays, examinations, vaccinations, medications, diseases, allergies and exemptions.

In order to activate their card, the holders must visit one of the 250 dedicated counters - located at the offices of health authorities or hospitals - personally. Those people who are unable to visit the offices must notify their local health agency, which will arrange for an agent to come home to handle the activation. When the latter takes place, the holders receive a personal PIN code allowing them to access their virtual medical file, the Electronic Health Record ('Fascicolo Sanitario Elettronico '- FSE).

The CSE will replace the former health card which is expiring. The cards mailing is performed at national level by the Revenue Agency, while responsibility for their management lies at regional level; local health agencies, general practitioners and paediatricians fill out the FSE will all the health information of the patient. It is worth noting that the card holders will have the option to keep an online 'health diary' in their FSE. In any case, the contents of the FSE will be viewable upon entering the PIN code, which is only known to the card holder. 

"In its new format the health card will allow viewing a person's health summary from home, from the doctor's practice, from the assistance points of the local health agencies." commented Daniela Scaramuccia, the region's health councillor. "Today [26/05/10] we are presenting the path we took" she said, adding that the cards will be gradually completed and integrated to the Tuscan health system to the service of citizens. Ms. Scaramuccia informed that to this end, the Region trained over 880 agents - including 280 civil servants. "It is a commitment for the entire system: for the staff of the [health] agencies which will have to provide assistance to citizens for their cards activation and to support the implementation of the health records; for the family doctors and paediatricians, who will have to fill out the data at their disposal and guide the patients through the use of the cards."

"We are the third [Italian] region to activate the Electronic Health Card, a high importance tool for the citizens." outlined Antonio Panti, the president of the Order of Physicians of Florence. "There still are open discussions with professionals, to tackle the complexity of the programme and to implement the system. Although the cards belong to the citizens, general practitioners and paediatricians play a crucial role as they are the ones to collect most of the data that form the core of the citizen's health history building." 

 

Further information: 

• Original press release - Toscana Notizie - Information Agency of the regional government of Tuscany (in Italian)
• About the 'Carta Sanitaria Elettronica' - Toscana Notizie (in Italian)