Healthcare Information Technology Infrastructures in Turkey

Summary

Objectives: The objective of this paper is to describe some of the major healthcare information technology (IT) infrastructures in Turkey, namely, Sağlık-Net (Turkish for “Health-Net”), the Centralized Hospital Appointment System, the Basic Health Statistics Module, the Core Resources Management System, and the e-prescription system of the Social Security Institution. International collaboration projects that are integrated with Sağlık-Net are also briefly summarized.

Methods: The authors provide a survey of the some of the major healthcare IT infrastructures in Turkey.

Results: Sağlık-Net has two main components: the National Health Information System (NHIS) and the Family Medicine Information System (FMIS). The NHIS is a nation-wide infrastructure for sharing patients’ Electronic Health Records (EHRs). So far, EHRs of 78.9 million people have been created in the NHIS. Similarly, family medicine is operational in the whole country via FMIS. Centralized Hospital Appointment System enables the citizens to easily make appointments in healthcare providers. Basic Health Statistics Module is used for collecting information about the health status, risks and indicators across the country. Core Resources Management System speeds up the flow of information between the headquarters and Provincial Health Directorates. The e-prescription system is linked with Sağlık-Net and seamlessly integrated with the healthcare provider information systems. Finally, Turkey is involved in several international projects for experience sharing and disseminating national developments.

Conclusion: With the introduction of the “Health Transformation Program” in 2003, a number of successful healthcare IT infrastructures have been developed in Turkey. Currently, work is going on to enhance and further improve their functionality.

Keywords

e-health - Turkey - e-health Standards - interoperability - health information exchange

 

• References

• 1 Health Transformation Program [cited November 11, 2013]. Available from: http://www.saglik.gov.tr/TR/belge/1-2906/saglikta-donusum-programi.html">
• 2 Dogac A, Yuksel M, Avci A, Ceyhan B, Hulur U, Eryilmaz Z. et al. Electronic Health Record Interoperability as Realized in Turkey’s National Health Information System. Methods Inf Med 2011; 50 (Suppl. 02) 140-9.
• 3 The Family Medicine Model of Turkey [cited November 11, 2013].. Available from: http://www. ailehekimligi.gov.tr
• 4 The Centralized Hospital Appointment System (CHAS) [cited November 11, 2013]. Available from (in Turkish): http://www.hastanerandevu.gov.tr/Vatandas/hakkimizda.jsp.
• 5 The National Health Data Dictionary (NHDD) of Turkey v2.0 [cited November 11, 2013]. Available from: http://www.e-saglik.gov.tr/dosyalar/USVS2_30032012.pdf
• 6 The Health Coding Reference Server (HCRS) [cited November 11, 2013]. Available from: skrs3.sagliknet.saglik.gov.tr
• 7 International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10) [cited November 11, 2013]. Available from: http://apps.who.int/classifications/apps/icd/icd10online/
• 8 The Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) Classification System, WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology [cited November 11, 2013]. Available from: http://www.whocc.no/atc
• 9 ISO/IEC 11179-4:2004 (Information technology -- Metadata registries (MDR) -- Part 4: Formulation of data definitions) [cited November 11, 2013]. Available from: http://www.iso.org/iso_catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=35346
• 10 HL7 Web Services Profile, Release 2 [cited November 11, 2013].. Available from: http://www.hl7.org/special/committees/projman/searchableprojectindex.cfm?action=edit&ProjectNumber=30111.
• 11 Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) solutions [cited November 11, 2013]. Available from: www.oracle.com/us/solutions/business-analytics/business-intelligence/overview/index.html">
• 12 The Citizen Portal of the Centralized Hospital Appointment System [cited November 11, 2013]. Available from: http://www.mhrs.gov.tr/Vatandas
• 13 The Web interface of the e-prescription system for health professionals [cited November 11, 2013]. Available from: https://medeczane.sgk.gov.tr/doktor
• 14 The epSOS Project: Smart Open Services for European Patients [cited November 11, 2013]. Available from: http://www.epsos.eu
• 15 OpenNCP Community [cited November 11, 2013]. Available from: https://openncp.atlassian.net/wiki
• 16 The EMPOWER Project: Support of Patient Empowerment by an intelligent self-management pathway for patients [cited November 11, 2013]. Available from: http://www.empower-fp7.eu
• 17 The PALANTE Project: PAtient Leading and mANaging their healThcare through Ehealth [cited November 11, 2013].. Available from: http://www. palante-project.eu
• 18 Kabak Y, Dogac A, Kose I, Akpinar N, Gurel M, Arslan Y. et al. The Use of HL7 CDA in the National Health Information System (NHIS) of Turkey. 9th International HL7 Interoperability Conference (IHIC), Crete, Greece, October 2008 p. 49-55
• 19 Monthly Basic Indicators - July 2013, Social Security Institution [cited November 11, 2013]. Available from: http://www.sgk.gov.tr/wps/wcm/connect/286dd8f7-64d9-4c5f-8774-3632ce-6b164c/2013_temmuz_sosyalguvenlik_temelgostergeleri.pdf