Communication platforms
The electronic patient record gets a boost
Swiss Post is proactively driving digitization in the healthcare sector. As the leading provider of the electronic patient record (EPR), it is continuously developing its platform to create user-friendly, expandable solutions. This encourages more efficient processes, strengthens health literacy among the public and improves the quality of treatment.
The electronic patient record (EPR) is a key element in the ongoing development of the Swiss healthcare system – and offers tangible benefits, allowing users to grant healthcare professionals specific access to documents such as hospital discharge reports or radiological findings while always maintaining an overview of their data. Thanks to Swiss Post’s digital self-onboarding service, opening an EPR is easy, and possible throughout Switzerland. This service is free of charge in many cantons, while others charge a one-off fee of 15 francs. Parents can also open a digital EPR for their children and link it to their own record – a centralized solution for the whole family.
We want the EPR to become part of the everyday lives of private individuals and professionals – like the smartphone.
Swiss Post is EPR market leader
Over 90 percent of the patient records opened to date run on the platform operated by Swiss Post for the so-called reference communities, the providers of the EPR. Through its subsidiary Post Sanela Health AG, Swiss Post operates its own reference community, which is active in 18 cantons and, with over 35,000 records opened, is the largest reference community in Switzerland. Through the addition of new healthcare facilities and partners, the reference community continues to grow. Since the end of 2024, Sanela has also been responsible for the EPR in the canton of Ticino. In total, around 1,300 healthcare facilities throughout Switzerland work with Sanela.
In the EPR, the storage and exchange of sensitive personal data is structured, so it is important to protect it with modern technology. Working together with Trifork, an internationally established company for digital healthcare solutions, Swiss Post is introducing a new technical platform for this purpose that is more user-friendly and facilitates the integration of additional services such as medication or prescriptions. This represents progress for service providers, and also for the public.
EPR mobile – now available
In 2024, Sanela became the first reference community to introduce a vaccination module, which allows users to enter their vaccinations and past infectious diseases digitally and download a vaccination record from the EPR. Healthcare professionals can also manage and update the vaccination data. Vaccinations are entered in the EPR as structured data. This allows additional functionalities to be developed, such as a reminder function that notifies the user about upcoming booster jabs.
For even greater flexibility, Swiss Post has expanded access to the EPR with a mobile solution. The ePost App can be used to open health documents at any time – naturally with the same high security standards as the browser version.
New impetus from the Federal Parliament
In autumn 2024, the Federal Council decided to specifically promote use of the electronic patient record and to undertake a comprehensive revision of the legal basis. It envisages provision of the technical infrastructure by a single provider in the future. Swiss Post welcomes this policy decision and is prepared to actively support the reforms. The challenge now is to build on the progress made to date, secure investments and maintain momentum.