PROCESSES OF HEALTH CARE AND SOCIAL INSURANCE SYSTEMS.
Services and Information, the supplies in the leaves of the model, are the main processes of the health care and social insurance system. The accent is on a holistic consumer-driven approach to the services.
Consumer Health Informatics (CHI), the stalk of the model, is emphasizing the track of processes elaborating consumer access with the supplies of information and services.
CONSUMER HEALTH INFORMATICS
Health Informatics (HI) has led to a growing awareness of professional information techniques to equalize consumers’ and health professionals’ relationship [3].
Consumer Health Informatics (CHI) is proposed to empower consumers by accessible and personalized health information through a consumer-driven approach. CHI works as a support of quality and basis of successes of the health care and social insurance services. Success can be reached by strengthening consumers’ self-help. Mapping consumers’ needs and preferences are among the most rewarding profits of CHI [4].
Interactive health services are generally supposed to be easier and cheaper than traditional services and bring out quality and good accessibility in preventive medicine [8]. The social support’s main strategy is to minimize beneficiary of disabled people and ensure, if possible, equality for them and new ways of living [19].
In Iceland the majority of public homes use the Internet, which puts the country in a leading position of most computer and Internet resources used. Such facilities should be helpful to keep the electronic evolution in context to the informatics policy of the Icelandic government [15].
SERVICES
The vision of the health care and social insurance services is directed towards people’s wellbeing and safety and also equalizing the public domain disparities. This would be best acted on by empowering consumers’ self-help and independent living [8]. Laws and directives stipulate rights and demand for all people’s quality of life and secure handling of information which assumes the existence of electronic services.
Success for these services can best be achieved through strengthening consumers’ self-help via secure electronic accesses of qualified services. eHealth is an instrument to reform the health care and social system with consumer self-help as one assumption for the services’ improvement.
All Icelandic inhabitants have the right to access the best possible health care service at any given time. The purpose is to protect their physical, mental and social health. The health sector is regulated according to Act on Health Services of 1990. The act on Social Security of 1993 covers citizens insurances such as pension insurance, occupational injury insurance, health insurance and maternity insurance. In 1997 the act on the Rights of Patients ensured no discrimination against patients on grounds of gender, religion, beliefs, nationality, race, skin color, financial status, family relation or status in other respect.
INFORMATION
Processing, gathering and save keeping of information are basic components of the health care settings. Referring to consumer health informatics, health information is every piece of information that helps consumers to understand and make decisions regarding own health and the families.
The electronic health record opens new possibilities for one continuous personal record accessible when ever needed. Uptrend of electronic information techniques depend on use of the best knowledge practice and technology resources [18].