The total number of e-examinations registered in the National Health Information System (NHIS) has exceeded 110 million. The impressive figure has been achieved in less than 2 years since Information Service introduced the electronic documentation of medical examinations. On an average day, over 220,000 examinations are recorded electronically by nearly 14,500 medical practices, and dental examinations recorded on the system exceed 3.7 million. The data show that still the majority of registered electronic examinations are financed by the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), although according to article 28d, paragraph 3a and 3b of the Health Act, doctors must register all electronic health records in the NHIS, regardless of the patients' health insurance status and the source of funding.
In total, more than 34,000 hospital and outpatient physicians, more than 10,500 dentists, 7,310 pharmacists, 3,260 pharmacies, 1,075 laboratories and 389 hospitals work with the system. The platform processes an impressive 750,000 electronic health records on a daily basis, making NHIS one of the most used software products in Bulgaria. The total number of registered health records since the launch of the platform at the end of 2020 has reached 410 million. The system has 9 main and more than 30 upgrade versions, and has more than 330 functionalities.
"In less than 4 years, Information Services has carried out the full digital transformation of the main processes in outpatient and inpatient care that has been awaited for two decades and has practically laid the foundations for e-health in Bulgaria," said the company's CEO Ivaylo Filipov. In his words, digitalization is aimed entirely at the benefit of patients, who receive medical care with better quality and have the opportunity to control the healthcare system, protecting it from abuse and draining public resources. On the other hand, authorised health authorities can carry out detailed analyses of population morbidity, early diagnosis, risk prevention of chronic and non-infectious diseases and can make informed management decisions.
Data from the NHIS shows that the total number of e-prescriptions issued exceeded 63 million. On an average day, the centralized online prescribing and dispensing system processes over 110,000 e-prescriptions. “White” prescriptions written by medical professionals exceed 5 million. The online prescribing and dispensing system has drastically reduced the risk of inappropriate prescribing and has made it easier for patients, doctors and pharmacists.
The e-referral platform, which was launched in early December 2020, is also reporting impressive results. More than 62 million e-referrals have been issued through the NHIS, with the system generating on average more than 134 000 referrals per day.
The number of e-hospitalizations in hospitals is approaching 5.2 million. The module for electronic processing of admitted patients allows hospitals to electronically submit the activities performed for hospital admission, discharge from hospital, laboratory tests performed, consultations, issuance of disease history, etc. On average, 9 500 electronic hospital admissions are registered per day.
The data shows that more and more people are using the eHealth mobile app, which gives access to their personal health record and to all examinations, referrals, prescriptions, vaccines, hospitalizations, laboratory test results, immunizations, etc., registered with the NHIS. Since its launch, the app has been downloaded nearly 200,000 times and is actively used by users.